4:1
And Jonah was exceedingly troubled, and was angry:
Interlinear Gloss
For
he had said that he wanted to run away, and accuses the Lord of
injustice in a certain manner. That said, I have interpreted as 'I beseech you' is read as ANNA in Hebrew, which seems to me to express the prayer with a kind of coaxing.
Marginal Glosses
was exceedingly troubled:
It is not the multitude of the Gentiles who should be saved that made
him grieve, but it is that he sees his own nation going perish, and
that he had been the only one of the prophets chosen to announce the
people's ruin to them through the salvation of others and the lost hope
for Israel. Moreover our Lord wept for Jerusalem and refused to take
bread away from the children to give to the dogs (Mt 15:26). And the
Apostles preach firstly to Israel (Acts 13:46), and Paul wishes to be
accursed for his brothers who are Israelites (Rom 9:3). But Jonah,
which means grieving even unto death, is saddened for the people of the
Jews who shall die. The name of the griever is also appropriate to the
story, since it signifies the labor of the prophet, weighed down by the
miseries of his journey and the shipwreck.
4:2
And
he prayed to the Lord, and said: I beseech you, O Lord, is not this
what I said, when I was yet in my own country? therefore I went before
to flee into Tharsis: for I know that you are a gracious and merciful
God, patient, and of much compassion, and easy to forgive evil.
Interlinear Gloss
to the Lord- "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death [Mt. 26:38; Mk 14:34)." And again: "Into Your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit (Ps. 30:6)."
my life from me- I was not able to save the whole nation of Israel by living, but I will
die and the whole world will be saved.
Marginal Gloss
For I know that:
I knew that you are merciful and would do this: this is why I refused
to denounce you as fierce. Therefore I wanted to be free to flee to
Tharsis in contemplation, and I preferred the quiet and rest on the sea
of this age. I left my home, I left your bosom. If I had said that you
are merciful, gentle, that you pardon wickedness, no one would have
repented. If I had denounced you as a cruel God, I knew that such is
not your nature. In this dilemma I preferred to flee, rather than to
deceive those repenting with mildness, or to preach things about you
that you are not.
4:3-4
And now, O Lord, I beseech you take my life from me: for it is better for me to die than to live. 4:4 And the Lord said: Do you think you have reason to be angry?
Marginal Gloss
And
with reason God does not say to him: 'you are wrong to get angry' lest
He seem to find fault with the one made sad. Nor does He say, 'you
have reason to be angry', so as not to contradict His former sentence.
But He asks him whether he is angry so that he replies the causes of his
anger or suffering, or even, if he remains quiet, so that God's truth
can be proved by his silence about the judgment.
4:5
Then Jonah went out of the city, and sat toward the east side of the
city: and he made himself a booth there, and he sat under it in the
shadow, till he might see what would befall the city.
Interlinear Gloss
of the city- the world.
himself- He makes it himself, for no inhabitant of Nineveh of that age would have
been able to live with the prophet.
sat- He sits as a judge or by the majesty of his contract.
see- Recourse to Scriptures to preach to God
about human feelings.
Marginal Gloss
Jonah
the dove, or grieving, comes out of the city which Cain built,and lives
in the east whence the sun rises. And it is there in his tent, where
having contemplated the state of the world, he waits to see what is
going to happen. Before Nineveh was saved and before the gourd dried
up, before the Gospel of Christ, the manifested true East (Zec 6:12),
Jonah was under the shadow because the truth was not yet open.
4:6
And the Lord God prepared an ivy, and it came up over
the head of Jonah, to be a shadow over his head, and to cover him (for
he was fatigued): and Jonah was exceeding glad of the ivy.
Interlinear Gloss
came up- showing the miraculous power of God.
Marginal Glosses
God prepared:
For ivy in Hebrew we read ciceion, which grows quickly and dries
quickly, could be compared to Israel, it sends its little roots into the
ground and trying to raise itself up, but is not able to equal the
height of cedars and cypress trees of God.
Ivy or type of shrub or sapling having broad leaves and sustaining a very dense shadow, which creeps
across the ground, and without supports by which is supported does
not seek the heights. But God prepared this, so that rising up on high
without any support, it would supply shelter to the prophet in whom the
power of God was revealed. Israel is compared to this ivy or gourd,
which formerly covered Jonah under its shadow foreshadowing the
conversion of the Gentiles to Christ, and it granted great joy to him
making a shadow better than a house, having the likeness of a roof, but not having foundation.
4:7
But God prepared a worm, when the morning arose on the following day: and it struck the ivy and it withered.
Interlinear Glosses
worm- Christ, who says "I am a worm and not a man (Ps 21:7)."
ivy- which was green before the rise of the Sun of Justice, but when Christ
rose, the shade was deprived of the help of God and lost all its greenery.
Marginal Gloss
God prepared:
Some understand the worm and the burning wind represent the Romans,
who, after the resurrection of Christ, completely destroyed Israel.
4:8
And when the sun was risen, the Lord commanded a hot and burning wind:
and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, and he broiled with the heat:
and he desired for his soul that he might die, and said: It is better
for me to die than to live.
Interlinear Glosses
sun- The light dispersed the darkness of the Ninevites.
hot- And also in Hosea, "The
Lord will bring a burning wind that shall rise from the desert, and it
shall dry up his springs, and shall make his fountain desolate (Hos 13:15)."
broiled- with Israel.
might die- In the baptismal font in order to receive the moisture lost in denial. This is why Peter speaks to the Jews who
are parched, saying, "Do penance: and be baptized every one of you, so you shall receive the gift
of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38)."
4:9
And the Lord said to Jonah: Do you think you have reason to be
angry, for the ivy? And he said: I am angry with reason even unto
death.
Interlinear Glosses
Lord- the Father.
to Jonah- the Son.
Marginal Gloss
reason to be angry:
Before this time, when the people of Nineveh were saved through
penance, the prophet, when questioned, did not respond, but by his
silence, he assented to the questioning of God. For he knew God is
merciful and pardoning wickedness and he did not feel sad for the
salvation of the Gentiles; but once the gourd, Israel had dried up, and
when he is asked, 'do you well to be angry for the gourd?', he replies
with assurance, 'I do well to be angry and to suffer even unto death. I
did not want to save one only to see the others perish, to gain
foreigners only to lose my own'. And in truth up until this day Christ
weeps for Jerusalem and he weeps until death; not his own death, but
that of the Jews, so that they die refusing and rise up again confessing
the Son of God.
4:10
And the Lord said: You are grieved for the ivy, for which you have
not labored, nor made it to grow, which in one night came up, and in
one night perished.
Interlinear Glosses
you- Son.
the ivy- Jews condemned.
in one night- that is, the time before the coming of Christ.
one night perished- when the Sun of Justice set for them.
Marginal Gloss
you have not labored: In this instance Israel declares confidently, "Behold,
for so many years do I serve you, and yet you have never given me a
kid, who has devoured his substance with harlots, you have killed for
him the fatted calf (Lk 15:29-30)." He did not refute. But in this
account he hears, "all that I have is yours (Lk 15:31). Now we are
going back to celebrate your brother's behalf." For the precious blood
of Christ was shed for the Gentiles: He went down to the underworld so
that this people might rise up to heaven.
4:11
And shall I not spare Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more
than a hundred and twenty thousand persons, that know how to distinguish
between their right hand and their left, and many beasts?
Interlinear Glosses
Nineveh- prefigures the Church in which there is a
greater number of inhabitants than the twelve tribes of Israel.
know how to distinguish- And there is a great number who do not possess the faculty of reason.
Marginal Gloss
This
may be understood as the innocent and simple age of the very small
children and the suckling beasts; hence it may be inferred how great was
the number of older ones. if so great was the number of the very
young. Or because Nineveh was a great city, and "in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth" (2 Tim 2:20) because there was a great crowd that needed to repent and was ignorant of the difference between good and evil.
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