Jonás 4:11

11 ¿y no tendré yo piedad de Nínive, aquella gran ciudad donde hay más de ciento veinte mil hombres que no saben discernir entre su mano derecha y su mano izquierda, y muchos animales

Jonás 4:11 Meaning and Commentary

Jonah 4:11

And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city?
&c.] See ( Jonah 1:2 ) ( 3:3 ) ; what is such a gourd or plant to that? wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons;
or twelve myriads; that is, twelve times ten thousand, or a hundred and twenty thousand; meaning not all the inhabitants of Nineveh; for then it would not have appeared to be so great a city; but infants only, as next described: that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand;
do not know one from another; cannot distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong; are not come to years of maturity and discretion; and therefore there were room and reason for pity and sparing mercy; especially since they had not been guilty of actual transgressions, at least not very manifest; and yet must have perished with their parents had Nineveh been overthrown. The number of infants in this city is a proof of the greatness of it, though not so as to render the account incredible; for, admitting these to be a fifth part of its inhabitants, as they usually are of any place, as Bochart ^F5 observes, it makes the number of its inhabitants to be but six or seven hundred thousand; and as many there were in Seleucia and Thebes, as Pliny ^F6 relates of the one, and Tacitus ^F7 of the other: and [also] much cattle;
and these more valuable than goods, as animals are preferable to, and more useful than, vegetables; and yet these must have perished in the common calamity. Jarchi understands by these grown up persons, whose knowledge is like the beasts that know not their Creator. No answer being returned, it may be reasonably supposed Jonah, was convinced of his sin and folly; and, to show his repentance for it, penned this, narrative, which records his infirmities and weaknesses, for the good of the church, and the instruction of saints in succeeding ages.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 Phaleg. l. 4. c. 20. p. 253.
F6 Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 26.
F7 Annal. l. 2. c. 60.

Jonás 4:11 In-Context

9 Entonces dijo Dios a Jonás: ¿Tanto te enojas por la calabacera? Y él respondió: Hago bien en enojarme, hasta desear la muerte

10 Y le dijo el SEÑOR: Tuviste tú piedad de la calabacera, en la cual no trabajaste, ni tú la hiciste crecer; que en espacio de una noche nació, y en espacio de otra noche pereció

11 ¿y no tendré yo piedad de Nínive, aquella gran ciudad donde hay más de ciento veinte mil hombres que no saben discernir entre su mano derecha y su mano izquierda, y muchos animales