But whether ricinus, gourd, or any other plant, the question is surely not so important as to justify the outbreak, in the early Christian Church, of the fierce feud, famous under the name of controversia cucurbitaria, and the popular commotion almost rising to fanaticism, which threatened to embitter the closing years of Jerome, who had unwittingly kindled the strife by the translation of ivy adopted by him after much thought and hesitation. In any case, the kikayon serves mainly as an emblem, and the difference in the wonder can only be a difference of degree. But it would certainly be unavailing to lessen the marvel by the supposition that the tree had stood before on the spot where Jonah settled, and that it only grew up so high in the shortest possible time; for even if such explanations were not at variance with the style and spirit of the narrative, they would not reduce the event to an ordinary occurrence in harmony with experience or probability.d b It is well known that, while in the districts near Nineveh, the cold in winter is often intense, the summer brings usually, as Arabic writers express it, 'an infernal heat,' so that the air resembles a furnace' dangerous to life; and we know, moreover, that the temperature is frequently increased and made unbearable by sultry breezes (Shabb. 21 a), in explaining the term PP used in the Mishnah, describes kik as a plant similar to Isa. i. 8). a Comp. Jerome, Epistol. 89. b Michaelis and others. which in the Responses ,צלוליבא וַיְמַן יהוה אלהים .e Ver of the Geonim' is interpreted as a fruitless tree from the seeds of which is prepared an oil useful against cold fevers and called in Arabic 77, while the tree .comp) אלכרוע itself bears the name .(צלליבא Aruch and Buactory sub The cucumber and melon occur in d This miracle and all the others recorded in the story have curiously been declared to be nothing else but traits of 'popular wit,' such as might naturally be expected in 'a book for the people' palpably distinguished throughout by 'childlike notions' and meant chiefly for the diversion and amusement of the multitude! among which the most dreaded is the so-called 'Saracen❜a or black wind, which, not unlike the samûm of Bagdad, rises suddenly from the east and, with furious blasts felt almost like shocks of earthquake, stirs up and scatters immense masses of hot sand, prostrating men and animals. Therefore, although the narrative evidently lays no stress on the virulence of the tempest, there is a pregnant force in the words, 'God appointed a burning east-wind, and the sun smote upon the head of Jonah that he fainted.'b It is hardly possible to doubt that the author, evidently familiar with the literature of his people and imbued with its spirit, had especially the history of Elijah before his mind. For in his work and character Jonah is far more like to that old prophet than he is to any of his successors who, Jeremiah alone excepted, tried to influence their contemporaries not so much by personal intercourse and the weight of their individuality as principally, and afterwards almost exclusively, by literary productions. Similar to Jonah, Elijah 'went a day's journey into the wilderness, and sat down under a juniper tree, and he wished that he might die, and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life!' But while the older narrative is mainly designed to describe historically the incidents of the prophet's life and the character of his time, the work before us, so indifferent to those points that we learn nothing about Jonah's later fate and can but dimly guess the period of the story, employs, with great originality, all the details only as the garb and medium for clothing in plastic form an abstract idea and for veiling a didactic tendency. The author indeed seems unwilling to challenge too close a comparison necessarily unfavourable to Jonah. For a üll, hence Sirocco. b Layard (Nineveh, i. 123, 124) remarks: "The verdure of the plain had perished almost in a day; hot winds coming from the desert had burnt up and carried away the shrubs;' to which many similar 1 Ki. xix. 4; comp. Num. xi. 15. how much nobler is the cause of Elijah's despair! . Persecuted by an idolatrous Queen and compelled to evade her ruthlessness by a perilous flight, he only feels the one bitter pang of having spent his zeal in vain for the honour of the Lord God of hosts, whose covenant his countrymen, beloved by him in spite of their offences, have recklessly broken and whose service they have profaned; whereas Jonah can bear life no longer because his preaching had saved a large community by rousing them to faith and uprightness. Did the author really consider a prophet capable of such motives? Only in a free creation and in the service of a doctrinal purpose could he transitorily invest him with such inconsistent features.a In abashing Jonah, God justifies His own action respecting the heathen town. But far from exulting in a cold or cruel triumph over His messenger, and displaying towards him His mercy and paternal forbearance even more lavishly than towards the repentant Ninevites, He uplifts and purifies him by appealing to his better nature and higher reason; and this is performed with such calm majesty and grand repose, with such gentle tenderness in spite of an irresistible force, that the reproof loses all painfulness and, like a resolved dissonance, rapidly brightens into grateful harmony. PHILOLOGICAL REMARKS.-It is, from these remarks, difficult to understand the opinion that 'the Book leaves behind an unpleasant impression,' while the assertion that 'the prophet is painted in very disagreeable colours' (Winer, Real-Wörterb. i. 596,597), must be limited to the last chapter, however sweepingly and indiscriminately he has been described as despicable 'in every respect' and 'throughout the narrative' (Eichhorn, a Comp. also 1 Ki. xvii. 2-7, and xix. 11-13. containing the account of Elijah's stay at the brook Cherith, and the lesson that God is not in the terrible and destructive elements but in the 'still small voice;' in either of which passages it is not difficult to discover both analogies and contrasts to Jonah's conduct before and in Nineveh. Hebr. Propheten, iii. 674-676, Einleitung, iv. 336, 339; Friedrichsen 1. c. pp. 48, 66, 90, 91, 104, 112, 245, etc.): 'his attempt to flee from the presence of the Lord,' says a modern English scholar, 'must have sprung from a partial insanity, produced by the excitement of distracting motives in an irascible and melancholy heart' (J. Eadie in Kitto's Cyclop. ii. 143). But, on the other hand, the remark that Jonah 'is not an exceptionally wicked man, but one who, with all his bitter prejudices, is, however, sincerely pious' (Huxtable 1. c. p. 578), involves indeed a more discerning estimate; yet in one point Jonah was really 'wicked,' and his praying to God even in sullen moods of wayward discontent (vers. 3, 8) was not 'sincere piety,' but an act which the author would have attributed to any Israelite, however bad, provided only he had not openly renounced Israel's God. It seems impossible to bring the character of Jonah, as delineated in the concluding portion, into consonance either with the previous picture or with our notions of a prophet; in this sense it might not unjustly be described as 'a mystery.'-As regards the literary merit of the composition, Herder, for instance (1. c. pp. 351, 354), observes: 'The Book has a unity, precision, roundness, as only the best eastern poem can have;' and 'the beautiful conclusion of the story through the gourd is so graceful and so instructive. . . that I can hardly conceive anything more distinct or more pleasingly transparent.' Ewald (Propheten, ii. 558) speaks of the 'exceedingly striking art' displayed in the entire narrative, calls the end 'a masterpiece of plastic writing such as there are but few,' and contends, in some respects justly, that by the conclusion only a true light is thrown upon all preceding parts. Similar is the view of Michaelis ('eine schönere und treffendere Antwort lässt sich kaum dichten'), Möller, Bauer, Gramberg, Nöldeke, and many others. Nor can we blame as exaggerated the enthusiastic exclamations of a recent theologian: 'O admirabilem incomprehensamque defendendi prudentiam! Hoc summi Dei responsum si tacita mente recogito, nescio magisne inenarrabilem patris clementiam an immensam moderatoris sapientiam adorem. Quis enim non agnoscat, hoc loco rerum omnium Dominum misericordiam sibi tanquam peculiarem numinis sui proprietatem vindicare!... Quo fit ut magnum scriptoris artificium in eo agnoscas quod istis divinis verbis insistens scribendi finem fecit' (Kaulen, 1. c. p. 77).—The words (ver. 4) can hardly be rendered otherwise than 'art thou justly angry?' or 'doest thou well to be angry?' (comp. Deut. v. 25; xviii. 17). For this question begins or introduces God's correction of Jonah; and its very mildness is meant to stimulate him to reflection and self-examination (comp. Gen. iv. 6; Symmach. apa dikaiws λUTýns; Vulg. bene irasceris tu? Luther, meinst du, dass du billig zürnest? Grotius, an bonum factum est ira tua? estne haec causa justa? Eichhorn, ist ein solcher Aerger schön? Kleinert, zürnest du mit Recht? etc.). The translation, which the words indeed also admit, 'art thou exceedingly angry?' is in this context almost pointless (comp. Deut. ix. 21; xiii. 15; xvii. 4; xix. 18; xxvii. 8; 2 Ki. xi. 18; where 7 occurs in the sense of 'thoroughly;' so Sept. apóòpa Leλúwycaí ov; Targ. 7apo ninbo; Syr. — ♪j —; Ebn Ezra, Kimchi, Arnheim, etc.). But strained is the interpretation, 'does My acting justly or compassionately grieve thee?' (so Abarbanel and others; comp. Matt. xx. 15, paλμós cov пovnpós ¿CTIV OTI ¿yw ȧyadós eiui;). Ewald, though likewise transἐστιν ὅτι ἐγὼ ἀγαθός εἰμι;). lating, ‘art thou indeed so very angry?' admirably unfolds the course of the story: 'God becomes cognisant of Jonah's conduct; He allows him to go on and do for a while, without special direction, as he pleases; but imperceptibly the allembracing and ever weaving (fortspinnende) eternal Wisdom has caught him in his human self-love; and when after his disappointment, God asks him again, whether he is really so full of wrath, He at once humbles him, with exalted superiority and firmness, by the eternal truth of Divine love itself' (Propheten, ii. 558). Yet it should be observed that God can hardly be said to have allowed Jonah 'to go on and do as he pleased.' Every particular incident stands here more distinctly under God's immediate guidance and |