Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm to us?” For the sea grew more and more stormy.
Parallel Translations
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Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm to us?” For the sea grew more and more stormy.
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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.
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Then said they unto him: 'What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us?' for the sea grew more and more tempestuous.
Cross-references (4)
Passages linked to Jonah 1:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Samuel 6:2-3 The Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What shall we do with Yahweh’s ark? Show us how we should send it to its place.” They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, don’t send it empty; but by all means return a trespass offering to him. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why his hand is not removed from you.”
- 2 Samuel 21:1-6 There was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the face of Yahweh. Yahweh said, “It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” The king called the Gibeonites, and said to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites, and the children of Israel had sworn to them; and Saul sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah); and David said to the Gibeonites, “What should I do for you? And with what should I make atonement, that you may bless Yahweh’s inheritance?” The Gibeonites said to him, “It is no matter of silver or gold between us and Saul, or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” He said, “I will do for you whatever you say.” They said to the king, “The man who consumed us, and who devised against us, that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the borders of Israel, let seven men of his sons be delivered to us, and we will hang them up to Yahweh in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of Yahweh.” The king said, “I will give them.”
- Micah 6:6-7 How shall I come before Yahweh, and bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
- 2 Samuel 24:11-13 When David rose up in the morning, Yahweh’s word came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, “Go and speak to David, ‘Yahweh says, “I offer you three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.” ’ ” So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, “Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now answer, and consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain The sailors asked counsel of Jonah; and hence it…
The sailors asked counsel of Jonah; and hence it appears that they were touched with so much fear as not to dare to do any thing to him. We hence see how much they had improved almost in an instant, since they spared an Israelite, because they acknowledged that among that people the true God was worshipped, the supreme King of heaven and earth: for, without a doubt, it was this fear that restrained them from throwing Jonah immediately into the sea. For since it was certain that through his fault God was displeased with them all, why was it that they did not save themselves by such an expiation? That they then delayed in so great a danger, and dared not to lay hold instantly on Jonah, was an evident proof that they were restrained, as I have said, by the fear of God.
They therefore inquire what was to be done, What shall we do to thee, that the sea may be still to us? for the sea was going, etc. By going Jonah means, that the sea was turbulent: for the sea is said to rest when it is calm, but when it is turbulent, then it is going, and has various movements and tossings. The sea, then, was going and very tempestuous We hence see that God was not satisfied with the disgrace of Jonah, but he purposed to punish his offense still more. It was necessary that Jonah should be led to the punishment which he deserved, though afterwards, he was miraculously delivered from death, as we shall see in its proper place.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jon 1:11 Then said they unto him, What shall…
Jon 1:11 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.
Ver. 11. Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee?] q.d. Thou art a prophet of the Lord, and knowest how he may be pacified. Thou art also the party whom he pursueth: say what we shall do to thee to save ourselves from thy death, that even gapeth for us? from this sea, which else will soon swallow us up? for the sea worketh and is tempestuous: so Kimchi readeth the text; making these last also to be the words of the mariners. Thou seest that there is no hope, if thine angry God be not appeased. "Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods?" 1Sa 4:8. If the sea be thus rageful and dreadful, as Jon 1:15, if it thus work and swell more and more, as we see it doth, thereby testifying that it can now no longer defer to execute God’s anger, tell us what we shall do in this case and strait. What?
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Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Then said they; when they heard all that Jonah…
Then said they; when they heard all that Jonah had declared to them, and well weighed it all, and saw it looked all of one piece, most credible.
Unto him; a prophet fittest in that respect to tell them what should be done, and a party so highly concerned in it.
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What shall we do unto thee? if thy God will by thee declare his will and we do it, we shall not provoke him; and if thou submit to his will, and direct us, we shall not injure thee.
That the sea may be calm; cease its rage, and return to its former calmness for us to make our voyage.
For the sea wrought, and was tempestuous; though Jonah had recounted all, and given glory to God, taken shame to himself, and satisfied the seamen, yet the sea grew higher and higher, more tempestuous in itself, and more dangerous to them, and they were sensible that somewhat must be done with Jonah to quiet all. Their fear was lest they should mistake herein, and therefore they ask his counsel.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain It is plain that Jonah is the man for…
It is plain that Jonah is the man for whose sake this evil is upon them, but the discovery of him to be so was not sufficient to answer the demands of this tempest; they had found him out, but something more was to be done, for still the sea wrought and was tempestuous (Jon 1:11), and again (Jon 1:13), it grew more and more tempestuous (so the margin reads it); for if we discover sin to be the cause of our troubles, and do not forsake it, we do but make bad worse. Therefore they went on with the prosecution.
I. They enquired of Jonah himself what he thought they must do with him (Jon 1:11): What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm to us? They perceived that Jonah is a prophet of the Lord, and therefore will not do any thing, no, not in his own case, without consulting him. He appears to be a delinquent, but he appears also to be a penitent, and therefore they will not insult over him, nor offer him any rudeness. Note, We ought to act with great tenderness towards those that are overtaken in a fault and are brought into distress by it. They would not cast him into the sea if he could think of any other expedient by which to save the ship. Or, perhaps, thus they would show how plain the case was, that there was no remedy but he must be thrown overboard; let him be his own judge as he had been his own accuser, and he himself will say so. Note, When sin has raised a storm, and laid us under the tokens of God's displeasure, we are concerned to enquire what we shall do that the sea may be calm; and what shall we do? We must pray and believe, when we are in a storm, and study to answer the end for which it was sent, and then the storm shall become a calm. But especially we must consider what is to be done to the sin that raised the storm; that must be discovered, and penitently confessed; that must be detested, disclaimed, and utterly forsaken. What have I to do any more with it? Crucify it, crucify it, for this evil it has done.
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II. Jonah reads his own doom (Jon 1:12): Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea. He would not himself leap into the sea, but he put himself into their hands, to cast him into the sea, and assured them that then the sea would be calm, and not otherwise. He proposed this, in tenderness to the mariners, that the might no suffer for his sake. "Let thy hand be upon me" (says David, Ch1 21:17), "who am guilty; let me die for me own sin, but let not the innocent suffer for it." This is the language of true penitents, who earnestly desire that none but themselves may ever smart, or fare the worse, for their sins and follies. He proposed it likewise in submission to the will of God, who sent this tempest in pursuit of him; and therefore judged himself to be cast into the sea, because to that he plainly saw God judging him, that he might not be judged of the Lord to eternal misery. Note, Those who are truly humbled for sin will cheerfully submit to the will of God, even in a sentence of death itself. If Jonah sees this to be the punishment of his iniquity, he accepts it, he subjects himself to it, and justifies God in it. No matter though the flesh be destroyed, no matter how it is destroyed, so that the spirit may be but saved in the day of the Lord Jesus, Co1 5:5. The reason he gives is, For I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. See how ready Jonah is to take all the guilt upon himself, and to look upon all the trouble as theirs: "It is purely for my sake, who have sinned, that this tempest is upon you; therefore cast me forth into the sea; for," 1. "I deserve it. I have wickedly departed from my God, and it is upon my account that he is angry with you. Surely I am unworthy to breathe in that air which for my sake has been hurried with winds, to live in that ship which for my sake has been thus tossed. Cast me into the sea after the wares which for my sake you have thrown into it. Drowning is too good for me; a single death is punishment too little for such a complicated offence." 2. "Therefore there is no way of having the sea calm. If it is I that have raised the storm, it is not casting the wares into the sea that will lay it again; no, you must cast me thither." When conscience is awakened, and a storm raised there, nothing will turn it into a calm but parting with the sin that occasioned the disturbance, and abandoning that. It is not parting with our money that will pacify conscience; no, it is the Jonah that be thrown overboard. Jonah is herein a type of Christ, that he gives his life a ransom for many; but with this material difference, that the storm Jonah gave himself up to still was of his own raising, but that storm which Christ gave himself up to still was of our raising. Yet, as Jonah delivered himself up to be cast into a raging sea that it might be calm, so did our Lord Jesus, when he died that we might live.
III. The poor mariners did what they could to save themselves from the necessity of throwing Jonah into the sea, but all in vain (Jon 1:13): They rowed hard to bring the ship to the land, that, if they must part with Jonah, they might set him safely on shore; but they could not. All their pains were to no purpose; for the sea wrought harder than they could, and was tempestuous against them, so that they could by no means make the land. If they thought sometimes that they had gained their point, they were quickly thrown off to sea again. Still their ship was overladen; their lightening it of the wares made it never the lighter as long as Jonah was in it. And, besides, they rowed against wind and tide, the wind of God's vengeance, the tide of his counsels; and it is in vain to contend with God, in vain to think of saving ourselves any other way than by destroying our sins. By this it appears that these mariners were very loth to execute Jonah's sentence upon himself, though they knew it was for his sake that this tempest was upon them. They were thus very backward to it partly from a dread of bringing upon themselves the guilt of blood, and partly from a compassion they could not but have for poor Jonah, as a good man, as a man in distress, and as a man of sincerity. Note, The more sinners humble and abase themselves, judge and condemn themselves, the more likely they are to find pity both with God and man. The more forward Jonah was to say, Cast me into the sea, the more backward they were to do it.
IV. When they found it necessary to cast Jonah into the sea they first prayed to God that the guilt of his blood might not lie upon them, nor be laid to their charge, Jon 1:14. When they found it in vain to row hard they quitted their oars and went to their prayers: Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, unto Jehovah, the true and living God, and no more to the gods many. and lords many, that the had cried to, Jon 1:5. They prayed to the God of Israel, being now convinced, by the providences of God concerning Jonah and the information he had given them, that he is God alone. Having determined to cast Jonah into the sea, they first enter a protestation in the court of heaven that they do not do it willingly, much less maliciously, or with any design to be revenged upon him because it was for his sake that this tempest was upon them. No; his god forgive him, as they do! But they are forced to do it se defendendo - in self-defence, having no other way to save their own lives; and they do it as ministers of justice, both God and himself having sentenced him to so great a death. They therefore present a humble petition to the God whom Jonah feared, that they might not perish for his life. See, 1. What a fear they had of contracting the guilt of blood, especially the blood of one that feared God, and worshipped him, and had fellowship with him, as they perceived Jonah had, though in a single instance he had been faulty. Natural conscience cannot but have a dread of blood-guiltiness, and make men very earnest in prayer, as David was, to be delivered from it, Psa 51:14. So they were here: We beseech thee, O Lord! we beseech thee, lay not upon us innocent blood. They are now as earnest in praying to be saved from the peril of sin as they were before in praying to be saved from the peril of the sea, especially because Jonah appeared to them to be no ordinary person, but a very good man, a man of God, a worshipper of the great Creator of heaven and earth, upon which account even these rude mariners conceived a veneration for him, and trembled at the thought of taking away his life. Innocent blood is precious, but saints' blood, prophets' blood, is much more precious, and so those will find to their cost that any way bring themselves under the guilt of it. The mariners saw Jonah pursued by divine vengeance, and yet could not without horror think of being his executioners. Though his God has a controversy with him, yet, think they, Let not our hand be upon him. The Israelites were at this time killing the prophets for doing their duty (witness Jezebel's late persecution), and were prodigal of their lives, which is aggravated by the tenderness these heathens had for one whom they perceived to be a prophet, though he was now out of the way of his duty. 2. What a fear they had of incurring the wrath of God; they were jealous lest he should be angry if they should be the death of Jonah, for he had said, Touch not my anointed, and do my prophets no harm; it is at your peril if you do. "Lord," say they, "let us not perish for this man's life. Let it not be such a fatal dilemma to us. We see we must perish if we spare his life; Oh let us not perish for taking away his life." And their plea is good: "For thou, O Lord! hast done as it pleased thee; thou had laid us under a necessity of doing it; the wind that pursued him, the lot that discovered him, were both under thy direction, which we are herein governed by; we are but the instruments of Providence, and it is sorely against our will that we do it; but we must say, The will of the Lord be done." Note, When we are manifestly led by Providence to do things contrary to our own inclinations, and quite beyond our own intentions, it will be some satisfaction to us to be able to say, Thou, O Lord! has done as it pleased thee. And, if God please himself, we ought to be satisfied though he do not please us.
V. Having deprecated the guilt they dreaded, they proceeded to execution (Jon 1:15): They took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea. They cast him out of their ship, out of their company, and cast him into the sea, a raging stormy sea, that cried, "Give, give; surrender the traitor, or expect no peace." We may well think what confusion and amazement poor Jonah was in when he saw himself ready to be hurried into the presence of that God as a Judge whose presence as a Master he was now fleeing from. Note, Those know not what ruin they run upon that run away from God. Woe unto them! for they have fled from me. When sin is the Jonah that raises the storm, that must thus be cast forth into the sea; we must abandon it, and be the death of it, must drown that which otherwise will drown us in destruction and perdition. And if we thus by a thorough repentance and reformation cast our sins forth into the sea, never to recall them or return to them again, God will by pardoning mercy subdue our iniquities, and cast them into the depths of the sea too, Mic 7:19.
VI. The throwing of Jonah into the sea immediately put an end to the storm. The sea has what she came for, and therefore rests contended; she ceases from her raging. It is an instance of the sovereign power of God that he can soon turn the storm into a calm, and of the equity of his government that when the end of an affliction is answered and attained the affliction shall immediately be removed. He will not contend for ever, will not contend any longer till we submit ourselves and give up the cause. If we turn from our sins, he will soon turn from his anger.
VII. The mariners were hereby more confirmed in their belief that Jonah's God was the only true God (Jon 1:16): Then the men feared the Lord with a great fear, were possessed with a deep veneration for the God of Israel, and came to a resolution that they would worship him only for the future; for there is no other God that can destroy, that can deliver, after this sort. When they saw the power of God in raising and laying the tempest, when they saw his justice upon Jonah his own servant, and when they saw his goodness to them in saving them from the brink of ruin, then they feared the Lord, Jer 5:22. As an evidence of their fear of him, they offered sacrifice to him when they came ashore again in the land of Israel, and for the present made vows that they would do so, in thankfulness for their deliverance, and to make atonement for their souls. Or, perhaps, they had something yet on board which might be for a sacrifice to God immediately. Or it may be meant of the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise, with which God is better pleased than with that of an ox or bullock that has horns and hoofs. See Psa 107:2, etc. We must make vows, not only when we are in the pursuit of mercy, but, which is much more generous, when we have received mercy, as those that are still studying what we shall render.
VIII. Jonah's life, after all, is saved by a miracle, and we shall hear of him again for all this. In the midst of judgment God remembers mercy. Jonah shall be worse frightened than hurt, not so much punished for his sin as reduced to his duty. Though he flees from the presence of the Lord, and seems to fall into his avenging hands, yet God has more work for him to do, and therefore has prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah (Jon 1:17), a whale our Saviour calls it (Mat 12:40), one of the largest sorts of whales, that have wider throats than others, in the belly of which has sometimes been found the dead body of a man in armour. Particular notice is taken, in the history of creation, of God's creating great whales (Gen 1:21) and the leviathan in the waters made to play therein, Psa 104:26. But God finds work for this leviathan, has prepared him, has numbered him (so the word is), has appointed him to be Jonah's receiver and deliverer. Note, God has command of all the creatures, and can make any of them serve his designs of mercy to his people, even the fishes of the sea, that are most from under man's cognizance, even the great whales, that are altogether from under man's government. This fish was prepared, lay ready under water close by the ship, that he might keep Jonah from sinking to the bottom, and save him alive, though he deserved to die. Let us stand still and 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 that was running from him and had offended him. It was of the Lord's mercies that Jonah was not now consumed. The fish swallowed up Jonah, not to devour him, but to protect him. Out of the eater comes forth meat; for Jonah was alive and well in the belly of the fish three days and three nights, not consumed by the heat of the animal, nor suffocated for want of air. It is granted that to nature this was impossible, but not to the God of nature, with whom all things are possible. Jonah by this miraculous preservation was designed to be made, 1. A monument of divine mercy, for the encouragement of those that have sinned, and gone away from God, to return and repent. 2. A successful preacher to Nineveh; and this miracle wrought for his deliverance, if the tidings of it reached Nineveh, would contribute to his success. 3. An illustrious type of Christ, who was buried and rose again according to the scriptures (Co1 15:4), according to this scripture, for, as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so was the Son of man three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, Mat 12:40. Jonah's burial was a figure of Christ's. God prepared Jonah's grave, so he did Christ's, when it was long before ordained that he should make his grave with the rich, Isa 53:9. Was Jonah's grave a strange one, a new one? So was Christ's, one in which never man before was laid. Was Jonah there the best part of three days and three nights? So was Christ; but both in order to their rising again for the bringing of the doctrine of repentance to the Gentile world. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Then said they unto him, what shall we do…
Then said they unto him, what shall we do unto thee,.... Though, both by the lot and his own confession, they knew he was the guilty person; for whose sake this storm was; yet were unwilling to do anything to him without his will and consent, his counsel and advice; perceiving that he was a prophet of the God of the Hebrews, whom he had offended, and knew the mind and will of his God, and the nature of his offence against him, and what only would appease him they desire him to tell what they ought to do; fearing that, though they had found out the man, they should make a mistake in their manner of dealing with him, and so continue the distress they were in, or increase it; their great concern being to be rid of the storm:
that the sea may be calm unto us? or "silent" (h)? for the waves thereof made a hideous roaring, and lifted up themselves so high, as was terrible to behold; and dashed with such vehemence against the ship, as threatened it every moment with destruction:
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(for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous); or, "it went and swelled" (i); it was agitated to and fro, and was in a great ferment, and grew more and more stormy and tempestuous. Jonah's confession of his sin, and true repentance for it, were not sufficient; more must be one to appease an angry God; and what that was the sailors desired to know. These words are inserted in a parenthesis with us, as if put by the writer of the book, pointing out the reason of the men's request; but, according to Kimchi: they are their own words, giving a reason why they were so pressing upon him to know what they should do with him, "seeing the sea was going and stormy" (k); or more and more stormy; which seems right.
(h) "ut sileat", Pagninus, Vatablus, Mercerus, Drusius; "et silebit", Montanus; "ut conticeseat", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Burkius. (i) "ibat et intumescebat", Pagninus, Vatablus, Drusius. (k) "Vadeus et turbinans", Montanus; "magis ac magis procellosum erat", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "inhorrescebat", Cocceius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 11. What shall we do unto thee] In…
Verse 11. What shall we do unto thee] In these poor men there was an uncommon degree of humanity and tender feeling.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jon 1:11-12. Then said they, What shall we do…
Jon 1:11-12. Then said they, What shall we do unto thee, &c. — They perceived that Jonah was a prophet of the Lord, and therefore they would not do any thing to him without consulting him. He appeared to be a delinquent, but he appeared also to be a penitent: and therefore they would not insult over him, or offer him any rudeness. They would not cast him overboard, if he could think of any other expedient by which to save the ship. And he said, Take me up, and cast me into the sea — It is probable the conviction in Jonah’s mind of his guilt was so strong, at this time, as to make him certain that God had raised this tempest on his account; or he might have a revelation from God that it was so: in either case he might think it his duty to offer himself to death to save the rest that were in the ship. For if it be lawful, and even praise worthy for one man, though guiltless, to sacrifice his life to save the lives of many; how much more may and ought a person to do this who knows that he is the cause of imminent danger, which threatens immediate destruction to many others.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain What shall we do unto thee? - They knew…
What shall we do unto thee? - They knew him to be a prophet; they ask him the mind of his God. The lots had marked out Jonah as the cause of the storm; Jonah had himself admitted it, and that the storm was for “his” cause, and came from “his” God . “Great was he who fled, greater He who required him. They dare not give him up; they cannot conceal him. They blame the fault; they confess their fear; they ask “him” the remedy, who was the author of the sin. If it was faulty to receive thee, what can we do, that God should not be angered? It is thine to direct; ours, to obey.”
The sea wrought and was tempestuous - , literally “was going and whirling.” It was not only increasingly tempestuous, but, like a thing alive and obeying its Master’s will, it was holding on its course, its wild waves tossing themselves, and marching on like battalions, marshalled, arrayed for the end for which they were sent, pursuing and demanding the runaway slave of God . “It was going, as it was bidden; it was going to avenge its Lord; it was going, pursuing the fugitive prophet. It was swelling every moment, and, as though the sailors were too tardy, was rising in yet greater surges, shewing that the vengeance of the Creator admitted not of delay.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain What shall we do unto thee?--They ask this, as…
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" ().
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 11. What shall we do unto thee] No doubt…
11. What shall we do unto thee] No doubt in their thus appealing to Jonah to tell them what was to be done, instead of at once ridding themselves of him as the acknowledged cause of their calamity, we may recognise their reverence for Jehovah, and in a measure also for His servant. At the same time it was only natural and reasonable that, having learned of him the cause, they should seek to know from him the cure of their trouble. “Since you are a worshipper of the most High and Almighty God, you ought to know how the anger of your God can be appeased.”—Rosenm.
may be calm unto us] Lit., may be quiet from upon us, i. e. from pressing upon us and being hostile to us. The word used for being quiet or silent in this and the next verse only occurs beside in Psa_107:30, of quiet after a storm at sea, and in Pro_26:20, of the ceasing of strife.
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wrought, and was tempestuous] Lit., was going and being tossed, i. e. according to the Hebrew idiom, became increasingly tempestuous. So in Gen_8:3, “the waters returned from off the earth continually,” is literally, “returned to go and to return,” i.e. returned increasingly, or more and more. Grew more and more tempestuous, R. V.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (11) What shall we.—The prophet would of course know…
(11) What shall we.—The prophet would of course know how to appease the God he had displeased.
May be calm unto us.—See margin. The word rendered calm occurs (Psa_107:30) of a lull after a storm, and in Pro_26:20 metaphorically, of peace after strife.
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Wrought, and was tempestuous.—Literally, was going, and being agitated; an idiom rightly explained in the margin. (Comp. a similar idiom Gen_8:3.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 11-16. On hearing. Jonah"s confession, the sailors appeal…
Vers. 11-16. On hearing. Jonah"s confession, the sailors appeal to him, as a worshipper of Jehovah, to tell them what to do to him that the storm may cease. He bids them cast him into the sea, which, after some demur and after renewed efforts to escape, they proceed to do. Upon this the storm immediately abates.
What shall we do unto thee? They recognize that the tempest was sent as a judgment on account of Jonah"s sin; at the same time, believing him to be a prophet of Jehovah, under whose wrath they were suffering, they ask his advice in this emergency; if it was a crime to receive him, what shall they do to him to expiate the offence and to appease the anger of God? That the sea may be calm unto us; literally, may be silent from upon us, so as no longer to bear down upon us. (comp. Mar_4:39) Wrought, and was tempestuous; literally, was going and was tempestuous; Septuagint, Eporeueto kai exhgeire mallon kludwna , "The sea was moving and lifting the surge still more;" Vulgate, ibat et intumescebat. That is, according to the Hebrew idiom, "grew more and more tempestuous". (comp. Exo_19:19 Pro_4:18)
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Vers. 11, 12. A voluntary surrender.
Matters so anomalous up to this point are beginning now to resume their normal aspect. The prophet had been behaving in a most inconsequential and erratic way. His flight had been utterly out of character. He ran away from a duty in the doing of which piety would have met philanthropy, and both have had ample scope. His sleep through the storm which his own sin provoked, when death was imminent, and even the heathen sailors called in terror on their gods, was, if possible, more eccentric still Most unaccountable of all, perhaps, was the declaration, "I fear the Lord," so sincerely made when in the very act of setting his command at naught. But now the craze is passing off. Like the prodigal at a corresponding stage of his career, we see the prophet coming to himself. The reign of law is coming back, and mind and conscience and will fall into line and begin to act by rule. These verses exhibit to us the workings of the backslider"s mind in his return to God. We see
I THAT CALAMITY HAS COMPELLED HIM TO THINK. The sinner is seldom logical. If he were, he would be a sinner no longer. There are no valid premises to which a sinful act will stand in the relation of a conclusion. If Jonah had reasoned out the matter before he started on his flight, he would not have started at all. He adopted on impulse a course the folly of which a single moment"s consideration would have shown. And he avoided this consideration as long as he could. It was only the impossibility of getting further that compelled him to face the question, "Why did I come so far? And was it wisely done?" It is almost invariably the practical results of a line of conduct that lead us to examine as to its intrinsic wisdom. We consult our taste in the first instance. What promises immediate pleasure or profit comes to our judgment so highly recommended by the fact, that few questions are asked. No one supposes that the drunkard takes the moral, economic, or hygienic measure of his disastrous habit before he forms it. He has a lively feeling that it is pleasant, and suits his taste, and he waives the consideration of other points till a more convenient season. It is only when his habit has brought misfortune that he really faces the question whether it is a good one or not. With his month full of the bitter fruit, be naturally begins to form an idea of the character of the tree. If the fruiting had never come, the appraising would have been left undone. There is to every sinner a day when he cannot but think. He is happy if the needs be overtakes him at the outset of his straying ere yet return has become impossible.
II THOUGHT HAS CONVINCED HIM OF SIN. We can read a sense of guilt in every word of the arrested fugitive. His mind has awaked. In thought he has faced the situation. And his thought has not been barren. It has brought forth conviction. It would have been weak indeed if it had not. The fact of sin is patent to ordinary intelligence. And so to a certain extent is its demerit. To declare its existence and quality is the function of natural conscience; and what is conscience but reason dealing with moral truth? Of course, its diagnosis of sin is inadequate. The awful demerit of sin done against an infinite and holy God cannot be reached by mere force of thinking. It takes an enlightened eye to see it as it is, an opened heart to realize the whole truth regarding it. You must know God, in fact, in order to know sin, which is an offence against him. This, no doubt, Jonah did. There was a mote for the time being in his spiritual eye, but it had been opened once for all to see God. He came, therefore, to the contemplation of his sin with a measure of spiritual insight. And all may come to it similarly furnished. Obey the call of Scripture to "consider." Make a sincere attempt reexamine yourself. Turn your eye inward, desiring honestly to know yourself as sinful in God"s sight. You won"t be left to your own unaided efforts and to failure. God awaits the beginning of such action to strengthen it. He awaits the attempt at such action to help it. He waits the aim at such action to move to attempt it in the strength of grace. It follows from the connection between wanting and getting in the spiritual sphere and you shall know;" for the Spirit convinces the world of sin, and that by guiding into all truth the searchers after its hidden treasures.
III CONVICTION HAS DRIVEN HIM TO CONFESS. There is a natural egoism in men that is unfavourable to confession. You get it out of them only by a difficult process as men get water out of a still. And the reasons of this are obvious. One is that men are more or less unconscious of their own moral state. They do not realize sin. They deem it an outrage to have guilt charged home. In the impudence of their unconsciousness they would bandy words with God himself. (Mal_3:8) Here is evident failure to discern the sinfulness of sin. And failure is due as much to pride as to incapacity. Men are naturally prejudiced in their own favour. Faults that others see well enough they ignore, or weakly disapprove what others utterly condemn. They abide in darkness because they hate the light. (Joh_3:19) Given a man who cannot see his sin if he would, and who would not if he could, and you have a case in which confession need not be named. Even grant a measure of conviction, and confession does not necessarily follow. When sin is realized in a certain degree, the sinner"s tongue is unloosed, and he tells it out with shame to God. But it does not follow that he will do it before his fellow men. That means a great deal more, is harder to do, and more reluctantly done. It is greater humiliation. It involves stronger reprobation. It implies deeper self-abasement. When it is honestly done conviction may be held to be at its intensest; in fact, to be true and adequate. Jonah"s repentance had now come to this advanced stage (vers. 10, 12). "When the whip of God and the rod of his justice had overtaken Jonah, so that be now sees heaven and earth to he against him, down comes his proud heart: the sleeper now awaketh; the runaway crieth, Peccavi; contrition and confession come now tumbling upon him" (Abbot). Confession of our faults is an essential part of true repentance. To deny them is to lie, to conceal is to bolster up. When a transgressor is either sullenly silent or volubly apologetic, he has not broken with his sin. He could bear to speak the truth about it if he had definitely cast it off. Hence God makes confession a criterion of sincerity and a condition of pardon. (Lev_26:40-42 Jer_3:12, Jer_3:13) Hence, on occasion of sin, (Num_12:11) and Saul, (1Sa_15:24) and David, (2Sa_12:13) and Josiah, (2Ki_22:11, 2Ki_22:13, 2Ki_22:19) and Rehoboam, (2Ch_12:6, 2Ch_12:7, 2Ch_12:12) and Manasseh, (2Ch_33:12, 2Ch_33:13) and Hezekiah, (2Ch_32:26) and Peter, (Mar_14:72) and others whose sincerity Scripture certifies, whilst it records the fact of their pardon, made free and heart-stricken confession of their fault before God and men. Sin confessed means sin discovered and reprobated and disowned. The man flings it off in the very act, declares himself at once its victim and foe. There is philosophy, therefore, and the fitness of things in the Divine deliverance, prescription and promise hand in hand, that "whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy.
IV HIS NEW ATTITUDE TOWARD SIN INCLUDES WILLINGNESS TO SUFFER FOR IT. The world is sometimes surprised and puzzled by a voluntary confession of murder. The self-accused criminal has been hitherto undetected and secure. People may have had their suspicions, and drawn their inferences, but it was impossible to trace the crime home. Yet at last, when investigation had been given up, and the very memory of the crime died out, the murderer comes of his own accord, confesses his crime, and delivers himself up to justice. And, the wonder and puzzlement of shallow people notwithstanding, the act is perfectly logical. The anomaly is not that he has delivered himself up at last, but that he did not do it at the first. There is an instinctive sense of justice in a man, that recognizes the unfitness of a sinner going scot free. He feels that sin produces a moral derangement which cannot continue, and which it takes punishment to readjust. He feels at war with the nature of things until this has been done. He thinks if he had once endured the penalty the balance of things would be restored, and a foundation for future peace be laid. And he actually finds it so. The very fact of telling out his guilt has already lightened the load, and there is a new restfulness in the thought that now he is going to make some amends. It is to this principle that the doctrine of the cross appeals. In Christ crucified the demand of our nature for punishment proportioned to our sin is met. We see our transgressions avenged on him, in him our penal responsibilities met, and our full amends made. Our faith in Christ is, in one aspect, our instinctive clutching at the peace of the punished minus the preliminary pain. The same principle disarms and softens chastisement. Humility feels it is deserved. Intelligence sees it is necessary. And godly sorrow for sin welcomes it as a key to the dwelling of peace from which transgression had strayed. A willingness like Jonah"s to accept the need of sin is no mean criterion of our attitude towards it, and of our whole moral bent.
V HE THOUGHT THAT THE EVIL CONSEQUENCES OF HIS SIN COULD ONLY BE REMOVED BY HIS ENDURING ITS PUNISHMENT. There was a feeling among the sailors that some action must be taken in reference to Jonah (ver. 11). Their present relation to him had involved them in a storm; what but a new relation to him could bring the calm? And the prophet himself is of the same opinion. He considers himself the mountain which attracts the storm, and that, if he were cast into the sea, its great occasion would be gone. What is this but the practical application of a revealed principle, "He that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done"? The axiom applies to the righteous and the wicked alike, if in a different sense. The sin of wicked Saul is visited with punishment as final rejection and ruin. The sin of righteous David is visited with punishment as fiery trial eventuating in a contrite heart. Heathen Philistia and chosen Israel sin in almost equal degree, yet "the remnant of the Philistines" perishes, (Amo_1:8) whilst "the remnant of Israel" is by suffering saved. (Isa_1:8 Rom_9:27 Rom_11:5) And among natural and spiritual men alike the principle holds, cutting this way and that, with double edge: for believing sin, "the rod;" for unbelieving sin, "the sword;" for all sin, wrath in God and anguish in man. (Rom_1:18 Rom_2:9) A recognition of this fact would solve some mysteries of suffering, and put an end to many "offences" and complaints. A man sins in his youth against God, and others, and his own body. By the grace of the Spirit he is brought in a little to repentance and the higher life. Is, therefore, his wrong doing undone? By no means. In some physical ailment, in some raked up imputation, in some injured fellow creature, it rises before him when his hair is white. And he is surprised at this. He thought that, after repentance and pardon, his sin was done with forever. But it Is not so. Sin once done cannot be undone. It leaves its mark on the sinner in mind, or body, or estate, or social relations, but leaves it inevitably somewhere. The wood from which a nail has been drawn can never be as if the nail had not been driven. The nail hole is there, and there remains, do what we will. When, as with Jonah, the sin is against God directly, it has no physical concomitant, and the punishment in its physical aspect can show no connection with it. But it is neither more nor less the doing of God and the result of sin on that account. And, although in regions out of sight, a radical and natural connection still exists between penalty and crime. Its moral necessity and significance and tendency remain the same. Hence the certainty of its coming and the folly of striving to evade its stroke. Not till law natural and moral has had its amends, and all injured interests been recouped, can escape for the law breaker come. Come then it fitly and fairly may, and come then, and only then, it wil.l (Psa_89:30-33)
1. It is not enough to confess sin in general, we must confess it in particular. There is a kind of impersonal guilt which many will freely acknowledge, by whom personal guilt is altogether ignored. If we say generally, "Your nature is corrupt," they will own it without hesitation and without emotion. If we say, "Your conduct is bad," they will deny the impeachment and resent it. That was not Jonah"s way. He unaffectedly confessed guilt as to the matter in hand. And it is not the way of true conviction. You confess and deny in one breath; deny in the particular what you confess in the general; which amounts to saying that a certain number of whites will make a black. But the fact is your acknowledgment is mechanical and formal, and therefore worthless. The denial, on the other hand, is intelligent and in earnest, and the deliberate expression of your mind and feeling. Accordingly, your confession as a whole means just what it says, and that is nothing.
2. Mercy should move us to confession of sin as strongly as judgment. Who will say that it was altogether the severity of God in punishing at last, and in no degree his goodness in refraining till now, that led the prophet to repentance? Not so speaks the Scripture. (Rom_2:4) Mercy touches a bad heart and breaks it, a cold heart and warms it, a closed mouth and opens it. That is its normal, and ought to be its actual, effect on you. Your mercies have been neither few nor small They supply a basis for the inspired appeal, "We beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God" etc. They supply an impulse more than adequate to bring you to the kingdom. If you have resisted them, what will persuade you? The resources of grace have been well nigh expended. God"s time of striving has almost ran out. Strive to enter while you see the gate ajar, or the clang of its closing bolts may be the knell of your immortal soul. J.E.H.
Vers. 11-17. The offender sacrificed
"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," etc. A new stage of spiritual progress has been reached yet the sea not calm. There had been prayer but no calm followed; now there is frank confession of sin, and doubtless repentance, and acknowledgment of God even by the men, but the sea still wrought, and was tempestuous. Was it "no use" to pray and repent? No; but God"s plan was a large one, not yet completed. See the danger of impatience and despair when a blessing is delayed: "Though the vision tarry, wait for it.
I JONAH IS MADE HIS OWN JUDGE. "Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us?" They seem to have felt, "There is one God, and Jonah is his prophet." Fearing God, they recognized the claims of his servant, and appealed to him to pass judgment on himself shall we do unto thee?" Doubtless they had their own ideas, but they respected him as a prophet, and were slow to lay bands on him, and thought that, as a servant of God, he would know best what would appease his wrath. "I see chiefly in this language an appeal to the true God and the true man. Wherever the knowledge of God is clearly and truly communicated, heathenism and idols have no chance. Let God be clearly known as he is revealed, and, with very few exceptions, men cannot but believe on him...So, too, when the true man appears among men, although it may be, as in this case, coming out of untrueness and unfairness, staggering beck through the storm and penalty that he may at least die in the right way, men must yield that man reverence. The image of God is shining in him once more. He is a living and true man son of the living and true God shall we do unto thee?" (Raleigh).
II THE SELF-IMPOSED SENTENCE. "Take me up, and cast me into the sea." The coward now become a hero shows a noble and self-sacrificing spirit contrast to former spirit. And now comes to the front the instinct of retribution. Jonah does not propose that he should be granted an opportunity to go to Nineveh and execute his commission; he felt that he was causing death to others it was just that he should die to prevent them from dying: "I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you." But he will not be his own executioner: "Take me up, and cast me into the sea." No man is entitled to take away his own life; no countenance either in nature or in Bible to suicide. Jonah"s death must be a judicial act, executed by others, "Cast me forth into the sea, for that is the will of God; it is my will also, for I cannot endure to see you in such danger and distress any longer on my account. You have already lost your goods because of me, and you have been for some time in peril of your Ryes; that you may suffer no more, take me up, and cast me into the sea" (Jones).
III ANOTHER PULL FOR LIFE. "Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land." These men gain upon us rough seamen by profession, tinged by Oriental barbarity in all likelihood, they become generous, and eager to save Jonah. Jonah"s humility, candour, and ready self-sacrifice had impressed them: "They rowed hard to bring the ship to land." A self-sacrificing spirit draws men"s hearts turns the heathen Livingstone"s influence with natives of Africa due in no small measure to this feature remember the self-sacrifice of our Lord: "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." "Every good thing in our spirit and action has a tendency to reproduce itself in others who are in any way related to it, especially, of course, if it is called forth for their advantage. Jonah is true and noble at length. The sailors, having responsive qualities in themselves, are nobler for his nobleness, are more self-forgetful because, when the moment of stress came, he did the noblest thing a man could do for fellow men offered his life for theirs" (Raleigh). Another step is thus gained in moral progress men" have become full of reverence toward God, and full of regard for his prophet but to no purpose apparently; "for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them." A sacrifice, is indispensable. (In the men "pulling hard" some have found an emblem of sinners trying to save themselves before they resort to God"s way of sacrifice; but this lesson seems far fetched.)
IV THE MARINERS TO GOD. "Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee," etc. The tender conscience and devout feeling of the mariners are very remarkable. Observe:
1. Vehemence of their prayer: "They cried they beseech God once and again.
2. They appeal to God"s justice: "Let us not perish for this man"s life.
3. Their concern for life: "Lay not upon us innocent blood." Shedding ofblood was little thought of in those times massacre of innocent and guilty alike were common enough.
4. Their submissiveness to God: "For thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee." Thou hast shown thy sovereign will in the past; let it rule us now. Most profitable lesson for us all: "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths". (Pro_3:6) Especially in reference to any step that, once taken, cannot be recalled. For if they threw Jonah overboard, it was an irrevocable act.
V JONAH IS CAST FORTH. "So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging" They took him up, tenderly and respectfully, not pitching him overboard in a tumultuous manner. The prophet offers no resistance; one great heave, and he is engulfed; in a little moment the sea closes on him the men gazing after him with sorrowful, anxious faces, thinking, perhaps, "Poor man! where is he now?" It is an awful testimony to the righteousness of God; one offence has forfeited Jonah"s life. No wonder they are anxious. But their anxiety does not last long; God reveals himself at once, and very wonderfully: "The storm ceased from her raging." The men are relieved from a double anxiety anxiety about the storm, and anxiety whether or not they have done right. "Thus died Jonah, to them, at least, the death of a criminal pursued by justice; yet the death of a repentant and righteous man; in death triumphing over death; committing himself to God in singular meekness and faith; acknowledging the justice of his doom, and relying on Divine pardon and protection; committing his body to the sea and his soul to the God whom he feared, the God of heaven, and of the sea, and of the dry land" (Martin).
VI THE EFFECT UPON THE MEN. At last the storm ceases. What neither prayers, nor repentance, nor the change in the mind of the men had accelerated by one iota comes at once and completely after the sacrifice of one man. Fresh token of nearness of God; but not this time vindicating his justice or executing his wrath; showing his mercy and his love. Great power of mercy and love to move the heart: "The men feared the Lord exceedingly." Awed by his presence, reassured by his mercy, they "offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows;" showed their deep sense obligation, and took steps to keep it up. The vow was probably to be performed at some future time. Thus they took precautions against evanescence of grateful feeling a useful lesson. Men "soon forget his mercies;" vows tend to keep sense of them alive after times.
VII JONAH NOT LOST. "The Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah." "Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps." God had shown himself the Lord of reanimate nature; now he shows himself Lord of animate nature. The storm had been his messenger; now his messenger is the fish. This is duly in accordance with the idea of God which the whole transaction and the whole book present. Jehovah claims to be not only the God of the Hebrew, but the God of Nineveh, and of the whole earth. He is the God of heaven, "which hath made the sea and the dry land." "The earth is the Lord"s, and the fulness thereof;" "So is this wide and great sea, wherein go things creeping innumerable, both large and small beasts." He shows his sovereignty over the land by preparing a great fish. He bends it to his own purposes makes the devouring monster a means of protection and preservation. The whole story has a supernatural air. If the presence of the supernatural be once admitted, the form of miracle is a mere matter of detail. Objections arising from the apparently grotesque character of this miracle am obviated if it be considered that God wished to convince Jonah of his power to protect and preserve him even in Nineveh, amid hordes of furious enemies, roused perhaps to fury by his message. He that had protected him in the body of the fish, surging up and down through the depths of the stormy sea, was able to protect him at Nineveh. The unusual character of Jonah"s mission justifies an unusual miracle. God"s manifold resources of preservation Noah in the ark Moses in the cradle of bulrushes Elijah by the ravens Jesus by flight into Egypt Paul through his nephew finding out conspiracy, Many more are found in Christian biography. All the powers of nature, all creatures rational and irrational, men, devils, and angels, are subject to him; and now subject to Christ: God "hath put all things under his feet, and given him to be Head over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. W.G.B.
Vers. 11-16. The sailors conduct.
Look at those swarthy sailors. They were among Jonah"s teachers; they, too, may be among ours. From age to age in this chapter they sail the sea Jonah"s friends; ours also if we will let them be, having much to say to us if we have but ears to hear. Mark
I THEIR REVERENCE. There is nothing rough and rude about them. The storm has subdued them. What they hear from Jonah affects them. Is it not the hour of their conversion? They cease from idolatry and worship Jehovah. Hearing of Jehovah as God of heaven, earth, and sea, they were "exceedingly afraid." He must indeed be the Lord! And that Jonah should have sought to flee from him! "What shall we do unto thee?" they ask; for through Jonah they would learn the will of God concerning him. They have no grudge against him, no scorn for him, no words of insult, no deed of violence. They reverence his God, and so show kindness to him. A pattern in this to us. Have we an offending brother one who has offended us? Let us wrong not ourselves, nor wrong him, the better man in him, by bitterness. The wrong doer will have self-reproach enough, bitter memories enough.
II THEIR SELF-DENYING GENEROSITY. Those sailors did what they could to save the prophet. When Jonah was at his best they were at their best. His unselfishness called out theirs; their nobility answered to his. Thus is it ever. Be kind, pure, generous, and you will help others to show kindness, and to be pure and generous. What inspiration is there in goodness! Supremely is this seen in our blessed Lord. What an encouragement to copy him that we may quicken others! "Honour to these whose words or deeds Thus help us in our daily needs, And by their overflow Raise us from what is low.
III THEIR PRAYERFULNESS. As heathens they had "given themselves to prayer; Hearing of Jehovah, they pray to him. They cannot save Jonah; but before they do the deprecated deed "they cried unto the Lordall of them, earnest, importunate. They recognized God in this series of events; they would be submissive to him; they would be clear of this man"s blood; they would take no step without prayer. Nor let us. Let it be the "key of the morning and the bolt of the night." When have we not requests to offer? needs to be supplied? When do we not need God?
IV THEIR GODLY FEAR ATTESTED. At the sight of the sudden great calm "the men feared the Lord exceedingly." Their fear, their faith, evidenced itself. By "a sacrifice unto the Lord" they expressed in act thankfulness for the past and present; by their "vows," their resolution of service in the time to come. As from themselves, must have come the knowledge of the sacrifice offered and vows made, we may believe that that sacrifice to Jehovah was the first of many, and that the vows made were paid; otherwise they had not cared to have remembered or spoken of them. In these days of Christian light may we offer a daily sacrifice of our time, means, faculty, influence, to him who for us "even dared to die," and in his strength perform the many vows that we have made. G.T.C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Jon_1:11. The sea] “Not only increasingly tempestuous, but, like…
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Jon_1:11. The sea] “Not only increasingly tempestuous, but, like a thing alive and obeying its Master’s will, it was holding on its course, its wild waves tossing themselves and marching on in battalions arrayed for the end for which they were sent, pursuing and demanding the runaway slave of God” [Pusey].
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Jon_1:12.] Jonah reads out his doom, conscious of being the cause of suffering and peril. Cast me] Suicide and guilt to have done it himself. I know] i.e. am well aware.
Jon_1:13. Rowed hard] Lit. dug, intense effort with the oars; hence “ploughed the main” [Pusey].
Jon_1:14. Beseech] Repetitions which indicate earnestness and a sense of dependence.
Jon_1:15. Ceased] Lit. stood hushed immediately, and like a servant obeyed its commander (Job_38:11).
Jon_1:16. Offered] present sacrifice; and vowed more when they landed.
Jon_1:17. Fish] Sea-monster (Gen_1:21; Job_7:12; Psa_74:13); a whale (Mat_12:40). The fact divinely attested. Independent of this there is no improbability in the swallowing up of Jonah. Sharks swallow and retain a grown man in their stomach, and follow vessels many days for what may be thrown overboard. Three] Significant time! “A hidden prophecy.” The miracle is justified by the end in view, to chastise and recover a disobedient prophet, to shadow forth the greater miracle of one laying down his life and taking it up again for us.
HOMILETICS
THE REQUIRED SACRIFICE.—Jon_1:11-12
The sea still raged and testified to the anger of God. The light of nature and the dictates of conscience taught the sailors, the law and the history of his nation taught Jonah, that God was just and must be satisfied. Hence the anxiety of the crew and the submission of the prophet. Learn:—
I. That sin confessed does not always bring immediate relief in distress. Jonah had honestly confessed his guilt and felt deep remorse, but something more was requisite. God’s purpose is not accomplished by mere acknowledgment of wrong. Great storms never come from small sins. The servant of Jehovah must be corrected and the guilty feel God’s displeasure. The longer we remain in sin and the greater our reluctance to duty, the more tempestuous will be the sea.
II. That men truly humbled in distress are anxious to follow the revealed will of God. The mariners had solemnly appealed to God and knew Jonah to be his servant. They fear God, do not take the matter into their own hands, but ask counsel through Jonah. Tenderness, humanity, and subjection are the kindly fruits of affliction. The anxious enquirer and the restored servant desire to know the revealed will of God, and do nothing without his guidance. “Lead me in thy truth and teach me.”
III. That those sensible of their own desert are not willing to involve others in distress. Jonah felt that he was the cause of suffering and peril to his fellow-creatures—that God’s justice should take him and spare them. “Cast me forth into the sea; and the sea shall be calm to you.” A true penitent submits to be chastised for his iniquity; but when others suffer with him, he is concerned. In the providence of God we often involve others in danger by our sin, and are called upon to endure risk and self-sacrifice to save them. “It is I that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done?”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Jon_1:11. What shall we do? The moral demeanour of these men indicates,
1. Kindly feeling towards Jonah
2. Solemn awe of Jehovah.
3. Natural horror against taking away human life. It was treatment unexpected and undeserved, a pattern to many in more favourable circumstances. “With the well-advised there is wisdom.”
Jon_1:12. Jonah’s reply. “Could anything be more noble, upright, honourable? There is, first, a renewed acknowledgment—frank, free, and full—of his own obnoxiousness to the Divine anger, and of himself as the source and occasion of the present danger. ‘For I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.’ There is, secondly, an unreserved surrender or appointment of himself to death, as the means of solving the appalling difficulty, and stilling the raging of the deep. ‘Take me up and cast me forth into the sea.’ And there is, thirdly,—what may be valued as coming from a prophet of that God ‘which made the sea and the dry land’—a prediction that the expedient will be efficacious; ‘so shall the sea be calm unto you’ ” [Hugh Martin].
Jonah reads out his own doom, and that both as a penitent offender and a prophet of the Lord. As the former, conscious that he was the cause of the sufferings and peril of his fellow-creatures, he felt it just that the vengeance of God should light on him, if haply his mercy might spare them. As the latter, he opens out the Divine will respecting himself, and unconsciously instructs us respecting that great propitiation for the sins of the world of which he was to be a remarkable type (Isa_53:5; Mat_12:40; Joh_11:50) [Sibthorp]. We see more and more the working of grace in the prophet’s soul;
(1) in his acknowledgment of merited judgment;
(2) his patient submission, and
(3) tender regard for others. But in the two latter respects how was he surpassed by Jesus! Observe another resemblance between Jonah and Christ: both gave up themselves to still the storm of God’s wrath against sin; yet herein is a great difference between them. This storm was of the prophet’s own raising; not so that for which Christ gave himself to death. We caused that tempest; he, being innocent, allayed it by his own blood [Ibid.].
HOMILETICS
LABOUR IN VAIN.—Jon_1:12-13
We shall translate Jonah’s history into spiritual illustrations of man’s experience and action with regard to Christ and his gospel. We have here a picture of what most men do before they resort to God’s remedy; that remedy is fairly imaged in the deliverance of the ship’s company by the sacrifice of one on their behalf.
I. Our first observation is, that sinners when they are tossed upon the sea of conviction, make desperate efforts to save themselves. The men rowed hard, strained every sinew, and laboured by violence. No language can express the earnest action with which awakened sinners unlawfully struggle to obtain eternal life. They try moral reformation. Others add to their reformation a superstitious regard to the outward of religion. Many persons row hard to get the ship to land by a national belief in orthodox doctrine. Many are resting upon their own incessant prayers. Others are toiling by a sort of mental torture. II. Like these mariners, the fleshy efforts of awakened sinners must inevitably fail. “They could not.” With all man’s rowing after mercy and salvation, he can never find it by his own efforts. First of all, it is contrary to God’s law for a sinner to get comfort by anything he can do for and by himself. Because in what he is doing he is insulting God. He is also in the way of the curse.
III. The soul’s sorrow will continue to increase so long as it relies upon its own efforts. It may be overruled for good, but the effect of all that the creature does before it believes is mischievous. The good effect lies in this: the more a man strives to save himself, the more convinced will he become of his own impotence. Another good result follows, that a man striving to save himself by law, finds out the spirituality of that law, a spirituality which he never saw before. But much of this toil is mischievous. It makes unbelief take a firmèr grip. Giant Despair’s prisoners do not all escape; he has a yard full of bones, the relics of willing prisoners who would not be comforted. Some sinners make excuses for themselves out of their despair, and let their doubts and fears grow till they cast a thick shadow over them. IV. We will try to explain God’s plan. The way of safety for sinners is to be found in the sacrifice of another on their behalf. Leave out the fact that Jonah was sinful, and he becomes an eminent type of Christ. Substitution saves the mariners: substitution saves sinners. Jesus dies, and there is a calm. Conscience accuses no longer. Judgment decides for and not against the sinner. Memory looks back with sorrow for sin, but with no dread of penalty to come. Let us enjoy the peace “that passeth all understanding.” Then go to work for God, not to win life and heaven, for they are ours already; but loved by him, let us love and serve him with perfect heart [Spurgeon].
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Jon_1:12. Because of me. “True conviction of sin will produce honest confession of sin sometimes to our fellow-creatures; always before God. Let it add to those bitter herbs of repentance with which we feast on our Passover (1Co_5:7-8), to reflect how often and largely our iniquity has aided to make the mass of human guilt more offensive and of human misery more grievous.”
Jon_1:13. Here we find, I. Compassion displayed when undeserved.
1. In pity for the sufferer.
2. In regard to his God.
3. In fear of bloodguiltiness. II. Conscience overcoming self-interest. The men were assured of calm by getting rid of Jonah; but perhaps the force of conscience showed that the guilt of murder would rest upon them if they threw him overboard Listen to conscience when duty and self-interest seem to conflict. III. The servant spared from fear of the master. “Do my prophets no harm.” If we fear God, men feel that they offend him by injuring us. “He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of mine eye.”
We have here an admirable example of dealing with an offending brother. They dreaded to punish after his guilt was proved; and they could not tell how far he was restored again into God’s favour as a penitent. Let us walk by the same rule towards fallen brethren [Jones].
Learn also—
1. The benefits of affliction. Jonah is no longer perverse and disobedient, and the mariners are brought to call upon the true God.
2. The folly of fighting against God. Providence was adverse. They rowed against the stream. No success in opposition to God. Without his help all schemes are like ploughing the deep and contending with the storm. “There is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord.”
HOMILETICS
PAGAN PRAYERS.—Jon_1:13-14
The men ceased to row, their labour was in vain. They only increased their own danger and prolonged the suffering of one they endeavoured to save—
“At once they plough the brine; and all the deep
Yawns wide” [Virg. Æneid].
They recognized the hand of God in the storm, and believed the power of God supreme. They lay down their oars and appeal to God.
I. Prayer connected with labour. “It is well to labour, and it is well to pray,” said Luther. Prayer strengthens and directs in labour. It sweetens toil and brings success. Jupiter gave no help to the waggoner till he put his own shoulders to the wheel. The fable is abused when men despise prayer and dependance upon God.
II. Prayer in trouble. They had done all they could, but were not relieved. For the first time probably these heathens prayed to the God of Israel. Sorrow and danger give speciality and intensity to supplication (Gen_32:9; Isa_37:15-20). Pressing trouble forces itself from the heart to the lips. We cry to God in distress, when we have failed without him. Prayer is our first and last refuge in trouble. It should ever be the first means we use for deliverance. “Call upon me in the day of trouble.”
“The man is praying who doth press with might
Out of his darkness into God’s own light” [Trench].
III. Prayer in the emergencies of life. There are not only troubles, but special difficulties and dangers in life. These men were perplexed. The storm demands the prophet, but the justice of God might require his blood at their hands. Whatever be our difficulties, prayer offers help and leads us to the great Disposer of all things (Pro_3:6; 1Pe_5:7). “He that prays despairs not; but sad is the condition of him that cannot pray,” says Jeremy Taylor.
“As when the last sentence of the law is carried out on land, the offices of religion are performed in the presence and on behalf of the culprit, so here there is prayer, most earnest and most appropriate, preceding the last sad act that shall part them and their passenger for ever” [Raleigh].
I. The object of their prayer. “O Jehovah.” The storm and the confession of Jonah have weaned them from their idols. They take in the idea of God, discern his power, and believe him—
1. To be “the hearer of prayer.”
2. To be the Supreme Ruler of all events. “They had but just known God,” says Pusey, “and they resolve the whole mystery of man’s agency and God’s providence into three simple words, ‘As (thou) willedst (thou) didst.’ ” All things, however adverse, were traced to God’s sovereign disposal. The storm and the lot, the direction of the prophet and the impossibility to land him. “Our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.”
II. The nature of their prayer.
1. It was intensely earnest. “They cried.” The language is that of earnest supplication, the particle expressive of entreaty being repeated. There was no time for formal prayer. We deal not in general petitions in trouble like this; such tribulation becomes the tutor of prayer, and leads to maturity of knowledge and experience.
2. It was wonderfully submissive. Till we can say “Thy will be done,” we have need of more prayer and submission. If God please himself let us be satisfied. We cannot alter circumstances. But when the will of God is clearly made known let us ever follow it.
III. The purpose of their prayer. They think of themselves and their passenger.
1. They pray for the preservation of their own life. “Let us not perish for the life of this man.” They were not prompted by fear, nor by selfishness, for then would they have cast Jonah into the sea. Truth has beamed upon them and God is recognized. They felt his anger and became executioners of his justice. In a short time they learned much of the true God, and were gradually led to worship him.
2. They pray that the guilt of murder may not rest upon them. “Lay not upon us innocent blood.” The light of nature, the teaching of tradition, and the laws of their country, taught that they forfeited life when they took life. Conscience speaks, the providence of God seems to confirm the confession of his servant, yet they are reluctant to cast him out. If it must be done, they pray to be forgiven. “The people of God were shedding innocent blood like water, in the cities of Palestine (2Ki_9:7; 2Ch_24:20; Mat_23:35): these heathen sailors fear to pour that of one guilty man into the recesses of the deep. The offences of professors of religion are often made to stand out in awful prominency by the restraints which nature and conscience put on those of others (Rom_2:27; 1Co_5:1; Mat_27:24-25).” “At the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man” (Gen_9:5-6).
THE SACRIFICE AND THE CALM.—Jon_1:15
A funeral at sea is a solemn event. It is a trying hour when the remains of a friend or comrade have to be cast into the deep. But no funeral service like that of Jonah. Not in haste and desperation, but in solemn silence and respect they lift him up and cast him into the sea. The yawning deep engulfs the unresisting prophet and the angry ocean smooths her face.
I. The sacrifice offered. After they had done all they could, something else was required.
1. A sacrifice caused by sin. Jonah’s disobedience caused Jonah’s death. When men run into sin, they run into ruin here and hereafter. God’s favour and heaven are cast away by the wicked. Whatever sin is the Jonah, it must be cast away or it will drown us in perdition.
2. A sacrifice required by the will of God. The sea did not cease from raging. Jonah had told them what was required, and the providence of God confirmed the prediction. God’s law must be honoured and sin punished.
3. A sacrifice offered for the safety of others. Jonah was submissive in the face of death, and far more concerned for the lives of others than for his own. He thus becomes a type of Jesus, who was offered a sacrifice for our sins, “a ransom for many.” If he had not suffered for us, the waterfloods of guilt and the waves of grief would have compassed us and carried us away.
II. The calm which followed. “The sea stayed from her raging.”
1. A proof of God’s power over the elements of nature. The wind ceases, the billows rest, and danger is past. “The lower is subject to the higher, nature to moral providence, and providence to God.” “Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them” (Psa_89:9; Psa_93:3; Psa_107:29).
2. A confirmation of right conduct. The men would hesitate and doubt, but God gives them immediate comfort. They have obeyed his will, and he will make them know and feel it, by outward calm and inward peace. When we submit to God’s will he will not any longer contend with us.
3. A type of peace through Christ. When he was cast forth and sank into the sea that threatened the world with ruin there was a universal calm. God’s justice was satisfied and his anger ceased. “Fury is not in me.” We may have peace with God if we cast out of our hearts the sin which provokes his wrath (Jer_4:1; Isa_57:20-21). “God hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.”
THE CONVERTED HEATHEN.—Jon_1:14; Jon_1:16
Perhaps these men were more candid and less depraved than heathen generally. They seem at any rate to be prepared by education and discipline to receive the truth. But under the guidance of the Spirit they were converted through the teaching of Jonah.
I. What led to their conversion? God prepared the way by the presence of his servant on board. But Jonah would not have spoken to them, nor would they have listened to him, but for the storm, the danger, and the lot. Perhaps, as in many cases, some antecedent preparation may be traced. In Christian countries many can trace the leadings of Divine providence in bringing them to Christ. In heathen nations God has prepared tribes and individuals to believe the gospel when it has reached them. There are preparations in language, changes of government, corruption and decay of heathenism. “A great door and effectual is opened.”
II. What was the evidence of their conversion? When a Divine principle is implanted in the heart, then life is reformed and actions changed.
1. They forsake idolatry. Their former gods are abandoned, and now they seek to know the true God. Every soul born of God turns from lying vanities, and is drawn out to God in supplication and praise.
2. They pray to Jehovah. Prayer is the first act of a converted sinner. “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Afterwards it is “the native air” in which he lives, moves, and has his being. If gratitude for God’s goodness fills the heart, it will be expressed in acts of devotion. Special revelations of God in acts of grace or providence will beget true fear in us. “The men feared the Lord exceedingly.”
III. What were the fruits of their conversion? When storms are over and men are delivered it is common for them to return to indifference or ridicule. The only sure and permanent sign of conversion is holy life.
1. These men feared Jehovah. The storm was over, and they were delivered from death; but they return not after affliction to their former ways. Wonderful events had happened. Wind and storm had fulfilled the word of Jehovah, and they felt a great awe. “Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God for thy good always” (Deu_6:13; Deu_6:24).
2. They offered sacrifice. Not an offering in general, but a slaughtering of some lamb or fowl on board, as a victim to express their faith. They might not comprehend the full meaning of the Jewish rite. It was forgotten and obscured by heathen superstitions. “But a conscience could not be quickened to a sense of guilt before God, nor a hope of salvation from the just punishment of sin be cherished by a penitent heart, without its finding a natural expression in this ancient and once universal form of religious worship.” Ignorant of Jewish customs, they fell back upon that of their ancestors, and God accepted their offering.
3. They vowed vows. They combine faith and works. They are not only moved in present gratitude, but think of the future. Many who escape danger, vow and forget their vows. Months pass, and they evince that fear was only a superficial thawing and no real opening of the heart. God requires present promise and future performance, a dedication of the whole life to him. If we do not fulfil our voluntary vows it is clear that our gratitude is not real and that our service is not a cleaving to God with all our hearts. “Vow and pay unto the Lord your God: let all that be round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared.”
“But when your ships rest, wafted o’er the main,
And you, on altars raised along the shore,
Pay your vow’d offerings” [Æneid].
THE GREAT MIRACLE.—Jon_1:17
By the mariners Jonah was thought to be drowned; but the providence of God had provided a living tomb for his servant. He is hurried through the depths of the sea, in judgment and mercy. He owned the hand and submitted to the will of God: he prayed for help, and was cast out of his sepulchre, a monument of God’s mercy and a type of the Saviour of men. In this verse we have—
I. Providential anticipation. “The Lord had prepared a great fish.” This preparation was
(1) miraculous, and
(2) merciful in its nature and design. It also illustrates a principle which we find in all God’s dealings with men, viz. Anticipations of providence.
1. In the scheme of redemption there was no after-thought. God provided a remedy before the fall.
2. In the conversion of sinners goodness and grace are prepared beforehand.
3. In the exigencies of Christian life God meets us ready to help. In prayer, trouble, and death he prepares, goes before us, and stands ready to bless. “The God of my mercy shall prevent (go before) me.”
II. Typical events. God had more places to send Jonah than to Nineveh. The course of things starts out in strange deviation from that uniformity which philosophers insist upon. We rest simply upon the Divine power which miraculously preserved the vital economy under the suspension of one of its greatest functions. If men like to deny or ridicule attested facts let them “sport themselves with their own deceivings,” says one. In “the three days and three nights’ ” imprisonment of Jonah Christ sees a type of himself (Mat_12:40).
1. The analogies are his confinement to the deep and the grave that others might be saved.
2. The same duration of time in this dark retirement; and
3. The coming to light and life again for the reformation of mankind. Learn from the fact—
1. The presence of God in history.
2. The purpose of God in controlling its events.
3. The power of God in making all things subservient to this purpose. “With the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
When the servants of God run away from an easy service, their Master frequently appoints them a harder task. If Jonah will not preach up and down the streets of Nineveh, he shall preach from the bottom of the sea [Jones].
1. When God pursues his rebellious children in a severe way, yet he doth not altogether cast off his mercy to them, but moderates their affliction.
2. God may have a mercy and proof of love waiting upon his people in a time and place where they would be least expected. For Jonah meets a mercy in the raging sea, into which he was cast in anger, as to be destroyed.
3. Although God’s mercy will not destroy his guilty people in their afflictions, yet his wisdom sees fit not to deliver them at first, but to exercise their faith and heart [Hutcheson].
Jon_1:17. “From how many unthought-of, unimaginable situations the Sovereign of the world has drawn devotional aspirations! but never, except once, from a situation like this” [John Foster]!
The sea and her inhabitants are God’s and lie at his will (Luk_5:6; Joh_21:6). The mightiest and meanest creatures subserve his purposes, and are auxiliaries or adversaries to man as he chooses (Jos_24:12; 2Ki_17:25) [Sibthorp].
The Type. Three days and three nights (Mat_12:40. Cf. Rom_4:25; Rom_6:4). In comparing the two—these two great interpositions of Godhead with Jonah and Jesus respectively—the type will illustrate the antitype. But there are points in which our clear knowledge of the antitype may be carried back to illustrate the type. This is the case in the very first resemblance. I. In both cases there is a death and a resurrection. Jonah speaks of his burial in terms in which the Messiah speaks of his “hell” and “corruption.” In both cases it is the language of burial and resurrection. II. But secondly: in both cases, the death and burial are judicial processes. Each of the processes is an atonement and expiation, pacifying the Divine Judge, satisfying Divine justice, abolishing guilt, restoring peace. III. The burial and resurrection of Jonah constituted the gate by which the word of Jehovah passed forth from the Jewish to the Gentile world. In like manner the death and resurrection of Christ was the breaking down of the middle wall of partition. IV. The analogy holds further in this respect, that the experiences of Jonah and Christ constitute, each in its own sphere, an enforcement of the message which each brings to the Gentiles. V. Jonah’s experience was his preparation for new loyalty and obedience; and in the kingdom of Christ, Christ’s risen life is the source of newness of life and service. Jonah was a new man on dry land, with a new life and a new career opening before him. O believer in a risen Christ, is not this the type and fashion of your life of faith? With what freshness—as of the morning light of an eternal Sabbath; and with what force—as of the eternal power of Messiah’s resurrection; may that blessed appeal be made to us, “If ye then be risen” (Col_3:1) [H. Martin].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 1
Jon_1:10-11. Let God be clearly known as he is revealed, and with few exceptions men cannot but believe in him. A few philosophers will reason and refine, and abide in intellectual disbelief. A few very wicked men will “believe a lie,” that they may work unrighteousness: but the great mass of men, like these sailors from Tarshish, will quickly yield, at least by intellectual assent, to the influence of the truth [Raleigh].
Jon_1:12-13. Take me up, nevertheless the men rowed hard. Man has no right to take away his own life. We should also be careful of the life of others. The sailors thought it could not be right nor pleasing to God to cast Jonah into the deep. It would be a loss of goodness, thought, and self-denying regard for them. They were actuated by human motives, and illustrated the principle of moral life that our spirit and conduct have a tendency to reproduce themselves in others. Men have responsive feelings, answer heart to heart, and thus make life beautiful.
“All life is sacred in its kind to heaven,
And all things holy, beautiful, and good.” [Bailey.]
Jon_1:12. Be calm unto you.
“Immortal hope,
Takes comfort from the foaming billows rage,
And makes a welcome harbour of the tomb.” [Young.]
Jon_1:15; Jon_1:17. The men must have talked about the voyage and its issues, especially about what took place after Jonah was in the sea. He knew nothing about that, and could only record it here because he had been told it by others. By whom? No doubt that story was told far and near, and he might have heard it from any one. But most probably he heard it from their own lips—from captain and ship’s company, gathered together, perhaps, on the deck of that very vessel. It is not improbable that the prophet took a journey to Joppa on purpose; that he went to the old place; that he stood once more on the deck of the ship—captain and crew around him—to tell and hear their mutual stories of preservation. You can fancy the meeting. You can see the man. You can imagine how the whole matter would be bruited abroad even as far as Nineveh; and how the story told there, and well authenticated, would prepare that great and guilty city for receiving the message of the prophet when he actually came [Raleigh].
Remember, therefore, this advice: Never let the advantages with which you begin life’s voyagelull you into confidence and negligence, nor difficulties lead you to despair; persevere in that path which reason and justice point out, and then despair not of reaching your desired port [Hamlain].
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Jonah and The Sea Monster
Jonah and The Sea Monster
v. 11. Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee that the sea may be calm unto us? What would Jonah himself suggest or advise in order to turn away the wrath of God from those who were not implicated in his guilt?. For the sea wrought, continued to rage, and was tempestuous, still rising in angry billows.
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v. 12. And he said unto them, showing the right spirit in offering himself up as a sacrifice in their behalf, Take me up and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you, be quieted down; for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
v. 13. Nevertheless the men, not desiring to carry out the prophet’s suggestion, rowed hard to bring it to the land, that is, they tried everything they knew in the line of seamanship in order to break through the billows which hemmed in the ship; but they could not, for the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them, so that they could make no headway against the surging waves.
v. 14. Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, in this case addressing Jehovah, the true God, and said, We beseech Thee, O Lord, we beseech Thee, let us not perish for this man’s life, be held accountable for the fact that they would now deliver him to what appeared to them a certain death, and lay not upon us innocent blood, by imputing it to them, since Jonah had not harmed them in any manner; for Thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased Thee, He had determined it, the lot, as directed by Him, made the execution necessary.
v. 15. So they took up Jonah and cast him forth into the sea; and the sea ceased from her raging, it stood still and no longer rose in such tremendous billows.
v. 16. Then the men, seeing in this sudden change of the weather the almighty hand of God, feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord and made vows, as men will under the stress of such a sudden fear and emotion, although there is no real change of heart in them.
v. 17. Now, the Lord had prepared a great fish, not a whale, but a special sea-monster, to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights, being alive and conscious through the power of the Lord, whose plans called for a further use of this prophet. In the entire story there are many elements of the miraculous, but not a line which makes the narrative appear unreasonable. It is for us to believe what the Lord has here recorded.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 they said to Jonah
they said to Jonah
"the men on the ship said to Jonah" or "the sailors said to Jonah"
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do to you so that the sea will calm down
"do with you in order to make the sea become calm"
the sea became more and more violent
This was the reason that the men asked Jonah what they should do. This reason can also be put at the beginning of verse 11 as in the UDB.
for I know that it is because of me that this great storm is happening to you
"because I know this huge storm is my fault"
Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get them back to the land
The men did not want to throw Jonah into the sea, so they rowed hard as if they were digging into the water to get back to land. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
the sea was becoming more and more violent
"the storm became worse, and the waves became bigger"
translationWords
Jonah
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.