God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the vine?” He said, “I am right to be angry, even to death.”
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 9. Death. The spirit of prophecy changes not the temper. Calmet.—Jonas had reason to be grieved, and so had God to shew mercy. In this history and prediction, who would have thought that Jonas had been a figure of our Saviour’s death and resurrection, if he himself had not declared it? Matthew 12. Worthington.—The prophet comes out of the fish alive, as Christ does from the tomb. He was cast into the sea to save those on board; Christ dies for the redemption of mankind. Jonas had been ordered to preach, but did not comply till after his escape; thus the gospel was designed to be preached to the Gentiles, yet Christ would not have it done till he had risen. Matthew 15:26. The prophet’s grief intimates the jealousy of the Jews; as his shade destroyed, points out the law, which leaves them in the greatest distress. The very name fish, ιχθυς, is a monogram of “Jesus Christ, the Son of God, a Saviour, ( Calmet.) or crucified.” Bible. S. Paulinus, ep. 33.—Hence Jonas most strikingly foreshowed Christ. Saint Augustine de civ. Dei. xviii. 30.
MICHEAS
THE PROPHECY OF MICHEAS