Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Jonah 1:4-6
B. Jonah’s lack of compassion 1:4-6 read more
Jonah-1:4-7
Thomas Constable
Thomas Constable
Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Jonah 1:5
The sailors were of mixed religious convictions. Some of them were probably Phoenicians, since Phoenicians were commonly seafaring traders. Phoenicia was a center of Baal worship then. The sailors’ willingness to throw their cargo into the sea illustrates the extreme danger they faced (cf. Acts 27:18-20).Jonah’s ability to sleep under such conditions seems very unusual. The same Hebrew word (radam) describes Sisera’s deep sleep that his exhaustion produced (Judges 4:21) and the deep sleep that... read more
Thomas Constable
Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Jonah 1:6
It took a presumably pagan sea captain to remind Jonah of his duty. The words the captain used are the same as the ones God had used (Jonah 1:2, Heb. qum lek). Jonah should have been praying instead of sleeping in view of the imminent danger that he and his companions faced (cf. Luke 22:39-46). The normal reaction to danger, even among pagans, is to seek divine intervention, but this is precisely what Jonah wanted to avoid. Jonah did not care if he died (Jonah 1:12)."It is well known how often... read more
Thomas Constable
Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Jonah 1:7
It appears to have been common among the heathen to cast lots to determine who was responsible for some catastrophe (cf. John 19:24). Saul resorted to this when he could not get a direct response from the Lord (cf. 1 Samuel 14:36-42). Casting lots was a divinely prescribed method of learning God’s will in Israel (e.g., Leviticus 16:8-10; Numbers 26:55-56; Numbers 33:54; Numbers 34:13; Numbers 36:2-3; Joshua 14:2; Joshua 15:1; Joshua 16:1; et al.). However as practiced by pagans, it was a... read more
Thomas Constable
Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Jonah 1:7-10
C. Jonah’s failure to fear his sovereign God 1:7-10The sailors interrogated Jonah about his reasons for travelling on their ship, but it was his failure to live consistently with his convictions that amazed them. read more
John Dummelow
John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Jonah 1:1-17
The Disobedience of Jonah2. Nineveh] the world-famous capital of Assyria, on the Tigris. For its wickedness cp. Nahum 3. 3. Jonah seeks to escape from the unwelcome task, both because he hates the Ninevites, and because he fears that, after all, God may spare them. Tarshish] Tartessus, in SW. Spain, probably an old Phoenician colony. It would be in the opposite direction to Nineveh. Joppa] Jaffa, the only port of any size on the Palestinian coast. 5. The ship’s crew is composed of a blend of... read more
Charles John Ellicott
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Jonah 1:4
(4) Sent out.—The Hebrew word (see margin, and comp. Jonah 1:5; Jonah 1:12; Jonah 1:15, where the same word is rendered “cast forth”) expresses the sudden burst of the storm. A squall struck the ship. The coast was well known to sailors as dangerous. (See Josephus, Ant. xv. 9, § 6, B. J. iii. 9. § 3.)So that the ship was like to be broken.—See margin for the literal expression, which is that of a sailor to whom the ship is a living thing, with feelings, hopes, and fears. For the word break, of... read more
Charles John Ellicott
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Jonah 1:5
(5) And cried every man unto his god.—If Phœnicians, the sailors would have their favourite deities in the national Pantheon; but they may have been a motley crew composed of various nationalities. For the panic comp. Psalms 107:23-30, and Shakespeare’s Tempest,“All lost! to prayers! to prayers, all lost!”Wares.—The Hebrew word is of general import for furniture of any kind, and so including all the movables in the ship. The cargo would probably, as in the case of St. Paul’s shipwreck, be... read more
Charles John Ellicott
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Jonah 1:6
(6) The shipmaster . . .—Literally, the chief of those who work at the rope. Jewish nautical terms are infrequent and therefore obscure. The word mariners, in Jonah 1:5, correctly renders a term which seems, from its use in Ezekiel 27:8; Ezekiel 27:27; Ezekiel 27:29, as well as from its derivation (from salt; comp. the term “old salts”), to denote seafaring men generally. “Those who work the ropes” may be either “steersmen” or “topmen” as contrasted with rowers.What meanest . . .—Literally,... read more
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Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Jonah 1:4
Jonah subjected himself to dangers that Israel and the entire ancient Near East viewed as directly under divine control when he launched out on the sea. The sea to them was the embodiment of the chaotic forces that humans could not control or tame (cf. Psalms 24:2; Psalms 33:7; Psalms 65:7; Psalms 74:13; Psalms 77:19; Psalms 89:9; Psalms 114:3; Psalms 114:5; Isaiah 27:1; Isaiah 51:10; Isaiah 63:11; Jeremiah 5:22; Jeremiah 31:35; et al.). Jonah was desperate to get away from where he thought God... read more