Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

1:4-5 Hurled is used four times in this episode (vv. 4, 5, 12, 15). Just as God hurled the great wind, the sailors hurled the cargo. cried out. The sailors pray, evidently believing that a divine being could come to their aid. had gone down. In contrast to the sailors, Jonah goes down below deck, taking yet another step closer to death (see note on v. 3).

1:6 Arise, call out echoes God's commission in v. 2. Ironically, the Israelite prophet has to be summoned to prayer by a pagan sailor. not perish. "Perish" is repeated in v. 14; 3:9; 4:10. Ironically, a pagan, not Jonah, is concerned that people not perish.

1:7 cast lots. Casting lots was used in the ancient world to discern the divine will (e.g., Num. 26:55; Josh. 18:6). Israelites believed that God controlled the outcome (Prov. 16:33). Evil (Hb. ra‘ah) may here suggest "disaster" (see chart).

1:9-10 Hebrew is an ethnic term used to identify Israelites in international contexts (e.g., Gen. 40:15; Ex. 1:19; 1 Sam. 4:6). Jonah claims to fear the Lord, but his actions contradict his confession. God of heaven refers to the universal and supreme God (see Ezra 1:2; Neh. 2:20; Dan. 2:37). made the sea. Ironically, Jonah confesses to fear the God who controls the sea, which Jonah is crossing to escape from the presence of God (Jonah 1:3). The sailors who were "afraid" (v. 5) are now exceedingly afraid.

1:12-13 hurl. See note on vv. 4-5. rowed hard. It would have been natural for these pagans to hurl Jonah overboard immediately, but they did not. The sea grew more and more tempestuous, for God was not ready to have Jonah delivered to dry land.

1:14-15 called out. Whereas each of the sailors had prayed to his god (v. 5), they now pray to the Lord. The pagan sailors, not Jonah, are concerned that people not perish (see note on v. 6). Have done as it pleased you echoes the liturgical language of Ps. 115:3 and 135:6, and is thus the sailors' confession of faith in the absolute sovereignty of God. The sailors' actions are in harmony with God's: as God had hurled the wind onto the sea (see note on Jonah 1:4-5) to start the storm, the sailors now hurl Jonah to stop the storm (see v. 12).

1:16 feared the Lord exceedingly. What started as a general fear (v. 5) grew into an intense fear (v. 10) and matured into the fear--that is, the reverent worship--of the Lord (v. 16). sacrifice . . . vows. The exact response expected from people who fear the Lord (2 Kings 17:32-36; Ps. 22:5; 61:5; 76:11).