SECOND CHAPTER
Jon 1:3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. And he went down to Joppa. And he found a ship going to Tarshish. And he gave its fare, and went down into it, in order to go with them to Tarshish, away from the sight of the LORD.
4 But the LORD hurled a great wind into the sea, and there was a great storm in the sea, so that the ship was thought to be broken.
5 Then the seamen were afraid, and each man cried to his god. And they threw out the ship's articles in the ship, into the sea in order to lighten it. But Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship; and he lay there, and was fast asleep.
6 And the chief of the seaman came to him and said to him, What is it to you, O sound sleeper? Arise, call upon your God! It may be that your god will notice us, and we will not perish.
7 And they said, each one to his fellow, Come and let us cast lots, so that we may know who has caused this evil to occur to us. And they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
8 Then they said to him, Please tell us, for what reason this evil has come on us. What is your business? And where do you come from? Where is your country? And of what people are you?
9 And he said to them, I am a Hebrew; and I fear Jehovah, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.
10 Then the men were afraid with a great fear. And they said to him, What is this you have done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from before the face of Jehovah, because he had told them.
11 Then they said to him, What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm to us? For the sea was going on and being stormy.
12 And he said to them, Take me up and throw me out into the sea. And the sea shall be calm to you; for I know that this great storm has come on you for my sake.
13 But the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not, for the sea was going on and being stormy against them.
14 And they cried to the LORD and said, We beg You, O LORD, we beg You, let us not perish for this man's life, and do not lay on us innocent blood. For You, O LORD, have done as it pleased You.
15 And they lifted Jonah up and threw him out into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging.
16 Then the men feared Jehovah exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the LORD, and vowed vows.
(MKJV)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx9RcI_EueM
A song about realizing where your life is at and a quote from a naturalist which actually is a variation on an old Greek Proverb.
Several things occur in our Bible verses that all point to the single fact, one Jonah chose to ignore as he tried to take his life to a place he wanted but God didn't wish: God is in control. God handles every detail of stopping Jonah and does it to his own glory.
Jonah's name means dove. And he took flight.
But there's a bit more for those who read my blog on John http://www.thefailureofmythjohnsgospel.com/ . Had Jonah lived in New Testament times, he would have been called John. Please note the association with water and that name. John the Baptist, John the fisherman who wrote the Gospel we studied. Some believe Jonah represents the country of Israel, divided in loyalty, to it's traditions and to God. That it was tossed into a torturous journey after the crucifixion and then lead to the dry land of a reformed nation. Remember this is one of the "minor" prophets and his story is sandwiched among other with many prophecies of the final times.
But I also see him rather as a foreshadowing of both those other Johns. An OT prophet had the Holy Spirit in him, could do miracles as the Bible attests and also had a relationship with God that they also walked with Him and often did his will. But both the NT Johns also failed. The Baptist, in his prison of stone, trapped and wondering, found HIS doubt and had to be assured by a message from Jesus. This apparently emboldened him enough to face his death with faith. The Apostle stuck by Christ even to the witness of the cross, but he still doubted during the days CHRIST was in His tomb, his seeming prison. But the glory of the Resurrection carried John into an old age of service and recording prophecies even as Jonah later records the results of his prophecy.
Please take notice of Jonah's behavior again:
Other prophets have disputed with God. When God told Moses to speak to Pharaoh, Moses told the Lord that he couldn't because of his poor speaking ability (Exodus 4:10). Ezekiel objected to the manner in which God wanted him to cook his food (Ezekiel 4:9-15). When God told Jeremiah to present the Lord's message, Jeremiah told God that he couldn't because of his young age (Jeremiah 1:6). But Jonah didn't argue. He didn't try to talk God out of it. He didn't even attempt a compromise. He just fled.
Robert E. Young
http://www.ldolphin.org/jonah/jonah1.html
Wesley from his commentary on the Old and New Testaments:
V. 3. From the presence-From the place where God usually had shewed himself present, by revealing his word and will to his prophets. Perhaps he might think God would not put him upon this work, when he was got into a strange country.
From Bible Hub commentaries,
According to J. R. Church in They Pierced the Veil, the "merchants of Tarshish" have a place in prophecy as well. He mentions Ezekiel:
Eze 38:13 Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?
Church sees these merchants as coming from the eventual Great Britain, hence the lion reference, and also as a mention of the USA in prophecy as one of the "young lions" the British Empire spawned. I always concern myself not to take guesses about prophecy since such things have founded cults, but I offer this as a consideration as we move on: How a nation can be changed by one man speaking the word of God that reaches everyone by his God empowered effort. It seems long passed time for this nation to produce another Billy Graham. Ask around and spread the word. I suspect the next one won't be asking for money for his ministry, may even be walking through our towns as a beat up bum spewed from a fish.
The Family Bible Notes:
Jonah 1:4
The way of duty is the only way of peace and safety. They who seek to escape trouble by disobeying God's commands plunge themselves into deeper trouble.
And Matthew Poole expands:
Ver. 4. The Lord, the almighty and eternal God, from whose work Jonah fleeth, sent out a great wind. God keepeth the winds as in storehouses, or treasuries, and now brings one forth to fetch back a fugitive, and obstinate refuser of his command: the greatness of it, with the suddenness of its rising, and manner of its working, undeniably showed that it was supernatural, and from God, displeased with all, or with some one or other of them.
Into the sea; the winds did not blow aloft over the sea and ship, but, as if they had intermixed with the very waters of the sea, and like an unheard-of hurricane, shook the very keel of the ship.
There was a mighty tempest in the sea; that part of the sea where Jonah's ship was: this messenger soon finds out Jonah, and speaks in most dreadful manner to all in the ship, who all saw and owned it to be from Heaven, the finger of God.
The ship was like to be broken; the master and mariners thought they, ship, and goods, and all should be lost; the Hebrew expresseth it as if the ship had sense of God's anger, as if the ship could think, and did think of its own weakness, and God's mighty hand.
Everyone on the ship races about in terror while Jonah snoozes below deck. It reminds us of the scene of Jesus sleeping in the boat while the storm rages. Except it's inverted. The "innocents" are idolaters and "Jesus" is a guy running away from his mission where Jesus was merely resting after doing his mission.
The refuge of the unsaved, their gods, have no effect on a storm sent by the real God. Notice the sailors drag out their idols. They had different gods among them. No list of how many were for Ba'al or Marduk or Zeus: man made, the idols simply didn't do anything.
Then they begin unloading the boat. Everything onto the sea. Lighten it against the weather. No sense worrying about the cargo, if the ship sinks, it's in the ocean anyway.
Do you recognize the pattern?
In my own life, I would call on God and, when things didn't happen immediately, I would start doing things to improve them. It seldom worked. I was treating God LIKE an idol. He was supposed to do what I wanted and, when he didn't, I tried to improve them by my own effort. They usually didn't improve and often got worse.
During my lay off, I learned there was nothing I could do except send in resumes, do interviews and work out to keep myself in shape while I waited for a job to come. There was prayer, prayer for me by family, friends and the church, And I remembered my initial faith: to trust God despite the storm.
But the sailors understand something many of us don't. The storm is special, came up suddenly, unnaturally. They've been to sea long enough to recognize the unusual and the strange especially in the weather. Recall the fishermen disciples reacted the same way. These sailors know a supernatural cause comes from a god, And they want to know the cause so they can do something about it. They want to know what action they must take. but their gods don't speak to them. Moreover, their own actions are to make the boat less likely to sink rather than to end the storm which is causing the problem.
And Jonah sleeps. He's TOO comfortable. Perhaps he has been running so hard from God, he's exhausted. Policemen will tell the story that the guilty man will be the one who is relaxed in the interview room after being arrested. Some even fall asleep awaiting interview. They've been pretending so long that their arrest is a relief. In this case, I think Jonah was exhausted from fleeing, from worry that he would have to go the Nineveh, But once he was on the ship, pointed toward what is modern day Spain or Portugal, He is relieved that God has let him get out of the country.
Something else here which several commentaries touch on: again think of the sailors. They were just doing their jobs, carrying cargo and one or more passengers from one place to another, hardly anything to anger a god. But now they are in the midst of God's wrath. They didn't knowingly go there, but they are in it anyway. They have no idea why or who has caused it; they just want out.
We hear later that he had told them he was running from his God. So they were a part of his renegade behavior,
Th captain wakes Jonah. Adam Clarke https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc.html who had a few problems with prejudice himself On the Captain:
Verse 6. The shipmaster] Either the captain or the pilot.
Arise, call upon thy God] He supposed that Jonah had his god, as well as they had theirs; and that, as the danger was imminent, every man should use the influence he had, as they were all equally involved in it.
Meanwhile, once Jonah has joined them, the crew cast lots to find out what's going on:
8 Then they said to him, Please tell us, for what reason this evil has come on us. What is your business? And where do you come from? Where is your country? And of what people are you?
9 And he said to them, I am a Hebrew; and I fear Jehovah, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.
10 Then the men were afraid with a great fear. And they said to him, What is this you have done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from before the face of Jehovah, because he had told them.
Jonah now witnesses to the unsaved. The man who ran from witnessing to the Gentiles NOW does exactly what he fled doing. These are good guys as idolators go, his momentary acquaintances and he realized he'd dragged them into it. It began to dawn on him that he has put them in danger by his actions and it certainly dawns on them.
Jon 1:3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. And he went down to Joppa. And he found a ship going to Tarshish. And he gave its fare, and went down into it, in order to go with them to Tarshish, away from the sight of the LORD.
4 But the LORD hurled a great wind into the sea, and there was a great storm in the sea, so that the ship was thought to be broken.
5 Then the seamen were afraid, and each man cried to his god. And they threw out the ship's articles in the ship, into the sea in order to lighten it. But Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship; and he lay there, and was fast asleep.
6 And the chief of the seaman came to him and said to him, What is it to you, O sound sleeper? Arise, call upon your God! It may be that your god will notice us, and we will not perish.
7 And they said, each one to his fellow, Come and let us cast lots, so that we may know who has caused this evil to occur to us. And they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
8 Then they said to him, Please tell us, for what reason this evil has come on us. What is your business? And where do you come from? Where is your country? And of what people are you?
9 And he said to them, I am a Hebrew; and I fear Jehovah, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.
10 Then the men were afraid with a great fear. And they said to him, What is this you have done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from before the face of Jehovah, because he had told them.
11 Then they said to him, What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm to us? For the sea was going on and being stormy.
12 And he said to them, Take me up and throw me out into the sea. And the sea shall be calm to you; for I know that this great storm has come on you for my sake.
13 But the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not, for the sea was going on and being stormy against them.
14 And they cried to the LORD and said, We beg You, O LORD, we beg You, let us not perish for this man's life, and do not lay on us innocent blood. For You, O LORD, have done as it pleased You.
15 And they lifted Jonah up and threw him out into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging.
16 Then the men feared Jehovah exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the LORD, and vowed vows.
(MKJV)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx9RcI_EueM
 |
A song about realizing where your life is at and a quote from a naturalist which actually is a variation on an old Greek Proverb.
Several things occur in our Bible verses that all point to the single fact, one Jonah chose to ignore as he tried to take his life to a place he wanted but God didn't wish: God is in control. God handles every detail of stopping Jonah and does it to his own glory.
Jonah's name means dove. And he took flight.
But there's a bit more for those who read my blog on John http://www.thefailureofmythjohnsgospel.com/ . Had Jonah lived in New Testament times, he would have been called John. Please note the association with water and that name. John the Baptist, John the fisherman who wrote the Gospel we studied. Some believe Jonah represents the country of Israel, divided in loyalty, to it's traditions and to God. That it was tossed into a torturous journey after the crucifixion and then lead to the dry land of a reformed nation. Remember this is one of the "minor" prophets and his story is sandwiched among other with many prophecies of the final times.
But I also see him rather as a foreshadowing of both those other Johns. An OT prophet had the Holy Spirit in him, could do miracles as the Bible attests and also had a relationship with God that they also walked with Him and often did his will. But both the NT Johns also failed. The Baptist, in his prison of stone, trapped and wondering, found HIS doubt and had to be assured by a message from Jesus. This apparently emboldened him enough to face his death with faith. The Apostle stuck by Christ even to the witness of the cross, but he still doubted during the days CHRIST was in His tomb, his seeming prison. But the glory of the Resurrection carried John into an old age of service and recording prophecies even as Jonah later records the results of his prophecy.
Please take notice of Jonah's behavior again:
Other prophets have disputed with God. When God told Moses to speak to Pharaoh, Moses told the Lord that he couldn't because of his poor speaking ability (Exodus 4:10). Ezekiel objected to the manner in which God wanted him to cook his food (Ezekiel 4:9-15). When God told Jeremiah to present the Lord's message, Jeremiah told God that he couldn't because of his young age (Jeremiah 1:6). But Jonah didn't argue. He didn't try to talk God out of it. He didn't even attempt a compromise. He just fled.
Robert E. Young
http://www.ldolphin.org/jonah/jonah1.html
Wesley from his commentary on the Old and New Testaments:
V. 3. From the presence-From the place where God usually had shewed himself present, by revealing his word and will to his prophets. Perhaps he might think God would not put him upon this work, when he was got into a strange country.
From Bible Hub commentaries,
We don’t doubt that Jonah felt like going to Tarshish. There was in impulse within him driving him there, but it was a dangerous impulse. We may take Jonah as an example of the danger of doing things under impulse
i. “Now, I very commonly meet with persons who say, ‘I felt that I must do so and so. It came upon me that I must do so and so.’ I am afraid of these impulses - very greatly afraid of them. People may do right under their power, but they will spoil what they do by doing it out of mere impulse, and not because the action was right in itself.” (Spurgeon)
· An impulse may be very brave, yet wrong (Jonah was very brave in embarking on such a long sea-journey)
· An impulse may appear to be self-denying, yet wrong (it cost Jonah much in money and comfort to go on this long sea-journey)
· An impulse may lay claim to freedom, yet be wrong (wasn’t Jonah free to go to Tarshish?)
· An impulse may lead someone to do something that they would condemn in others (what would Jonah say to another prophet disobeying God?)
· An impulse can make us do to God or others what we would never want to be done to our self
ii. Many people take their inner impulses and say, “The LORD told me this or that.” This is dangerous even when it doesn’t seem so immediately. “What have you to do with the devices and desires of your own hearts? Are these to be a law to you? I pray you, be not among the foolish ones who will be carried about with every wind of fancy and perversity. ‘To the law and to the testimony,’ should be your cry, and you may not appeal to inward movements and impulses.” (Spurgeon)
According to J. R. Church in They Pierced the Veil, the "merchants of Tarshish" have a place in prophecy as well. He mentions Ezekiel:
Eze 38:13 Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?
Church sees these merchants as coming from the eventual Great Britain, hence the lion reference, and also as a mention of the USA in prophecy as one of the "young lions" the British Empire spawned. I always concern myself not to take guesses about prophecy since such things have founded cults, but I offer this as a consideration as we move on: How a nation can be changed by one man speaking the word of God that reaches everyone by his God empowered effort. It seems long passed time for this nation to produce another Billy Graham. Ask around and spread the word. I suspect the next one won't be asking for money for his ministry, may even be walking through our towns as a beat up bum spewed from a fish.
The Family Bible Notes:
Jonah 1:4
The way of duty is the only way of peace and safety. They who seek to escape trouble by disobeying God's commands plunge themselves into deeper trouble.
And Matthew Poole expands:
Ver. 4. The Lord, the almighty and eternal God, from whose work Jonah fleeth, sent out a great wind. God keepeth the winds as in storehouses, or treasuries, and now brings one forth to fetch back a fugitive, and obstinate refuser of his command: the greatness of it, with the suddenness of its rising, and manner of its working, undeniably showed that it was supernatural, and from God, displeased with all, or with some one or other of them.
Into the sea; the winds did not blow aloft over the sea and ship, but, as if they had intermixed with the very waters of the sea, and like an unheard-of hurricane, shook the very keel of the ship.
There was a mighty tempest in the sea; that part of the sea where Jonah's ship was: this messenger soon finds out Jonah, and speaks in most dreadful manner to all in the ship, who all saw and owned it to be from Heaven, the finger of God.
The ship was like to be broken; the master and mariners thought they, ship, and goods, and all should be lost; the Hebrew expresseth it as if the ship had sense of God's anger, as if the ship could think, and did think of its own weakness, and God's mighty hand.
Everyone on the ship races about in terror while Jonah snoozes below deck. It reminds us of the scene of Jesus sleeping in the boat while the storm rages. Except it's inverted. The "innocents" are idolaters and "Jesus" is a guy running away from his mission where Jesus was merely resting after doing his mission.
The refuge of the unsaved, their gods, have no effect on a storm sent by the real God. Notice the sailors drag out their idols. They had different gods among them. No list of how many were for Ba'al or Marduk or Zeus: man made, the idols simply didn't do anything.
Then they begin unloading the boat. Everything onto the sea. Lighten it against the weather. No sense worrying about the cargo, if the ship sinks, it's in the ocean anyway.
Do you recognize the pattern?
In my own life, I would call on God and, when things didn't happen immediately, I would start doing things to improve them. It seldom worked. I was treating God LIKE an idol. He was supposed to do what I wanted and, when he didn't, I tried to improve them by my own effort. They usually didn't improve and often got worse.
During my lay off, I learned there was nothing I could do except send in resumes, do interviews and work out to keep myself in shape while I waited for a job to come. There was prayer, prayer for me by family, friends and the church, And I remembered my initial faith: to trust God despite the storm.
But the sailors understand something many of us don't. The storm is special, came up suddenly, unnaturally. They've been to sea long enough to recognize the unusual and the strange especially in the weather. Recall the fishermen disciples reacted the same way. These sailors know a supernatural cause comes from a god, And they want to know the cause so they can do something about it. They want to know what action they must take. but their gods don't speak to them. Moreover, their own actions are to make the boat less likely to sink rather than to end the storm which is causing the problem.
And Jonah sleeps. He's TOO comfortable. Perhaps he has been running so hard from God, he's exhausted. Policemen will tell the story that the guilty man will be the one who is relaxed in the interview room after being arrested. Some even fall asleep awaiting interview. They've been pretending so long that their arrest is a relief. In this case, I think Jonah was exhausted from fleeing, from worry that he would have to go the Nineveh, But once he was on the ship, pointed toward what is modern day Spain or Portugal, He is relieved that God has let him get out of the country.
Something else here which several commentaries touch on: again think of the sailors. They were just doing their jobs, carrying cargo and one or more passengers from one place to another, hardly anything to anger a god. But now they are in the midst of God's wrath. They didn't knowingly go there, but they are in it anyway. They have no idea why or who has caused it; they just want out.
We hear later that he had told them he was running from his God. So they were a part of his renegade behavior,
Th captain wakes Jonah. Adam Clarke https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc.html who had a few problems with prejudice himself On the Captain:
Verse 6. The shipmaster] Either the captain or the pilot.
Arise, call upon thy God] He supposed that Jonah had his god, as well as they had theirs; and that, as the danger was imminent, every man should use the influence he had, as they were all equally involved in it.
Meanwhile, once Jonah has joined them, the crew cast lots to find out what's going on:
The casting of lots in the book of Jonah was used by God to reveal to the sailors that Jonah was the reason for their problem. What type of system of casting lots is not mentioned here. It may have been by the throwing of stones (dice), or by placing names in a receptacle, or by some other method. Whatever the system they used, the lot fell upon the guilty person with his resultant confession.
The Old Testament contains many examples of the use of the "lot" to determine the will of the Lord. I want to give you seven references.
(1) - Leviticus 16:7-10. Aaron was to cast lots upon the two goats to determine which one was to be slain and which one was to be sent away into the desert bearing the sins of Israel.From these and other passages we see that God often made His will known by the casting of lots, and men frequently resorted to this particular method of finding God's will.
(2) - Joshua 7:14. Achan, the man who stole the spoils of the Battle of Jericho and brought defeat upon the Israelites in their attack upon the city of Ai, was found to be the guilty one by the casting of lots. The NASB is the only translation that brings in the word "lot." The word "lot" is not found in the Hebrew text, but it is implied and properly inserted.(3) - Joshua 18:10. Joshua divided the land of Canaan among the twelve tribes of Israel by lot.(4) - I Chronicles 6:54. The sons of Aaron received their cities by the casting of lots.(5) - I Chronicles 23:5. The duties of the individual Levitical priests were decided by the casting of lots.(6) - I Chronicles 26:13 and Nehemiah 10:34. The porters (servants) for the house of the Lord (the Tabernacle) were chosen by lot.(7) - I Chronicles 28:8-31. The singers among Israel to be used in the Tabernacle worship were chosen by lot.
The method of casting lots appears to have been by the use of stones or "dice" of different colors. One of these stones or "dice" was taken blindly from a pouch, or was cast in the lap, and the color or the figure on the stone which turned up would give the answer to the problem sought.
The word for "lot" in the Old Testament is the Hebrew word GOWAL (go-rawl), which means "a small stone or a pebble."
The word for "lot" in the New Testament is the Greek word KLEROS meaning "a small pebble made of wood or bone or a stone." Today we have the word "die" which in the plural is "dice." Most of us know that dice are square pieces of ivory or plastic with different numbers of spots on the six sides and used as gambling devices. From all this, we may deduce that "lots," or "dice" was one way of seeking an answer to a problem.
The principles of casting lots or dice is also brought out in Revelation 2:17. In the letter to the Church in Pergamos, the Lord says, "I will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no one knows except the one who receives it."
I have read in some books that there are those who claim that the Urim and Thummin stones carried at all times in the pocket of the breastplate of the Levitical high priest were a system of lots God used in conveying His will to Israel. They say that one was white and one was black. It should also be noted that there is no way to be dogmatic about this since the Bible is silent on this issue, and history is very unclear.
It should also be noted that the casting of lots only applied to the nation of Israel. Today we have the perfect will of God revealed to us in written form in the Bible. Also, Paul said in Romans 8:14, "That those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God." Not, "those who follow the results of casting lots or dice."
Therefore, in our study of Jonah, God used the casting of lots (dice) to reveal to the sailors that Jonah was the guilty party.
8 Then they said to him, Please tell us, for what reason this evil has come on us. What is your business? And where do you come from? Where is your country? And of what people are you?
9 And he said to them, I am a Hebrew; and I fear Jehovah, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.
10 Then the men were afraid with a great fear. And they said to him, What is this you have done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from before the face of Jehovah, because he had told them.
Jonah now witnesses to the unsaved. The man who ran from witnessing to the Gentiles NOW does exactly what he fled doing. These are good guys as idolators go, his momentary acquaintances and he realized he'd dragged them into it. It began to dawn on him that he has put them in danger by his actions and it certainly dawns on them.
1:10 shows that the men were amazed that Jonah would do something to displease his God. They spent their life in fear of their gods, trying to please and pacify them. It is ironic and sad that those who worship the true God - the only God worth fearing - and experience His grace, take advantage of His grace and do not live their life in an effort to please Him.
More, the unbelievers have faith that, IF Jonah's God is real, he WILL act to deliver them and, moreover, He will act to correct transgressions. If Jehovah is feared, as Jonah says, then they know you act to placate him, You also don't do things to anger Him to start.
11 Then they said to him, What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm to us? For the sea was going on and being stormy.
12 And he said to them, Take me up and throw me out into the sea. And the sea shall be calm to you; for I know that this great storm has come on you for my sake.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown commentary:
13 But the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not, for the sea was going on and being stormy against them.
14 And they cried to the LORD and said, We beg You, O LORD, we beg You, let us not perish for this man's life, and do not lay on us innocent blood. For You, O LORD, have done as it pleased You.
15 And they lifted Jonah up and threw him out into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging.
So again they try by their own efforts to escape God's storm. They drop the sails and row hard, harder. Their arms strain and bulge. Their legs knot. Backs spasm. They begin to ache all over and still no progress. For the sake of their lives, their well being, they yield to Jonah's request.
But first they pray. They pray to Jehovah. Men who have maybe only heard of Him before raise their hands, fall on their knees, They join the Centurion centuries later who met Jesus on the road and asked the Lord to heal his servant, join him in coming to faith in the face of tragedy and in the realization there is nothing they can do.
14 And they cried to the LORD and said, We beg You, O LORD, we beg You, let us not perish for this man's life, and do not lay on us innocent blood. For You, O LORD, have done as it pleased You.
Do you see they are in a similar predicament as Jonah? God has given them an order by Jonah but they don't want to obey it. But they refuse not from rebellion but from fear that it isn't the RIGHT order. If they were sure, they would toss him overboard, no problem. But they are not certain they can trust Jonah's analysis. After all, he is the one running from this obviously powerful God. But everything of their own effort has failed so they yield but hedge their bets, "Please don't take it out on us if this turns out to be wrong!" I heard a minister say that following God requires us to act, just act. It might be wrong, but don't worry, God won't hold it against you if you are sincerely trying to do his will and he will correct the problems it causes if you are wrong.
So, in obedience to Jonah's guidance, they toss him overboard.
Notice something very important here.
Jonah never lost his faith in God.
He's running from his mission. He doesn't want to go the Nineveh. He's so desperate he books legal passage on a ship full of people who's presence will make him unclean by making the pact with them, (Recall how the Pharisees refused to meet in Pilate's house while they tried to persuade him to kill Jesus.) He knows he has now joined them to his destiny. And he knows the only way to break such a pact is for them to throw him off the ship he booked. It will break the contract. Even in rebellion, the power of God follows his faith.
15 And they lifted Jonah up and threw him out into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging.
16 Then the men feared Jehovah exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the LORD, and vowed vows.
And, when the power of God is revealed the unbelieving believe offer sacrifices, are the first ones Jonah evangelizes. They turn their backs in their gods, toward God.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dodMQmzGZTw
I've mentioned the Paul connection, No evidence exists of what I wonder so I merely wonder: was this the beginning of an acceptance of the Jehovah in Tarshish? Did this pave the way for the eventual birth of the man who wrote much of our New Testament? I don't do this to add anything to the Bible. It is merely me thinking how God may have allowed this "escape attempt" to open doors for a man who would help found His Church.
Matt Henry sums up:
Jonah 1:13 Jon 1:13
13-17 The mariners rowed against wind and tide, the wind of God's displeasure, the tide of his counsel; but it is in vain to think of saving ourselves any other way than by destroying our sins. Even natural conscience cannot but dread blood-guiltiness. And when we are led by Providence God does what he pleases, and we ought to be satisfied, though it may not please us. Throwing Jonah into the sea put an end to the storm. God will not afflict for ever, He will only contend till we submit and turn from our sins. Surely these heathen mariners will rise up in judgment against many called Christians, who neither offer prayers when in distress, nor thanksgiving for signal deliverances. The Lord commands all creatures, and can make any of them serve his designs of mercy to his people. Let us see this salvation of the Lord, and admire his power, that he could thus save a drowning man, and his pity, that he would thus save one who was running from him, and had offended him. It was of the Lord's mercies that Jonah was not consumed. Jonah was alive in the fish three days and nights: to nature this was impossible, but to the God of nature all things are possible. Jonah, by this miraculous preservation, was made a type of Christ; as our blessed Lord himself declared, .Mt 12:40
Which ushers us into our next chapter.
11 Then they said to him, What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm to us? For the sea was going on and being stormy.
12 And he said to them, Take me up and throw me out into the sea. And the sea shall be calm to you; for I know that this great storm has come on you for my sake.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown commentary:
11. What shall we do unto thee?--They ask this, as Jonah himself must best know how his God is to be appeased. "We would gladly save thee, if we can do so, and yet be saved ourselves"
Jonah knows what to do. It may have been knowledge from God or his intuition. It may have been his guilt speaking. He just knew they had to get rid of him tom be out of God's will,
Now these are tough sailors, seasoned, idol worshipers but still spiritually sensitive. And fearful of hurting an innocent man. They don't want innocent blood on their hands. Now, they're at sea. They could toss ANYONE overboard and no one would be the wiser. But they are in the midst of a demonstration of God's power. If he is mad at Jonah who is His worshiper, how much angrier would He be at them for killing Jonah if he's innocent?
13 But the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not, for the sea was going on and being stormy against them.
14 And they cried to the LORD and said, We beg You, O LORD, we beg You, let us not perish for this man's life, and do not lay on us innocent blood. For You, O LORD, have done as it pleased You.
15 And they lifted Jonah up and threw him out into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging.
So again they try by their own efforts to escape God's storm. They drop the sails and row hard, harder. Their arms strain and bulge. Their legs knot. Backs spasm. They begin to ache all over and still no progress. For the sake of their lives, their well being, they yield to Jonah's request.
But first they pray. They pray to Jehovah. Men who have maybe only heard of Him before raise their hands, fall on their knees, They join the Centurion centuries later who met Jesus on the road and asked the Lord to heal his servant, join him in coming to faith in the face of tragedy and in the realization there is nothing they can do.
14 And they cried to the LORD and said, We beg You, O LORD, we beg You, let us not perish for this man's life, and do not lay on us innocent blood. For You, O LORD, have done as it pleased You.
Do you see they are in a similar predicament as Jonah? God has given them an order by Jonah but they don't want to obey it. But they refuse not from rebellion but from fear that it isn't the RIGHT order. If they were sure, they would toss him overboard, no problem. But they are not certain they can trust Jonah's analysis. After all, he is the one running from this obviously powerful God. But everything of their own effort has failed so they yield but hedge their bets, "Please don't take it out on us if this turns out to be wrong!" I heard a minister say that following God requires us to act, just act. It might be wrong, but don't worry, God won't hold it against you if you are sincerely trying to do his will and he will correct the problems it causes if you are wrong.
So, in obedience to Jonah's guidance, they toss him overboard.
Notice something very important here.
Jonah never lost his faith in God.
He's running from his mission. He doesn't want to go the Nineveh. He's so desperate he books legal passage on a ship full of people who's presence will make him unclean by making the pact with them, (Recall how the Pharisees refused to meet in Pilate's house while they tried to persuade him to kill Jesus.) He knows he has now joined them to his destiny. And he knows the only way to break such a pact is for them to throw him off the ship he booked. It will break the contract. Even in rebellion, the power of God follows his faith.
15 And they lifted Jonah up and threw him out into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging.
16 Then the men feared Jehovah exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the LORD, and vowed vows.
And, when the power of God is revealed the unbelieving believe offer sacrifices, are the first ones Jonah evangelizes. They turn their backs in their gods, toward God.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dodMQmzGZTw
I've mentioned the Paul connection, No evidence exists of what I wonder so I merely wonder: was this the beginning of an acceptance of the Jehovah in Tarshish? Did this pave the way for the eventual birth of the man who wrote much of our New Testament? I don't do this to add anything to the Bible. It is merely me thinking how God may have allowed this "escape attempt" to open doors for a man who would help found His Church.
Matt Henry sums up:
Jonah 1:13 Jon 1:13
13-17 The mariners rowed against wind and tide, the wind of God's displeasure, the tide of his counsel; but it is in vain to think of saving ourselves any other way than by destroying our sins. Even natural conscience cannot but dread blood-guiltiness. And when we are led by Providence God does what he pleases, and we ought to be satisfied, though it may not please us. Throwing Jonah into the sea put an end to the storm. God will not afflict for ever, He will only contend till we submit and turn from our sins. Surely these heathen mariners will rise up in judgment against many called Christians, who neither offer prayers when in distress, nor thanksgiving for signal deliverances. The Lord commands all creatures, and can make any of them serve his designs of mercy to his people. Let us see this salvation of the Lord, and admire his power, that he could thus save a drowning man, and his pity, that he would thus save one who was running from him, and had offended him. It was of the Lord's mercies that Jonah was not consumed. Jonah was alive in the fish three days and nights: to nature this was impossible, but to the God of nature all things are possible. Jonah, by this miraculous preservation, was made a type of Christ; as our blessed Lord himself declared, .Mt 12:40
Which ushers us into our next chapter.
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