Jonah 4:5-8 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

So Jonah went out, &c.— Now Jonah had gone out—and he sat, &c. The author of the Observations asks upon this difficult passage, Did Jonah make himself a booth of boughs, in which to wait the event of his prophesy; and did the gourd come up in one single night afterward?—So our version supposes, and this is also Lowth's opinion. But had this really been the case, one cannot easily conjecture why the coming up of the gourd should have given him such an exquisite pleasure, or its destruction so much pain, when he had his booth to shelter him, which he had before thought very sufficient. By the description given of this country by Thevenot, who travelled in it, it should seem, that the lands on the Mesopotamian side of the Tigris, opposite to where Nineveh stood, are low; for they are cultivated and watered by means of little ditches, into which the water is poured out of the river; consequently it might be, and probably was, for the sake of the view he might have of the city, that Jonah placed himself on the east side of Nineveh, rather than on the west in Mesopotamia, towards his own country; and not, as Lowth imagines, the better to escape the pursuit of the Ninevites, in case they should follow him to take him. There is not the least ground to imagine that Jonah had any such jealousy. The side of Mesopotamia, says Thevenot, is well sowed; but the Curdistan shore barren and uncultivated. This made a shelter of more importance to Jonah, few or no trees, we may presume, growing in this barren place, under which Jonah might have placed himself on the withering of the gourd. This accounts for his uneasiness; but then it will not be easy to conjecture whence he could get boughs to make himself a booth. This, joined with the consideration that the word סכה sukkah translated booth, sometimes signifies a shelter, in the preparing of which no art is used, as in Jeremiah 25:38. Job 38:40 and that the words, the Lord prepared a gourd, may also signify, he had prepared one; might lead us to think that this gourd, which Jonah found in this desert place, was the booth under which he placed himself, and all that he had, making it his defence against the heat; the perishing of which, in course, must give him great pain; especially when we consider the intolerable heat of the country; which is such, that Thevenot informs us, he did not go to visit the reputed tomb of Jonah, on the east side of the Tigris, on that account, there being hardly a possibility of stirring abroad two hours after the sun is risen, till an hour after it is set, the walls being so hot, that half a foot from them the heat feels as if it proceeded from hot iron. Concerning the kind of plant, whose shade was so refreshing to Jonah, I do not take upon me to form any conjecture. And as to some of the abovementioned particulars, it is but right to acknowledge, that Rauwolff gives a very different account from Thevenot, if he be rightly translated; for in Mr. Ray's collection he is represented as saying, that they sow the greatest part of the corn there, on the eastern side of the Tigris, and that the Mesopotamian side is so sandy and dry, that you would think you were in the middle of the deserts of Arabia. Thevenot, however, is generally acknowledged to have been an accurate observer; and his account, from a view of the above remarks, seems to throw light on the history of Jonah, and may, on that account, be believed to be a just one. See Observations, p. 86. To these remarks we may just add, that though the Hebrew word קיקיון kikaion, is rendered by many versions a gourd, yet it seems properly to mean the ricinus, or palma-christi. It is described by St. Jerome as a kind of shrub, having broad leaves like the vine, affording a very thick shade, and supported by its own stem. It grows, says he, very commonly in Palestine, and chiefly in sandy places; and if one throws the seed upon the ground, it thrives wonderfully fast, and, within a few days after the plant appears, one sees a little tree. There can be no doubt, however, that this was miraculously raised and prepared for Jonah, as well as the great fish; for the same word is made use of upon both occasions. See chap. Jonah 1:17. The reader will find in Scheuchzer, tom. 7: p. 466 a curious plate and account of the ricinus.