Volume III
The Book of the Prophet Jonah
With John Brown’s marginal references, notes and reflections · Vol. III, p. ?
This prophet was born in Gath-hepher, a city of Galilee, and prophesied about a.m. 3140. In some unwritten predictions he foretold the restoration of the kingdom of Israel by Jehoash and Jeroboam II., 2 Ki. 14. 25. But here we have the history of the warning which he gave to the heathen Ninevites. It contains remarkable manifestations of human infirmity and divine mercy connected. But the principal scope of it is to figure out Jesus Christ's interposition for guilty sinners, and the amazing and effectual spread of his gospel through the Gentile world.
[This prophet was of the tribe of Zebulum, and born at Gath-hepher, a city of that tribe. (See 2 Ki. 14. 25; Jos. 19. 13.) Many things are conjectured concerning him, which, because merely conjectural, we hold it useless to repeat, believing it better, and perhaps the only thing strictly allowable, to speak of those things that are clearly recorded. These things are merely the time of his preaching, which was in or a little before the days of Jeroboam the son of Jehoash (2 Ki. 14. 25), and the facts narrated in the book itself; namely, the prophet's divine commission; his unwillingness to comply; his attempted escape; his wonderful prevention; his miraculous preservation; his faithful announcement of judgment; the remarkable repentance of Nineveh; its merciful reprieve; the prophet's dissatisfaction; and God's condescending defence of his merciful government. These facts, when combined, present us with a truly wonderful narrative—one which, if need were, against mere philosophers, we could well defend; but one of which, to Christians, it is enough to say, its truth is endorsed by our Lord himself; while the miraculous preservation of the prophet is declared to have been a type of his death and resurrection. (See Mat. 12. 39-41; Lu. 11. 30-32; He. 13. 15.) Jonah, though his book rank fifth in order of the minor prophets, must evidently have been one of the most ancient of all, except David, who have left behind them any written predictions. For the fall of Nineveh, and the death of Sardanapalus, the last of the Assyrian monarchs, is, by common consent of chronologers, referred to a period about 820 b.c.; while the same authorities generally refer the preaching of Jonah, and the repentance and reprieve of Nineveh, to a period about 862 b.c., which was during the life of Jehu, king of Israel. C.
The site of Gath-hepher is well known, and the tomb of Jonah venerated. It is situated, as Jerome says, two miles from Sepphoris, on the way to Tiberias. The road from Nazareth to Tiberias also passes near it. It stands on the top of a rocky hill, and is now called Mashhad, which is the name commonly given in Syria to tomb or shrine of saint or prophet. On the very summit of the hill, visible from afar, is a little square building, surmounted by a white dome; and a very ancient tradition, received alike by Christians and Mohammedans, affirms that this building is the tomb of the prophet Jonah. P.]