Jonah 1:11 - Meaning and Application

It was clear that Jonah was the man whose sin had brought this trouble on them. But finding him was not enough to stop the storm. They had exposed the cause, yet the sea still raged and grew worse (Jonah 1:11, 1:13). If we discover that sin is behind our troubles and still do not turn from it, we only make things worse.

So they kept pressing the matter. First, they asked Jonah himself what they should do with him (Jonah 1:11): “What should we do to you, that the sea may become calm for us?” They saw that Jonah was a prophet of the Lord, so they would not act without hearing from him. He looked like a guilty man, but he also looked like a repentant one, so they would not insult him or treat him harshly. We should treat people with great gentleness when they have fallen into sin and are suffering because of it.

They were willing to spare him if he could suggest any other way to save the ship. Or they may have been making the case plain, showing that there was no other remedy. They let him judge the matter for himself, and he would have to say the same. When sin raises a storm and shows God’s displeasure, we should ask what must be done to make the sea calm. We must pray and believe in the storm, and learn the lesson God sent it to teach. Then the storm will become still. Above all, we must deal with the sin that caused it. It must be uncovered, confessed with sorrow, hated, denied, and left behind completely.

Jonah then spoke his own sentence (Jonah 1:12): “Take me up and throw me into the sea.” He would not jump in himself, but he placed himself in their hands and told them that only then would the sea become calm. He said this kindly, so the sailors would not suffer because of him. Like David in (1 Chronicles 21:17), he was willing to bear the guilt himself and not let the innocent suffer for it. That is the language of true repentance, a real turning from sin. Such a person wants no one else to suffer because of his wrongdoing.

He also said this in submission to God’s will. God had sent the storm after him, and Jonah accepted that judgment. He would rather be thrown into the sea than be left to face God’s stronger judgment and eternal ruin. Those who are truly humbled by sin submit gladly to God’s will, even when it means death. If Jonah saw this as the punishment for his sin, he accepted it and justified God in it. It matters little what becomes of the body, if only the spirit is saved in the day of the Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 5:5).

He gave his reason clearly: “For I know that this great storm has come upon you because of me.” Jonah was ready to take all the blame on himself and treat the trouble as his alone. “It is for my sake, because I have sinned, that this storm is upon you. So throw me into the sea. I deserve it. I have wickedly turned away from my God, and that is why he is angry with you too. I am not worthy to breathe the air that has been driven by winds for my sake, or to stay in the ship that has been tossed because of me. Throw me into the sea after the cargo you have already thrown overboard. Drowning would still be too little a punishment for such a serious offense.”

He also saw that there was no other way for the sea to become calm. If he had caused the storm, then throwing cargo overboard would not solve it. They had to throw him into the sea. When conscience wakes up and a storm rises inside, nothing will calm it except putting away the sin that caused it. It is not giving up money that quiets the conscience. The thing that must be thrown overboard is the Jonah, the sin itself. In this, Jonah points to Christ, who gave his life as a ransom for many. But there is an important difference: Jonah gave himself up to a storm he had caused, while Christ gave himself up to the storm we had caused. Still, as Jonah yielded himself to be cast into the sea so the waters might be calm, so our Lord Jesus gave himself up to death so that we might live.

The poor sailors did all they could to avoid having to throw Jonah into the sea (Jonah 1:13). They rowed hard to reach land, hoping that if they had to part with Jonah, they could at least set him safely ashore. But they could not. Their effort was useless, because the sea grew more violent against them, and they could not reach land. If they seemed close at times, they were quickly driven back out. The ship was still too heavy, and unloading the cargo did not help while Jonah remained aboard. They were also rowing against wind and tide, against God’s judgment and God’s plan. It is useless to struggle against God or to think we can save ourselves without giving up our sins.

This shows how unwilling these sailors were to carry out Jonah’s own sentence against himself, even though they knew the storm had come for his sake. They hesitated partly because they feared the guilt of shedding blood. They also felt pity for Jonah, since he seemed to be a good man, a man in trouble, and a man speaking honestly. The more a sinner humbles himself, judges himself, and condemns himself, the more likely he is to receive mercy from both God and people. The more eager Jonah was to say, “Throw me into the sea,” the more reluctant they were to do it.

When they finally saw that they had to cast Jonah into the sea, they first prayed that the guilt of his blood would not rest on them (Jonah 1:14). When rowing failed, they stopped using the oars and turned to prayer. They cried to the Lord, to Jehovah, the true and living God, instead of the many false gods they had called on before (Jonah 1:5). They prayed to the God of Israel, now convinced by God’s dealings with Jonah and by Jonah’s own words that he alone is God.

After deciding to throw Jonah into the sea, the sailors first made a protest before heaven. They said they were not doing it willingly, much less out of malice or revenge, because this storm had come on them because of Jonah. They were saying, in effect, “May his God forgive him, as we forgive him.” But they were forced to do it in self-defense, with no other way to save their own lives, and they saw themselves as carrying out justice, since both God and Jonah had, in effect, brought this death on him.

They then made a humble plea to the God Jonah feared, asking that they not perish because of Jonah’s life. Here we see how strongly they feared bloodguilt, especially the blood of a man who feared God and worshiped him. Even though Jonah had failed in one important matter, they could still see that he was a man of God. Natural conscience makes people fear bloodguilt, and it drives them to earnest prayer, as David prayed to be delivered from bloodguilt (Psalm 51:14). So they cried, “We beg you, Lord, do not hold innocent blood against us.”

They were now just as eager to be saved from the danger of sin as they had earlier been to be saved from the danger of the sea. They took Jonah to be no ordinary man, but a very good man, a worshiper of the great Creator of heaven and earth. For that reason, even these rough sailors felt respect for him and trembled at the thought of taking his life. Innocent blood is precious, but the blood of saints and prophets is even more precious. Those who bring themselves under guilt like that will find the cost of it later. The sailors saw Jonah under God’s judgment, yet they still shrank back from becoming his executioners.

They were also afraid of bringing down God’s wrath on themselves. They feared that if they killed Jonah, God would be angry with them, since he had said, “Do not touch my anointed ones, and do my prophets no harm.” So they prayed, “Lord, do not let us perish because of this man’s life. Do not make this a deadly choice for us. We see that we must perish if we spare him. O let us not perish for taking his life.” Their plea was sound, because God had arranged everything. The wind that chased Jonah, and the lot that exposed him, were both under God’s direction. They felt they were only instruments of providence, and they were doing what they did against their own will. Still, they had to say, “The will of the Lord be done.”

When God clearly leads us to do something that goes against our own wishes and plans, it can comfort us to say, “Lord, you have done what pleased you.” And if God is pleased, we should be satisfied, even when we are not. Having asked God to keep them from guilt, they then carried out the sentence: they took up Jonah and threw him into the sea. They cast him out of their ship, out of their company, and into the raging waters, which seemed to cry out, “Give up the traitor, or expect no peace.”

We can only imagine Jonah’s fear and confusion when he saw himself about to be forced into the presence of the God he had been running from as his Master. Those do not know what ruin they are heading toward when they run from God. “Woe to them,” God says, “for they have fled from me.” When sin is the Jonah that stirs up the storm, it must be thrown into the sea. We must give it up and destroy it, because otherwise it will destroy us. If we truly cast our sins into the sea through repentance and a changed life, never to return to them, then God will also, in pardoning mercy, cast our sins into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19).

The moment Jonah was thrown overboard, the storm stopped. The sea got what it had come for, and so it became calm. This shows God’s ruling power, because he can quickly turn a storm into peace. It also shows the fairness of his rule, because once an affliction has done its work, he removes it at once. He will not keep contending forever. He will not keep at it once we submit and give up the cause. If we turn from our sins, he will soon turn from his anger.

This rescue also confirmed the sailors more firmly in their belief that Jonah’s God was the only true God. They came to fear the Lord greatly, and they resolved to worship him alone from then on, because no other god can destroy and deliver in this way. They had seen God’s power in raising and calming the storm, his justice toward Jonah his servant, and his kindness to them in saving them from ruin. So they feared the Lord, as Jeremiah says men should when they see his great power (Jeremiah 5:22). As proof of that fear, they offered sacrifice to him when they later came ashore in the land of Israel, and for the moment they made vows to do so, giving thanks for deliverance and seeking atonement, that is, cleansing and forgiveness, for their souls. Or they may already have had something on board that could be offered at once. Or this may refer to the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise, which please God more than an ox or bull with horns and hoofs. We should make vows not only when we are asking for mercy, but even more generously when we have received it, as those still thinking about what we should give back.

Jonah’s life, after all, was saved by a miracle, and we will hear from him again. In the middle of judgment, God remembered mercy. Jonah would be more frightened than harmed, and more corrected than punished, so that he would return to his duty. Though he fled from the Lord’s presence and seemed to fall into God’s judging hands, God still had work for him to do. So he prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah (Jonah 1:17). Our Savior called it a whale (Matthew 12:40), one of the largest kinds, with a wider throat than many others. The Scripture gives special notice that God created the great whales (Genesis 1:21) and the leviathan in the waters to play there (Psalm 104:26).

But God found work for this great sea creature. He had prepared it, or, as the Hebrew says, had appointed it, to receive Jonah and then deliver him. This shows that God rules over all creatures and can make any of them serve his merciful purposes for his people, even the fishes of the sea, which are beyond human control, even the great whales, which are completely outside human rule.

This fish was ready under the water near the ship. It kept Jonah from sinking to the bottom and saved his life, even though he deserved to die. Let us stand still and see this salvation from the Lord, and admire his power, because he could save a drowning man this way, and his pity, because he would save a man who was running from him and had offended him. It was by the Lord's mercies that Jonah was not consumed.

The fish swallowed Jonah, not to destroy him, but to protect him. In a strange way, what seemed to eat him became the means of saving him. Jonah was alive and well in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights, not burned by the animal's heat and not suffocated for lack of air. Nature could never do this, but the God of nature can do all things.

By this miraculous rescue, Jonah was meant to be three things. First, he became a sign of God's mercy, to encourage people who have sinned and turned away from God to come back and repent. Second, he would be a successful preacher to Nineveh, and this miracle of his rescue, if people in Nineveh heard of it, would help his message. Third, he was a clear picture of Christ, who was buried and rose again according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:4), just as this Scripture had said, for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so the Son of Man was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:40).

Jonah's burial was a picture of Christ's burial. God prepared Jonah's grave, just as he had prepared Christ's, long before it was appointed that he should make his grave with the rich (Isaiah 53:9). Was Jonah's grave unusual, and new? So was Christ's, a tomb in which no man had ever been laid. Was Jonah there for nearly three days and three nights? So was Christ. But both were kept there in order to rise again, so that the message of repentance might be brought to the Gentile world. Come and see the place where the Lord lay.