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Jonah’s Leftovers // Jonah 1:4-16

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Sovereign To Send // The Storm

"4But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. 5Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. 6So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.” 7And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” 9And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” 10Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. 11Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. 12He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” 13Nevertheless, the men rowed hard[a] to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. 14Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” 15So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows." ~Jonah 1:4-16 ESV

BACKGROUND

Not every storm that shows up in our lives comes from God, but God will use every storm in our life to redirect us to Himself. That’s where Jonah finds himself at here, in the middle of a raging storm sent by our Sovereign God. 

VERSE 4

But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.

It's all "great"

God in His sovereignty throws a storm at Jonah to get his attention. It’s important for us to understand that although God is NOT behind every “storm,” in our life, He is Lord over every storm that shows up.
 
The usage of the phrase “great,” makes this story even more dramatic for us readers.
1st – Hyperbole (exaggerating for effect). We see this in all the descriptions of how “big” or how “great” everything is. The book of Jonah uses the Hebrew word for “big” (gadol) 14 times in it’s 48 verses. Here’s a couple highlights:
~Nineveh was a great city (1:2)
~YHWH hurled a great wind and it caused a great storm (1:4)
~The sailors become great-ly afraid (1:10)
~YHWH appointed a great fish (1:17)
~Jonah rejoiced over the qiqayon plant with great joy (4:6)
 
As you read through Jonah it feels a little like that song from the Lego Movie, “Everything is awesome! Everything is cool when your part of a team! Everything is awesome.”
 
The Hebrew of verse 4 reads something closer to this: “The ship threatened to break up.” Now, we know that “ships,” don’t literally “threaten” to break up with anything, like a human. But, with personification, we get the sense that not only is the ship literally about to break apart because of the raging storm, but just like the sailors –  the ship is afraid of YHWH too.
-This won’t be the last time that animals and inanimate objects revere/and or obey God seemingly more than Jonah does.

VERSE 5

Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.

He's going down for real

In the midst of this maritime melee the need to est. that these guys are pagan mariners is also an important detail for us. These are seasoned ship-men who lived most of their lives on the water; they’ve seen storms before, but this one seems to rattle them to their bones as they each cry out to “anyone listening,” to be saved. I imagine this scene as these seasoned sailors seeking their superstitious gods going, “Okay you pray to Allah, you pray to Mother Earth, you pray to the Oprah, you pray to Jesus. Ready, break!”
 
It’s also important for us to see that the sea is a raging agent of YHWH; and the boat is a fearful obstacle to YHWH. The fear and anger swirling between the 2 symbolizes for us the same exact tension going on between God and Jonah in this moment.
 
All the while the storm is going on outside, Jonah is fast asleep “down,” in the ship. Jonah has gone “down,” to Joppa. Jonah as gone “down,” into the ship. And on his journey he will continue to “go down,” to “sheol,” “the roots of the mountain.” Going “down,” is a physical representation of what is spiritually happening inside of Jonah.

VERSE 6

So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”

SLEEPING ON SALVATION

It’s crazy how Jonah could sleep during such an awesome storm, which shows us that Jonah is distracted. As the physical storm is raging about “outside,” of Jonah, there’s a spiritual storm that’s raging “inside,” of him. I believe Jonah “sleeps,” here not because he totally doesn’t care, but because he is internally overwhelmed to the point of exhaustion. 
 
What a confusing and tragic scene that this is. All of the sailors were “religious guys,” devout in their prayers to their own little “g” gods. Yet we see that their gods were really nothing and that they could do really do nothing. These mariners are looking for salvation and there was only one guy on board who had a relationship with the One true God – who knew His Word – and who worshiped Him – and he was asleep!
Jonah slept when the YHWH-less sailors needed him most
Q1: ~ Christian, do you hit the snooze button while the world around you needs the message and testimony of God?
 
The reality is that some “sleeping saints,” will protest that they really aren’t asleep at all and it looks like this:
~“Man, we talk about Jesus.” – but you can also talk in your sleep.

~“Brother, we walk with Jesus” – but you can also walk in your sleep.

~“Sister, we have passion for Jesus! I just cried in worship the other day.” – but you can cry in your sleep.

“Friend, we have joy and rejoice in Jesus.” – but you can laugh in your sleep.

~“Hey, I think about Jesus all the time.” – but you can also think while you are asleep; we call it dreaming.

Jonah would have to “wake up,” to answer the call of the ship captain to save them all that they “may not perish.” Church this is the heart of our God, that “none would perish but all have everlasting life (cf. John 3:16),” yet not all are WOKE to this call of Christ.

VERSES 7+8

And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?”

JONAH'S THE SOURCE OF THE STORM

The mariners “cast lots,” or roll dice to determine the source of the storm, and the lot lands on Jonah. Solomon wrote, “the lot is cast into the lap; but every decision is of the LORD” (Proverbs 16.33). In other words, men roll the dice here but it’s God who makes the dice land. “Casting lots,” shows up all over the scripture and the main purpose in this was to render a decision that wasn’t biased and based on human choice but they were letting God or “god(s),” decide the matter. (cf. replacing Judas Acts 1:24-26 + Jesus clothes Luke 23:8-11)
 
This wasn’t by “chance,” but it was God adamantly stepping in and causing the dice to reveal that Jonah was the problem. 

VERSES 9-10

And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

Jonah confesses: WHO he iS & WHAT He's DONE

To give Jonah some credit here, Jonah did fess up and tell the truth. He revealed to the men that he was a Jew and even despite his disobedience, he declared that he “fear(ed) the Lord, the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.” For us this is a reminder that even when a believer is in a state of rebellion against God, you can still give glory to God if you will only tell the truth about God. The really tragic trend here is that Jonah’s life contradicted his knowledge of God.
 
Unfortunately, Jonah’s confession here terrified the sailors even more, becuase they now knew that they weren’t dealing just with nature alone but with super-nature. They were horrified at Jonah’s behavior in fleeing God, and they said “Jonah, what have you done?!” 
 

VERSE 11

Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous.

THE SAILORS CONFESS: What can we do?

Consider the situation of the shipmen for a moment: There is a gigantic storm raging all around them. Waves were rallying against the ship they were sailing, smashing into its sides and pouring over up onto the deck. The sailors were being ping-ponged on board back and forth above as Jonah slept below. And as the wind screamed against them so the crew screamed to be heard. And in their despair, the men shouted, “What should we do to you that the sea might stop raging against us?“

VERSE 12

He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.”

GET RID of ME & SAVE YOURSELVES

Jonah knows what the men need to do, they need to “hurl Jonah overboard.”
But also, Jonah had a choice here. He could’ve told the guys to turn the ship back to Joppa to save them all. Instead, Jonah told them to toss him into the sea. But why?
 
Was this an honest attempt from Jonah to save the men on board? Perhaps. But, more likely the reality is that Jonah would rather die than go to Nineveh.

VERSE 13

Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them.

Good Things or God things?

Luckily the pagan-sailors on board refused Jonah’s solution and rowed with a greater intensity to hopefully save everyone. The sailors tried to turn the ship to land but the storm only got worse “more tempestuous against them.”
 
These guys didn’t want to throw Jonah into the sea, because they believed his God truly existed and they feared the consequences of throwing a prophet, even a disobedient one, into the sea.

This is a reminder for us that even “good,” things aren’t always “God,” things in our lives. And whilst the sailors believed they were doing a “good thing,” “rowing harder,” they were actually “rowing against,” the will of God; and as a result the sea only got rougher for them.

VERSE 14

Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.”

A REVERSAL OF ROLES

What a wild change in the circumstances here.   Each sailor had previously cried out to his own god (Jonah 1.5) and at this time their “gods,” failed. Now, in this moment these men recognized they were in the hand of a different kinda God, an all-powerful kinda God, Jonah’s God–the one true God, YHWH. With this new understanding and recognition the men now prayed that He would spare their lives and not hold them accountable for  throwing Jonah overboard to his death. Even the pagans can now clearly see God’s sovereignty in this storm, “O Lord, you have done as you have pleased.” What a weird set of circumstances, the pagans are rallying toward God as Jonah is rebelling against God. The pagans have a conversion moment and call out to God in obedience for salvation, as Jonah is disobedient.
 
For us this a reminder that sometimes to get our attention God will create havoc in our lives to bring us back into His will.

VERSE 15

So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.

THE SAILORS SURRENDER & THE STORM STOPS

Just as the storm of God’s will was being “hurled,” (Jonah 1:4) onto Jonah, now Jonah is being “hurled,” once again into God’s will.
 
And in the moment that Jonah hits the water, the storm stops.
As a Christian we must understand that sometimes in our lives the storms God sends that come against us (to conform us to the image of Christ) WON’T RELENT UNTIL WE SURRENDER. Spurgeon says on surrender, “The soul’s sorrow will continue to increase as long as it relies on its own efforts.”
 
//sidenote// – Check out this song below about God’s relentless pursuit of our hearts and spend some time in worship.

VERSE 16

Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

Jesus, AGAIn THE GREATER JONAh!

The sailors move from “fearing the storm,” to “fearing the storm-maker.” And the immediate ending of the storm reiterates that Jonah’s God did exist! This proves that Jonah’s resistance to God was the real problem all along. So, in a very logical response, the sailors feared the LORD exceedingly, sacrificed to (worshipped) God and made promises or vows to serve Him.
 
I love the picture of Christ in this moment, that the way of safety for every sinner is always found in the sacrifice of another on their behalf. Thank you Jesus.
 

SUMMARY

As creation “responds,” to YHWH by surrendering to Him, in our sinful nature we tend to “run and rebel,” against Him. Yet, the good news for us is that no matter how far or fast we run from God, we can never escape His eternal grasp (cf. Psalm 139:7-12). We see that when sinnners are tossed on a sea of conviction, it results in salvation.
 
Here’s a good way to understand the full progression happening in Jonah:
  1. When the storm first comes, the sailors are “afraid and each called out to his own god.” (1:5)
  2. When they hear who Jonah’s God is, they become “greatly afraid” (In 1:10; unfortunately the NIV + ESV translates this as ‘terrified’ – so that we English readers miss the progression of fear).
  3. After showing reluctance to take someone’s life, they throw Jonah overboard and the sea grows calm. And they now truly understand who this God is and we end the chapter with them not only being “greatly afraid” but offering sacrifices and making vows to YHWH, becoming true worshippers (1:16). It’s a conversion – heart change with lifestyle change.)
 
We end chapter 1 with this important question: Who’s the true worshipper of God here? How can it be that the Jew is acting very non-Jewish, and the Gentile is acting very Jewish and the lines between them are starting to blur?! Again, we have a preview of coming attractions, and a setup for what we are about to experience in scenes 3 + 4 with Jonah and the Ninevites.

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