Those who regard lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
Parallel Translations
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Those who regard lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
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They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
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(2-9) They that regard lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
Cross-references (8)
Passages linked to Jonah 2:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 31:6 I hate those who regard lying vanities, but I trust in Yahweh.
- 2 Kings 17:15 They rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified to them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom Yahweh had commanded them that they should not do like them.
- Jeremiah 2:13 “For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut out cisterns for themselves: broken cisterns that can’t hold water.
- 1 Samuel 12:21 Don’t turn away to go after vain things which can’t profit or deliver, for they are vain.
- Jeremiah 10:8 But they are together brutish and foolish, instructed by idols! It is just wood.
- Habakkuk 2:18-20 “What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols? Woe to him who says to the wood, ‘Awake!’ or to the mute stone, ‘Arise!’ Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all within it. But Yahweh is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him!”
- Jeremiah 10:14-15 Every man has become brutish and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation they will perish.
- Jeremiah 16:19 Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the nations will come to you from the ends of the earth, and will say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, vanity and things in which there is no profit.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain Here Jonah says first, that men miserably go astray,…
Here Jonah says first, that men miserably go astray, when they turn aside to vain superstitions, for they rob themselves of the chief good: for he calls whatever help or aid that is necessary for salvation, the mercy of men. The sense then is that as soon as men depart from God, they depart from life and salvation, and that nothing is retained by them, for they willfully cast aside whatever good that can be hoped and desired. Some elicit a contrary meaning, that the superstitious, when they return to a sound mind, relinquish their own reproach; for חסד, chesad, sometimes means reproach. They then think that the way of true penitence is here described, — that when God restores men from their straying to the right way, he gives them at the same time a sound mind, so that they rid themselves from all their vices. This is indeed true, but it is too strained a meaning. Others confine this to the sailors who vowed sacrifices to God; as though Jonah had said, that they would soon relapse to their own follies, and bid adieu to God, who in his mercy had delivered them from shipwreck; so they explain their mercy to be God; but this is also too forced an explanation.
I doubt not, therefore, but that Jonah here sets his own religion in opposition to his false intentions of men; for it immediately follows, But I with the voice of praise will sacrifice to thee. Jonah, then, having before confessed that he would be thankful to God, now pours contempt on all those inventions which men foolishly contrive for themselves, and through which they withdraw themselves from the only true God, and from the sincere worship of him. For he calls all those devices, by which men deceive themselves, the vanities of falsehood; for it is certain that they are mere fallacies which men invent for themselves without the authority of God’s Word; for truth is one and simple, which God has revealed to us in his world. Whosoever then turns aside the least, either on this or on that side, seeks, as it were designedly, some imposture or another, by which he ruins himself. They then who follow such vanities, says Jonah, forsake their own mercy, that is they reject all happiness: for no aid and no help can be expected from any other quarter than from the only true God.
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But this passage deserves a careful notice; for we hence learn what value to attach to all superstitions, to all those opinions of men, when they attempt to set up religion according to their own will: for Jonah calls them lying or fallacious vanities. There is then but one true religion, the religion which God has taught us in his word. We must also notice, that men in vain weary themselves when they follow their own inventions; for the more strenuously they run, the farther they recede from the right way, as Augustine has well observed. But Jonah here adopts a higher principle, — that God alone possesses in himself all fullness of blessings: whosoever then truly and sincerely seeks God, will find in him whatever can be wished for salvation. But God is not to be sought but by obedience and faith: whosoever then dare to give themselves loose reins, so as to follow this or that without the warrant of God’s word, recede from God, and, at the same time, deprive themselves of all good things. The superstitious do indeed think that they gain much when they toil in their own inventions; but we see what the Holy Spirit declares by the mouth of Jonah. The Lord says the same by Jeremiah
“They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and cisterns have they digged for themselves,” (Jeremiah 2:13.)
There the Lord complains of his chosen people, who had gone astray after wicked superstitions. Hence, when men wander beyond the word of God, they in a manner renounce God, or say adieu to him; and thus they deprive themselves of all good things; for without God there is no salvation and no help to be found.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain They refuse their own felicity, and that goodness which…
They refuse their own felicity, and that goodness which they should else receive of God.
They that depend upon anything save on God alone.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jon 2:8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their…
Jon 2:8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
Ver. 8. They that observe lying vanities] That listen to sense and reason in matters of God, and make provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof, as Jonah had done to his cost, till, having paid for his learning, he descried them all to be but "lying vanities," or most vain vanities, empty nothings.
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Forsake their own mercy] Are miserable by their own election, because sinners, in a special manner, "against their own souls," as were Korah and his accomplices, Num 15:38; as was Pope Silvester, who gave his soul to the devil for seven years’ enjoyment of the popedom; and as are all those wilful wicked persons, that refusing to be reformed, and hating to be healed, choose to spend the span of this life after the ways of their own hearts, though they thereby perish for ever. These are those fools of the people, that prefer an apple before paradise, a mess of pottage before the inheritance of heaven, their swine before their Saviour, turning their backs upon those blessed and bleeding embracements of his, and cruelly cutting the throats of their own poor souls by an impenitent continuance in sin; so losing, for a few bitter sweet pleasures, or paltry profits in this vale of tears, for an inch of time, that fulness of felicity at God’s right hand, through all eternity. It is written of them who tame the tiger, that when they have taken away the young one, knowing that presently they shall be pursued by the old tigress, they set lookingglasses in the way by which they flee; whereunto when she cometh and seeth some representation of herself, she lingereth about them a good space, deceived by the shadow, and detained in a vain hope to recover the young again; meanwhile the hunter most speedily posteth away with his prey. Likewise deals Satan with the men of this world (saith mine author); he casts before them the deceitful lusts of profit, pleasure, and preferment, the worldling’s trinity, those "lying vanities," being none other than shadows and semblances of good; yet are men so delighted with these that they dote about them, having no care to pursue the enemy for recovery of that image of God, the Divine nature, that Satan hath beguiled them from. He setteth them to the tree of knowledge, that they may not taste of the tree of life. He putteth out their eyes with the dust of covetousness, and shutteth their ears against the instructions of life, lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their hearts, and should be converted, and God should heal them, Mat 13:15. In all which there is not anything more to be lamented than this, that people should "love to have it so," Jer 5:31; be active in their own utter undoing, Hos 13:9; wittingly and willingly forsake God, the fountain of living waters, their own mercies, as he is here called, and elsewhere, Psa 144:2, and hew themselves out "cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water," Jer 2:13.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Whoever they are that do, as the heathen mariners,…
Whoever they are that do, as the heathen mariners, seek to, depend upon, and wait for help from idols, false gods, whoever choose them for their assistance, and worship them, do depend upon most false grounds, wait for most lying and deceiving objects; and this of the prophet is true of, and applicable to, all our creature dependencies, to all trust reposed in any but God himself; these dig to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water, Jer 2:13.
Forsake; turn away from, and do really and practically forsake, God, as he leaves the east who goeth on to the west; trust in God and idols are as opposite as is the east to the west.
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Their own mercy; the Lord, who is to all that seek him, and depend on him, the fountain of living waters, who is an eternal fountain of mercy, and flows forth freely to all that wait for him.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And the Lord spake unto the fish,.... Or gave…
And the Lord spake unto the fish,.... Or gave orders to it; he that made it could command it; all creatures are the servants of God, and do his will; what he says is done; he so ordered it by his providence, that this fish should come near the shore, and be so wrought upon by his power, that it could not retain Jonah any longer in its belly. It may be rendered (h), "then the Lord spake", &c. after Jonah had finished his prayer, or put up those ejaculations, the substance of which is contained in the above narrative:
and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land; not upon the shore of the Red sea, as some; much less upon the shore of Nineveh, which was not built upon the seashore, but upon the river Tigris; and the fish must have carried him all round Africa, and part of Asia, to have brought him to the banks of the Tigris; which could not have been done in three days' time, nor in much greater. Josephus (i) says it was upon the shore of the Euxine sea; but the nearest part of it to Nineveh was one thousand six hundred miles from Tarsus, which the whale, very slow in swimming, cannot be thought to go in three days; besides, no very large fish swim in the Euxine sea, because of the straits of the Propontis, through which they cannot pass, as Bochart (k) from various writers has proved. It is more likely, as others, that it was on the Syrian shore, or in the bay of Issus, now called the gulf of Lajazzo; or near Alexandria, or Alexandretta, now Scanderoon. But why not on the shore of Palestine? and, indeed, why not near the place from whence they sailed? Huetius (l) and others think it probable that this case of Jonah gave rise to the story of Arion, who was cast into the sea by the mariners, took up by a dolphin, and carried to Corinth. Jonah's deliverance was a type of our Lord's resurrection from the dead on the third day, Mat 12:40; and a pledge of ours; for, after this instance of divine power, why should it be thought a thing incredible that God should raise the dead?
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(h) So is sometimes used, and is so rendered, Psal. lxxviii. 34. Job x. 10. See Noldius, p. 308, 309. (i) Antiqu. l. 9. c. 10. sect. 2. (k) Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 5. c. 12. col. 744. (l) Demonstr. Evangel. prop. 4. p. 294.
Next: Jonah Chapter 3
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain They - Whoever they are that depend upon idols.…
They - Whoever they are that depend upon idols. Mercy - The Lord, who is to all that depend upon him, the fountain of living waters; who is an eternal fountain of mercy, and flows freely to all that wait for him.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 8. They that observe lying vanities] They that…
Verse 8. They that observe lying vanities] They that trust in idols, follow vain predictions, permit themselves to be influenced with foolish fears, so as to induce them to leave the path of obvious duty, forsake their own mercy. In leaving that God who is the Fountain of mercy, they abandon that measure of mercy which he had treasured up for them.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jon 2:8-9. They that observe lying vanities, &c. —…
Jon 2:8-9. They that observe lying vanities, &c. — They that seek to, or trust in, idols, (often called by the names of vanity and lies,) forsake their own mercy — Forsake him who alone is able to show mercy to them, and preserve them in time of danger: who, to all that depend upon him, is an eternal fountain of mercy, even a fountain of living waters which flow freely to all that seek unto him for them. But I will sacrifice unto thee, &c. — I will offer to thee those thanks which I solemnly promised to pay in the time of my trouble, and which will be as acceptable to thee as the sacrifices of slain beasts.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain They that observe lying vanities - , i. e.,…
They that observe lying vanities - , i. e., (by the force of the Hebrew form , that diligently watch, pay deference to, court, sue, “vanities of vanities,” vain things, which prove themselves vain at last, failing the hopes which trust in them. Such were actual idols, in which men openly professed that they trusted Such are all things in which men trust, out of God. One is not more vain than another. All have this common principle of vanity, that people look, out of God, to that which has its only existence or permanence from God. It is then one general maxim, including all people’s idols, idols of the flesh, idols of intellect, idols of ambition, idols of pride, idols of self and self-will. People “observe” them, as gods, watch them, hang upon them, never lose sight of them, guard them as though they could keep them. But what are they? “lying vanities,” breath and wind, which none can grasp or detain, vanishing like air into air.
And what do they who so “observe” them? All alike “forsake their own mercy;” i. e., God, “Whose property is, always to have mercy,” and who would be mercy to them, if they would. So David calls God, “my mercy.” Psa 144:2. Abraham’s servant and Naomi praise God, that He “hath not forsaken His mercy” Gen 24:27; Rth 2:20. Jonah does not, in this, exclude himself. His own idol had been his false love for his country, that he would not have his people go into captivity, when God would; would not have Nineveh preserved, the enemy of his country; and by leaving his office, he left his God, “forsook” his “own mercy.” See how God speaks of Himself, as wholly belonging to them, who are His. He calls Himself “their own mercy” . He saith not, “they who” do “vanities,” (for Ecc 1:2. ‘vanity of vanities, and all things are vanity’) lest he should seem to condemn all, and to deny mercy to the whole human race; but “they who observe, guard vanities,” or lies; “they,” into the affections of whose hearts those “vanities” have entered; who not only “do vanities,” but who “guard” them, as loving them, deeming that they have found a treasure - These “forsake their own mercy.” Although mercy be offended (and under mercy we may understand God Himself, for God is Psa 145:8, “gracious and full of compassion; slow to anger and of great mercy,”) yet he doth not “forsake,” doth not abhor, “those who guard vanities,” but awaiteth that they should return: these contrariwise, of their own will, “forsake mercy” standing and offering itself.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Me, at the last gasp, (Calmet) and oppressed with…
Me, at the last gasp, (Calmet) and oppressed with grief. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain observe lying vanities--regard or reverence idols, powerless to save…
observe lying vanities--regard or reverence idols, powerless to save ().
mercy--Jehovah, the very idea of whom is identified now in Jonah's mind with mercy and loving-kindness. As the Psalmist () styles Him, "my goodness"; God who is to me all beneficence. Compare , "the God of my mercy," literally, "my kindness-God." Jonah had "forsaken His own mercy," God, to flee to heathen lands where "lying vanities" (idols) were worshipped. But now, taught by his own preservation in conscious life in the fish's belly, and by the inability of the mariners idols to lull the storm (), estrangement from God seems estrangement from his own happiness (; ). Prayer has been restrained in Jonah's case, so that he was "fast asleep" in the midst of danger, heretofore; but now prayer is the sure sign of his return to God.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 8, 9. The wonderful deliverance has taught the singer…
8, 9. The wonderful deliverance has taught the singer a lesson. Whatever others may do, he will remain loyal to Jehovah, the God of his deliverance. The main thought is expressed in Jon_2:9; Jon_2:8 serves to emphasize the determination of the speaker.
They that observe [“regard”] lying vanities — All who pay homage to idols and put their trust in them (Deu_32:21; Psa_31:6; compare Hos_10:10). The idols are called “lying vanities” because they are ever disappointing those putting their trust in them.
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Forsake their own mercy — Forsake Him who is their mercy, or who alone can show them mercy. The same word is translated in Psa_144:2, “loving-kindness” (see on Hos_2:19). From Jehovah and from manifestations of his mercy they foolishly cut themselves off. Not so the psalmist; he will seek to retain the divine favor by meeting all his obligations to Jehovah. This determination is based upon his past experience of the power and mercy of his God. Marti thinks that before Jon_2:9 two lines have fallen out, and he supplies, “But I trust in thee, Jehovah, my saviour” (Psa_31:6).
Sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving — He will offer his sacrifices with expressions of praise and thanksgiving (Psa_42:4).
Pay that that I have vowed — While in distress (Psa_50:14; Psa_50:23). Nothing is said in the rest of the prayer or in the narrative of a vow made by Jonah (compare the vow of the sailors, Jon_1:16).
Salvation is of Jehovah — “The sum and substance of the whole hymn” (Psa_3:8). Jehovah alone can deliver; therefore in him he will trust forever. On Jon_2:10 see after comments on Jon_1:17.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 8. observe lying vanities] Comp. Psa_31:6, where the same…
8. observe lying vanities] Comp. Psa_31:6, where the same Heb. word is rendered “regard.” By “lying vanities” we are to understand “all inventions with which men deceive themselves” (Calvin), all false, and therefore vain and disappointing objects of trust and confidence. Idols and false gods are no doubt included, but the sentiment is conceived and expressed in the most general form, and therefore embraces Jonah’s own case. He had observed the lying vanity, the deceitful promise of his own will and his own way, as opposed to God; and not only had he found that God was stronger than he, but he had been brought to see and confess that in such a course he had been his own enemy.
forsake their own mercy] Rather, their mercy. Some (as Kalisch, for example) would render, “they forget their kindness,” i.e. “they quickly and heedlessly forget the mercies they have enjoyed; the word forsake being taken in the sense of deserting, or dismissing, viz. from their thoughts,” and “their mercies,” as analogous to the phrase, the sure mercies of David (Isa_55:3), “the benefits conferred upon or enjoyed by David.” But, apart from the meaning thus arbitrarily given to the word “forsake,” the sentiment attributed to the writer is unsatisfactory and untrue. “The suppliant declares,” writes Kalisch, “I was in distress, I prayed and was saved; and now, unlike the idolaters who gracelessly forget the bounties they have received, I shall evince my gratitude to Jehovah by the voice of praise and by sacred gifts.” But it is not true that the idolaters in this sense “forget the benefits they have received,” as ch. Jon_1:16 shows, and as the heathen temples filled with votive offerings in acknowledgment of deliverance abundantly testify.
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By “their mercy” we are to understand God, who is the only source of mercy and loving-kindness to all His creatures. The sentiment is similar to that which is figuratively expressed by the prophet Jeremiah: “They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” (Jer_2:13.) So God is called, “my mercy,” Psa_144:2 (margin), the same word being used as here.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (8) They that observe lying vanities.—See Note, Psa_31:6.
(8) They that observe lying vanities.—See Note, Psa_31:6.
Forsake their own mercy—i.e., forfeit their own share of the covenant grace. In Psa_37:28 it is said that Jehovah does not forsake his chasîdim; they, however, by forsaking Jehovah (Himself called Israel’s mercy, Psa_144:2, margin) and His law (Psa_89:30) can forfeit their chesed or covenant privilege.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Jonah contrasts the joy and comfort arising from the…
Jonah contrasts the joy and comfort arising from the thought of God with the miserable fate of idolaters. They that observe; (Hos_12:11 1Co_8:4) Their own mercy; i.e. their state of favour with God the mercy shown to them, as "the mercies of shown to David"; (Isa_55:3) or God himself, the Fountain of mercy and goodness. (Psa_144:2) Henderson translates, "forsake their Benefactor.
The vanity of idolatry.
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Jonah had been brought into association with idolaters in the person of the mariners of the ship but of which he had been cast. It may be that this fact accounts for the reference in this passage to those who worship other gods than the Lord. The more he experienced the faithfulness and goodness of Jehovah, the more was he convinced that there was none other entitled to reverence, confidence, and prayers.
I THE DESCRIPTION HERE GIVEN OF IDOLATERS. They are such as "observe lying vanities." The Hebrews, whether pious or not, were monotheists, and regarded with contempt the idolatrous superstitions of their neighbours. The language of irony occurs in several places of Old Testament Scripture when allusion is made to the impotence of the gods of the nations. Yet it may be profitably remembered by ourselves, who may have no immediate connection with professed idolaters, that whatever men substitute for God, as the law of life and the object of devotion and trust, will surely deceive all those who put their faith therein.
II THE FATE HERE FORETOLD OF IDOLATERS. Their "mercy," their "goodness," is the God whom they forget, and to whom they are so infatuated as to prefer the "lying vanities" here censured. They who quit the Lord prepare for themselves a terrible fate. In God is salvation; out of him is destruction. There is something appalling in the doom which is here described as overtaking those who, when the Saviour may be found, turn their back upon him, in order to seek and to serve other gods. Such are said to "forsake their own mercy." They act against their highest interests; they refuse the richest blessing; they abjure their truest Friend.
"Lying vanities.
1. Vanities. Vanities are vain things things that deceive. Such are idols. All things are idols that men trust out of God. Jonah had his idol it was his false love for his country. How many idols! ambition, pride, strength, wealth, influence, self, self-will. And men observe them as gods. But they are all "lying." They deceive. Their promises fail. One only is "faithful who has promised" us happiness.
2. The consequence of observing these lying vanities. Men who observe them "forsake their own mercy." How much they leave! Mercy! It is to all; but not to all alike. "Their own." In turning to any idol, men forsake God, "whose property is always to have mercy. G.T.C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
Jon_2:8
They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
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The value of superstitions
Here we learn the value to attach to all superstitions, to all those opinions of men, when they attempt to set up religion according to their own will; for Jonah calls them lying or fallacious vanities. There is, then, but one true religion, the religion which God has taught us in His Word. Men in vain weary themselves when they follow their own inventions,--for the more strenuously they run, the farther they recede from the right way, as Augustine has well observed. But Jonah here adopts a higher principle,--that God alone possesses in Himself all fulness of blessings; whosoever, then, truly and sincerely seeks God, will find in Him whatever can be wished for salvation. God is not to be sought but by obedience and faith; whosoever, then, dare to give themselves loose reins, so as to follow this or that without the warrant of Gods Word, recede from God, and at the same time deprive themselves of all good things. The superstitious do indeed think that they gain much when they toil in their own inventions; but we see what the Holy Spirit declares by the mouth of Jonah. The Lord says by Jeremiah, They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and cisterns have they digged for themselves. (Jer_2:13). There the Lord complains of His chosen people, who had gone astray after wicked superstitions. Hence when men wander beyond the Word of God, they in a manner renounce God, or say adieu to Him, and thus they deprive themselves of all good things; for without God there is no salvation, and no help to be found. (John Calvin.)
The sin and folly of observing lying vanities
I. The foolish practice of observing lying vanities. Lying vanities may comprehend all kinds of sin whereby men are deceived and led away from the paths of truth and righteousness into error and iniquity. The Hebrew words express the deceitful nature of the vanities here intended. That which is rendered vanity signifies falsehood, rashness, or deceit. That translated lying denotes light, trivial, or airy.
1. Those who follow the delusive practice of sin. Sinful objects and pursuits are all unprofitable and vain, and can never do us any real good. Those who worship and serve strange gods, or pretend to serve the living God in any other way than He hath appointed, follow after lying vanities. By sinful practices you may increase in riches, but your profit will not countervail your loss. By sinning against God you can have no real, lasting advantage.
2. Those who greedily pursue the deceitful enjoyments of this world. The most valued worldly enjoyments cannot so much as alleviate personal distress; how, then, shall they deliver out of spiritual trouble? Need not vilify the things of this world. We speak of present enjoyments, separate from the love and favour of God, when the heart is supremely fixed upon them, and chiefly solicitous to acquire and preserve them. To those who choose them for their portion they prove lying vanities.
3. Those who entertain vain hopes of salvation upon insufficient grounds. We need not speak in disparagement of good works; but they must not be the foundation of our hope. They are the blessed fruits of redemption and renovation,
4. Those who leave the paths of righteousness to walk in their own devices. There are various ways by which men come under this description. Sometimes laying aside a sense of the Divine presence and authority, men impose upon themselves by the most foolish pretexts. Sometimes men desert from their duty on account of the difficulties with which the discharge of it may be attended. Some neglect their duty through wrong apprehensions of Divine dispensations.
II. The pernicious tendency of such conduct. They forsake their own mercy. The words suppose that the tender mercy of Jehovah is communicated to sinners of mankind in various ways, suited to relieve their necessities; and that to this abundant mercy which they obtain from God they may acquire such a covenant right and title, through the Lord Jesus Christ, by closely adhering to God and their duty, as that it may be considered as their own privilege and portion. What mercy, what spiritual benefit or comfort, can a man enjoy in sinning against God, whereby he dishonours his Maker, wounds his own conscience, and destroys his own soul? Nothing is to be acquired by sinful practices that is worth the having. Application. Every one should be deeply humbled in the sight of God, on account of our having followed lying vanities and forsaken our own mercy. A little serious reflection may furnish each of us with many instances of this sort, with which we justly stand chargeable. How many erroneous doctrines and false principles are propagated and supported among us! How many deceitful, ensnaring practices are indulged and followed among us! (W. MCulloch.)
Lying vanities
It is not enough to show that Christs claims are not opposed to our interests, and that therefore we do not sacrifice our true well-being when we submit ourselves to Him; we must further show that Christ definitely proposes to advance our present as well as our future interests, and that these cannot be otherwise safely assured; and hence that we sacrifice our personal interests, and sin against our true well-being when we turn our backs on Him. The prophet only expresses what we may all, if we will, see for our selves. Even in this world the suffering and misery that men bring upon them selves by their own conduct far exceeds all that they would otherwise be called upon to endure. How much of all our sufferings springs directly or indirectly from sin! And all this we might escape if only we yielded ourselves to God instead of flying away from Him. And such suffering is the cruellest of all, because we have to reproach ourselves for it, and because of the painful memories it leaves behind. And we must not dwell only upon the actual miseries that we entail upon ourselves, but also upon the comfort and consolation which we deny our selves amidst the trials which are the common lot of all. Our own mercy. Think of what that means. No petition is more common on human lips than the cry for mercy. We feel that we need mercy. Surely man is not only natures greatest work; but also natures greatest victim, unless there be mercy within our reach, mercy from some Grander Power than nature, who can feel for us. And the great Father is rich in mercy. He brings within our reach such a provision of mercy as He sees to be perfectly adapted to our complex needs, and represents it to us in the Gospel of His Son. It is this provision that men turn their backs upon when they turn their backs on Christ. Verily, it is true, They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. How comes it to pass that men are so blind to their own interests? Why do men forsake their own mercies? A certain class of persons is here dealt with those who observe lying vanities. Satan wins influence over men, and maintains and extends it, by falsehood. And falsehood is a power. The process of blinding is carried on by the great deceiver in such a manner as to induce a false and misleading estimate of the relative value of things, and even of their relations to our happiness and well-being. The objects which Satan exhibits to mans imagination through a distorted and deceptive medium are described here as lying vanities. The phrase suggests specious falsehood, and pretentious inanity. Illustrate by the desert mirage. Who has not at one time or another been bewildered and misled by the vast mirage of life? When we yield ourselves to the great deceiver we become his helpless dupes. Observe signifies diligent watching,--the giving up of our mind and attention to a specific object. Compare the sentence, Who mind earthly things. All earthly things, viewed apart from their connection with things eternal, are in themselves vanities,--they leave the heart still unsatisfied. When we attempt to find our portion in these things of this world they become not only vanities, but lying vanities,--promising to do what they never can do, and ever leading their votaries, as on a fools errand, in quest of that which they are foredoomed never to discover. When once ,man has surrendered his sense to the solicitations of the flesh, you can almost predict with certainty how he will act under certain circumstances. We have but little freedom left when once we have begun to observe--to give our minds to--lying vanities. Our freedom consists rather in our power to decide whether of the two classes of objects we will observe, whether we will yield our hearts to the Spirit of truth, who reveals to us the things that are above--the things of God; or whether we will yield our hearts to the spirit of lies, who spreads out before us earthly things, and endeavours to invest them in our eyes with fictitious qualities and characteristics. (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Jon_2:8.] When prayer reaches to God he helps and…
CRITICAL NOTES.
Jon_2:8.] When prayer reaches to God he helps and saves. Salvation is only from Him. Idolaters forfeit their mercy. Observe] Lit. regard, hold to, an intensive form: “pay deference to court, sue vanity of vanities, vain things which prove ruin at last” [Pusey]. Mercy] Lit. their goodness, i.e. God, their Benefactor, the Author of all mercies (Psa_144:2).
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Jon_2:9. I will] The vow of a pious man as opposed to the life of apostates. As the mariners ended their sacrifice with vows, so Jonah ends his prayer with thanksgiving. Sal.] Lit. a mighty salvation (an intensive form) which God gives to his people after affliction, “is wholly His; all belongs to Him, so that none can share in bestowing it” [Pusey].
Jon_2:10. Spake] His uttered voice produces everything. In heaven, earth, and sea, all things submit to him. Land] Probably the coast of Palestine. This circumstance typical of a more wonderful event, when death will be swallowed up of victory (Isa_26:19; 1Co_15:54).
THE MORAL CONTRASTS IN LIFE.—Jon_2:8-9
Jonah now expresses his feelings in sacrifice and praise, resolves to lead a new life, and pay his vows to God. This conduct stands in marked contrast to the ungodly who forget God, and forsake their own interests.
I. God is the highest good of men. What is the chief good of humanity has been the problem of ages, the aim of all religion and philosophy. Many have been the theories concerning it; but the declaration of God’s word decides the question.
1. God is the supreme good in himself. David calls him, my goodness (Psa_144:2), my kindness or benignity; the God of my mercy (Psa_59:17). What is comprehended in the summum bonum of man—wisdom and justice, beauty and love—belong to him. He is the infinite excellence and the ultimate good of all men.
2. God is the source of goodness to others. He is good in himself, and his tender mercies are over all his works. He is the source and fountain of all our enjoyments. When he relieves the miserable it is mercy; when he bestows favour upon the unworthy it is grace; when he supplies the indigent it is bounty. God’s mercy includes all the forms of his kindness shown to men; whether considered as creatures, as sinners, or as believers. “The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.”
II. The wicked forsake God, their highest good.
1. This conduct is wilful. God does not forsake them. They voluntarily forsake him, and therefore should not blame him. Examples warn, hindrances check them, but they go on. In opposition to light and known results they obstinately choose death rather than life.
2. This conduct is injurious. “They forsake their own mercy.” They take nothing from God, but rob themselves of natural enjoyments, Divine favour which is better than life, and commit moral suicide. Sinners put God from them, who would be their life, and destroy themselves (Hos_13:9). “He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul; all they that hate me love death.”
3. This conduct is foolish. “They observe lying vanities.” They forsake the true for the false.
(1) Idols are vanities. The gods of the heathen, or the idols of modern days, are empty and vain. The worship of mammon and the desire of fame, the gods of intellect and superstitions, are worthless things.
(2) Idols are lying vanities. They are both vanity and falsehood. They deceive by vain show, and in the end disappoint.
(3) Yet men observe idols. They guard and love them, depend upon them, and pursue them with eagerness. Falsehood can neither feed the mind nor calm the conscience. Everything apart from God is vanity and lies. “O ye sons of men, how long will ye love vanity?”
III. The righteous serve God, their highest good. The grace that had called forth prayer now ends in praise. Jonah vows, and pays his vows.
1. They offer thanksgiving to God. “The voice of praise.” When we drink of the stream we should lift up our head to heaven. The least mercies are great when viewed as coming from God. Let this be felt, then we shall enjoy them, and gladly offer the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Our gratitude will be (a) sincere, (b) devout, and (c) continual. “Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually; that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.”
2. They dedicate their lives to God. They renew their vows, and bind their treacherous heart the faster to God and duty. Jonah was ready to go and preach at Nineveh, or serve God anywhere, now. God’s loving correction had made him great and bold. Let our oath of allegiance be renewed in every deliverance from trouble. Do not show coldness and ingratitude, which sense of duty and natural shame allow not to an earthly benefactor. Our future life should be a hymn of praise and a living sacrifice. Let the power derived from discipline, the gratitude prompted by mercy, be practical and abiding. “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me; and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Jon_2:8. Such were actual idols in which men openly professed that they trusted. Such are all things in which men trust out of God. One is not more vain than another. All have this common principle of vanity. It is, then, one general maxim, including all men’s idols—idols of the flesh, idols of intellect, idols of ambition, idols of pride, idols of self and self-will. Men observe them as gods; watch them, hang upon them, never lose sight of them, guard them as though they could keep them. But what are they? Lying vanities; breath and wind which none can grasp or detain, vanishing like air into air. And what do they who so observe them? All alike forsake their own mercy, i.e. God, whose property is always to have mercy, and who would be mercy to them if they wanted [Pusey].
Jon_2:9. Praise. It must be noticed here that the worship of God especially consists in praises, as it is said in Psalms 50; for there God shows that he regards as nothing all sacrifices except they answer this end—to set forth the praise of his name [Calvin].
Sacrifice. Now to offer a sacrifice at such a confession or thanksgiving added much to the solemnity thereof; and made it more honourable in itself and more acceptable to God [Trapp].
Vow. The Hebrew word seemeth to imply two things: First, that his vow till paid was incomplete; it was an imperfect thing; the better part of it was yet wanting. Next, till that were done he could not be at peace within himself; for vows are debts; and debts till they be paid are a burden to an honest mind, and do much disease it [Ibid.].
HOMILETICS
SALVATION OF THE LORD.—Jon_2:9
By salvation here we do not understand Jonah’s deliverance from death merely. Dr Gill says there is something so special in the original, the word having one more letter than it usually has when it only refers to temporal deliverance, that we must understand it here as relating to the great work of the soul, which endureth for ever. That salvation I shall try to show as best I can.
I. Expound the doctrine that salvation is of Jehovah. To begin at the beginning, the plan of salvation is entirely of God. And as in planning, so it was of the Lord in execution. Salvation, in the application of it, is from God. As to the sustaining of the work in a man’s heart, salvation is of the Lord.
II. God has hedged this doctrine about to prevent mistake. Some say, salvation in some cases is the result of natural temperament. Others, that the minister converts them. God takes care that salvation is not of man, for usually he blesses those who seem most unlikely to be useful.
III. What is, what should be, the influence of this doctrine upon men? First, with sinners this doctrine is a great battering-ram against their pride. What influence upon the saint? Why, it is the keystone of all Divinity. I will defy you to be heterodox if you believe it; proud, if you feel it, you cannot be. You will not be distrustful. You may always be joyful if you keep it in mind. This may, by grace, nerve you to work for God. Go and preach the gospel everywhere, recollecting that God is more than a match for man’s sin; and will ye be master over the earth? [Spurgeon].
THE GREAT DELIVERANCE.—Jon_2:9-10
These words were the result of recent experience, penned in grateful feeling, and adapted to all ages.
I. The inestimable blessing. “Salvation.”
1. Its magnitude. In the intensive form it denotes a mighty salvation. The force of the Hebrew may include temporal and eternal salvation. Jonah’s deliverance was unknown in history, unparalleled in God’s dealings with men. God’s power is drawn out by the emergencies of his people, often reserved for great occasions, and unlimited in its nature. “So great a salvation” is offered in Christ, that men should receive it and glorify him.
2. Its fulness. It was a complete salvation. Jonah was not left in the deep, nor sent to the surface to swim to land. The fish vomited out and cast him on dry land. He was left in no danger, but enjoyed a perfect rescue. “His work is honourable and glorious.”
II. The Divine source from which it comes. “Salvation is of the Lord.” It is wholly his; and not part his, and part ours. It is specially and peculiarly his. It belongs to him, and no other. Hence understand the words,
1. Affirmatively. “To Jehovah be ascribed salvation.” “Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever.”
2. Negatively. There is salvation from no other source. “Beside me there is no Saviour.”
III. The wonderful method of its accomplishment. God “spake unto the fish.” Some deny an active will and a personal presence in nature. They recognize nothing but matter and force. All creatures are controlled by law and instinct, say they. But Creation is subject to God’s will. A fish was prepared for Jonah, and at the bidding of Jehovah it disgorged him. Hence, notice—
1. The power of God over all creatures. The beasts of the field, and the fish of the sea; “all cattle, creeping things, and flying fowl,” are governed by him.
2. The ease with which God governs all creatures. He has only to speak—the world is created, the storm is stilled, and the dead are raised. In heaven above, and in the remotest bounds of space, the highest archangel and the smallest atom, hearken and obey the voice of God.
3. The times in which God accomplishes his purpose in reference to all creatures. The time of the prophet’s deliverance was come, and the sea-monster in whose belly he had traversed the deep, could not retain him. With unerring precision it bore him through the trackless ocean to the destined shore. Events are subservient to God, and at his pleasure carry believers to appointed duty, needful trial, and purchased rest. However dark your position or agitated your course, let faith realize, and prayer ask for, the overruling will of God, and all will be well. “My times are in thy hand.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Jon_2:9. Salvation of God.
1. The feeling of assurance.
2. The expression of gratitude.
3. The ground of encouragement to others. Turn the prison of the world into the temple of God and it will not be able to detain thee [Lange].
Jon_2:10. That time might not efface his impressions, he would hasten to record, under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, for the instruction of his own countrymen and the Israel of God in all ages, the trials, mercies, and experience of the last few eventful days. The record has reached us, and besides other instruction, may remind us—First, That the troubles of believers have an appointed end, and a joyful one: the rod of their correction is not for ever (Psa_77:7-11; Isa_49:14-15). Let them, then, believe, submit, and wait. Secondly, That trust in God is that grace which it is their privilege and duty to exercise under all circumstances, even under manifest chastisements for admitted sins. The issue of such trust shall be good, truly and thoroughly good, and often, beyond all expectation, blessed and joyful. Thirdly, That Christians should not sorrow over departed Christians, as they who are without hope. This extraordinary circumstance in Jonah’s history was typical of the far more wonderful and glorious event of the resurrection of Christ, and those who sleep with him. The grave shall disgorge her temporary prey, and then shall be brought to pass the saying, Death is swallowed up of victory [Sibthorp].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2
Jon_2:1-4. Affliction. Sorrow sanctifies the soul that has passed through it, renders it supple and sweet, prompt with gentle sympathy. Larger self-knowledge has been acquired. One can date from such seasons deeper emotions, broader lines of thought, a stronger character, and enlarged experience. As Rodgers sings—
“The good are better made by ill,
As odours crushed are sweeter still.”
Jon_2:5-6. Here his cry might be as dolorous as that of David in Psalms 69. Some of the tried children of God have found cause to make it theirs; and so would all, if he gave the reins to their soul’s enemies or dealt with them as their iniquities deserve. Let us look at the sufferings of Abraham, Joseph, Job, David, Jeremiah, Paul, and others of God’s ancient saints, and adore his mercy toward us. But let us look from them at the Saviour, and at the deep and stormy waters he passed through [Sibthorp].
“Night brings out stars, as sorrow teaches truth.”
Jon_2:7. Remembered. As God doth plant and actuate grace in the soul, so he is pleased to come in with seasonable supplies and reinforcements to the weak and decayed graces of his people. Thus he feeds the believer’s lamp with fresh oil; gives in more faith, more love, more hope, and more desires; and hereby he gives power to the faint, and strengthens the things which remain and are ready to die [John Willison].
This truth the poet sings—
“That a sorrow’s crown of sorrow is remembering happier things” [Tennyson].
Jon_2:8. Vanity. As well try to fill the yawning chasm with a few grains of sand as satisfy the gulf of the soul’s desires with the pleasure of an empty world [Macduff].
Jon_2:9. Vowed. The Archbishop of Cologne, being asked by the Emperor Sigismund how to attain true happiness, replied, “Perform when thou art well what thou promised when thou wast sick.”
Jon_2:10. Providence. We are not able to account for the method of Divine providence in many instances. We talk of special and general providence; but it would be better if we could see that human life is one grand providence and purpose.
“Each man’s life is all men’s lessons.” [Lord Lytton.]
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain
Jonah
‘LYING VANITIES’
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Jon 2:8.
Jonah’s refusal to obey the divine command to go to Nineveh and cry against it is best taken, not as prosaic history, but as a poetical representation of Israel’s failure to obey the divine call of witnessing for God. In like manner, his being cast into the sea and swallowed by the great fish, is a poetic reproduction, for homiletical purposes, of Israel’s sufferings at the hands of the heathen whom it had failed to warn. The song which is put into Jonah’s mouth when in the fish’s belly, of which our text is a fragment, represents the result on the part of the nation of these hard experiences. ‘Lying vanities’ mean idols, and ‘their own mercy’ means God. The text is a brief, pregnant utterance of the great truth which had been forced home to Israel by sufferings and exile, that to turn from Jehovah to false gods was to turn from the sure source of tender care to lies and emptiness. That is but one case of the wider truth that an ungodly life is the acme of stupidity, a tragic mistake, as well as a great sin.
In confirmation and enforcement of our text we may consider:-
I. The illusory vanity of the objects pursued.
The Old Testament tone of reference to idols is one of bitter contempt. Its rigid monotheism was intensified and embittered by the universal prevalence of idolatry; and there is a certain hardness in its tone in reference to the gods of the nations round about, which has little room for pity, and finds expression in such names as those of our text-’vanities,’ ‘lies,’ ‘nothingness,’ and the like. To the Jew, encompassed on all sides by idol-worshippers, the alternative was vehement indignation or entire surrender. The Mohammedan in British India exhibits much the same attitude to Vishnu and Siva as the Jew did to Baal and Ashtoreth. It is easy to be tolerant of dead gods, but it becomes treason to Jehovah to parley with them when they are alive.
But the point which we desire to insist upon here is somewhat wider than the vanity of idols. It is the emptiness of all objects of human pursuit apart from God. These last three words need to be made very prominent; for in itself ‘every creature of God is good,’ and the emptiness does not inhere in themselves, but first appears when they are set in His place. He, and only He, can, and does, satisfy the whole nature-is authority for the will, peace for the conscience, love for the heart, light for the understanding, rest for all seeking. He, and He alone, can fill the past with the light in which is no regret, the present with a satisfaction rounded and complete, the future with a hope certain as experience, to which we shall ever approximate, and which we can never exhaust and outgrow. Any, or all, the other objects of human endeavour may be won, and yet we may be miserable. The inadequacy of all these ought to be pressed home upon us more than it is, not only by their limitations whilst they last, but by the transiency of them all. ‘The fashion of this world passeth away,’ as the Apostle John puts it, in a forcible expression which likens all this frame of things to a panorama being unwound from one roller and on to another. The painted screen is but paint at the best, and is in perpetual motion, which is not arrested by the vain clutches of hands that would fain stop the irresistible and tragic gliding past.
These vanities are ‘lying vanities.’ There is only one aim of life which, being pursued and attained, fulfils the promises by which it drew man after it. It is a bald commonplace, reiterated not only by preachers but by moralists of every kind, and confirmed by universal experience, that a hope fulfilled is a hope disappointed. There is only one thing more tragic than a life which has failed in its aims, and it is a life which has perfectly succeeded in them, and has found that what promised to be bread turns to ashes. The word of promise may be kept to the ear, but is always broken to the hope. Many a millionaire loses the power to enjoy his millions by the very process by which he gains them. The old Jewish thinker was wise not only in taking as the summing up of all worldly pursuits the sad sentence, ‘All is vanity,’ but in putting it into the lips of a king who had won all he sought. The sorceress draws us within her charmed circle by lying words and illusory charms, and when she has so secured the captives, her mask is thrown off and her native hideousness displayed.
II. The hard service which lying vanities require.
The phrase in our text is a quotation, slightly altered, from Psa 31:6: ‘I hate them that regard lying vanities; but I trust in the Lord.’ The alteration in the form of the verb as it occurs in Jonah expresses the intensity of regard, and gives the picture of watching with anxious solicitude, as the eyes of a servant turned to his master, or those of a dog to its owner. The world is a very hard master, and requires from its servants the concentration of thought, heart, and effort. We need only recall the thousand sermons devoted to the enforcement of ‘the gospel of getting on,’ which prosperous worldlings are continually preaching. A chorus of voices on every side of us is dinning into the ears of every young man and woman the necessity for success in life’s struggle of taking for a motto, ‘This one thing I do.’ How many a man is there, who in the race after wealth or fame, has flung away aspirations, visions of noble, truthful love to life, and a hundred other precious things? Browning tells a hideous story of a mother flinging, one after another, her infants to the wolves as she urged her sledge over the snowy plain. No less hideous, and still more maiming, are the surrenders that men make when once their hearts have been filled with the foolish ambitions of worldly success. Let us fix it in our minds, that nothing that time and sense can give is worth the price that it exacts.
‘It is only heaven that can be had for the asking;
It is only God that is given away.’
All sin is slavery. Its yoke presses painfully on the neck, and its burden is heavy indeed, and the rest which it promises never comes.
III. The self-inflicted loss.
Our text suggests that there are two ways by which we may learn the folly of a godless life-One, the consideration of what it turns to, the other, the thought of what it departs from.
‘They forsake their own Mercy,’ that is God. The phrase is here almost equivalent to ‘His name’; and it carries the blessed thought that He has entered into relations with every soul, so that each man of us-even if he have turned to ‘lying vanities’-can still call Him, ‘my own Mercy.’ He is ours; more our own than is anything without us. He is ours, because we are made for Him, and He is all for us. He is ours by His love, and by His gift of Himself in the Son of His love. He is ours; if we take Him for ours by an inward communication of Himself to us in the innermost depths of our being. He becomes ‘the Master-Light of all our seeing.’ In the mysterious inwardness of mutual possession, the soul which has given itself to God and possesses Him, has not only communion, but may even venture to claim as its own the deeper and more mysterious union with God. Those multiform mercies, ‘which endure for ever,’ and speed on their manifold errands into every remotest region of His universe, gather themselves together, as the diffused lights of some nebulæ oncentrate themselves into a sun. That sun, like the star that led the wise men from the East, and finally stood over one poor house in an obscure village, will shine lambent above, and will pass into, the humblest heart that opens for it. They who can say, as we all can if we will, ‘My God,’ can never want.
And if we turn to the alternative in our text, and consider who they are to whom we turn when we turn from God, there should be nothing more needed to drive home the wholesome conviction of the folly of the wisest, who deliberately prefers shadow to substance, lying vanities to the one true and only reality. I beseech you to take that which is your own, and which no man can take from you. Weigh in the scales of conscience, and in the light of the deepest necessities of your nature, the whole pile of those emptinesses that have been telling you lies ever since you listened to them; and place in the other scale the mercy of God, and the Christ who brings it to you, and decide which is the weightier, and which it becomes you to take for your pattern for ever.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 2:8-9 The conclusion to Jonah’s psalm-prayer bears similarity to…
2:8-9 The conclusion to Jonah’s psalm-prayer bears similarity to 1:16: The sailors also responded to the Lord’s power to save and acts of mercy with sacrifices and vows.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.