Jonah 1.5-The Crew Cries Out To Their Gods And Fling Ship's Cargo Overboard To Appease Their Gods While Jonah Is Sound Asleep
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday September 15, 2010
Jonah: Jonah 1:5-The Crew Cries Out To Their Gods And Fling Ship’s Cargo Overboard To Appease Their Gods While Jonah Is Sound Asleep
Lesson # 9
Please turn in your Bibles to Jonah 1:1.
This evening we will study Jonah 1:5 and in this passage, we see each of the crew members crying out to their gods and flinging the ship’s cargo overboard in an attempt to appease their gods while Jonah is sound asleep down below the ship’s deck.
Jonah 1:1, “The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, 2 ‘Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.’ 3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. 4 The Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up. 5 Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god, and they threw the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep.”
“Then the sailors became afraid” is a result clause presenting the result of the ship’s crew thinking that the ship would be broken to pieces by the great storm.
It denotes that once the crew and its captain thought that the ship would be broken to pieces by this great storm “consequently” they became afraid.
“The sailors” is the articular masculine plural form of the noun mǎl∙lāḥ (מַלָּח) (maw-lawk), which refers to an individual who works on a sea vessel as a sailor or transport worker and refers here in Jonah 1:5 to the crew of the ship, which Jonah had paid for the services of to take him to Tarshish.
The Scriptures do not identify the nationality of the sailors but they must have been Phoenicians who were renowned mariners (1 Kings 10:22) and were also well known for their worship of the sea god, Yam and the god Baal.
“Became afraid” is the third person masculine plural qal active imperfect form of the verb yā∙rē(ʾ) (יָרֵא) (yaw-ray), which is used intransitively and means “to be terrified” as a result of a threat to one’s life.
It refers here 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 considering that the ship was about to be broken in pieces by this great storm caused by the omnipotence of the Lord.
“And every man cried to his god” presents the result of the crew becoming terrified because they thought that the ship would be broken to pieces by the storm.
“Every man” refers to each individual member of the crew of this ship whose services Jonah purchased to take him to Tarshish.
“Cried” is the third person masculine plural qal active prefixed imperfect form of the verb zā∙ʿǎq (זָעַק) (zaw-ak), which means “to cry out for help in time of distress” and is a cry from a disturbed heart, which is in need of some kind of help.
This indicates that each and every member of the crew of the ship was crying out to his god for deliverance at the height of this great and powerful storm caused by the Lord.
“To his god” refers to the idolatry of these heathen sailors.
Deuteronomy 32:17 and 1 Corinthians 10:20 teach that the worship of idols is connected to the worship of demons since the sacrificing to idols is in reality sacrificing to demons who promote the worship of idols.
Idolatry is the worship of something created as opposed to the worship of the Creator Himself.
Exodus 20:3, “You shall have no other gods before Me.”
Idolatry is not only the giving to any creature or human creation the honor or devotion, which belongs to God alone, but also is putting anything ahead of your relationship with God and which would prevent you from doing His will (1 Cor 10:14; Gal 5:20; Col 3:5; 1 Peter 4:3).
Ultimately in the New Testament idolatry came to mean, not only the giving to any creature or human creation the honor or devotion which belonged to God alone, but the giving to any human desire a precedence over God's will (1 Cor 10:14; Gal 5:20; Col 3:5; 1 Peter 4:3).
1 John 5:21, “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.”
The idolatry of these heathen sailors is an expression of their total depravity (Romans 1:18-23; 3:9-18).
Jonah 1:5, “Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god, and they threw the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep.”
“They threw” is third person masculine plural hiphil active prefixed imperfect form of the verb ṭûl (טוּל) (tool), which is used of the sailors of the ship Jonah hired to take him to Tarshish “hurling” the cargo of the vessel into the sea to lighten its load in the hopes of saving the ship.
“The cargo” denotes the equipment, containers, tools, goods, pertaining to the function of the ship, its maintenance and goods it was carrying to Tarshish.
“To lighten it for them” is composed of the composed of the preposition le (לְ) (le), “to” and the hiphil active infinitive construct form of the verb qā∙lǎl (קָלַל) (kaw-lal), “lighten” and the preposition min (מִן) (min), “for” and the third person masculine plural pronomial suffix hē∙mā(h) (־הֵמָה), “them.”
The verb qā∙lǎl means “to ease a burden” and does not means “lighten” in the sense of reducing the weight of the ship.
Rather, it means “to reduce a burden” upon the soul indicating that the sailors by throwing the cargo overboard are attempting to appease the Canaanite sea god so as to “ease the burden” upon their souls (See BDB, page 886; cf. Exodus 18:22).
“But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep” presents a contrast between the crew’s frantic actions and Jonah’s lack of action.
“Had gone below” is the third person masculine singular qal active suffixed perfect form of the verb yā∙rǎḏ (יָרַד) (yaw-rad), which refers as it did in verse 4 to Jonah “going down” to the galley of this merchant ship.
It indicates the second stage in Jonah’s downward journey of refusing to obey the Lord’s command to go to Nineveh and announce judgment against it.
The first stage was going down from Jerusalem to Joppa.
“Into the hold of the ship” is composed of the preposition ʾěl (אַל) (al), “into” and the dual feminine construct form of the noun yerē∙ḵā(h) (יְרֵכָה) (yer-ay-kaw), “the hold of” and the articular feminine singular form of the noun sep̄î∙nā(h) (סְפִינָה) (sef-ee-naw), “the ship.”
The noun sep̄î∙nā(h) refers to an ancient ship large enough for cargo on the open seas, with limited sleeping holds, though not necessarily “cabins.” (Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Hebrew (Old Testament)
The noun yerē∙ḵā(h) refers to the area below the deck of the ship or the interior and most isolated part of the ship.
The noun yerē∙ḵā(h) is the object of the preposition ʾěl, which functions as a marker of a position defined as being within certain limits indicating that Jonah went down “into” the confines below the deck of the ship.
“Fallen sound asleep” is the third person masculine singular niphil passive prefixed imperfect form of the verb rā∙ḏǎm (רָדַם) (raw-dam), which appears only six times in the Old Testament always in the niphil form and means “to be in a deep sleep.”
This word reflects the third stage in Jonah’s descent in his rebellion against the Lord.
“It generally describes a trancelike state or deep sleep, such as experienced by Daniel when he had his visions of the end time interpreted to him by angelic figures.” (Dan 8:18; 10:9) (Concordia Commentary: Jonah, page 104)
To summarize, Jonah 1:5 contrasts the frantic efforts of the crew to save their ship and their lives with that of Jonah’s indifference.
Undoubtedly, he must have been exhausted not only because of the journey to Joppa and seeking out a ship going to Tarshish but also he must have been exhausted and thus psychologically depressed by his determination to rebel against the command of the Lord to go to Nineveh.
Lessing writes, “By the end of 1:5 Jonah is as far away from Nineveh as possible. He is lying down in the bottom of a ship bound for Tarshish, wrapped in a deep sleep. But it is not merely that Jonah is unwilling to go to Nineveh. More to the point, Jonah is unwilling to let God be God. As a result he is unable to be the person God intends and unable to see others as God sees them. The mariners and the Ninevites are pagans who follow other gods; they are outside the covenant mercies of Yahweh. In Jonah’s eyes, that makes them not worth calling to repentance and faith. Preferring the shadow to the light, the comfort to the struggle, his own destination rather than the one to which God called him, Jonah remains cocooned in a belief system that protects him from expending himself, ministering, and preaching the saving Word to others. Still the storm rages. The sailors have not called on the right god yet. Yamm does not answer. Since their false religion is no solution and their ‘works’ of prayer and hurling sacrifices bring no salvation, they rightly conclude that the answer must lie in someone else.” (Concordia Commentary: Jonah, page 121)