Jonah 1.13-The Crew Demonstrates A Moral Conscience By Ignoring Jonah's Advice And Attempting To Row For Land Though They Fail
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday September 30, 2010
Jonah: Jonah 1:13-The Crew Demonstrates A Moral Conscience By Ignoring Jonah’s Advice And Attempting To Row For Land Though They Fail
Lesson # 18
Please turn in your Bibles to Jonah 1:1.
This evening we will note Jonah 1:13 and in this passage, the crew demonstrates a moral conscience by ignoring Jonah’s advice to throw him into the sea by attempting to row for land but they fail.
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. 6 So the captain approached him and said, ‘How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.’ 7 Each man said to his mate, ‘Come, let us cast lots so we may learn on whose account this calamity has struck us.’ So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, ‘Tell us, now! On whose account has this calamity struck us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?’ 9 He said to them, ‘I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.’ 10 Then the men became extremely frightened and they said to him, ‘How could you do this?’ For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. 11 So they said to him, ‘What should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us?’—for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy. 12 He said to them, ‘Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.’ 13 However, the men rowed desperately to return to land but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them.” (NASU)
Verse 13 is an adversative clause meaning that its statement stands in direct contrast with the preceding statement.
In the preceding statement, Jonah responds to the crew’s question as to what they should do for him in order to end the storm by telling them to throw him overboard.
In verse 13, the crew ignores what Jonah says and frantically attempt to row to dry land.
“The men” is the articular masculine plural form of the noun ʾĕnôš (אֱנוֹשׁ) (en-oshe), 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 word is a reminder to the reader that these men are impotent in comparison to the omnipotent God.
Thus it tells the reader that they will get no where and it is silly to attempt to row to dry land at this point.
“Rowed” is the third person masculine plural qal active imperfect form of the verb ḥā∙ṯǎr (חָתַר) (khaw-thar), which means “to dig through” and is used here to describe the intensity and effort in which the crew rowed in that they “dug through” the water.
Here in Jonah 1:13, the verb ḥā∙ṯǎr describes the intense and frantic effort of the crew when rowing in that it conveys the idea that they rowed in such a way that they dug through the water.
It tells the reader how great an effort the crew was willing to expend in order to avoid Jonah’s advice to throw him overboard and drown him in order to bring an end to the storm.
The crew did not take his advice because they could not believe that Yahweh would be pleased with their killing his prophet.
The strenuous efforts of this heathen crew to save the prophet of Yahweh, Jonah and their concern for his life stands in stark contrast with the believer, Jonah’s total lack of concern for them.
Deffinbaugh makes some insightful comments, he writes, “One would think that in such a desperate situation, when the storm grew steadily worse and danger to all increased, that the sailors would have quickly responded to Jonah’s instructions. Instead, they made one final effort to save Jonah’s life. They sought to row to shore, where they would let him off (vs. 13). This was a very risky effort, for the rocky shores, with their hidden reefs, would have been the worst place to be in the midst of the storm. The safest place in a storm is away from shore…Why didn’t God save Jonah through the efforts of the seamen? Allen (p. 211) rightly, I think, suggests that it is because He wants Jonah to know that He has saved him by a miraculous act of pure grace. Jonah needs a ‘salvation’ that will parallel that which the Ninevites will receive. Jonah will delight in his deliverance, but not in that of the Ninevites.” (The Prodigal Prophet: Jonah; page 6)
Stuart writes, “Here it is evident that the ship was either not yet so far from port that it was out of sight of land, or else following a coastal route which kept within sight of land. The sailors desperately wanted to get Jonah off the ship, but did not want to accomplish this by causing his death themselves. To put him ashore was their decision, probably arrived at after further frantic discussion. But Yahweh controlled events. He kept the sea riled all the more. The crew could hardly change what Yahweh had planned. Their attempt to shortcut God’s will, revealed by the guilty prophet himself, would necessarily fail. Getting to shore was soon no longer an option. (Word Biblical Commentary, volume 31: Hosea-Jonah; page 463)
Jonah 1:13, “However, the men rowed desperately to return to land but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them.” (NASU)
“But they could not” is another adversative clause which marks a contrast between the crew’s intense efforts to reach the shore and their failure to do so because of the storm was getting more intense.
“They could not” is composed of the negative particle lō(ʾ) (לֹא) (low), “not” and the third person plural qal active perfect form of the verb yā∙ḵōl (יָכֹל) (yaw-kole), “they could.”
The verb yā∙ḵōl means “to prevail, overcome” since the word is used of the crew wrestling and battling this great storm brought about by Yahweh.
Like šûḇ, this verb is transitive since the masculine singular form of the noun sǎ∙ʿǎr (סַעַר) (saw-ar), “a storm” and the feminine singular form of the adjective gadhol (גָּדֹול) (ga-dol), “great” are implied but omitted due to the writer’s use of the figure of ellipsis.
The negative particle lō(ʾ) is a marker of emphatic negation indicating that the crew “by no means” was able to overcome the great storm.
“For the sea was becoming increasingly stormy” expresses the reason why the crew could by no means overcome the great storm after frantically attempting to cause the ship to return to dry land by rowing with intense effort.
In this verse, the crew demonstrates a moral conscience and that they fear or respect God by ignoring Jonah’s advice to throw him into the sea by frantically attempting to row for land but they fail.
In verse 14, they demonstrate this by their actions.
In Romans 2:14, the apostle Paul teaches that the Gentiles inherently possess a law that is manifested when they obey the principles that appear in written form of the Mosaic Law.
Romans 2:14, “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves.”
“Gentiles” is the noun ethnos, which is used in contrast to the Jews and thus refers to all those individuals who are “not” of Jewish racial descent and thus “not” members of the covenant people of God, Israel and by implication this word refers to all the nations of the world.
“Instinctively” is the noun phusis (fuvsi$), which refers to the innate impulse in man that governs his behavior.
“The things of the Law” refers to the inherent law resident in the soul of every human being including principles that appear in the moral code of the Mosaic Law, otherwise, known as the “Ten Commandments,” or “Decalogue.”
The “inherent law” or “law of nature” refers to God’s revelation of Himself in creation as we noted in Romans 1:18-23 and falls under the category of the eternal law of God for the Ten Commandments, which did not begin with Sinai, but originate in the essence of God Himself (see 1 Pet. 1:16).
The content of the Ten Commandments is not really new since the book of Genesis reveals the fact that these formalized laws were already followed, or assumed as a moral standard:
All Ten Commandments had been part of the Law of God previously written on hearts instead of stone, for all ten appear, in one way or another, in Genesis.
They are as follows: (1) Genesis 35:2, “Get rid of the foreign gods.” (2) Genesis 31:39, “Laban to Jacob, ‘But why did you steal my gods?’” (3) Genesis 24:3, “I want you to swear by the Lord.” (4) Genesis 2:3, “God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.” (5) Genesis 27:41, “The days of mourning my father are near.” (6) Genesis 4:9, “Where is your brother Abel?” (7) Genesis 39:9, “How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” (8) Genesis 44:4 7, “Why have you stolen my silver cup?” (9) Genesis 39:17, “[Joseph] came to me to make sport of me … but … he ran. …” (10) Genesis 12:18; 20:3, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.”
In Romans 2:15, Paul teaches that the manifestation of the inherent law of the Gentiles is through the function of the conscience.
Romans 2:15, “In that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them.”