So the LORD hurled a great wind toward the sea, and there was a great storm in the sea. So the ship was thinking to break apart. And the sailors were afraid and each one was crying out to his god(s). Then they hurled the cargo in the ship into the sea to make it lighter. But Jonah was down in the innards of the ship, and he lay down and was soundly asleep. Then the head pilot came to him and said to him, “What of you sleeping? Arise, call out to your God! Perhaps the God will give thought to us, and we will not perish!” – Jonah 1:4-6
1:4 – So the LORD…
It seems so simply, yet it’s a powerful statement. Verse three leaves us with a rebellious prophet, fleeing in the opposite direction of God’s will and relationship, hoping that by his disobedience a just God will have to act in judgment against Nineveh. In verse four, we see the actions of a just God – actions compelled by both justice and mercy for Jonah and Nineveh.
Verse 4 begins with a subtle and powerful word plan. When combined with the end of verse 3, the phrase looks like this: “… away from the presence of the LORD. So the LORD…” The divine name, “the LORD,” is only separated by one Hebrew letter – “so.” To construct this word play, the author also reworked typical Hebrew grammar to make it possible (Sasson p.93). All of this represents an effort by the author to make sure that you know a) the LORD did not wait around in His response to Jonah, but acted quickly to bring him to repentance and b) to emphasize Yahweh is the God of what is going on in the story.
1:4a – So the LORD hurled a great wind toward the sea, and there was a great storm in the sea.
The LORD’s response to Jonah was to begin to slow down his rebellion. He did so first, by a raging storm. Several things of interest in this phrase. First, begin to notice the use of “great.” Hear it is applied to the wind and the storm. What we will begin to notice is that “great” in the book of Jonah is almost always an indicator or God’s sovereign intervention. Some scholars have suggested that the story is exaggerated because of the use of “great.” However, if you take the subtle implication of fiction out of the equation, this, in some regards, is how we should think of these actions. After all, the direct intervention of a sovereign God should seem to us as in-credible or super-natural.
Second, the word for storm here is a word that is often used in the Old Testament for a place where God’s presence resided (Sasson p. 94). Consider the irony, Jonah is fleeing God’s presence in verse 3, only to have it show up in the form or a storm in verse 4.
Finally, while it is a very, very subtle allusion, I do believe there is some creation imagery here. Notice it is a “wind” sent by God that created the storm. In Genesis 1:1, it is a “wind/spirit” that is hovering over the waters. Again, just a reminder by the author of who Jonah is actually trying to flee – the God of ALL creation, who can hurl that creation in any direction in order for His purposes to stand.
1:4b – So the ship was thinking to break apart.
This is a very strange phrase in Hebrew, but, again, packed with subtle literary genius. The translation is accurate, it is written to personify the ship so that the ship DOES appear to be contemplating its own destruction – i.e. the ship has a thought process. There are several reasons for this to be the case. First, the wording for “thinking to break apart” has a high degree of assonance (rhyming or shared sounds), so it’s literarily picturesque. Second, some have argued that the sounds in the phrase actually sounds like the creaking of boards under pressure, so the author may be intensifying the action by using words that sound like the action (Sasson p. 93-94). Third, it could also be a way of related the ship to the coming fish. Jonah is in the belly of both, he is in some type of sleep-like state in both, and now both are given attributes of a living organism.
Finally, the personification of the ship also indicates yet another subtle irony of Jonah’s thick-headedness. The ship is the first to know – “think” – about what is going on and its severity. The sailors are the next to realize the seriousness of the situation. Jonah is the last to understand what is going on, and he is simply sleeping (NAC p. 230).
1:5a – And the sailors were afraid and each one cried out to his god(s).
After the ship begins to realize what is going on, the sailors then begin to respond. There are several things to notice about this statement. First, notice the sailors immediately assume that there is a worship issue at stake in the occurance of the storm. Sure, it was a superstitious time, but their response of worship will be intriguing by the end of the verse.
Second, they begin crying out to their “god(s).” The Hebrew here is ambiguous – part of the problem of the Hebrew word for “God” – Elohim. Elohim in its form is a plural – even when it refers to a single deity. Because of this, context always determines if we are talking about one God or multiple gods. In this context it is hard to tell. We either have each sailor calling out to his personal god, or we have each sailor going through his list of deities trying to find the right god to deliver him. No matter which way it is rendered, the same phenomenon is in effect – the sailors are trying to find which god they angered so that it can be appeased and the storm subside.
Finally, take notice to the “fear” phenomenon. The sailors “fear” will be used by the author to demonstrate their movement towards the worship of Yahweh.
1:5b – Then they hurled the cargo in the ship into the sea to make [it] lighter.
The response of the sailors continues by throwing the cargo on the ship overboard to make it lighter and less likely to sink. The purpose for doing this is clearly described in the verse, “to make [it] lighter.” So it might be a mistake to assume they are throwing things over as a sacrifice to their gods. However, it is intriguing that their actions are paralleled to the actions of the LORD in verse 4. “The LORD hurled a great wind to the sea…” and “Then they hurled the cargo… into the sea.” With the exception of a verb tense, the actions of hurling and “to the sea” are the exact same in the Hebrew text. I find it is intriguing that when faced with the actions of Yahweh (He sent the storm), the sailors unknowingly mimic the actions of Yahweh (hurling things into the sea). In this way, the author is setting us up for the fact that when Yahweh is revealed, the hearts of the sailors are ready to be instantly persuaded and prepared to worship Him.
1:5c – But Jonah was down in the innards of the ship, and he lays down and was soundly asleep.
While seemingly such a simply sentence, it is loaded with word plays and allusions that is setting us up for what God is going to do in the life of Jonah. First notice that Jonah has again gone “down” in the story. His descent away from the presence of the LORD is still being emphasized. However, even the Hebrew word for “soundly asleep” emphasizes this descent. The Hebrew word for “down” is “yirad” with the consonants “YRD” as its root. The word used here for “soundly asleep” is “wayaradim.” Notice, the core of “wayardim” is “yarad” and sounds like “yirad” – the word for “down.” Even in his “sleeping” the author is emphasizing that Jonah is down and away from God.
Not only is the literature of Jonah emphasizing his flight from God, but also his ignorance of what is going on. In the phrase in verse 4, “the ship was thinking of breaking apart,” both the words “thinking” and “breaking apart” rhyme with the word in verse 5, “and he lays down.” While the inanimate boat realizes that they are amidst a storm created by the furry of Yahweh, Jonah simply ignores the situation and lays down to sleep.
Third, Jonah is in the “innards” of the ship that is in the middle of the sea. This is both an allusion to his plight in the fish and of him being in the middle of Nineveh when he preaches his message. Indeed, Jonah is in the middle of all the action.
Perhaps the key issue to see in this sentence is, again, the contrast between the pagan sailors and Jonah. The first response of the sailors is to assume that the storm is a worship issue, and they begin to cry out to their god(s) to appease them. This response leads them to mimic the very actions of Yahweh. By contrast, the chosen, Hebrew prophet ignores the situation and falls asleep amidst the impending judgment of God. Again, like Nineveh in the first paragraph, the sinners are closer to doing the right thing that the chosen prophet. The contrast is gripping!
1:6a – Then the head pilot came to him and said to him…
Despite his sleep, Jonah cannot escape the consequences of the storm. The pilot – Sassons argues for the chief navigator or helmsmen (Sasson, p. 102) – finds Jonah below and confronts him. Two things to note about this encounter and its place in the recording of Jonah. First, along Jonah’s journey he is going to run into two leaders – the ship’s pilot, and the king of Nineveh. Both of them are going to be found in the middle of their respective locations – the ship and Nineveh. Both of them will speak. They are being paralleled in their responses to Jonah and their statements are, in part, to be understood together. Second, it is interesting that the pilot is not named. This is again to emphasize that the primary concern of the story is the relationship between God and Jonah. So what does the pilot say?
1:6b – “What of you sleeping? Arise, call out to your God! …”
It is again amazing how much literary genius can be packed into so few words. The translation is meant to reflect the Hebrew, “What of you sleeping” is just as awkward in the original as it is in English. It’s literally, “What to you sleeping?” There are a number of speculations as to why this construction exists, but I think it’s simply to demonstrate the captain’s shock at what he is seeing.
The beauty of the verse comes in the next few words. First, the combination of “… sleeping? Arise…” next to each other gives the author a vocal word play. Remember, the Hebrew word for “sleeping” in this passage shares the basic consonantal sounds as “down.” So while the text means “… sleeping? Arise…” It has the audio resonance of “… going down? Arise…” The captain is unwittingly hinting to Jonah that his downward journey must end.
The second combination of significance is the phrase, “Arise, call out to…” Here the pilot, who is the second person to speak in our story, has issued two of the three commands that God gave Jonah in verse 2 – “Arise, go to… call out…” When Jonah awakens amidst the chaos of the storm, the first words he hears are almost verbatim the same words of Yahweh which initiated Jonah’s rebellious reaction and necessitated the storm. As Achtemeier comments, the Word of God is pursuing Jonah no matter what (Achetmeier p. 263).
Finally, the pilot commands Jonah to call out to “your God.” To essentially join in figuring out the worship issue that is causing the furry of the storm. Again, the pagan has figured out the worship issue, Jonah probably wishes he was still sleeping.
1:6c – “… Perhaps the God will give thought to us, and we will not perish.”
There is both irony and desperation in this statement. “Perhaps” can be used in Hebrew as almost a fatalistic phrase. The pilot is losing hope in the ability for any god to rescue them. But when he says “the God” it has a touch of irony. The sailors are trying to find the god above all gods that can control the anger of the seas, the pilot is now telling Jonah to pray to his God to see if he is the one true God. “Perish” is a theologically charged word in the Old Testament. In the New Testament it is transliterated as “Abbadon” and is often used for the word “hell.” While it probably simply means “to die” in this context, given the poem in Chapter 2 (which has a lot of death imagery) and the fact that a pagan is saying the word, their eternal fate could be a reasonable way to understand this verse.
Frank Paige in the New American Commentary makes an insightful comment about this verse. While not core to the message or literary construction of the passage, his thoughts are very instructive to the heart of Jonah and our hearts as well. He says,
“There is extreme irony here: a ‘heathen sea captain’ pleaded with a Hebrew prophet to pray to his God. It is sobering to see one who might be termed an ‘unbeliever’ pleading for spiritual action on the part of a ‘believer.’ The ‘unbeliever’ saw the gravity of the situation while the prophet slept. It is a sad commentary when those who are committed to the truth of God’s word have to be prodded by the lost world to spiritual action (NAC, p. 231).”
In summary of verses 4-6, we see God responding to Jonah’s rebellion. This action, while violent in nature (sending a storm) is actually an act of mercy for both Jonah and Nineveh. Yahweh is determined to save both, and will “hurl” objects in the pathway of his obstinate prophet. All the while He will make sure that Jonah understand how blatant and stupid his rebellion is. After all, the ship understands what is going on, the sailors recognize a breach in the worship of God and begin to mimic Him, the pilot quotes God’s commands to Jonah, and they are all asking “the God” to be revealed to them so that they will not “perish.” Meanwhile, Jonah just looks more and more hardheaded as he continues to descend from the presence of the LORD, a descent that has not yet reached its low point.
