Jonah 1:12

Jonah’s answer reveals the double-mindedness of the prophet. He could have asked the sailors to sail back to Joppa if he really intended to obey the Lord and go to Nineveh. His repentance surely would have resulted in God withholding judgment from the sailors just as the Ninevites’ repentance resulted in His withholding judgment from them. Still Jonah was not ready to obey God yet. Nonetheless his compassion for the sailors led him to give them a plan designed to release them from God’s punishment. It would also result in his death, which he regarded as preferable to obeying God. His heart was still as hard as ever toward the plight of the Ninevites even though he acknowledged that he knew God was disciplining him.

"He pronounces this sentence, not by virtue of any prophetic inspiration, but as a believing Israelite who is well acquainted with the severity of the justice of the holy God, both from the law and from the history of his nation." [Note: Keil, 1:396.]

Why did Jonah not end his own life by jumping overboard? I suspect that he did not have the courage to do so. Obviously it took considerable courage to advise the sailors to throw him into the sea where he must have expected to drown, but suicide takes even more courage.

"The piety of the seamen has evidently banished his nonchalant indifference and touched his conscience. By now he has realized how terrible is the sin that has provoked this terrible storm. The only way to appease the tempest of Yahweh’s wrath is to abandon himself to it as just deserts for his sin. His willingness to die is an indication that he realizes his guilt before God." [Note: Allen, pp. 210-11.]