Then each [sailor] said to his companion, “Come [go], let us cast lots that we may know on whose account this evil it to.” So they cast lots and the lot fell against Jonah. So they said to him, “Now, declare to us for whom this evil is to us. What is your mission? Where are you from? From what land did you come? And from what people are you?” And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, the LORD, God of the heavens, I fear, who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men feared with a great fear, and said to him, “What is this that you have done?” Because the men knew that he was fleeing the presence of the LORD when he had declared this to them. – Jonah 1:7-10
1:7a – Then each [sailor] said to his companion, “Come [go], let us cast lots that we may know on whose account this evil is to.”
Without a response from Jonah, or any indication that he either helped with throwing items overboard or followed the pilot’s advice, the narrator takes us to the next actions of the sailors. They have stopped seeking their gods’ help and are now seeking the advice of others. Yet, the irony continues. The Hebrew word for “Come” in the phrase “Come, let us cast lots,” is the same as the word for “go” – context simply determines how to translate it into English. Thus, we now have in the words of the pilot and the sailors all three of Yahweh’s commands to Jonah, “arise” and “call out” in verse 6 said by the pilot, and “go” in verse 7 said by the sailors. Jonah simply can’t escape what God commanded him to do.
The sailors also call the storm “evil.” “Evil,” which is used seven times in the book of Jonah (Sasson p. 112), is a very flexible word in Hebrew and can be used for a variety of purposes. Many English translations say “disaster” or “calamity” in verse 7, which is correct. Usually in the context of a natural disaster or a disaster of an invading army, “evil” is talking more about an outcome than morality issue. I keep the translation “evil” in this verse not because I think there is an issue of morality with the storm, but because I want to show the word parallel with verse 2. It is intriguing that upon the second occurrence of “evil” it is understood that Jonah is at fault. This depicts the prophet’s rapid decline in an even greater way. While Nineveh remains in the “presence of Yahweh” in the text with her “evil up” in front of Him, Jonah has now gone “down” a number of times “away from the presence of the LORD” and he is responsible for “evil.”
1:7b – So they cast lots and the lot fell against Jonah.
There are two important observations in this verse. First, as Achtemeier says, the important point about the lots is not knowing what method was used to cast them, rather “that the deity determines upon whom the lot falls” (Achtemeier p. 265). This action is another indication of the sovereign work of Yahweh to pursue Jonah for His purposes.
There may be more than just sovereignty at work here. The phrase “fell against Jonah” includes the same preposition in the phrase “call out against her [Nineveh]” in verse 2. The subtle implication in the parallel phrase is that now the lot is casting God’s judgment against Jonah for his evil – not just by identifying him, but by revealing what must come.
v. 8 – So they cast lots and the lot fell against Jonah. So they said to him, “Now, declare to us for whom this evil is to us. What is your mission? Where are you from? From what land did you come? And from what people are you?”
Now that God has revealed to the sailors that Jonah is the cause of their evil, they begin to demand an answer. They want to know from Jonah why he is the cause of the evil and do so by asking four questions. First, as Sasson argues for in his commentary (Sasson p. 113-114), they inquire about his mission – why is he on the boat and where is he going. Second, where he is from (they would have understood that Jappa was a port city and not necessarily the town of Jonah’s origin). Third, his land or country (essentially a national issue). Finally, his people (a racial issues). While not explicitly stated, the last three questions could be aimed at discovering Jonah’s God and method of worship. In the context the sailors have tried to call out to a variety of deities to appease the storm, now that they have their subject identified they could be trying to again get specific in how to direct their prayers.
v. 9 – And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, the LORD, God of the heavens, I fear, who made the sea and the dry land.”
Jonah now replies to the questions of the sailors and with his reply he speaks for the first time in the book. His first words are emblematic of his own deception on who God really is and just how far the prophet has fallen.
“I am a Hebrew…” I do not doubt that these are the exact words of Jonah, but the decision of the author to include this identification in the story is instructive not only to the readers of Jonah but also to the readers of the Minor Prophets. Technically, Jonah was an “Israelite” a resident of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. By this time in history the promised land of Israel had been divided into two kingdoms. The North, Israel, and the South, Judah (or the Kingdom of David, whose residents where called “Jews.” Their history was rocky – they were mostly at peace but at times were at war. Prophets were sent to both kingdoms, but also prophesied to the 12 tribes as a whole. In God’s eyes they were all His people, but due to their disobedience the kingdom was divided after the death of Solomon. A few hundred years after Jonah, the Northern Kingdom will be conquered by Assyria (whose capital city is Nineveh) and a few decades after that the Southern Kingdom will be conquered by Babylon.
What then is the significance of “Hebrew”? Essentially it is an apolitical designation. Jonah is not saying he is of the Northern Kingdom, nor is he saying he is NOT of the Southern Kingdom. He is saying he is of the “people of Yahweh” – thus uniting all of Israel under the purposes of Yahweh. This is important because it ties all of God’s people to the plight of Jonah. The story of Jonah is more than just about Jonah, his sin is the whole people’s sin – disobedience and ignoring their call to proclaim Yahweh to the pagan world. It is also more than just about the trespasses of the Northern Kingdom, but about all of the people of God. This connection will be explored more in the final chapter of Jonah.
“… the LORD, God of the heavens, I fear…” Jonah only really answers one of the four questions by the sailors – “from what people are you?” However, the designation of “the LORD (Yahweh), God of the heavens” answers what the sailors were most interested in – who does this guy worship. “Yahweh” or “the LORD” identifies the covenant name of God to the sailors. “God of the heavens” is not so much an identifier of location as it is power – Yahweh is God over (literally above) all things. He has the power to stop the storm, more so than any god to whom the sailors could cry out.
The terrible irony is “I fear.” Indeed there is nothing about Jonah’s actions that indicate any fear whatsoever – if anything, Jonah is completely lackadaisical in his response to the judgment of God and openly rebellious to God’s commands. As Achtemeier puts it;
“That Jonah makes such a confession of faith is totally ironic. He says he ‘fears’ Yahweh. ‘To fear God,’ in biblical usage, can have tow meanings. It can mean simply ‘to obey’ (Deut. 5:29, 6:2, 13, 24, 10:12, passim), and Jonah certainly has not obeyed Yahweh. ‘To fear God’ can also mean to stand in awe of God (Ps. 33:8, Lev. 19:14, 32, etc.) or to reverence or honor God (Exod. 1:17; Ps. 55:19; 66:16, etc.), and Jonah has not been in awe of God; he has deliberately disobeyed Yahweh and then gone soundly asleep., with not a disturbing worry.” – Achtemeier p. 266
Indeed, Jonah has all the trappings of a cultural, nominal believer – he has the right Sunday School, Biblically correct answer when asked the tough questions, but his life is totally devoid of evidence that he understands that answer. He proves himself to be a hypocrite before the lost. In another ironic turn, the lost will prove him to be lost.
“… who made the sea and the dry land.” This is again a pointer to the sovereignty of God. When the Old Testament lists two complete opposites (sea and dry land) it is called a “merrism” and means “everything.” Jonah is saying that His God has authority because He is the creator God (Sasson p. 118-119). This is also another allusion to Genesis 1-3 and the Creation and Fall accounts. The author still wants us thinking, even if subtlety, about the book of Genesis.
v. 10a – Then the men feared with a great fear, and said to him, “What is this that you have done?”
Two amazing implications in this verse. Notice upon the identification of Jonah’s God, the “men feared a great fear…” Literally, they fear twice as much as Jonah (Jonah says “I fear” one time, the narrator tells us that the sailors feared two times) and that this fear was “great.” Just in case you missed the hypocrisy of Jonah’s actions compared to his statement, the God, the narrator and the sailors demonstrate it to you by the sailors response – they actually DO fear Yahweh!
The sailors then ask Jonah a haunting question, “’What is this you have done’ the sailors ask Jonah, verse 10 (RSV), which was the same question God asked Eve, according to Genesis 3:13. Despite his disobedient flight, despite his indifference as he slept through the punishing storm, Jonah is responsible to God. And he cannot escape that responsibility any more than could Adam and Eve, or any person whom the Lord God has created.” – Actemeier p. 266
What was the judgment on Adam and Eve? Banishment from the intimate presence of God and, ultimately, death. Jonah is headed for the exact same fate.
v. 10b – Because the men knew that he was fleeing the presence of the LORD when he had declared this to them. – Jonah 1:7-10
Here we see again the emphasis of exactly where Jonah is – “fleeing the presence of the LORD” even while the sailors are “fearing” Yahweh. The contrast is still very clear – the one who should know where and who God is is away form absent, the ones who should not know or desire God are near.
One small note on translation. There are a host of options for the statement “when he had declared this to them.” Most English translations go with “because he had declared this to them” which implies that Jonah told the sailors that he was fleeing God but the author doesn’t record his exact words. Sasson has a great discussion on how the phrase should be translated (p. 121) and translates the verse, “and upon learning that it was the Lord he sought to escape – now that he had admitted it to them – they told him, “How could you have done this?” I left it simply translated “when” giving it some ambiguity on the exact timing of Jonah’s discussion. I did this for two reasons. First, in my estimation the Hebrew leaves the timing ambiguous, thus the commentaries do not agree on an exact translation (yes, I understand the argument that an original audience would have known their language a lot better and would have known exactly how the Hebrew should be taken, BUT, just as English authors can be ambiguous with their use of the English language, so Hebrew authors can be intentionally ambiguous with their use of the language.
Second, while I admit the language and grammar does not definitively prove this point, if the Hebrew is ambiguous as to the timing of Jonah telling them he was “fleeing from Yahweh,” it is possible that God simply revealed to the sailors what Jonah was doing without Jonah actually having to say anything. Therefore, Jonah would simply confirm, “yes, I’m fleeing my God.” I favor this possibility for three primary reasons. First, because the grammar of the Hebrew IS, in my estimation, ambiguous. Second, the sovereignty of God IS a major theme in this book – sovereignty that is showing itself prone to do unexplained miracles where normal human faculties for explanation are set aside in favor of mystery. Finally, because the sailors to some degree are being paralleled with the people of Nineveh in chapter 3. In Chapter 3, all of Nineveh repents without Yahweh being identified as the God to whom to repent to (Jn. 3:4). Yet we know that they repented to the God of Israel because the phrase “believed God” (Jn. 3:4) is the phrase for “true faith” in the Old Testament (Gen. 15:6). So, just as Nineveh has the God of salvation appear to them without a normal “identification,” so also the sailors know what Jonah is doing without it being identified in a normal fashion. The point? God is doing something only He can do in order to accomplish His purposes for Jonah, Nineveh, the sailors and all of Israel.
