Jonah 1.10-The Crew Now Realizes That God's Disciplining Jonah (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)
Doctrinal Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday January 4, 2025
Jonah Series: Jonah 1:10-The Crew Now Realizes That God’s Disciplining Jonah
Lesson # 13
Jonah 1:10 records the crew rebuking Jonah after coming to the realization that he was being disciplined by God.
Jonah’s description of himself in verse 9 coupled with the fact that before the storm he admitted to fleeing from his commission from the Lord indicated to the crew that the disaster that presently engulfed the ship was the result of his disobedience to the Creator of the sea and dry land.
Jonah 1:1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. 4 Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish.” 7 Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” 9 He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” 10 This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.) (NIV84)
“This terrified them” presents the result of Jonah’s response to the crew’s questions and the fact that prior to the storm hitting the ship he had admitted to them that he was fleeing his commission from the Lord.
“The men” is the noun ʾĕnôš (אֱנוֹשׁ), which refers to the crew and emphasizes their weakness, mortality and impotence as human beings reminding the reader of man’s transience and his dependence upon the omnipotent, transcendent God.
“This terrified them” is composed of the third person masculine plural qal active imperfect form of the verb yā∙rē(ʾ) (יָרֵא) and the feminine singular form of the noun yir∙ʾā(h)(יִרְאָה) and the feminine singular form of the adjective gā∙ḏôl (גָּדֹול).
The verb yā∙rē(ʾ) (יָרֵא) means “to be terrified” as a result of a threat to one’s life and the noun yir∙ʾā(h) (יִרְאָה) is derived from the verb yā∙rē(ʾ) (יָרֵא) and means “fear” referring to being in a state of great distress and anxiety and deep concern of losing one’s life due to an adverse circumstance.
Here it refers to the terror in the hearts of the crew as a result of Jonah identifying himself and recalling that prior to the storm he admitted to fleeing from his commission from the Lord.
The word yir∙ʾā(h) (יִרְאָה) functions as a cognate accusative meaning that it has the same root as the verb yā∙rē(ʾ) (יָרֵא) and means that it is amplifying or emphasizing the verb yā∙rē(ʾ) (יָרֵא).
The adjective gā∙ḏôl (גָּדֹול) is modifying this noun yir∙ʾā(h) (יִרְאָה) and denotes the intensity of this fear of the crew or in other words it indicates that as a result of hearing Jonah’s identification of himself and recalling that he admitted to fleeing his commission from the Lord, the crew’s fear “intensified.”
So the crew of this ship has finally put two and two together.
The storm is discipline from Jonah’s God who the prophet declares is the God of heaven and Creator of the sea and dry land.
Jonah’s God is punishing him for his disobedience.
In verse 9, he identifies himself as a Hebrew worshiper of the God of heaven, the creator of the sea and dry land, which implies that Jonah’s God is superior to the gods of the crew and transcendent and sovereign over creation.
Later on in verse 10, prior to the storm Jonah admitted to the crew that he was fleeing from his commission from the Lord.
Therefore, they have put it altogether and now realize that Jonah is being judged by his God.
They don’t know that it is discipline that is derived from God’s love for him since the crew does not have this conception of God.
They believe that Jonah’s God is going to kill him and them if Jonah or they don’t do something to appease from their perspective this God of Jonah’s.
The crew finds themselves caught in the middle of a dispute between Jonah and God and so no wonder they became even more terrified.
From this heathen crew’s perspective, Jonah was not only foolish and stupid to disobey and run away from a god who created heaven and earth but they also thought that this was suicidal.
John Hannah writes, “Perhaps too they sensed, superstitiously, that Jonah’s God was holding them responsible as accomplices in Jonah’s ‘crime.’” (The Bible Knowledge Commentary, volume 1, page 1466)
“What have you done?” is a rhetorical question expressing the crew’s extreme horror that Jonah would disobey the sovereign creator.
The purpose of this question was not to gain information from Jonah but rather to tell him something with passion, namely the extreme terror they all felt that he would disobey the sovereign creator for any reason.
They are not asking him why he would do such a thing since it would never enter into their minds to disobey for any reason a god who is the sovereign, transcendent creator.
The crew posed this rhetorical question to Jonah to express how astonished and terrified they were that he would disobey a god who is the sovereign creator.
“They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so” is an explanatory clause presenting the explanation as to why the crew asked this rhetorical question to express their horror.
“He was running away from the Lord” refers to Jonah fleeing from his commission from the Lord to go immediately to Nineveh and announce judgment against its inhabitants.
This phrase does not mean that Jonah was hiding from the Lord since Jonah knew full-well that God is omnipresent meaning that He is everywhere present but rather it means Jonah fled from his service-commission as a prophet which he received from the Lord Himself.
To flee from His presence means that Jonah refused to serve the Lord in his office as prophet.
“Because he had already told them so” gives the reason why they knew Jonah was fleeing from his commission from the Lord and refers to Jonah’s act in conveying to the crew that he was fleeing from his commission from the Lord.
The question arises as to why he would tell the crew since he was not obligated to tell them.
Purchasing the services of the crew for the trip to Tarshish would not involve being told the motivation to do so but rather, all the captain and the crew would care about is that they got paid.
Therefore, it appears that Jonah was burdened with a great sense of guilt.
He is festering guilt and it became an emotional burden for him, which left him severely depressed.
This is why he fell into a deep sleep.
He had failed to confess the sin and obey the Lord and this prompted a guilt reaction.
This produced great anguish in Jonah’s soul.
So Jonah tells the crew he is fleeing from his commission from the Lord because he has a guilty conscience.
The conscience is that aspect of the soul and psychological faculty that approves when we do right and accuses when we do wrong.
Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary defines conscience, “A person’s inner awareness of conforming to the will of God or departing from it, resulting in either a sense of approval or condemnation.”
John A. Witmer writes, “Conscience is an important part of human nature, but it is not an absolutely trustworthy indicator of what is right. One’s conscience can be ‘good’ (Acts 23:1; 1 Timothy 1:5, 19) and ‘clear’ (Acts 24:16; 1 Timothy 3:9; 2 Timothy 1:3; Hebrews 13:18), but it can also be ‘guilty’ (Hebrews 10:22), ‘corrupted’ (Titus 1:15), ‘weak’ (1 Corinthians 8:7, 10, 12) and ‘seared’ (1 Timothy 4:2). All people need to trust the Lord Jesus Christ so that the ‘blood of Christ’ might ‘cleanse [their] consciences’ (Hebrews 9:14).” (Bible Knowledge Commentary, New Testament Edition, page 446).
Billy Graham wrote concerning the importance of a clear conscience, “To have a guilty conscience is a feeling. Psychologists may define it as a guilt complex, and may seek to rationalize away the sense of guilt, but once it has been awakened through the application of the law of God, no explanation will quiet the insistent voice of conscience.”
