Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jonah 1:4
But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.
4. sent out ] Lit., as in margin, cast forth, indicating the suddenness and violence of the storm. The same word occurs and is rendered “cast forth” in A.V. in Jon 1:5 ; Jon 1:12 ; Jon 1:15.
Josephus speaks of a violent wind called “the black North wind,” which he says sometimes visited the sea off the coast of Joppa. And we read of “a tempestuous wind called Euraquilo” in another part of the same sea, which rushing down the highlands of Crete suddenly caught the ship in which St Paul was sailing, and brought on a tempest scarcely less severe than that to which Jonah was exposed (Act 27:14). The modern name Levanter is a witness to the prevalence of such winds in those seas.
was like to be broken ] Lit., thought to be broken, as in the margin. A vivid image or personification in keeping with the graphic style of this book. The same word “broken,” i. e. “broken up,” or “broken in pieces,” is used of a ship that is wrecked in 1Ki 22:48. Comp. Act 27:41.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
4 16. Jonah’s Punishment. The Storm and its consequences
No sooner does Jonah decide upon his course of action and think himself now secure of its accomplishment, than God arrests him by the judgment of the storm.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But (And) the Lord sent out – (literally cast along). Jonah had done his all. Now Gods part began. This He expresses by the word, And. Jonah took his measures, and now God takes His. He had let him have his way, as He often deals with those who rebel against Him. He lets them have their way up to a certain point. He waits, in the tranquility of His Almightiness, until they have completed their preparations; and then, when man has ended, He begins, that man may see the more that it is His doing . He takes those who flee from Him in their flight, the wise in their counsels, sinners in their conceits and sins, and draws them back to Himself and compels them to return. Jonah thought to find rest in the sea, and lo! a tempest. Probably, God summoned back Jonah, as soon as he had completed all on his part, and sent the tempest, soon after he left the shore.
At least, such tempests often swept along that shore, and were known by their own special name, like the Euroclydon off Crete. Jonah too alone had gone down below deck to sleep, and, when the storm came, the mariners thought it possible to put back. Josephus says of that shore, Joppa having by nature no haven, for it ends in a rough shore, mostly abrupt, but for a short space having projections, i. e., deep rocks and cliffs advancing into the sea, inclining on either side toward each other (where the traces of the chains of Andromeda yet shown accredit the antiquity of the fable,) and the north wind beating right on the shore, and dashing the high waves against the rocks which receive them, makes the station there a harborless sea. As those from Joppa were tossing here, a strong wind (called by those who sail here, the black north wind) falls upon them at daybreak, dashing straightway some of the ships against each other, some against the rocks, and some, forcing their way against the waves to the open sea, (for they fear the rocky shore …) the breakers towering above them, sank.
The ship was like – (literally thought) To be broken Perhaps Jonah means by this very vivid image to exhibit the more his own dullness. He ascribes, as it were, to the ship a sense of its own danger, as she heaved and rolled and creaked and quivered under the weight of the storm which lay on her, and her masts groaned, and her yard-arms shivered. To the awakened conscience everything seems to have been alive to Gods displeasure, except itself.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jon 1:4
The Lord sent out a great wind into the sea.
The Divine displeasure
There is a religious side to storms. Tempests have done what spiritual teachers could not do.
1. Disobedience ensures punishment. No man can sin with impunity. There is an absolute necessity for moral wrong to be judiciously dealt with.
2. The forces of nature are often the instruments of Gods corrective or punitive purposes. There is a providence in all varieties of weather.
3. The sin of one involves others in its consequences.
From Jon 1:5, we gather–
1. That in seasons of extreme peril the religious instinct invariably reverts to a real or imaginary superior power for help. The religious sense is in imploration to God.
2. That possessions are valueless when life is at stake.
3. That remedial measures to alleviate the consequences of evil are futile while the cause slumbers undisturbed. Sin is the Jonah in every man which keeps him in jeopardy and restlessness every hour.
From verse 6, we are taught–
1. That adverse circumstances often require to be supplemented by direct appeal to arouse men to a sense of their perilous situation.
2. The insufficiency of nature to correct the false and teach the true object of worship.
3. The parallel and divergent points in human history. The same ship, route, port, etc., but widely different motives, ends, etc.
Verse 7 teaches–
1. That the casualties of life are not unfrequently associated with wrong-doing. No calamity without a cause, no sin without a calamity, sooner or later.
2. That necessity drives to expedients.
3. That detection will inevitably overtake the guilty, or the lot fall on the right man.
4. That the extremities of men are the opportunities of God.
5. That one rebellious act sends its ring down the vestibule of ages. (J. O. Keen, D. D.)
The disobedience of the prophet of Gath-hepher
This storm was not accidental,–accident has no place in the government of God. It is the name for a cause or causes of which we are ignorant. The sublimity of this description, and of others which occur in Scripture, will be more apparent when you compare them with the account which the heathen poets give of the deity to whom they assign the direction of this element. The varied operations and agencies in nature and providence which heathenism has distributed among lords many and gods many, the Bible centres in one. What a humiliating contrast is here presented between rational and irrational beings. Jonah obeys not. Inanimate nature waits Gods commands. The following lessons may be deduced from the passage.
I. See here the insensibility of the daring transgressor. Jonah had entered into a contest with his God. The furious elements proclaimed the contest to be fearfully unequal. While every one else is uniting his exertions and his prayers to avert the threatened danger, Jonah had gone down into the sides of the ship, and was fast asleep. Contrast our Lords sleeping during the storm on Galilee. But why wonder at the insensibility of Jonah? Look around and you will see insensibility as profound, and where there is the same difference between insensibility and safety. Engrossed by pleasure or business, how many are there who feel no concern for religion.
II. See the difference between insensibility and safety. While the apprehensions of the prophet diminished, his dangers increased. In endeavouring to escape from the voice of God, given to him in prophetic direction, there was the near prospect of his hearing that voice announcing his destiny from the judgment-seat. Perilous, however, as the prophets situation was, it was not in reality more so than that of thousands who nevertheless participate in the security. In the one case as in the other, there may be but a step between the sinner and death.
III. The objects of trust made the instruments of punishment. This is a marked feature of the Divine administration. See the case of David numbering the people. God permits Jonah to gain his object. Then his troubles begin. The vessel which he expected would bring him to his ultimate point threatens to become the grave of him and his shipmates. So men set their hearts on a favourite object. This is pursued not only without reference to Gods will, but in manifest opposition to it. They gain it. And out of this their vexation and punishment arise. This is often seen in the acquisition of wealth.
IV. The duty of recognising the voice of God in the events which thwart our wishes. Affliction springeth not from the dust. It was God who sent forth that great wind which put in jeopardy the vessel in which Jonah sailed. It was for the purpose of arresting him in his course of disobedience–of bringing him to a sense of his misconduct–and of leading him to seek forgiveness. What is the obvious use which we should make of this narrative? The uniform doctrine of revelation is, that sin hardens the heart, and tends to the still further commission of sin. On this it grounds the exhortation to give all diligence to make our calling and election sure–to be sober and watch unto prayer. (R. Brodie, A. M.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. A great wind] They were overtaken with a storm, which appears from the sequel to have come by the immediate direction of God.
Like to be broken] They had nearly suffered shipwreck.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
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 Jonahs 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 Gods anger, as if the ship could think, and did think of its own weakness, and Gods mighty hand.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. sent outliterally, causeda wind to burst forth. COVERDALEtranslates, “hurled a greate wynde into the see.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea,…. He took a wind out of his treasures, and hurled it, as the word w signifies, into the sea: “into that sea” x; that part of it where the ship was Jonah was in. Winds are at the command of God, which he raises at his pleasure, and fulfil his will, and are servants of his that obey his orders: this here was sent in pursuit of Jonah, to stop him in his voyage, when he thought he had got clear off, and was safe enough. The Jews say y this was done when he had been one day’s voyage:
and there was a great tempest in the sea; which caused the waves to rise and roar, and become very tumultuous: this wind was an extraordinary one, like that “laelaps” or storm of wind which came down into the sea when the disciples of Christ were on it in a ship; or like the “Euroclydon”, in which the Apostle Paul was, Ac 27:14;
so that the ship was like to be broken; it was in danger of it; it seemed as if it would, the waves of the sea were so strong, and beat so hard upon it. It is in the original text, “the ship thought [it should be] broken” z; that is, the men in it; they that had the management of it thought nothing less but that it would be dashed to pieces, and all their goods and lives lost; so great was the hurricane occasioned by the wind the Lord sent. It may be rendered, “that ship a was like”, c. The Jews b have a notion that other ships passed to and fro in great tranquillity, and this only was in distress.
w “projecit”, Mercerus, Drusius “conjecit”, Cocceius. x “in mare illud”, Mercerus. y Pirke Eliezer, c. 10. fol. 10. 1. z “putabat”, Montanus; “cogitavit”, Vatablus, Burkius; “cogitabat”, Drusius, Cocceius. a “navem iliam”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. b Pirke Eliezer, c. 10. fol. 10. 1. So Aben Ezra, Jarchi, Kimchi, and Abendana in loc.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Jonah’s foolish hope of being able to escape from the Lord was disappointed. “Jehovah threw a great wind (i.e., a violent wind) upon the sea.” A mighty tempest ( , rendered appropriately by the lxx) arose, so that “the ship thought to be dashed to pieces,” i.e., to be wrecked ( used of inanimate things, equivalent to “was very nearly” wrecked). In this danger the seamen ( mallach , a denom. of melach , the salt flood) cried for help, “every one to his god.” They were heathen, and probably for the most part Phoenicians, but from different places, and therefore worshippers of different gods. But as the storm did not abate, they also resorted to such means of safety as they had at command. They “threw the waves in the ship into the sea, to procure relief to themselves” ( as in Exo 18:22 and 1Ki 12:10). The suffix refers to the persons, not to the things. By throwing the goods overboard, they hoped to preserve the ship from sinking beneath the swelling waves, and thereby to lighten, i.e., diminish for themselves the danger of destruction which was so burdensome to them. “But Jonah had gone down into the lower room of the ship, and had there fallen fast asleep;” not, however, just at the time of the greatest danger, but before the wind had risen into a dangerous storm. The sentence is to be rendered as a circumstantial one in the pluperfect. Yark e the hass e phnah (analogous to hark e the habbayith in Amo 6:10) is the innermost part of the vessel, i.e., the lower room of the ship. S e phnah , which only occurs here, and is used in the place of , is the usual word for a ship in Arabic and Aramaean. Nirdam: used for deep sleep, as in Jdg 4:21. This act of Jonah’s is regarded by most commentators as a sign of an evil conscience. Marck supposes that he had lain down to sleep, hoping the better to escape either the dangers of sea and air, or the hand of God; others, that he had thrown himself down in despair, and being utterly exhausted and giving himself up for lost, had fallen asleep; or as Theodoret expresses it, being troubled with the gnawings of conscience and overpowered with mourning, he had sought comfort in sleep and fallen into a deep sleep. Jerome, on the other hand, expresses the idea that the words indicate “security of mind” on the part of the prophet: “he is not disturbed by the storm and the surrounding dangers, but has the same composed mind in the calm, or with shipwreck at hand;” and whilst the rest are calling upon their gods, and casting their things overboard, “he is so calm, and feels so safe with his tranquil mind, that he goes down to the interior of the ship and enjoys a most placid sleep.” The truth probably lies between these two views. It was not an evil conscience, or despair occasioned by the threatening danger, which induced him to lie down to sleep; nor was it his fearless composure in the midst of the dangers of the storm, but the careless self-security with which he had embarked on the ship to flee from God, without considering that the hand of God could reach him even on the sea, and punish him for his disobedience. This security is apparent in his subsequent conduct.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Prophet in the Storm; The Prophet Convicted by the Lot. | B. C. 840. |
4 But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. 5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep. 6 So the ship-master came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not. 7 And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. 8 Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou? 9 And he said unto them, I am a Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. 10 Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.
When Jonah was set on ship-board, and under sail for Tarshish, he thought himself safe enough; but here we find him pursued and overtaken, discovered and convicted as a deserter from God, as one that had run his colours.
I. God sends a pursuer after him, a mighty tempest in the sea, v. 4. God has the winds in his treasure (Ps. cxxxv. 7), and out of these treasures God sent forth, he cast forth (so the word is), with force and violence, a great wind into the sea; even stormy winds fulfil his word, and are often the messengers of his wrath; he gathers the winds in his fist (Prov. xxx. 4), where he holds them, and whence he squeezes them when he pleases; for though, as to us, the wind blows where it listeth, yet not as to God, but where he directs. The effect of this wind as a mighty tempest; for when the winds rise the waves rise. Note, Sin brings storms and tempests into the soul, into the family, into churches and nations; it is a disquieting disturbing thing. The tempest prevailed to such a degree that the ship was likely to be broken; the mariners expected no other; that ship (so some read it), that and no other. Other ships were upon the same sea at the same time, yet, it should seem, that ship in which Jonah was was tossed more than any other and was more in danger. This wind was sent after Jonah, to fetch him back again to God and to his duty; and it is a great mercy to be reclaimed and called home when we go astray, though it be by a tempest.
II. The ship’s crew were alarmed by this mighty tempest, but Jonah only, the person concerned, was unconcerned, v. 5. The mariners were affected with their danger, though it was not with them that God has this controversy. 1. They were afraid; though, their business leading them to be very much conversant with dangers of this kind, they used to make light of them, yet now the oldest and stoutest of them began to tremble, being apprehensive that there was something more than ordinary in this tempest, so suddenly did it rise, so strongly did it rage. Note, God can strike a terror upon the most daring, and make even great men and chief captains call for shelter from rocks and mountains. 2. They cried every man unto his god; this was the effect of their fear. Many will not be brought to prayer till they are frightened to it; he that would learn to pray, let him go to sea. Lord, in trouble they have visited thee. Every man of them prayed; they were not some praying and others reviling, but every man engaged; as the danger was general, so was the address to heaven; there was not one praying for them all, but every one for himself. They cried every man to his god, the god of his country or city, or his own tutelar deity; it is a testimony against atheism that every man had a god, and had the belief of a God; but it is an instance of the folly of paganism that they had gods many, every man the god he had a fancy for, whereas there can be but one God, there needs to be no more. But, though they had lost that dictate of the light of nature that there is but one God, they still were governed by that direction of the law of nature that God is to be prayed to (Should not a people seek under their God? Isa. viii. 19), and that he is especially to be prayed to when we are in distress and danger. Call upon me in the time of trouble. Is any afflicted? Is any frightened? Let him pray. 3. Their prayers for deliverance were seconded with endeavours, and, having called upon their gods to help them, they did what they could to help themselves; for that is the rule, Help thyself and God will help thee. They cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them, as Paul’s mariners in a like case cast forth even the tackling of the ship, and the wheat,Act 27:18; Act 27:19; Act 27:38. They were making a trading voyage, as it should seem, and were laden with many goods and much merchandise, by which they hoped to get gain; but now they are content to suffer loss by throwing them overboard. to save their lives. See how powerful the natural love of life is. Skin for skin, and all that a man has, will he give for it. And shall we not put a like value upon the spiritual life, the life of the soul, reckoning that the gain of all the world cannot countervail the loss of the soul? See the vanity of worldly wealth, and the uncertainty of its continuance with us. Riches make themselves wings and fly away; nay, and the case may be such that we may be under a necessity of making wings for them, and driving them away, as here, when they could not be kept for the owners thereof but to their hurt, so that they themselves are glad to be rid of them, and sink that which otherwise would sink them, though they have no prospect of ever recovering it. Oh that men would be thus wise for their souls, and would be willing to part with that wealth, pleasure, and honour which they cannot keep without making shipwreck of faith and a good conscience and ruining their souls for ever! Those that thus quit their temporal interests for the securing of their spiritual welfare will be unspeakable gainers at last; for what they lose upon those terms they shall find again to life eternal. But where is Jonah all this while? One would have expected gone down into his cabin, nay, into the hold, between the sides of the ship, and there he lies, and is fast asleep; neither the noise without, for the sense of guilt within, awoke him. Perhaps for some time before he had avoiding sleeping, for fear of God’s speaking to him again in a dream; and now that he imagined himself out of the reach of that danger, he slept so much the more soundly. Note, Sin is of a stupifying nature, and we are concerned to take heed lest at any time our hearts be hardened by the deceitfulness of it. It is the policy of Satan, when by his temptations he has drawn men from God and their duty, to rock them asleep in carnal security, that they may not be sensible of their misery and danger. It concerns us all to watch therefore.
III. The master of the ship called Jonah up to his prayers, v. 6. The ship-master came to him, and bade him for shame get up, both to pray for life and to prepare for death; he gave him, 1. A just and necessary chiding: What meanest thou, O sleeper? Here we commend the ship-master, who gave him this reproof; for, though he was a stranger to him, he was, for the present, as one of his family; and whoever has a precious soul we must help, as we can, to save it from death. We pity Jonah, who needed this reproof; as a prophet of the Lord, if he had been in his place, he might have been reproving the king of Nineveh, but, being out of the way of his duty, he does himself lie open to the reproofs of a sorry ship-master. See how men by their sin and folly diminish themselves and make themselves mean. Yet we must admire God’s goodness in sending him this seasonable reproof, for it was the first step towards his recovery, as the crowing of the cock was to Peter. Note, Those that sleep in a storm may well be asked what they mean. 2. A pertinent word of advice: “Arise, call upon thy God; we are here crying every man to his god, why dost not thou get up and cry to thine? Art not thou equally concerned with the rest both in the danger dreaded and in the deliverance desired?” Note, The devotions of others should quicken ours; and those who hope to share in a common mercy ought in all reason to contribute their quota towards the prayers and supplications that are made for it. In times of public distress, if we have any interest at the throne of grace, we ought to improve it for the public good. And the servants of God themselves have sometimes need to be called and stirred up to this part of their duty. 3. A good reason for this advice: If so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not. It should seem, the many gods they called upon were considered by them only as mediators between them and the supreme God, and intercessors for them with him; for the ship-master speaks of one God still, from whom he expected relief. To engage prayer, he suggested that the danger was very great and imminent: “We are all likely to perish; there is but a step between us and death, and that just ready to be stepped.” Yet he suggested that there was some hope remaining that their destruction might be prevented and they might not perish. While there is still life there is hope, and while there is hope there is room for prayer. He suggested also that it was God only that could effect their deliverance, and it must come from his power and his pity. “If he think upon us, and act for us, we may yet be saved.” And therefore to him we must look, and in him we must put our trust, when the danger is ever so imminent.
IV. Jonah is found out to be the cause of the storm.
1. The mariners observed so much peculiar and uncommon either in the storm itself or in their own distress by it that they concluded it was a messenger of divine justice sent to arrest some one of those that were in that ship, as having been guilty of some enormous crime, judging as the barbarous people (Acts xxviii. 4), “no doubt one of us is a murderer, or guilty of sacrilege, or perjury, or the like, who is thus pursued by the vengeance of the sea, and it is for his sake that we all suffer.” Even the light of nature teaches that in extraordinary judgments the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against some extraordinary sins and sinners. Whatever evil is upon us at any time we must conclude there is a cause for it; there is evil done by us, or else this evil would not be upon us; there is a ground for God’s controversy.
2. They determined to refer it to the lot which of them was the criminal that had occasioned this storm: Let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause the evil is upon us. None of them suspected himself, or said, Is it I, Lord; is it I? But they suspected one another, and would find out the man. Note, It is a desirable thing, when any evil is upon us, to know for what cause it is upon us, that what is amiss may be amended, and, the grievance being redressed, the grief may be removed. In order to this we must look up to heaven, and pray, Lord, show me wherefore thou contendest with me; that which I see not teach thou me. These mariners desired to know the person that was the dead weight in their ship, the accursed thing, that that one man might die for the people and that the whole ship might not be lost; this was not only expedient, but highly just. In order to this they cast lots, by which they appealed to the judgment of God, to whom all hearts are open, and from whom no secret is hid, agreeing to acquiesce in his discovery and determination, and to take that for true which the lot spoke; for they knew by the light of nature, what the scripture tells us, that the lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposal thereof is of the Lord. Even the heathen looked upon the casting of lots to be a sacred thing, to be done with seriousness and solemnity, and not to be made a sport of. It is a shame for Christians if they have not a like reverence for an appeal to Providence.
3. The lot fell upon Jonah, who could have saved them this trouble if he would but have told them what his own conscience told him, Thou are the man; but as is usual with criminals, he never confesses till he finds he cannot help it, till the lot falls upon him. We may suppose there were those in the ship who, upon other accounts, were greater sinners than Jonah, and yet he is the man that the tempest pursues and that the lot pitches upon; for it is his own child, his own servant, that the parent, that the master, corrects, if they do amiss; others that offend he leaves to the law. The storm is sent after Jonah, because God has work for him to do, and it is sent to fetch him back to it. Note, God has many ways of bringing to light concealed sins and sinners, and making manifest that folly which was thought to be hidden from the eyes of all living. God’s right hand will find out all his servants that desert him, as well as all his enemies that have designs against him; yea, though they flee to the uttermost parts of the sea, or go down to the sides of the ship.
4. Jonah is hereupon brought under examination before the master and mariners. He was a stranger; none of them could say that they knew the prisoner, or had any thing to lay to his charge, and therefore they must extort a confession from him and judge him out of his own mouth; and for this there needed no rack, the shipwreck they were in danger of was sufficient to frighten him, so as to make him tell the truth. Though it was discovered by the lot that he was the person for whose sake they were thus damaged and exposed, yet they did not fly outrageously upon him, as one would fear they might have done, but calmly and mildly enquired into his case. There is a compassion due to offenders when they are discovered and convicted. They give him no hard words, but, “Tell us, we pray thee, what is the matter?” Two things they enquire of him:– (1.) Whether he would himself own that he was the person for whose sake the storm was sent, as the lot had intimated: “Tell us for whose cause this evil is upon us; is it indeed for thy cause, and, if so, for what cause? What is this offence for which thou art thus prosecuted?” Perhaps the gravity and decency of Jonah’s aspect and behaviour made them suspect that the lot had missed its man, had missed its mark, and therefore they would not trust it, unless he would himself own his guilt; they therefore begged of him that he would satisfy them in this matter. Note, Those that would find out the cause of their troubles must not only begin, but pursue the enquiry, must descend to particulars and accomplish a diligent search. (2.) What his character was, both as to his calling and as to his country. [1.] They enquire concerning his calling: What is thy occupation? This was a proper question to be put to a vagrant. Perhaps they suspected his calling to be such as might bring this trouble upon them: “Art thou a diviner, a sorcerer, a student in the black art? Hast thou been conjuring for this wind? Or what business are thou now going on? It is like Balaam’s, to curse any of God’s people, and is this wind send to stop thee?” [2.] They enquire concerning his country. One asked, Whence comest thou? Another, not having patience to stay for an answer to that, asked, What is thy country? A third to the same purport, “Of what people art thou? Art thou of the Chaldeans,” that were noted for divination, “or of the Arabians,” that were noted for stealing? They wished to know of what country he was, that, knowing who was the god of his country, they might guess whether he was one that could do them any kindness in this storm.
5. In answer to these interrogatories Jonah makes a full discovery. (1.) Did they enquire concerning his country? He tells them he is a Hebrew (v. 9), not only of the nation of Israel, but of their religion, which they received from their fathers. He is a Hebrew, and therefore is the more ashamed to own that he is a criminal; for the sins of Hebrews, that make such a profession of religion and enjoy such privileges, are greater than the sins of others, and more exceedingly sinful. (2.) Did they enquire concerning his calling–What is thy occupation? In answer to that he gives an account of his religion, for that was his calling, that was his occupation, that was it that he made a business of: “I fear the Lord Jehovah; that is the God I worship, the God I pray to, even the God of heaven, the sovereign Lord of all, that has made the sea and the dry land and has command of both.” Not the god of one particular country, which they enquired after, and such as the gods were that they had been every man calling upon, but the God of the whole earth, who, having made both the sea and the dry land, makes what work he pleases in both and makes what use he pleases of both. This he mentions, not only as condemning himself for his folly, in fleeing from the presence of this God, but as designing to bring these mariners from the worship and service of their many gods to the knowledge and obedience of the one only living and true God. When we are among those that are strangers to us we should do what we can to bring them acquainted with God, by being ready upon all occasions to own our relation to him and our reverence for him. (3.) Did they enquire concerning his crime, for which he is now persecuted? He owns that he fled from the presence of the Lord, that he was here running away from his duty, and the storm was sent to fetch him back. We have reason to think that he told them this with sorrow and shame, justifying God and condemning himself and intimating to the mariners what a great God Jehovah is, who could send such a messenger as this tempest was after a runagate servant.
6. We are told what impression this made upon the mariners: The men were exceedingly afraid, and justly, for they perceived, (1.) That God was angry, even that God that made the sea and the dry land. This tempest comes from the hand of an offended justice, and therefore they have reason to fear it will go hard with them. Judgments inflicted for some particular sin have a peculiar weight and terror in them. (2.) That God was angry with one that feared and worshipped him, only for once running from his work in particular instance; this made them afraid for themselves. “If a prophet of the Lord be thus severely punished for one offence, what will become of us that have been guilty of so many, and great, and heinous offences?” If the righteous be thus scarcely saved, and for a single act of disobedience thus closely pursued, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?1Pe 4:17; 1Pe 4:18. They said to him, “Why hast thou done this? If thou fearest the God that made the sea and the dry land, why wast thou such a fool as to think thou couldst flee from his presence? What an absurd unaccountable thing is it!” Thus he was reproved, as Abraham by Abimelech (Gen. xx. 16); for if the professors of religion do a wrong thing they must expect to hear of it from those that make no such profession. “Why hast thou done this to us?” (so it may be taken) “Why has thou involved us in the prosecution?” Note, Those that commit a willful sin know not how far the mischievous consequences of it may reach, nor what mischief may be done by it.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Jonah declares here how he had been, as it were, by force brought back by the Lord, when he tried to flee away from his presence. He then says that a tempest arose in the sea; but he at the same time tells us, that this tempest did not arise by chance, as ungodly men are wont to say, who ascribe everything that happens to fortune. God, he says, sent a strong wind on the sea. Some give this renderings God raised up, deriving the verb from נטל, nuthel; but others derive it more correctly from טול, tul (13), and we shall presently meet with the same word in the fifth verse. Now as to what took place, he says that there was so great a tempest, that the ship was not far from being broken. When he says, ‘The ship thought to be broken (14) the expression corresponds with the idiom of our language, la navire cuidoit perir But some take the ship for the passengers or the sailors; but this is strained; and we know that our common language agrees in many of its phrases with the Hebrew.
Jonah then meant, that a tempest arose, not by chance, but by the certain purpose of God, so that being overtaken on the sea, he acknowledged that he had been deceived when he thought that he could flee away from God’s presence by passing over the sea. Though indeed the Prophet speaks here only of one tempest, we may yet hence generally gather, that no storms, nor any changes in the air, which produce rain or stir up tempests on the sea, happen by chance, but that heaven and earth are so regulated by a Divine power, that nothing takes place without being foreseen and decreed. But if any one objects, and says that it does not harmonize with reason, that, for the fault of one man, so many suffered shipwreck, or were tossed here and there by the storm: the ready answer to this is, — that though God had a regard only, in a special manner, to the case of Jonah, yet there were hidden reasons why he night justly involve others in the same danger. It is probable that many were then sailing; it was not one ship only that was on that sea, since there were so many harbors and so many islands. But though the Lord may involve many men in the same punishment, when he especially intends to pursue only one man, yet there is never wanting a reason why he might not call before his tribunal any one of us, even such as appear the most innocent. And the Lord works wonderfully, while ruling over men. It would be therefore preposterous to measure his operations by our wisdom; for God can so punish one man, as to humble some at the same time, and to chastise others for their various sins, and also to try their patience. Thus then is the mouth of ungodly men stopped, that they may not clamor against God, when he so executes his judgments as not to comport with the judgment of our flesh. But this point I shall presently discuss more at large: there are indeed everywhere in Scripture, instances in which God inflicted punishment on a whole people, when yet one man only had sinned. But when some murmur and plead that they are innocent, there is ever to be found a reason why God cannot be viewed as dealing cruelly with them; nay, were he pleased, he might justly treat them with much greater severity: in a word, though God may appear to deal severely with men, he yet really spares them, and treats them with indulgence. Let us now proceed —
(13) This is no doubt its root. It is used when Saul is said to cast a javelin at David, 1Sa 18:11, and when the Lord threatens to cast out the people from his land, Jer 16:13. It implies force and power. Coverdale’s rendering, as quoted by Henderson, strikingly conveys its meaning, “But the Lord hurled a great wynde into the sea.” — Ed.
(14) This perhaps can hardly be said to be a Hebrew idiom. Marckius, and also Henderson, think it to be a metonymy, the ship is mentioned, instead of the mariners: there is in Luk 8:23 an opposite metonymy, the sailors are taken for the ship. Newcome renders the sentence, “and it was thought that the ship would be broken in pieces.” If the metonymy be admitted, the rendering would be, “and the mariners thought that they should be shipwrecked.” — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
JONAH IN THE STORM
Jon 1:4-16
WHEN we parted from Jonah in the former address, he was standing at the office window of a merchant vessel in the act of paying his fare to Tarshish. When we part from him next he will be overboard in consequence of his disobedience.
God had commissioned him to go due east from Gath-hepher, five hundred miles, to preach in Nineveh. He decided to ship for Tarshish, a thousand miles in exactly the opposite direction, for the ancient Tarshish was in Spain, just about where Gibraltar is now.
When a man starts to run away from God he can hardly expect smooth sailing, and so this vessel had little more than cleared the harbor before a stiff breeze was in her canvas. And the farther away they went the stronger that gale became, until by and by a hurricane was on, and even the old mariners were so filled with alarm that they betook themselves to prayer, and cried every man unto his god. And while they prayed, they wrought, tossing the wares into the sea hoping to lighten the ship, and thereby save it from being broken. When a storm at sea becomes so severe that the captain concludes there is no hope unless God shall interpose, and, going over the vessel, calls upon every passenger to betake himself to prayer, it is a euroclydon indeed. But to that very condition Jonahs ship shortly came. And the old ship master must have been surprised indeed as he went down into the sides of the ship and stumbled on this man fast asleep. It requires no special activity of the imagination to see the sea-tried captain laying hold upon Jonah and shaking him, wondering whether he were drunk, or fallen in a faint from fear. Even over these centuries we can hear him say, What meanest thou, O sleeper? dont you know our condition? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God mill think upon us, that me perish not.
You know what came after thatthe casting of the lots, the coming out of Jonahs offense, endeavor of the seamen to save both themselves and him, and the final assent to Jonahs request to be cast into the sea; the calm that followed, the sacrifice and the vows.
But I want us to go into this Scripture tonight to trace there Jonahs experience and his judgment.
HIS EXPERIENCE
But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.
Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them.
Gods storm follows every sinning sinner. If you ask me who are the men and women sailing lifes sea without chart or rudder, I should answer, Those who are going on in their sin. If you ask me, who are the men and women that must come into storms of sorrow, storms of suffering, storms of disease, and storms of death, that will whelm them, body and soul, I should answer, Those who are going on in sin.
Years ago I knew a young man who began to tipple and talk loudly of being temperate in all things. He defended his right to take a drink, and boasted his ability to stop when he pleased. He is in the storms now storms of financial stress, storms of physical debility, storms of social degradation, storms of domestic unhappiness, storms of spiritual decline.
Years ago I knew a young woman who gave ear to Satanic whispers, and forsook the instruction of her youth, and already she has been cast overboard, and in a little time she will lie dead in the deep. And every young man and every young woman starting out as they started will find storms of judgment after them. In the very hours in which they ought to be at rest they will find themselves in the agony of moral earthquake and mental whirlwind, for He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.
Again, every impenitent man is in danger of falling asleep.
But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.
The critics have called attention to this statement and tried to make it the basis of an argument against the historicity of Jonah. They say a man who is running away from God would not likely be asleep, and still less likely sleep in such a storm as is here reported. But such a criticism marks the man who makes it as a superficial observer of life, and without familiarity with Psychology.
There is scarcely a touch in the Book of Jonah so true to universal experience as this report of his sound slumbers. Whenever a man refuses to be obedient to God, if he be keenly sensitive to Divine authority, mental restlessness will result, and sleep will go from his eyes. So long as he continues to debate against evident duty the restlessness will remain. But when once he has made up his mind upon a certain course, and sets about carrying it out, the question being settled, tired nature will react and deep slumbers will ensue. I have no doubt that Jonah had lost many nights sleep over this matter. But that was before he had decided definitely what he would do. Now that he had decided, the mind was making up for lost time by unnatural slumber.
What a picture this of the mental stupor into which he who continues in his sin is sure to come. People often wonder why men, known to be sinners, known to be transgressors of every righteous law, seem nevertheless to be at peace, filled with no misgivings, entertaining no fears. But that is no marvel; it is natural. The mind is so constituted that when we first go wrong it cries out against the iniquity; but if we continue indefinitely in an evil course, it ceases its remonstrance and a moral stupor ensues, and a great many will die in that same stupor, will go down to the grave without ever being awakened to their true condition.
Years since at Portland, Me., I was on The Kentucky of the North Atlantic Squadron. There were several hundred people on board, tramping here and there, and talking incessantly, and yet in one room through which we went, a half dozen sailors lay sound asleep. Nothing that we said disturbed them. Everything in the natural world has its counterpart in the spiritual. And there are men whose souls sleep under the sound of the Gospel, and despite all cries of Awake thou sleeper! their spirits are undisturbed.
It is reported that in the year 1775, the captain of a Greenland whaling vessel found himself at night surrounded by icebergs and lay to until morning. When the day dawned he looked about and saw a ship near by. He hailed it, but no answer came. Getting into a boat with some of his crew he pushed toward this mysterious craft, and when he came on board he found a man standing before the log book. He saluted him, but no answer. He approached the man and found that he was frozen to death. The log book was dated 1762. Going over the vessel he found sailor after sailor frozen to death, some in the hammocks, others in the cabin For thirteen years these men who, to all outward appearances, had been at the post of duty had been deaf to the shout of any vessel going that way.
Oh, beloved, I believe that tonight there are all about us men whose bodies are at the post of secular duty, but whose souls are held by a slumber that will be broken by nothing short of the rising of Gods storm of judgment!
When Aaron Burr was a student at Princeton he was brought under special conviction of sin in connection with a series of meetings. He went into the country and stayed two weeks. When he returned he said the subject of religion was settled with him, and it was settled against the claims of the Gospel. From that time his soul was as dead. No matter how tender the preachers appeal, it never touched him for his spiritual lethargy remained until the end was on, and that soul stood before God to be judged for deeds done in the body. And yet, God mercifully sends His messengers to sleeping souls.
Jonah was not left undisturbed to perish in this storm. God has his minister in this shipmaster, and God treated Jonah as He treated Lot when Sodom was about to bum. You remember it is written of that ancient unworthy:
When the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.
And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city (Gen 19:15-16).
It is often true that men do not appreciate the endeavors Gods agents make to save them. Mr. Moody asked a policeman whom he passed on the street in Chicago one night if he was a Christian. The question jarred on that policemans feelings just as the shipmasters shaking disturbed Jonahs nerves. He doubled up his fist and threatened to knock Mr. Moody into the mud. But afterwards he came to his senses and wondered whether this man was sent of God. One morning before daybreak he rapped at Mr. Moodys door and when admitted into his room he said, You, sir, aroused me to a sense of my sin. Now wont you pray for me that I may be saved? The ministry of the shipmaster is a ministry that men in sin dislike, and yet it is the very ministry for lack of which those same men are dying.
Beloved, cannot we afford to be rebuffed occasionally by those who would prefer to sleep and sink than be wakened up to be saved, if in return for our rebuff we may see them roused to a sense of their danger and hear them call upon their God? More than fifty years ago I was walking a country road one cold winter night. In one corner of a rail fence I saw by the moonlight the form of a man; and going up to him I found that he was drunk and insensible. Hurrying to my home I notified two older brothers and we three went back to rouse him if possible; and if not, to carry him into the house, where by the warm fire his chilled blood might circulate again. When we shook him he moaned: Let me alone. When we laid hold on him and lifted him up he swore at us and feebly fought. But despite all that we dragged him along and put him into the colored mans cabin and cared for him until he came to himself. He was an ignorant fellow who knew little concerning the higher traits of character, but after the night in which we saved his life he was our steadfast friend.
I often think of Jesus dealing with the Gadarene. Dont you remember how Mark tells that story? When the Gadarene saw Jesus approaching him he cried with a loud voice and said, What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of the Most High God? I adjure Thee by God, that Thou torment me not!
That is the speech of a soul that would remain in sin, the soul that does not want its spiritual stupor disturbed. And yet that same man, when once he is disposed of the devils, will be so devoted to Jesus Christ that when others are praying Him to depart out of their coasts, this redeemed one will pray Him that he may be with Him. There are many people in the world who take pains to make friends of such of their fellows as will likely prove faithful throughout all time. But I can tell you how to make unto yourself friends whose affection will increase through all eternity,accept the ministry of the shipmaster! Go about shaking up the sleeping! And every man that you bring to rise and call upon his God will live to praise your name. The best friends I have ever had in this world have been the men and women, the boys and girls Jesus Christ has privileged me to point to Him and baptize in His Name.
But note further, To slumber in sin is not to keep it secret.
And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah (Jon 1:7).
It is always so! The one thing that cannot be covered up is crime. Sin of any sort is like a fire. It will find its way to the surface, and with a red tongue tell its own tale. Charles Spurgeon illustrates this fact in one of his sermons.
He says: Beware of committing acts which it will be necessary to conceal. There is a singular poem by Hood, called The Dream of Eugene Aram. A most remarkable piece it is indeed, illustrating the point on which I am now dwelling. Aram has murdered a man, casting his body into the river, A sluggish water, black as ink, the depth was so extreme. The next morning he visited the scene of his guilt:
And sought the black, accursed pool,
With a wild, misgiving eye;
And he saw the dead in the river bed,
For the faithless stream was dry!
Next he covered the corpse with heaps of leaves, but a mighty wind swept through the wood and left the secret bare before the sun.
Then down I cast me on my face,
And first began to weep,
For I knew my secret then was one
That earth refused to keep,
Or land or sea, though it should be
Ten thousand fathoms deep.
Now we turn from Jonahs experience to
HIS JUDGMENT
Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous.
And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
Jonah assented to the justice of his judgment.
In some measure every sinner must do that. Men do not rebel against God without realizing the wrong of it. Most men, I believe, do not expect to escape the storms which their sins invite. The iniquities in which they indulge are so passed upon by conscience, when roused by the conviction of the Holy Ghost, that they must say, as David said,
I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight: that Thou mightest he justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest.
The sailors saw the necessity of this judgment. At first they hoped to escape it, and the men rowed hard literally, dug their oars into the deep, to bring them to the land, but they could not, for the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them.
It is impossible for the innocent and guilty to go on together. Unless the latter can be converted divorcement is absolutely essential to the former. That profane associate of yours; that cigarette fiend you call a companion; that tippler with the intoxicating cup; that immodest maid whose companionship you have shared, you are not safe, if you continue in association with these. So long as you are laboring to the utmost to bring them to a better life, God will not let you go down. But, failing in that endeavor, you must do one of two things, separate from them, or sink with them. The most effective emmissary that Satan has at work is an evil associate, and there is not a man or a woman starting out to sail lifes sea with such an one who is not in danger of the tempest and storm. I never see a young person part from an evil companion but I want to cry, Bravo! and turn my ear Heavenward to hear the shout of the glad angels who celebrate the souls victory.
And, finally, Gods judgment seemed to be Jonahs end.
So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.
Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows.
The disobedient goes overboard. The disobedient descends into the deep. The disobedient is regarded as dead, and all of this is a symbol of the actual experience of the soul that disobeys God, and without hope, self-condemned, and commiserated. It is not a pleasant sight. It is not an experience to be desired. It is a sight that makes angels weep! It is an experience that makes devils laugh. Heirs happiness is Heavens sorrow. And when the soul goes overboard and is left to sink in the sea of sin, never to see the haven of rest, all good men should sob and all bad men shake with fear.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Jon. 1:4. Sent out] Lit. to cast or hurl, passive, to be thrown prostrate. God throws the wind down upon the surface of the sea. Hurled a greate wynde into the see [Coverdale]. Was like] Lit. thought to be broken. The ship personified; ship and crew identified in the writers mind.
Jon. 1:5. Afraid] Though accustomed to storms. Lighten] The sailors and ship under a burden. Fast] A heavy sleep, from a word to snore.
HOMILETICS
THE RETRIBUTIVE STORM.Jon. 1:4-5
Sin is not only an expensive pleasure, but a disturbing element. In the human heart, the domestic circle, and the Christian Church, it creates storms. Some are permitted to escape from God, not so Jonah. Perverse and self-willed as he may be, Gods grace abounds. God sends a messenger to recover him.
I. The storm and its lessons. Learn
1. The operations of nature are under Divine control.
(1) In their origin. It is distinctly said, the Lord sent out a great wind. Nature is created and dependent; has neither force nor will of her own. All the elements are Gods messengers and obey him (Psa. 147:15-18). Mark the perfect ease and mighty power displayed. He wills, he speaks, and calm and tempest, sunshine and shower, are cast forth upon us (Gen. 1:3; Job. 37:1-7). When we expect rest, lo, a messenger to rouse us to a sense of danger! Winds and tempests fulfil his pleasure.
(2) In their strength. A mighty tempest fell upon Jonah. Storms often swept that sea, were known by special names, as Euroclydon off Crete, but none like this. God gives force to matter and motion to winds. He whispers in the breeze and thunders in the hurricane; he gives strength to the floods and direction to the storm. Regularity does not exclude supreme and personal control. The sudden change in the financial weather which melts our fortune like ice before the spring-timethe rains which frustrate our plans, and the clouds that enter our dwellings, are sent by God. For he commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind which lifteth up the waves thereof.
2. The operations of nature are moral in their design. The wind was sent after Jonah and fell upon him. It had a special end, a moral design. God is accomplishing many purposes in daily providence. By the same process he can punish the sinner and reclaim the backslider. We may see mischief in the storm. One thing may engross our attention, but nothing deranges Gods design. Individual circumstances are adapted to individual character, and national calamities to national morality. The elements are messengers of mercy and judgment. Fire and water, wind and malaria, are sent to reach the disobedient. Fugitives from God will be caught in their transgression. It is better to be recovered by a tempest than perish in a calm.
II. The storm and its effects. Gods efforts are not powerless. Nature roused to fury speaks with no small voice.
1. Its effect upon the ship. The ship was like to be broken. Often had it ploughed the sea, but never tossed about as then. What are works of man when seized by the hand of God? Who can contend with the Almighty? Our merchant fleet and men of war are helpless in the raging of the sea. It is needful for all, especially for those who do business on great waters, to own dependence upon God and thank him for a prosperous voyage.
2. Its effect upon the mariners.
(1) They feared. The mariners were afraid. Men of careless and jovial spirit matured in peril, trembled in fear. God can damp the most buoyant spirit and rouse the most secure.
(2) They prayed. And cried each to his God. Perhaps of different nations each had his favourite idol. They were sensible men, knew that their own power and wisdom would not avail in that tempest. Prayer is a law of our constitution and the most sensible part of our conduct. But many do not pray until they get on the sea. In a calm they forget God; in a storm, alarmed by danger, roused by affliction, they feel conscious of sin, and cry to God for help. But better late than never. When forced to feel that we cannot flee from God, it may be acceptable to return in prayer to him (Psalms 107). Lord, in trouble have they visited thee; they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.
(3) They cast out their wares. Gods purpose does not excuse mans neglect. Men risk life sometimes to get wealth; but when life is in danger they will part with the most valuable treasures to keep it. All that a man hath will he give for his life. Spiritually we should be anxious to save the soul. Every besetting sin in the race, every cumber in the voyage, must be cast away. Worldly cares and pursuits which endanger the soul and raise the anger of God must be forsaken. The crew with Paul threw overboard all the merchandise. Lay aside all encumbrance. Life is more value than cargo. Forsake all sin, and you will pray with greater speed than Jonahs mariners. What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Fear brings many recruits into the army of Christ, who afterwards fight under his banner from love of his service. The cry of sorrow often turns into the pleading of true contrition and filial dependence (Act. 16:27-34; Isa. 26:16-18). To his grace be the glory. It is well to find these heathen sailors not sunk into a stupid insensibility, nor bewildered with extreme terror, two common effects of imminent danger on bold and irreligious minds, especially in their profession. But one thing alone gives true peace in danger: assurance of Gods love (2Co. 5:5-8). Do we enjoy it? do we seek it [Sibthorp]?
In the prayer of the mariners notice,
1. The light of nature which instructed them to recognize a Supreme Being.
2. The power of conscience to hear him speak in anger in the storm.
3. The impotence of idolatry in distress. Their prayers were earnest, though ignorant. But we learn that the deities of pagan lands and sentimental religionists are deaf and dumb like the gods of Baal. The natural light of reason extends thus far, that it considers God kind, gracious, merciful, and mild. This is a great light; but it fails in two particulars. In the first place, it believes that God has power and knowledge to do and to give; but that he is willing also to do such things for it, it knows not; therefore it does not continue steadfast in its opinion. In the second place, reason cannot correctly bestow the predicate of Deity upon that being to whom it belongs. It knows that God is; but who and what he is who has a right to be called God it knows not [Lange].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 1
Jon. 1:4-5. Storm. Some years ago an infidel embarked at Buffalo with a printing-press, to set up an infidel publication in Cleveland. He annoyed the passengers by his zeal to discuss the subject of religion. When a storm arose and threatened them with destruction, he was not only willing to throw overboard his press, but was conspicuous for his prayers and cries for mercy. When the storm was over, and he found himself a laughing-stock among the wicked and an object of pity to the pious, he went back to his infidelity and blamed his early education in superstition, as he called it, for his fright and prayers [Mitchell].
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(4) Sent out.The Hebrew word (see margin, and comp. Jon. 1:5; Jon. 1:12; Jon. 1:15, where the same word is rendered cast forth) expresses the sudden burst of the storm. A squall struck the ship. The coast was well known to sailors as dangerous. (See Josephus, Ant. xv. 9, 6, B. J. iii. 9. 3.)
So that the ship was like to be broken.See margin for the literal expression, which is that of a sailor to whom the ship is a living thing, with feelings, hopes, and fears. For the word break, of shipwreck (comp. naufragium), see 1Ki. 22:48.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Jonah’s punishment, Jon 1:4-16.
4, 5. Great wind mighty tempest Two synonymous expressions. The statement is repeated to indicate the fierceness of the tempest.
Jehovah sent out Literally, hurled (Jon 1:5; Jon 1:12; Jon 1:15). The verb is used of the casting of the spear (1Sa 18:11; 1Sa 20:33). The tempest was the weapon of the divine wrath (see on Amo 3:6; also concluding remarks on Amo 4:6-11).
Was like to be broken Literally, was thought to be broken. Its destruction was almost in sight. G.A. Smith, “threatened to break up.” A storm of this character would strike terror everywhere. The sailors sought relief (1) by appealing to their gods, and (2) by casting overboard everything that could be spared.
Every man unto his god There were probably few Jewish sailors or passengers. The crew was made up, undoubtedly, very largely of Phoenicians, and may have included representatives of other nations, who were worshipers of different deities; besides, the ship may have carried passengers from various cities and peoples. However reckless at other times, the danger drove them to their knees. Compare Shakespeare ( The Tempest, 1: 1), “All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost!’
Wares Whether this means the furniture (Act 27:19), or the cargo (Act 27:38), or both, is not known; nor is the nature of the cargo indicated. Some have supposed that it was a corn ship, as in the case of Paul.
To lighten it of them Better, R.V., “to lighten it unto them”; literally, from upon them. Not, to lighten the ship, but their distress; to remove it as if it were a burden (Exo 18:22).
Meanwhile Jonah seems to be unaware of the danger.
Was gone down Perhaps before the storm broke out, so that he was unconscious of it.
Into the sides R.V., “innermost parts” (as in Amo 6:10); here perhaps the lowest part of the ship.
Fast asleep Some have explained this as a sign of a troubled conscience that Jonah had thrown himself down to forget, and thus to escape the danger and the hand of God; or, that, utterly exhausted by the mental struggle and the realization of the danger, he had fallen asleep: “Troubled with the gnawings of conscience and overpowered with mourning, he had sought comfort in sleep and fallen into a deep sleep.” On the other hand, Jerome regards it as an indication of a calm mind; the others, who know not Jehovah, are seriously troubled, but the prophet feels so secure even in the midst of the storm that he calmly sleeps on. That the sleep is an indication of calmness of mind is probably true; but the feeling of security was due not to confidence in Jehovah, but rather to the belief that he had succeeded in escaping “the presence of Jehovah.” The sleep of Jonah has been frequently compared with that of Jesus in a severe storm (Mar 4:35-41); but what a difference in the frame of mind that made possible the sleep! Jesus was calm in the assurance that God’s protecting care was over him; Jonah, because he thought he was outside the reach of Jehovah.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘But YHWH sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was likely to be broken.’
But YHWH was not going to let Jonah off so easily. Jonah was His servant and He never just cast off His servants however badly they behaved. He was as concerned to show mercy to Jonah, as He was to the sailors and to Nineveh. So He sent a great wind on the sea, and aroused a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the probability was that the ship would be broken in pieces. It does not sound like an act of love, but it was. How often He also break up our foundations so that we might learn to walk in His ways and trust and obey Him.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
See how everything ministers to the Lord’s pleasure, when and where the Lord designs? Some of the ancient Jews have said, but by what authority I know not, that this wind was only directed to the ship in which Jonah was; for that other ships passed and repassed in safety at the time. But be this as it may, I hope the Reader will not fail to make a spiritual improvement of it, and remark here from, how the Lord sends storms and winds into the consciences of men, when rousing them by his grace to the consideration of their ways, while others around are in a calm.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jon 1:4 But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.
Ver. 4. But the Lord sent out ] Heb. cast forth, sc. out of his treasuries, Psa 135:7 , wherehence he sendeth at his pleasure mighty great winds which he (the only Aeolus) holdeth in his fist, hideth in his repositories, checketh them as he seeth good, weighs them in his hand, Job 28:25 ; sends them out as his posts, makes them pace orderly, appoints them their motion, whether as messengers of mercy, Num 2:13 Gen 8:1 Exo 14:21 , or as executioners of justice, Exo 10:13 Job 1:19 , hurting men’s houses, cattle, corn, persons; yea, hurrying and hurling the wicked into hell, Job 27:21 .
A great wind into the sea
There was a mighty tempest in the sea
So that the ship was like to be broken
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jon 1:4-6
4The LORD hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up. 5Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god, and they threw the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep. 6So the captain approached him and said, How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.
Jon 1:4 The LORD hurled a great wind Be careful to note the different uses of divine names. Often pagans use Elohim, but when in connection with Jonah, YHWH. See Special Topic: NAMES FOR DEITY .
The VERB (BDB 376, KB 373, Hiphil PERFECT) means to send a violent storm (i.e., hurl, cf. Jer 16:13; Jer 22:26). The same word is translated cast in Jon 1:5; Jon 1:15. God is in control of history and nature.
great wind. . .great storm See note at Jon 1:2.
the ship was about to break up Surprisingly (and uniquely here) the VERB (BDB 990, KB 1402, Niphal INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT) personifies the ship as thinking itself will break up!
Jon 1:5 the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god The two VERBS, became afraid (BDB 431, KB 432) and cried (BDB 277, KB 277), are Qal IMPERFECTS, implying ongoing action.
The term gods in Jon 1:5-6 is Elohim (see Special Topic at Amo 1:2). It is a Hebrew PLURAL so it can be translated gods in Jon 1:5 and god in Jon 1:6. The sailors are depicted as calling on different gods, therefore, they must be from different Gentile nations. In a sense they represent all Gentile nations.
Sociologists and anthropologists tell us that all societies have a religious aspect. Humans are religious beings. I think this reflects Gen 1:26-27, that all humans are made in the image and likeness of God, marred though they may be (cf. Genesis 3).
lain down, fallen sound asleep This is irony. While the sailors pray and lighten the boat, Jonah sleeps. The implication is unstated. He apparently was not bothered by his flight from God’s will or the danger to the sailors’ lives. This seems to imply a spiritual callousness or, because of the rareness of this term (BDB 922, KB 1191, Niphal IMPERFECT), it could refer to a divine stupor or trance (for a related term cf. Gen 15:12; 1Sa 26:12).
Jon 1:6 the captain. . .call on your god What irony! Here is a pagan asking YHWH’s covenant spokesman to pray. God had asked Jonah to rise up and call (both Qal IMPERATIVES, cf. Jon 1:2) to Nineveh. Now the same words are found in the pagan captain’s words to Jonah!
Perhaps your god This same cover all bases theology has caused the modern phenomenon of eclectic religions, like Bahai. This statement sets the stage for the major purpose of the book of Jonah. Non-Jews need to know about the one true God! They are hungry to know Him (Augustine, every man has a God-shaped hole in his heart and thereby needs God).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
wind. Hebrew ruach. App-9.
was like = thought. Figure of speech Prosopopoeia. App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jon 1:4-10
Jehovah captures Jonah with a Great Fish (Jon 1:4-17)
But Jehovah sent out a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god; and they cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it unto them. But Jonah was gone down into the innermost parts of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep (Jon 1:4-5).
Let us consider the facts up to this point. God has given Jonah a task yet the prophet has disobeyed. Jonah has fled from the presence of God (Jon 1:3) (so he thought). Jonah has now involved others in his punishment for disobedience. The mariners of the ship bound for Tarshish are not guilty of Jonahs disobedience yet they are now caught in the middle of this struggle between God and His prophet. These mariners are filled with terror as they experience Gods wrath unleashed upon the seas of the Mediterranean. The identity of the mariners is found as they, in a time of trouble, call upon all to turn every man unto his god. The mariners idea of a source of help was each mans deity. Unity in diversity was an obvious practice among the Gentiles (see study # 1; Unity in Diversity of Beliefs). Whatever deity one so chose to serve and associate with was ok with everyone else. There was not one true deity in the minds of the Gentile heathen. The mariners begin to throw everything not tied down over board to lighten the ship and lessen its chances of sinking. Meanwhile, Jonah is fast asleep within the ship.
So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not (Jon 1:6).
The sea was apparently so turbulent that the mariners truly feared for their lives. This was no ordinary storm but rather a violent tossing about. The master of the ship finds Jonah asleep and cannot believe it. He calls upon Jonah to pray to his God too. No help was coming from any of the other mens deities and so they request that Jonah call upon his God. They are desperate and seek to find help from any source. The words that we perish not illustrate a common fellowship that all the men shared. No one wanted to die!
And they said everyone to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; what is thine occupation? And whence comest thou? What is thy country? And of what people art thou? (Jon 1:7-8).
Lots were often cast to determine many things in Bible days (cf. Jos 18:10; 1Ch 25:8; Luk 23:34; Act 1:26). Jonah received the short stick (i.e., some form of throwing stones or choosing sticks of various lengths) that identified him as the source of the trouble. The mariners of the ship now want to know everything about Jonah. Though they believed in a multitude of gods it was now clear that this great calamity was caused by the God of Jonah.
And he said unto them, I am a Hebrew; and I fear Jehovah, the God of heaven, who hath made the sea and the dry land. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, What is this that thou hast done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of Jehovah, because he had told them (1:9-10).
Jonah proceeds to tell the mariners all about himself and Jehovah God (i.e., the creator of all things). News of a mere man angering such a powerful God as the creator of the sea and dry land caused the mariners to be exceedingly afraid. It is clear that the mens question, What is this that thou hast done is not a request for information regarding why Jonah was disobedient but rather a question of utter astonishment that Jonah would do such a thing. Jonah proclaims his fear of Jehovah God; however, his actions illustrated otherwise.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
the Lord: Exo 10:13, Exo 10:19, Exo 14:21, Exo 15:10, Num 11:31, Psa 107:24-31, Psa 135:7, Amo 4:13, Mat 8:24-27, Act 27:13-20
sent out: Heb. cast forth
like: Heb. thought
Reciprocal: 1Ki 19:9 – What doest thou Job 41:25 – by Psa 65:7 – Which Psa 107:25 – he commandeth Psa 147:15 – sendeth Psa 148:8 – stormy Ecc 1:6 – The wind Jer 23:23 – General Jer 51:16 – bringeth Eze 13:13 – a stormy Jon 4:8 – that God Mar 4:37 – great storm Act 27:20 – and no Jam 3:4 – are driven Rev 7:1 – holding
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jon 1:4. Jonah was to learn “the hard way that it is impossible to evade the hand of God by fleeing. Yet the Lord did not wish to injure him since He expected to use him after the present lesson had been taught and appreciated. Neither did God intend that any damage should come to the owners of the ship as we shall see. So He sent forth a wind that threatened to rend the vessel hy the violence of the waves.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jon 1:4-5. But the Lord sent out a great wind The extraordinary greatness of it, with the suddenness of its rising, and the terrible effects it was likely to produce, showed that it was supernatural, and came from God, displeased with all, or with some one in the ship. Then the mariners were afraid As they had great reason to be, since this preternatural tempest fell upon them with such great violence; and cried every man unto his god To their several idols, as being heathen and ignorant of the true God. And cast forth the wares that were in the ship By which they showed in what extreme danger they judged even their lives to be. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship Into a cabin in one of the sides of the ship. And he lay, and was fast asleep This profound sleep of Jonah seems to have been caused by his weariness, labour, and anxiety: it was not the sleep of security, says St. Jerome, but of sorrow; like that of the apostles, Mat 26:40.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
B. Jonah’s lack of compassion 1:4-6
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Jonah subjected himself to dangers that Israel and the entire ancient Near East viewed as directly under divine control when he launched out on the sea. The sea to them was the embodiment of the chaotic forces that humans could not control or tame (cf. Psa 24:2; Psa 33:7; Psa 65:7; Psa 74:13; Psa 77:19; Psa 89:9; Psa 114:3; Psa 114:5; Isa 27:1; Isa 51:10; Isa 63:11; Jer 5:22; Jer 31:35; et al.). Jonah was desperate to get away from where he thought God might come after him (cf. Gen 3:8). Nevertheless God used the wind to bring the prodigal prophet to the place He wanted him to be (cf. Gen 1:2).
"It was gracious of God to seek out His disobedient servant and not to allow him to remain long in his sin." [Note: Charles L. Feinberg, Jonah, Micah, and Nahum, p. 15.]
In the Hebrew text the last part of this verse is literally, "the ship thought she would be broken in pieces," a graphic personification.