So the ship master came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God! Maybe your God will notice us, so that we won’t perish.”
Parallel Translations
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So the ship master came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God! Maybe your God will notice us, so that we won’t perish.”
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So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.
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So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him: 'What meanest thou that thou sleepest? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.'
Cross-references (17)
Passages linked to Jonah 1:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jonah 3:9 Who knows whether God will not turn and relent, and turn away from his fierce anger, so that we might not perish?”
- Psalms 107:28-29 Then they cry to Yahweh in their trouble, and he brings them out of their distress. He makes the storm a calm, so that its waves are still.
- 2 Samuel 12:22 He said, “While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows whether Yahweh will not be gracious to me, that the child may live?’
- Mark 4:37-41 A big wind storm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so much that the boat was already filled. He himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him up, and told him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are dying?” He awoke, and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? How is it that you have no faith?” They were greatly afraid, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
- Ephesians 5:14 Therefore he says, “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
- Psalms 107:12-13 Therefore he brought down their heart with labor. They fell down, and there was no one to help. Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.
- Amos 5:15 Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”
- Acts 21:13 Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
- Psalms 78:34 When he killed them, then they inquired after him. They returned and sought God earnestly.
- Psalms 107:6 Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses,
- Joel 2:11 Yahweh thunders his voice before his army; for his forces are very great; for he is strong who obeys his command; for the day of Yahweh is great and very awesome, and who can endure it?
- Romans 13:11 Do this, knowing the time, that it is already time for you to awaken out of sleep, for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first believed.
- Esther 4:16 “Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Susa, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I and my maidens will also fast the same way. Then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.”
- Ezekiel 18:2 “What do you mean, that you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’?
- Psalms 107:18-20 Their soul abhors all kinds of food. They draw near to the gates of death. Then they cry to Yahweh in their trouble, he saves them out of their distresses. He sends his word, and heals them, and delivers them from their graves.
- Isaiah 3:15 What do you mean that you crush my people, and grind the face of the poor?” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.
- Jeremiah 2:27-28 who tell wood, ‘You are my father,’ and a stone, ‘You have given birth to me,’ for they have turned their back to me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise, and save us!’ “But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble; for you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain Jonah relates here how he was reproved by the…
Jonah relates here how he was reproved by the pilot or master of the ship , inasmuch as he alone slept, while all the rest were in anxiety and fear. “What meanest thou, fast sleeper?” The pilot no doubt upbraids Jonah for his sleepiness, and reproves him for being almost void of all thought and reflection. What meanest thou, fast sleeper , he says; when thou sees all the rest smitten with alarm, how canst thou sleep? Is not this unnatural? Rise, then, and call on thy God
We see that where there is no rule of faith a liberty is commonly taken, so that every one goes astray here and there. Whence was it, that the pilot said to Jonah, Call on thy God, and that he did not confine him to any certain rule? Because it had been customary in all ages for men to be satisfied with some general apprehension of God; and then every one according to his own fancy formed a god for himself: nor could it have been otherwise, as I have said, while men were not restrained by any sacred bond. All agree as to this truth, that there is some God, and also that no dead idol can do anything, but that the world is governed by the providence and power of God, and further, that safety is to be sought from him. All this, has been received by the common consent of all; but when we come to particulars, then every one is in the dark; how God is to be sought they know not. Hence every one takes his own liberty: “For the sake of appeasing God I will then try this; this shall be my mode of securing his favor; the Lord will regard this service acceptable; in this way shall all my iniquity be expiated, that I may obtain favor with God.” Thus each invents for themselves some tortuous way to come to God; and then every one forms a god peculiar to himself. There can therefore be no stability nor consistency in men, unless they are joined together by some bond, even by some certain rule of religion, so that they may not vacillate, and not be in doubt as to what is right to be done, but be assured and certainly persuaded, that there is but one true God, and know what sort of God he is, and then understand the way by which he is to be sought.
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We then learn from this passage, that there is an awful license taken in fictitious religions, and that all who are carried away by their fancy are involved in a labyrinth, so that men do nothing but weary and torment themselves in vain, when they seek God without understanding the right way. They indeed run with all their might, but they go farther and farther from God. But that they, at the same time, form in their minds an idea of some God, and that they agree on this great principle, is sufficiently evident from the second clause of this verse, If so be that God will be Propitious to us. Here the pilot confines not his discourse to the God of Jonah, but speaks simply of a God; for though the world by their differences divide God, and Jonah worshipped a God different from the rest, and, in short, there was almost an endless number of gods among the passengers, yet the pilot says, If so be that God, etc.: now then he acknowledges some Supreme God, though each of them had his own god. We hence see that what I have said is most true, — that this general truth has ever been received with the consent of all, — that the world is preserved by the providence of God, and hence that the life and safety of men are in his hand. But as they are very far removed from God, and not only creep slowly, but are also more inclined to turn to the earth than to look up to heaven, and are uncertain and ever change, so they seek gods which are nigh to them, and when they find none, they hesitate not to invent them.
We have elsewhere seen that the Holy Spirit uses this form of speaking, If so be, when no doubt, but difficulty alone is intended. It is however probable, that the pilot in this case was perplexed and doubtful, as it is usual with ungodly men, and that he could determine nothing certain as to any help from God; and as his mind was thus doubtful, he says, that every means of relief were to be tried. And here, as in a mirror, we may see how miserable is the condition of all those who call not on God in pure faith: they indeed cry to God, for the impulse of nature thus leads them; but they know not whether they will obtain any thing by their cries: they repeat their prayers; but they know not whether they pass off into air or really come to God. The pilot owns, that his mind was thus doubtful, If so be that God will be propitious to us, call thou also on thy God. Had he been so surely convinced, as to call on the true God, he would have certainly found it to have been no doubtful relief. However, that nothing might be left untried, he exhorted Jonah, that if he had a God, to call upon him. We hence see, that there are strange windings, when we do not understand the right way. Men would rather run here and there, a hundred times, through earth and heaven, than come to God, except where his word shines. How so? because when they make the attempt, an insane impulse drives them in different ways; and thus they are led here and there: “It may be, that this may be useful to me; as that way has not succeeded, I will try another.” God then thus punishes all the unbelieving, who obey not his word; for to the right way they do not keep: He indeed shows how great a madness it is, when men give loose reins to their imaginations, and do not submit to celestial truth.
As to the words, interpreters translate them in different ways. Some say, “If so be that God will think of us;” others “If so be that God will favor us. עשת, oshit, is properly to shine; but when put as here in the conjugation Hithpael, it means to render one’s self clear or bright: and it is a metaphor very common in Scriptures that the face of God is cloudy or dark, when he is not propitious to us; and again, God is said to make bright his face and to appear serene to us, when he really shows himself kind and gracious to us. As then this mode of speaking altogether suits this place, I wonder that some seek extraneous interpretations.
He afterwards adds, Lest we perish. Here the pilot clearly owns, that he thought the life of man to be in the power of God; for he concluded, that they must perish unless the Lord brought aid. Imprinted then in the minds of all is this notion or προληψις, that is, preconception, that when God is angry or adverse, we are miserable, and that near destruction impends over us; and another conviction is found to be in the hearts of men, — that as soon as the Lord looks on us, his favor and goodwill brings to us immediate safety. The Holy Spirit does not speak here, but a heathen, and we know too how great is the impiety of sailors, and yet he declares this by the impulse of nature, and there is here no feigning; for God, as I have already said, extorts by necessity a confession from the unbelieving, which they would gladly avoid.
Now what excuse can we have, if we think our safety to be in our own hands, if we depend not wholly on God, and if we neglect him in prosperity, as though we could be safe without his help? These words then, spoken by the sailor, ought to be weighed by us, ‘If so be that God’s face may appear bright to us, and that we perish not. It now follows —
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.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain As they had called on their idols, which declareth…
As they had called on their idols, which declareth that idolaters have no stay nor certainty, but in their troubles seek they cannot tell to whom.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jon 1:6 So the shipmaster came to him, and…
Jon 1:6 So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.
Ver. 6. So the shipmaster came unto him] God might have come himself with his drawn sword (as Baanah and Rechab did upon sleeping Ishbosheth) and taken off his head, or have sent an evil angel to arouse him in a fright, or have thrown him into the burning lake, as Agrippa did his dormouse {a} into the boiling caldron; but such is not God’s manner of dealing with his people, though he be deeply displeased. Correct them he will, but with judgment, not in his anger, lest they be brought to nothing, Jer 10:24. Instruct them also he will ("Corrections of instruction are the way of life," Pro 6:23) by one means or other, as he did here Jonah by a rude mariner, and as long before he had done Abraham and Sarah by Abimelech, a heathen prince, to shame them.
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What meanest thou, O sleeper?] Heb. what is come to thee? Gen 20:9. What a senseless stupidity hath seized thee! Are we all in danger, and dost thou sleep? as the philosopher (in danger likewise of shipwreck) said to one that made light of it, - Do we all stand upon our lives, and dost thou play the fool? ημεις παντες κινδυνευπμεν. και συ παιζεις; The spiritual sleeper, in like sort, may he be but warm in his own feathers, regards not the danger of the house. He is, saith one, a mere mute and cipher, a nullity in the world, a superfluity in the earth, Jeremiah’s rotten girdle, good for nothing, or like the branches of a vine, Eze 15:3.
Arise, call upon thy God] For our gods will do nothing for us. The gods of the heathen are "silver and gold, the work of men’s hands; they have mouths, but speak not," &c., Psa 115:4. But if God’s Israel trust in the Lord, he will be their help and their shield, Jon 1:9. Forasmuch as there is none like unto him, Jer 10:6; neither is "their rock as our Rock, our enemies themselves being judges," Deu 32:31.
If so be that God will think upon us] The Chaldee hath it, will be merciful unto us; the Hebrew word signifieth will clear up, and behold us with a serene countenance; granting us a calm, and taking care that we perish not. So shall we acknowledge him to be Haelohim, that God by an excellency. Queen Elizabeth (that Regina Serenissima most unruffled Queen), for her merciful returning home certain Italians that were taken prisoners in the 1588 invasion, was termed Saint Elizabeth by some at Venice; who also affirmed to the English ambassador there, that though they were Papists, yet they would never pray to any other saint but that Saint Elizabeth.
{a} A sleepy or dozing person. ŒD
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain So the ship-master, who had the conduct of the…
So the ship-master, who had the conduct of the vessel, and from whose mouth such a reproof was seasonable, came to him; missing him, when all the rest were toiled with labour, and had been crying mightily to their false gods, but Jonah appeared not.
What meanest thou, O sleeper? a very decent yet sharp reproof to him: What metal art thou made of? or, What god dost thou fear? or, Art thou deaf to all the menaces of Heaven?
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Arise, awake, get up, call upon thy God; pray to that God thou worshippest, as we have already each done, for possibly thy God may be mightier than our gods, and may lay the tempest that lieth so heavily upon us. They had lost their labour seeking to other gods, yet think it advisable that Jonah should try his God too; if so be, &c.: see Joe 2:14; and so Amo 5:15.
Will think upon us, with pity, care, and favour, and do for us in this our strange distress, that we perish not; that ship, goods, and men too, may not be lost.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain So the shipmaster came to him,.... The master of…
So the shipmaster came to him,.... The master of the vessel, who had the command of it; or the governor of it, as Jarchi; though Josephus (d) distinguishes between the governor and the shipmaster: "the master of the ropers" (e), as it may be rendered; of the sailors, whose business it was to draw the ropes, to loose or gather the sails, at his command: missing him, very probably, he sought after him, and found him in the hold, in the bottom of the ship, on one side of it, fast asleep:
and said unto him, what meanest thou, O sleeper? this is not a time to sleep, when the ship is like to be broke to pieces, all lives lost, and thine own too: thus the prophet, who was sent to rebuke the greatest monarch in the world, is himself rebuked by a shipmaster, and a Heathen man. Such an expostulation as this is proper enough to be used with professors of religion that are gotten in a spiritual sense into a sleepy and drowsy frame of spirit; it being an aggravation of it, especially when the nation they are of, the church of Christ they belong to, and their own persons also, are in danger; see Rom 13:11 Eph 5:14;
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arise, call upon thy God; the gods of this shipmaster and his men were insufficient to help them; they had ears, but they heard not; nor could they answer them, or relieve them; he is therefore desirous the prophet would pray to his God, though he was unknown to him; or at least it suggests that it would better come him to awake, and be up, and praying to his God, than to lie sleeping there; and the manner in which the words are expressed, without a copulative, show the hurry of his spirit, the ardour of his mind, and the haste he was in to have that done he advises to: every good man has a God to pray unto, a covenant God and Father, and who is a prayer hearing God; is able to help in time of need, and willing to do it; and it is the duty and interest of such to call upon him in a time of trouble; yea, they should arise and stir up themselves to this service; and it may be observed, that the best of men may sometimes be in such a condition and circumstances as to need to be stirred up to it by others; see Luk 22:46;
if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not; the supreme God; for the gods they had prayed to they looked upon as mediators with the true God they knew not. The shipmaster saw, that, to all human probability, they were all lost men, just ready to perish; that if they were saved, (as who knew but they might, upon Jonah's praying to his God?) it must be owing to the kind thoughts of God towards them; to the serenity of his countenance, and gracious acceptance of prayer, and his being propitious and merciful through that means; all which seems to be the import of the word used: so the saving of sinners in a lost and perishing condition, in which all men are, though all are not sensible of it, is owing to God's thoughts of peace, to his good will, free favour, and rich grace in Christ Jesus, and through him, as the propitiatory sacrifice. The Targum is,
"if so be mercy may be granted from the Lord, and we perish not.''
(d) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 9. c. 10. sect. 2.) (e) "magister funalis", Munster; "magister funiculaiorum", so some in ;Mercer; "magister funis", Calvin.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Will think upon us - With pity and favour.
Will think upon us - With pity and favour.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. The shipmaster] Either the captain or the…
Verse 6. The shipmaster] Either the captain or the pilot.
Arise, call upon thy God] He supposed that Jonah had his god, as well as they had theirs; and that, as the danger was imminent, every man should use the influence he had, as they were all equally involved in it.
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 1:6. So the ship-master — Who had the…
Jon 1:6. So the ship-master — Who had the conduct of the vessel, and from whose mouth such a reproof was seasonable; came and said to him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? — A just and necessary reproof this. We cannot but pity Jonah, who needed it: as a prophet of the Lord, if he had been in his place, he might have been reproving the king of Nineveh; but, being out of the way of his duty, he himself lies open to the reproof of a sorry ship-master. See how men, by their sin and folly, make themselves mean! Yet we must admire God’s goodness in sending him this seasonable reproof; for it was the first step toward his recovery; as the crowing of the cock was to Peter. “Those that sleep in a storm,” says Henry, “may well be asked what they mean.” Arise, call upon thy God — We are here crying every man to his god, why dost thou not get up and cry to thine? Art thou not equally concerned with the rest, both in the danger dreaded, and in the deliverance desired? If so be that God will think upon us — With pity, care, and favour; that we perish not — That the ship, goods, and men also may not be lost. The word rendered God being in the plural number, and the ship-master, the mariners, and others in the ship being, it appears, idolaters, and knowing nothing of the one living and true God, this clause should undoubtedly be rendered, If so be that the gods will think upon us, &c.
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 meanest thou? - or rather, “what aileth thee?”…
What meanest thou? - or rather, “what aileth thee?” (literally “what is to thee?”) The shipmaster speaks of it (as it was) as a sort of disease, that he should be thus asleep in the common peril. “The shipmaster,” charged, as he by office was, with the common weal of those on board, would, in the common peril, have one common prayer. It was the prophet’s office to call the pagan to prayers and to calling upon God. God reproved the Scribes and Pharisees by the mouth of the children who “cried Hosanna” Mat 21:15; Jonah by the shipmaster; David by Abigail; 1Sa 25:32-34; Naaman by his servants. Now too he reproves worldly priests by the devotion of laymen, sceptic intellect by the simplicity of faith.
If so be that God will think upon us - , (literally “for us”) i. e., for good; as David says, Psa 40:17. “I am poor and needy, the Lord thinketh upon” (literally “for”) “me.” Their calling upon their own gods had failed them. Perhaps the shipmaster had seen something special about Jonah, his manner, or his prophet’s garb. He does not only call Jonah’s God, “thy” God, as Darius says to Daniel “thy God” Dan 6:20, but also “the God,” acknowledging the God whom Jonah worshiped, to be “the God.” It is not any pagan prayer which he asks Jonah to offer. It is the prayer of the creature in its need to God who can help; but knowing its own ill-desert, and the separation between itself and God, it knows not whether He will help it. So David says Psa 25:7, “Remember not the sins of my youth nor my transgressions; according to Thy mercy remember Thou me for Thy goodness’ sake, O Lord.”
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“The shipmaster knew from experience, that it was no common storm, that the surges were an infliction borne down from God, and above human skill, and that there was no good in the master’s skill. For the state of things needed another Master who ordereth the heavens, and craved the guidance from on high. So then they too left oars, sails, cables, gave their hands rest from rowing, and stretched them to heaven and called on God.”
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 call upon thy God--The ancient heathen in dangers called…
call upon thy God--The ancient heathen in dangers called on foreign gods, besides their national ones (compare ). MAURER translates the preceding clause, "What is the reason that thou sleepest?"
think upon us--for good (compare ; ; , ; ).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 6. The very fact that Jonah remained sound asleep…
6. The very fact that Jonah remained sound asleep and did not join the others in their frantic efforts to relieve the situation would direct attention to him and arouse suspicion.
Shipmaster — Literally, the chief of the handlers of the ropes (Eze_27:8; Eze_27:27-29); the captain.
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What meanest thou, O sleeper? — How can any man sleep, with doom so imminent?
Call upon thy God — The gods implored by the others had failed to still the tempest; perhaps the God of Jonah can bring relief.
If so be — Perhaps.
God — Literally, the God. “It is not clear that the speaker identified Jonah’s God with the God… Perhaps all that the shipmaster meant was, that, if they all called, each man upon his god, the fruit of their piety might perhaps be that God, whatever god was the God, would spare their lives.” Only later events led the men to identify Jonah’s God, Jehovah, with the God.
Will think upon us — Literally, will bethink himself for us — that is, for our benefit. An anthropomorphism (see on repent, Joe_2:13). The above is a possible translation of the verb, but Cheyne proposes to substitute a slightly different verb, used, in the same sense, in Psa_40:17. Some translate the present verb “will brighten,” or “shine upon us” — that is, will show himself favorable to us. The thought remains the same.
Whether Jonah arose and followed the advice of the captain is not stated; probably he did, but in vain, for the storm continued. 7. There could no longer be any doubt that a desperate sinner was on board, on whose account the calamity had fallen (see concluding remarks on Amo_4:6-11; compare Jos_7:1 ff.; 1Sa_14:36-46). If he could be discovered and removed from their midst the divine wrath might cease; hence they proceed to discover the guilty.
Cast lots — Only a deity could reveal the culprit; therefore appeal was made to the deity by the casting of the lots, which was an ancient method of determining the will of a god (Eze_21:21). It is used even in the New Testament (Act_1:26), but not again after Pentecost.
For whose cause — On whose account.
The lot fell upon Jonah — Jerome’s comment on these words is worthy of quotation: “The fugitive is taken by lot, not from any virtue in lots themselves, least of all the lots of the heathen, but by the will of Him who governs uncertain lots” (Jos_7:18; 1Sa_14:42).
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. the shipmaster] Lit., the chief of the sailors,…
6. the shipmaster] Lit., the chief of the sailors, i. e. the captain. The word here for sailors (which is singular and used collectively) is not the same word as that rendered mariners in Jon_1:5. It is formed from the Hebrew word for a rope, and means properly those who handle the ropes. Both words occur again (and it is the only other place in the O.T. where either of them is found) in the description of the maritime greatness of Tyre in Ezekiel 27. The word used in this verse is there rendered in Eze_27:8; Eze_27:27; Eze_27:29, pilots, and the mention of their wisdom in Jon_1:8 has been thought to justify this distinction. It should be observed, however, that the contrast there is between mere rowers (for so, and not mariners, the other word in that verse should be rendered) who were hired from Sidon and Arvad, and skilled sailors, who were the product of Tyre herself. The word rendered mariners in Jon_1:5 of this chapter and in Eze_27:9; Eze_27:27; Eze_27:29, appears to be a more general word, including all seafaring persons. The Hebrews, not being a maritime nation, make but little use of nautical terms. We have in addition to the words just mentioned the expressions, “shipmen that had knowledge of the sea” (lit., “men of ships, knowing the sea”), 1Ki_9:27 (comp. 2Ch_8:18); “They that go down to the sea in ships,” Psa_107:23, or simply, “They that go down to the sea,” Isa_42:10.
What meanest thou, O sleeper?] Lit., What (is there) to thee, sleeping? i.e. What reason hast thou for sleeping? The A.V. and R. V. apparently take the participle “sleeping” as a vocative, “O sleeper?” What meanest thou by sleeping! would perhaps be the best translation. It is an exclamation of indignant surprise at the unreasonableness of Jonah’s conduct. The word for sleep here and in Jon_1:5 means heavy or deep sleep, such as Adam’s (Gen_2:21), or Sisera’s (Jdg_4:21). LXX. τί σὺ ῥέγχεις;
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God] This abstract use of the word (lit., “the God”) immediately after “thy God” in this verse, and the mention in Jon_1:6 that the mariners “cried every man unto his god,” is remarkable. It would seem to imply, as Calvin argues, that behind and above the many gods whom the heathen invented for themselves, they retained the idea, vague perhaps and indistinct for the most part, but starting into prominence in times of danger and distress such as this, of one supreme God by whose providence the world is governed, and in whose hand are the life and safety of all men.
will think upon us] Some would render, “will brighten, or shine upon us,” i.e. will be propitious or favourable to us; but there seems no reason to depart from the A.V., which the R.V. retains.
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 (6) The shipmaster . . .—Literally, the chief of…
(6) The shipmaster . . .—Literally, the chief of those who work at the rope. Jewish nautical terms are infrequent and therefore obscure. The word mariners, in Jon_1:5, correctly renders a term which seems, from its use in Eze_27:8; Eze_27:27; Eze_27:29, as well as from its derivation (from salt; comp. the term “old salts”), to denote seafaring men generally. “Those who work the ropes” may be either “steersmen” or “topmen” as contrasted with rowers.
What meanest . . .—Literally, What to thee sleeping? i.e., How canst thou sleep so soundly? The motive of the question was no doubt partly the need of sympathy, as in the case of the disciples (Mar_4:38), partly a belief in the efficacy of the prophet’s prayer. This belief seems to have sprung not solely from superstitious fear lest any deity should be overlooked, but from a vague sense that the God of Israel was pre-eminently great and good. The term used is ha Elohîm, “the God.”
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 The shipmaster; literally, the chief of the ropemen; Vulgate,…
The shipmaster; literally, the chief of the ropemen; Vulgate, gubernator; Septuagint, o prwreuv , "the look out man." The captain. What meanest thou, O sleeper? How canst thou sleep so soundly when our danger is so imminent? If thou canst help us in no other way, at least ask the aid of Heaven. It was the duty of a prophet of the Lord to take the lead in prayer; but here the prophet"s stupor is rebuked by the heathen"s faith. Call upon thy God. The sailors" prayers had not been answered, and they arouse Jonah, noting something special about him, perhaps his prophet"s dress, or observing that he was an Israelite, and therefore a worshipper of Jehovah, of whose power they had heard. If so be that God will think upon us. They use the word "God" with the article, ha Eiohim, as if they had, in spite of their Polytheism, a dim notion of one supreme Deity. Vulgate, Si forte recogitet Deus de nobis; Septuagint, opwv diaswsh o Yeo , "that God may save us." From the apparent use, of the Hebrew word (ashath) in Jer_5:28 in the sense of "shining," some translate here, "if perchance God will shine upon us," i.e. be favourable to us. But the meaning given in the Anglican Version is best supported. So the psalmist says, "The Lord thinketh upon me", (Psa_40:17) implying that God succours and defends him.
Danger and devotion.
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The conduct of the seamen, who themselves, when encompassed "by danger and when threatened by death, both called upon their gods and besought Jonah to imitate their prayers and vows, may have been superstitious in its accessories, but it was certainly right in principle.
I DANGER REMINDS US OF OUR OWN POWERLESSNESS. In the presence of the great forces of nature the hurricane, the earthquake, the volcano man feels his own physical feebleness and helplessness. He is mightier than all these forces in that he can think and feel, purpose and act, whilst they blindly and unconsciously work out a higher will. But in his body he is incapable of resisting, of measuring himself against, these tremendous powers.
II DANGER REMINDS US OF THE UNCERTAINTY AND BREVITY OF HUMAN LIFE. By some "accident" from without, or by some "disorder" within, the life of the body will certainly be brought to a close. The lightning may smite or the waves may swallow up the healthiest frame may close the most useful and beneficent life. The treacherous sea, as in this narrative, threatens to engulf the mariner and the passenger. To thee the love of woman has gone down, Brave hearts and true are gathered to thy breast?
III DANGER DRIVES THE SINNER TO SEEK GOD"S MERCY. To many the hour of peril is the only hour of prayer. Lips that have only used the name of the Eternal Majesty in ribald profanity, when white with fear utter that name in earnest entreaty for pity and for deliverance. When human help is vain, then the godless call upon the great Helper, God. How worthless such prayer often is experience sadly teaches. "The river past, the saint forgot." Yet it is well that men should be awakened, however rudely, from their self-sufficiency and false security.
IV DANGER DRAWS FORTH THE CONFIDENCE AND THE PRAYERS OF THE PIOUS. How many are the records of shipwreck which tell of the peace and trust, the fortitude and hope, of the true Christian, when those around have abandoned themselves to despair l He who believes the gospel knows that God "thinks upon him," and knows that he so thinks upon his own for good. It may be that an unexpected deliverance will be wrought; but it will be the case that, whatever the Father above may suffer to happen to the body, the soul shall be safe in heavenly keeping unto life eternal.
A rousing voice to moral sleepers.
"What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not." The incident referred to in the text is this Jonah was sent to Nineveh on a mission of mercy, sent to warn the corrupt population of their impending doom, and to call them to immediate repentance. The Divine message was not to the prophet"s mind; he was displeased, and instead of going direct to Nineveh, he went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare, embarked, and hasted away. While on the deep a terrible tempest arose. "The Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken." As the tempest raged Jonah was asleep, "fast asleep." So the shipmaster came to him and said unto him, "What meanest thou, O sleeper?" etc. Moral indifferentism is the curse of the world. Three practical appeals to the morally indifferent are suggested.
I JONAH WAS IN IMMINENT PERIL. So are you. It is said that the ship was "like to be broken." The perils of shipwreck have often been graphically depicted; but they surpass the conceptions of all but those who have struggled in their ghastly horrors. But what are the perils of material shipwreck to the perils of a corrupt and disobedient soul? To have the body buried in the depths of the ocean is a trifle compared with the burial of the soul under the black, booming billows of moral depravity and guilt. The buried body becomes unconscious of its position, and sleeps itself into the calm bosom of its mother nature; but the soul becomes burningly conscious of its terrible situation, and struggles in vain to rise from the abyss. What is hell? I know not. I want no rolling thunders of Divine vengeance, no material fires burning on forever, to impress me with its awfulness. A soul buried in the black ocean of its own depravity, with a conscience intensely alive to its hopeless condition, struggling in vain to release itself, is the hell of all hells. Careless sinner, you are in danger of this hell! Your moral circumstances will soon be changed, a tempest is brooding, it increases with every sin. Every star in your heavens will soon be extinguished, and the sea on which you are now gliding along will be lashed into fury and will engulf you in ruin.
II JONAH WAS UNCONSCIOUS OF HIS PERIL. So are you. Whilst the tempest was raging and the vessel ready to sink, he was "last asleep." Careless sinner, you are unconscious of your danger! You say to yourself, "Peace, peace," when there is no peace. If you were aware of your position, you would give no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids.
1. Jonah"s unconsciousness was foolish. So is yours. How unwise was the prophet to sleep under such circumstances! He should have been on deck, alert, all ear and eye, and with hands ready to grapple with the emergencies of the terrible hour. But your folly is greater, inasmuch as your peril is more tremendous.
2. Jonah"s unconsciousness was wicked. So is yours. For the sake of his companions on board, he ought not to have been "fast asleep;" it indicated a shameful lack of interest in his fellow men. Your indifferentism is wicked. You ought to be spiritually alive and awake, not only for your own sake, but also for the sake of those around you who are in similar peril.
III JONAH HAD A MESSENGER TO WARN HIM OF HIS PERIL. So have you. "The shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not." There are certain points of analogy between this "shipmaster" and the godly ministers that are warning you.
1. He believed in the existence and power of God. So do they. "Call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us" Great dangers seldom fail to strike the idea of God into the hearts of men, whatever their creed or character. This man believed, not only that a God existed, but that that God had raised a tempest, and had the power to subdue it. The Christly men that warn you every Sunday from the pulpits also believe in this God.
2. He believed in the efficacy of human prayer. So do they. The shipmaster said to Jonah, "Call upon thy God." Whatsoever speculative scientists may say about prayer, one thing is clear that it is an instinct of the soul, not a mere doctrine of the Bible; it is a law of nature, not a mere ceremony of religion. What soul does not pray when in conscious contact with overwhelming dangers? Your ministers believe in prayer; they pray for you, and urge you to pray for yourselves.
3. He believed it to be his duty to sound the warning. So do they. What right had he to interfere with the sleeping prophet, to break his slumber, and to summon him to prayer? The instincts of nature authorized him, nay, bound him to do so. Your ministers have a right to warn you; they are bound to warn you. They are commanded to "cry aloud, to lift up their voice like a trumpet," Do you say, when godly men speak to you about your moral condition, "What business have they to interfere? My soul is my own; if I choose to throw it away, what matters it to them?" It does matter to them. You are not your own, you are not an isolated unit, you are a member of the spiritual universe; you have, therefore, no right to be dishonest, corrupt, ungodly, and throw your soul away. You were made to serve the universe, not to curse it; you cannot sin without injuring others, Every true man is bound to protest against your conduct, and to demand from you, in the name of God and this universe, an immediate reformation.
CONCLUSION. The following fact, recorded in the "Biblical Treasury," is worthy of note as an illustration: "A traveller who was pursuing his journey on the Scotch coast, was thoughtlessly induced to take the road by the sands as the most agreeable. This road, which was safe only at low tides, lay on the beach, between the sea and the lofty cliffs which bound the coast. Pleased with the view of the inrolling waves on the one hand and the abrupt and precipitous rocks on the other, he loitered on the way, unmindful of the sea which was gradually encroaching upon the intervening sands. A man, observing from the lofty cliffs the danger he was incurring, benevolently descended, and arresting his attention by a loud halloa, warned him not to proceed. "If you pass this spot, you will lose your last chance of escape. The tides are rising. They have already covered the road you have passed, and they are near the foot of the cliffs before you; and by this ascent alone you can escape." The traveller disregarded the warning. He felt sure he could make the turn in the coast in good time; and, leaving his volunteer guide, he went more rapidly on his way. Soon, however, he discovered the real danger of his position. His onward journey was arrested by the sea; he turned in haste, but to his amazement he found that the rising waters had cut off his retreat. He looked up to the cliffs; but they were inaccessible. The waters were already at his feet. He sought higher ground, but was soon driven off. His last refuge was a projecting rock; but the relentless waters rose higher and higher; they reached him; they rose to his neck; he uttered a despairing shriek for help, but no help was near, as he bad neglected his last opportunity for escape. The sea closed over. It was the closing in upon him of the night of death. D.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain So the shipmaster came to him.
Jon_1:6
So the shipmaster came to him.
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A model sea-captain
The shipmaster was a good workman. The spirit and manner in which he went about his work deserve our imitation. He was intensely in earnest. At any risk he wished to arouse this slumbering passenger to a sense of duty. Death was staring them in the face, and he was anxious that every person on board should be doing something to assist the ship, or to save his life. Seek to imitate--
I. His earnest solicitude. When we remember that millions of our fellow-men are actually slumbering on the very verge of perdition, the first desire of every Christian heart should be to awaken them out of sleep. The conversion of men to God is the ultimate and immediate aim of all truly Christian effort. If we fail in this we fail altogether. This is the spirit of the age. In business, politics, and science, men may be as fanatical as they please, and society will applaud their zeal; while in any undertaking which is strictly Christian and spiritual, an ordinary amount of earnestness will not be tolerated.
II. His rational appeal. What meanest thou, O sleeper? Give us a reason for this strange conduct. This inquiry is equally appropriate and rational as applied to unconverted men. In reference to a matter of such importance we cannot do rational men the injustice to suppose that this subject has not received their most earnest attention. The fact may be, that though there is so much nominal belief in the world, there is also, even amongst ordinary Gospel hearers, a wide spread spirit of scepticism.
III. His simple exhortation. Arise, and call upon thy God. Straightforward, honest, manly, and emphatic, the man came right to the point, and discharged his soul. Such a man as a Gospel preacher would be sure of success. Let us aim at the heart. Let our theme be the Gospel. This earnest sea-captain is an example for every Christian professor. (W. H. Burton.)
The good shipmaster
Jonah behaved at once like a very presumptuous and a very ignorant man. Jonahs slumbers were unaffected by the danger, and unbroken by the noise above and around. The shipmaster, seeing that he was quite unconscious of his peril, and might probably be engulphed in the yawning abyss below them, before ever he knew that there was danger, came near and aroused him. The shipmaster had no very accurate ideas of Jonahs God, of His character, grace, mercy, long-suffering, or providence. Yet in the darkness of heathenism he had not absolutely lost sight of every glimpse of the truth. Amidst all the obscurity and ignorance in which they were involved many a heathen retained the knowledge that a power there certainly is that made heaven and earth, and all things therein;. and that in evils which mock the weakness of human devices, the only probable road to safety is in appeal to that invisible Being, who certainly has the power, and may have the will, to save to the uttermost. (W. H. Marriott.)
Men aroused by unexpected means
If Jonah had been told one year before that a heathen sea-captain would ever awaken him to a sense of danger, he would have scoffed at the idea; but here it is done. So now, men in strangest ways are aroused from spiritual stupor. A profane man is brought to conviction by the shocking blasphemy of a comrade. A man attending chinch, and hearing a sermon from the text, The ox knoweth his owner, etc., goes home unimpressed, but crossing his barn-yard, an ox comes up and licks his hand, and he says: There it is now--the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his masters crib, but I do not know God. The careless remark of a teamster has led a man to thoughtfulness and heaven. The childs remark, Father, they have prayers at uncles house,--why dont we have them? has brought salvation to the dwelling. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Remarkable awakenings
By strangest way and in most unexpected manner men are awakened. The gardener of the Countess of Huntingdon was convicted of sin by hearing the countess on the opposite side of the wall talk about Jesus. John Hardoak was aroused by a dream, in which he saw the last day, and the Judge sitting, and heard his own name called with terrible emphasis--John Hardoak, come to judgment! The Lord has a thousand ways of waking up Jonah. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Mans interest in God
To the end the Lord may discover the guilty man, and cause of this tempest, as he made the mariners sensible themselves, so the shipmaster is set on work to awaken Jonah, to try his interest with his God (whom they knew not yet to be the true God), if possibly He had more power or goodwill to such as worshipped Him than theirs had. Which is the first step to His discovery. Doctrine--
1. A child of God may sometimes miscarry, so far through infirmity, negligence, and temptation, that even a pagan, by natures light, may see him reproveable and blameworthy, for so is Jonah reproved by the shipmaster.
2. It is deeply censurable and absurd, even to natures eye, to be secure in trouble.
3. Variety of false gods hold men in suspense and uncertainty. Therefore every man having cried unto his God, yet they are not settled, but will have Jonah to essay his God, if He be better than the rest.
4. Natures light will acknowledge that He who is the true God hath power to deliver in most extreme dangers; for in this great tempest they assert it,--If God think on us, we will not perish.
5. Howsoever in a calm day, nature conceit and boast of merit, yet in a strait, natural men are forced to have their recourse only to the favour of God. For this pagan shipmaster hath no ground of hope that they shall not perish, but in Gods thinking (or being bright and shining, as the word also signifies, that is, looking favourably) on them. (George Hutcheson.)
Arise, call upon thy God.
Asleep in sin
These were the words of the shipmaster to Jonah, and they present to us the strange anomaly of the reckless seaman upbraiding with impiety the prophet of the Lord. Jonah could not at that hour have possessed a conscience void of offence. At that time he was flying in the face of God, disobeying His Word, betraying His trust, and he could not have thought of Him without dread. He could not have dared to bend the knee to Him in prayer without conscience flying, like a scorpion, in his face. Was it the conflict of his feelings which overpowered him, and nature sunk exhausted under the dreadful struggle? Or was it that Jonah had succeeded in silencing the remonstrances of conscience? Only by way of accommodation can this passage be improved.
1. Apply it to the careless and ungodly. Thousands are rushing onward in the broad way which leadeth to destruction. Many a man, in the midst of the most awful realities of life, is locked up in fancied security, and not a pang, not a misgiving, not an apprehension is entertained. Well may it be said to such, Awaken, thou that sleepest.
2. Apply to the backslider. Those who once knew the Lord, and who, remembering the blessedness of knowing Him, have nevertheless fallen from their stead fastness; who, by sin, have inflicted a deadly wound upon their souls. They may be, like Jonah, sleeping, insensible to the perils around them. But the words admit of a more extended application. They come, in a greater or less degree, pointed to us all. It seems to say to us all, watch and pray, arise and be doing. (Dennis Kofly, M. A.)
Sleeper, arise
Notice the character of Jonahs sleep. It could not have been the sleep of innocence and confidence. Jesus Christ slept in the calm confidence of a mighty faith which knew that the elements were powerless to injure the Holy One of God. Jonah slept to escape from himself. He had already fled from the presence of God, but he could not escape from the sound of Gods voice in his conscience. May we not see in this sleep of Jonah a type of the condition of many souls? As with him, so with us. God has given us a work to do for Him. But the work grows distasteful; so we gradually slacken our efforts, and perhaps at last abandon them altogether; and then try to escape from the presence of the Lord We lull ourselves more effectually to sleep by the expressed intention of making our peace with God at some far distant time, when we are less distracted by the worlds claims upon us. But what are such intentions save as the dreams of an unhealthy sleep? Every landmark of our lives which tells us that another stage is reached, and our journey is so much nearer the close, is in point of fact as the voice of that heathen sailor who roused the sleeping prophet. It is no new or striking thing to say, that the time and manner of your death is uncertain. We need to take homo to ourselves the common-places of religion before we can actually realise them. How can we dare to continue to live in such a state as we dare not die in? (F. R. H. H. Noyes, D. D.)
The sleeper called to awake
The prophet, jealous, as some think, for the honour of Israel, and unwilling that the Gentiles should partake of the benefits of prophecy; or fearing that, as others imagine, notwithstanding all the denunciations he might utter against them, the merciful God might still spare them, and thus tarnish the veracity of his predictions,--subjecting him, moreover, to the ignominy of being despised and punished as an impostor; or apprehensive, as is the opinion of a third class, of the perils to which this journey and message were likely to expose him, refused obedience to Gods authority. What could the prophet mean by attempting to flee from the presence of the Lord? Possibly Jonah thought that by removing from Judea the special place of Divine revelations, he would remove from that presence of the Deity which was peculiar to it. During his passage he does not appear to have thought of the folly or sinfulness of his conduct. He fell fast asleep. Did not this splenetic seer know that it is in vain for a man to contend with his Maker?
1. It must be obvious to every one that this impassioned inquiry into the conduct of the sleeper speaks it to be fraught with extreme folly. Man is placed under the regimen of a moral and an equitable administration, in which God deals with him as a rational creature. A door of hope is set before us. The awful consequences of refusing to accept Gods mode of deliverance are fully displayed. Now, does the sleeper act the part of a wise man; to remain locked in the embraces of a most sluggish inaction, when affairs of such moment are to be decided? Surely no frenzy is half so desperate as this! The sleepers conduct is fraught with extreme folly.
2. This awakening salutation intimates that the sleepers conduct is full of danger. See the appalling and perilous position of this ship. Far more appalling and perilous is your condition, O ye spiritual slumberers. You are embarked on the ocean of Divine wrath. The vessel to which you have committed yourselves is frail and shattered, yet an ark of safety has all along attended you, but you will not be at the trouble of accepting its aid. By neglecting the great salvation, your peril is increased a thousand-fold. Jonahs condition in the ship gives but a faint idea of the danger you every moment run while without Christ, and without God in the world.
3. The earnestness of the interrogatory imports that now is the proper time to awake. It should be a rule with every man who wishes to regulate his conduct wisely, to put off nothing till to-morrow which is necessary to be done to-day. The present time is always the best, and, what is more, it is all that we can call our own. The circumstances of this case demand that you decide instantly.
4. The vehemence of this call tells us, that the business for which the sleeper is called to awake is of the utmost importance, and well deserves his attention. Inconceivably greater than Jonahs is the business to which we now solicit your attention. By nature you are lost and undone; but we now announce to you a message of peace and reconciliation with God. We tell you of a Saviour. Will you, through the pride of your heart, banish from your mind that deep and mysterious project? Will you, through the listlessness of your inaction, discard, as not deserving your serious contemplation, that unrivalled event which filled the world with wonders?
5. The question here put to the sleeper may also be viewed as the language of reproof and astonishment. These sailors were heathen, yet in time of strain they called on their God. The one man who professed to fear the God of heaven remains fast asleep, makes no attempt to call upon his God. (W. Nisbet.)
The sleeper awakened
Like all who endeavour to frustrate the designs, evade the commands, or flee from the presence of God, Jonah found his hopes miserably disappointed. The address of the shipmaster to the slumbering prophet is equally applicable to those who are yet in their unregenerate state.
1. Like the prophet, you are exposed to the storm of Divine wrath, which every moment pursues and threatens to overwhelm you.
2. The inspired writers employ various figurative expressions to describe the situation and character of impenitent sinners. Persons of this description are represented sometimes as foolish, mad, or infatuated; sometimes as blind and senseless; sometimes as dead in trespasses and sins; and sometimes as slumbering or asleep.
(1) Sleep is a state of insensibility.
(2) Sleep is a state of dreams and delusions.
Apply to unawakened sinners, and then to those whom God has been pleased to awaken. (E. Payson, D. D.)
The sleeper aroused
The circumstances connected with this message of the prophet are very striking. We may trace a parallel between those circumstances and man as we now find him. Every man, from the least to the greatest, is charged with a mission from God; every man comes into the world charged with this one great business, the bringing glory to God; and every man who goes forth, in the exercise of the faculties which God has given him, influenced and regulated by Almighty grace, fulfils his mission. But the greater part of mankind shrink from it; they flee (as it were) from the presence of the Lord; they go forth from the round of duty in which He places them, and seek to escape. Every soul who is not fulfilling his mission will sooner or later be convinced how fearful a thing it is, as well as vain, to seek to depart from God, and to neglect the one great business of life. The subject suggests one aspect of the unconverted man,--he is in a state of deep sleep. All his faculties whereby he might glorify God are inactive, or if employed at all, are employed unwisely and unfitly. He slumbers in sinful indulgence. There is an absorbing power in this; it holds the heart fast, it subdues the whole being, and brings it into entire subjection. He slumbers in spiritual feeling. What should be done in this case? Two things. Arise. Call upon thy God. To every slumberer in sinful indulgence and spiritual ignorance we say, Arise. Awaken to serious thought. Respond to the call of the Divine Spirit. Call upon God with all the lowliness of humiliation, and in the exercise of a simple faith, of a faith which He will give, of a faith which is even now tendered. And let me remind you that every day spent in the dangerous slumber of sinful indulgence and spiritual ignorance increases the difficulty of your awakening. (George Fisk, LL. D.)
Arousing voice to moral sleepers
Three practical appeals to the morally indifferent are suggested.
I. Jonah was in imminent peril; so are you. What are the perils of the material shipwreck to the perils of a corrupt and disobedient soul?
II. Jonah was unconscious of his peril; so are you. You say to yourself, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. If you were aware of your position, you would give no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids.
1. Jonahs unconsciousness was foolish; so is yours. How unwise was the prophet to sleep under such circumstances; he should have been on deck, alert, all ear and eye, and with hands ready to grapple with the emergencies of the terrible hour.
2. Jonahs unconsciousness was wicked; so is yours. For the sake of his companions on board he ought not to have been fast asleep it indicated a shameful lack of interest in his fellow-men. Your indifferentism is wicked. You ought to be spiritually alive and awake, not only for your own sake, but also for those around you who are in similar peril.
III. Jonah had a messenger to warn him of his peril; so have you. There are certain points of analogy between this shipmaster and the godly ministers that are warning you.
1. He believed in the existence and power of God; so do they. Call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us.
2. He believed in the efficacy of human prayer; so do they. What soul does not pray when in conscious contact with overwhelming dangers? Your ministers believe in prayer; they pray for you, and urge you to pray for yourselves.
3. He believed it to be his duty to sound the warning; so do they. Your ministers have a right to warn you; they are bound to warn you. They are commanded to cry aloud, to lift up their voices like a trumpet. Do you say, when godly men speak to you about your moral condition, What business have they to interfere? My soul is my own; if I choose to throw it away, what matters it to them? It does matter to them. You are not your own, you are not an isolated unit, you are a member of the spiritual universe; you have therefore no right to be dishonest, corrupt, ungodly, and throw your soul away. You were made to serve the universe, not to curse it; you cannot sin without injuring others. (Homilist.)
An alarm to the careless
Observe the goodness and mercy of God. He would not punish without a warning, and affording opportunity to forsake their sin and turn unto Him. Jonah was to warn Nineveh, but instead of obeying he fled, hoping to hide himself from the eye of the Almighty. Consider Jonah as representing the state of the great bulk of mankind, the state of every unconverted sinner.
I. The expostulation. What meanest thou, O sleeper? Sleep implies a state--
1. Of insensibility. Jonah has no sense and feeling of his desperate condition. Sinners are dreaming, they are fast asleep.
2. Of insecurity. No one is more defenceless than he who is asleep. He is exposed to every danger, without anything wherewith to shield him. Just such is the state of the case with every impenitent sinner.
3. Of inactivity. Notwithstanding all the evils to which Jonah is exposed, he makes not one effort to escape. He is fast asleep. So is it with the souls of the unregenerate.
4. Of inability. What can a man that is asleep do to preserve himself, to save his property, or protect his life? The sinner cannot rescue himself from danger.
II. The advice. Open thine eyes, and see thy danger. Look, and behold the remedy. Call upon thy God. Prayer is a haven to a shipwrecked mariner; an anchor to them that are sinking in the waves; a staff to the limbs that totter; a mine of jewels to the poor; a security to the rich; a healer of diseases, and a guardian of health; prayer at once secures the continuance of our blessings, and dissipates the cloud of our calamities.
III. The. Encouragement. If so be that God will think upon us that we perish not. It may be that God will hear us. At least we can try. Such was the encouragement which the shipmaster held out. We can add more to this. Our God can and will hear and answer prayer. He is thy God. Address--
1. The careless sinner.
2. Those who are beginning to awake to a sense of their awful condition.
3. Those who have complied with the advice given. (Robert Simpson, M. A.)
The awakening influence of light
A young lady was carried to the hospital of St. Lazare in a sleep that had continued for a week. All the chemical and medical appliances had been used, and yet she slumbered. There was an expert among these French doctors that awoke her. The last resource! On the cones of the eyes that have dropped into insensibility is light. He focussed into the eyeball of the sleeper the rays of the sun. Hardly had the concentrated ray touched the eyeball when she awoke. Is it in sight of this physical principle that Paul uttered without knowing it, or is it not a marvellous testimony to Gods Holy Spirit and His guiding when he says that the last resource for the slumber, even of death, is Christs light,? When Christ shines into your soul you cant slumber. (John Robertson.)
A troublesome cabin passenger
I know a shoal upon which I have seen several vessels come to ruin, but upon which I have never seen the remains of any two ships at the same time. It has been remarked that as long as the mast of a sunken wreck was to be seen above the water, another vessel was never known to strike on that bank. But it is seldom that that place is without its mournful beacon. As one ship thus becomes a beacon to another, so, in the voyage of life, one mans faults and failings should become warnings to all the rest. God has given us many such beacons by the way; for the very fails and weaknesses of His people are made to subserve our highest good. The rock of disobedience, upon which Jonah split, is one of the most dangerous. Some who have grounded thus have managed to get off again into deep water, but it has always done them permanent injury, and has maimed them for the rest of the voyage. Jonah never did much after this misfortune. We see in Jonah a type of many round us, both in the Church and in the world.
I. Indolence in the midst of activity. He lay. Ease--rest--to be down in the sides of the ship, fast asleep in the bunks of formality and carnal ease, is the fullest realisation of the ordinary professors dreams. Respectable Jonahs are the curse of our churches.
II. Unconcern in the midst of danger. Men sleep on the very verge of eternal ruin. How is it possible to describe the sad condition of those who will not be aroused by all the Gospel admonitions which from time to time they hear?
III. Detection in the midst of flight. Jonah little dreamed, when he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, that the Lord was marking his every step. God knows us through all our disguises. We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, and He who is to be your Judge has watched all your doings right throughout. (W. H. Burton.)
Of the dispositions becoming men in the times of very threatening and impending danger
1. That apprehensions of the displeasure and vengeance of God, on account of sin, are apt to arise in all ingenuous minds in times of very threatening and impending danger.
2. That notwithstanding there is a just foundation laid in the human mind, for apprehensions of this sort, in a state of distress, or great danger, yet many of those who are most criminal and guilty are, in such a situation, quite unaffected and secure.
3. That a sense of the displeasure of God, manifested in present or apparently approaching calamities, would naturally excite and urge men to devotion, humiliation, and repentance. (J. Orr, D. D.)
The history of Jonah
Jonah is justly no favourite with us, though conspicuously a prophet of the Lord. Hardly one prophets name is pronounced with so little respect. He was a real saint, with too much of the remaining elements of a sinner. His conduct on receiving his commission does appear very strange. We must accept his own explanation, given in chapter 4., which seems to amount to this,--he felt in danger of being disgraced as a prophet, the denunciation being to be uttered in positive, not conditional, terms. How abominably considerations of self may interfere with obedience to God! The purpose of his voyage betrays a most unworthy conception of the Divine Being, whatever was exactly the prophets notion. He may have been under the influence of a notion, that God maintained a peculiar jurisdiction over Judea, and a less absolute one beyond; though he knew that it must extend, with awful authority at least to Nineveh. He may have thought that, if he went far enough away, God would do without him, and appoint some other agent. He slept, but it is not wise to sleep in guilt. The God that is disobeyed on land can make the sea avenge Him. There is no situation more pitiable than that of a religious man who has disabled himself to take the benefit of his religion. Jonahs associates had various gods, but they could all pray earnestly to their objects of adoration. He could not; he who knew the real Lord of the land and the ocean. There must soon have been manifested some peculiarity of circumstances in the storm, indicating that it was of a nature extraordinary and judicial. The mariners referred it to the avenging power to point out the criminal by casting lots. There follows the decision of the lot, a Series of questions and expostulations. Jonahs answers were perfectly explicit. The honesty he showed made the mariners think it best to inquire of himself what they should do to him. His ready, explicit answer and self-devotement, no doubt, made them much more reluctant to do what he directed them, it would strike them as generous and heroic. They rowed hard. But the necessity became imperative at length. Jonah was sacrificed, but he was a willing sacrifice. Think of the prophet in his living tomb. The belly of hell, that is, the grave. Short of death, is it possible to conceive so strange a transition of state and feelings? By degrees the amazing fact that he did really live, and continue to live, would bring him to the distinct sense of a miraculous and protective Providence over him. Every moment would add strength to his impression of the Divine presence, and he came at length to a state of thought and faith and hope capable of prayer. What is given as the prophets prayer is doubtless the brief recollection, afterwards recorded of the kind of thoughts which had filled his mind during his dark sojourn, with the addition of some pious and grateful sentiments caused by the review. The final result of these mental exercises no doubt was a full consent of his will, that He who had sent him hither should send him anywhere else He pleased, even to Nineveh. Our Lord declares all this to be a type of Him. We may trace the analogy in the being consigned to the deep, and to the grave, in order that others might be saved;--the duration of time the same in the dark retirement;--the coming to light and life again, for the reformation of mankind. (Hercules was fabled to have had the same three days in a fish.) We follow Jonah to Nineveh, and there leave him, It does not appear that he showed any signs and wonders. There was a speedy humiliation and repentance, to which God graciously responded, but at which Jonah was angry. (John Foster.)
The sleep of Jonah, and the sleep of Christ
(taken with Mat_8:24):--Our Lord has taught us to associate His name with that of Jonah. Christ taught us how to find high teachings in that which is outwardly mean and insignificant. We may be permitted to observe an incidental resemblance between them, which appears to be fruitful of suggestion. There is a study for us here, in this sleep of Jonah and this sleep of Christ.
1. The physical conditions of human life are the same in all cases,--in the case of the good and of the bad. There is one law which makes sleep a necessity for all. In both these cases the immediate cause of sleep was bodily weariness and exhaustion. One had toiled in glad fulfilment of a ministry of love and sorrow; the other had angrily refused to obey the voice of the Lord. But both slept. Thus we see the check which the universal and mysterious law of sleep puts upon every form of human activity. This limitation of bodily energy puts its restraint on human wickedness. It enforces a perpetually recurring pause in the activities of the sinful, the thoughtless, the worldly. But we sometimes cry that the activities of the noble and the good should thus be stopped. Alas! that these must lay aside so often and so soon their toils, their consecrated tasks, their questionings, their search for truth. In discouragement and distress the Christian man at times longs for some exemption from the general law. But we may take heart again when we see Christ asleep. He sleeps, and His work stands still.
2. There are instances of peril in which physical causes conduce to the absence of alarm, both in the case of good men and bad. Jonah, fast asleep, was as untroubled by the threatening fury of the storm as Christ Himself. Sometimes the vigour and robustness of a mans bodily constitution contribute largely to indifference to dangers, which, if he regarded them, might fill him with dismay. Here is a physical cause largely helping to make a man altogether indifferent to the awful peril of irreligion. Often, when the time to die comes, the avenues of the soul seem to close up; the powers of expression fail; the whole man sinks into a lethargy and unconsciousness, in which he finally passes away. It is so with the good and bad, the prepared and unprepared.
3. This sleep of Jonah and sleep of Christ are indicative of two widely different spiritual conditions and processes issuing in strikingly similar results. We do not wonder that Christ should calmly resign Himself to sleep without apprehension or consciousness of peril. He knew that He was in the Fathers hands. But how could Jonah sleep, whatever his weariness, in the very act of such unfaithfulness to God? In both instances the spiritual condition may have contributed to the soundness of the sleep and the consequent unconsciousness of danger. With what thought Jonah went to sleep we are not told. In proportion to the success which Jonah had in quieting conscience would be the ease with which he would drop off to sleep and the probable soundness of his slumber. There was no uneasiness at the heart of Christ, and so He slept. There was not uneasiness enough at the heart of Jonah to keep him awake, and so he slept also. Misery comes to men in gusts; it is not the permanent condition of lifes atmosphere to any one. If a man refuse to be a Christian it by no means follows that he will live in a state of perpetual excitement and alarm. We almost wonder how it is that God lets men thus sleep on. It is not Gods plan to compel men to His service. He never so speaks that we may not refuse to answer. He never so compels us to attend that we may not settle ourselves to sleep again. But the time of awaking comes. In most Christian congregations it may be there are some who are suffering from the pangs of an awakened conscience. For such Christ waits with infinite compassion and concern. But the probability is that the condition of the majority of those who habitually listen to Christian preaching is like that of the ten virgins, of whom Christ speaks in His parable. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. We slumber and sleep. Is it because we are finding our rest in reconciliation with God, or because we have dismissed the thought of God, and comforted ourselves with an opiate? (Thomas Stephenson.)
Call upon thy God.--
Terrors of conscience
1. How natural it is to mankind to fly to God and to call upon Him in seasons of distress. If nature, dark and doubtful, and trembling with a sense of guilt, can yet fly to the Almighty and call upon Him, shall we, who are enlightened by grace, be careless and indifferent about this high privilege of drawing near to God in prayer? Shall we, as long as we can find any earthly satisfaction and enjoyment, give them the preference to God; think much of them, and little or never of Him? Who that has a real concern for his own welfare and happiness will not perpetually call upon God?
2. The folly of contending with God. He sent the prophet one way; but because this prophet liked not the errand that he was charged with, he endeavoured to go quite a contrary way. The folly of such an attempt we are all ready to acknowledge; but are all, who would not hesitate or doubt to pass sentence upon Jonah, free from this very folly? Jonah disobeyed an express order of God; and in doing so somehow satisfied himself that an all-discerning Eye would not see perverseness in him, nor an almighty Hand reach him in his flight. Do not thousands practise the same deceit upon themselves?
3. Conscience hath its power and authority and terrors derived from God; with which it will surround the sinner in the day of trouble, forcing him to confess and acknowledge his guilt.
4. These terrors of conscience, if they seize the sinner in due time, are most blessed and desirable. For the most unhappy of all conditions is security in sin, without any feeling or apprehensions of danger from it. But an humble and contrite heart, confessing its unworthiness, bewailing its sins, fully sensible of its own inability to rid itself of this burden, is in the fit and only fit disposition to return to God: such a soul is not far from salvation. 5, The Almighty, who bringeth good out of evil, ordained that Jonah should set forth a type or sign of the burial and resurrection of Christ. (T. Townson, D. D.)
Natural religion--its strength and weakness
The pilot not only rebuked the prophet, he had a proposal to make to him. Arise, call upon thy God. And he backs his proposal by a reason, a motive, an expectation of benefit. If so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not. All this, as coming from a heathen, is peculiarly instructive. The two great truths conveyed are these.
1. That in mans inmost nature, originally and radically, there are certain principles of religion most strong and ineradicable.
2. That these, without the guidance of revelation and faith, are altogether insufficient as guides in his real relation to God. Mans natural helplessness, and his natural conscience, necessarily imply a capacity for religion and a certain religiousness, appertaining, of necessity, to human nature, and developed, in peculiar strength, even in heathen worship. In the progress of modern civilisation man may emancipate himself from the solemn awe with which the heathen contemplate the powers of nature, but if he rise not to a holy veneration of the one Supreme Author of nature, as a revealed and reconciled God, it is very questionable whether he does not become in some respects a more shallow and trifling being than the worshipper of idols. We might very easily maintain and prove the assertion, that godless men, in the days and in the state of society in which we live, are more thoroughly irreligious than the heathen are: that covetousness, which is idolatry, is more contemptible than the worship of stocks and stones. Two facts conspire to make man naturally and necessarily a religious being.
1. His observation of the powers of nature.
2. His experience of the powers of conscience.
I. What can natural religion do for us? What is it that reason, unenlightened by the Word and Spirit of God, can do towards furnishing man with a religion?
1. It may tell us that there is a God, that God is one. The existence and the unity of God may be proved by reason. These heathen mariners had many gods. Jonah, they took for granted, would have a God too. The whole herd of inferior deities whom the heathen worshipped were only so many sectional representatives of a portion of the powers believed to reside in a God, to whom might fairly be given, even by reason, the lofty designation, God over all. The wisdom, power, and goodness which man sees to be requisite for creating, preserving, and controlling the visible universe, are felt to be unbounded, infinite. One such Infinite Being is felt to be necessary to account for things as they are. But not more than one is felt to be necessary. Indeed, more than one such Infinite Being, possessing all knowledge and power, is felt to be impossible. The same result follows from our connection with the moral world. Conscience tells of a Ruler and Judge, but only of one.
2. Reason, fairly interpreted, assures us that this God is a Being capable of intercourse with His creatures. The creation of an intelligent Being is manifestly the work of a Being who Himself is intelligent. Hence reason itself demonstrates the possibility of a revelation from God, and of the possibility and efficacy of prayer.
II. Reasons limit, and reasons weakness.
1. Reason knows that God exists, but it does not know God. We need revelation to make us acquainted with Him. You never really know any person merely by discovering his intellectual or scientific abilities. You never do know a neighbour save by knowing his moral character and his heart.
2. Reason tells us that prayer is possible, yea reasonable, but revelation alone puts us in possession of the terms on which God actually hears prayer,--puts us in a condition actually to pray. Reason, therefore, without revelation, is sure fatally to err; and whether in ancient paganisms or in modern rationalisms, which are heathenisms, or in popery, or in nominal, formal Christianity, the error at bottom is identically one and the same. (Hugh Martin, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 So the captain came to him and said to…
So the captain came to him and said to him
"The man in charge of the ship went to Jonah and said"
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What are you doing sleeping?
"Why are you sleeping?" He used this rhetorical question to scold Jonah. AT: "Stop sleeping!" (See: Rhetorical Question)
Get up!
This refers to doing some activity. For Jonah, the Captain is telling him to wake up and pray to his god for safe passage. (See: Idiom)
Call upon your god!
"Pray to your god!" "Call" refers to getting the attention of someone. (See: Idiom)
Maybe your god will notice us and we will not perish
The implicit information that Jonah's god might save them could be made explicit. AT: "Maybe your god will hear and save us so that we will not die" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
They all said to each other
"The sailors all said to each other"
Come, let us cast lots, so that we may know who is the cause of this evil that is happening to us
"We should cast lots to know who has caused this trouble." The men believed that the gods would control how the lots fell in order to tell them what they wanted to know. This was a form of divination.
this evil
This refers to the terrible storm.
the lot fell to Jonah
"the lot showed that Jonah was the guilty person"
translationWords
call
God
lots
evil
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.