Running Rebel (Part Three): The Rebel Replies

Transcript

JROT 20
10/22/2023
Running Rebel (Part Three): The Rebel Replies
Jonah 1:8-13
Jesse Randolph

Well, we are moving on tonight, to our third instalment in this series in the book of Jonah, Running Rebel. So far, what we’ve encountered in the first two lessons is a lot of high drama. High drama on the seas, to be precise. It started right away with the first two and half verses of the book. Where we saw, in our first sermon titled “The Runaway.” That the word of the Lord came to Jonah and that God had given a command to Jonah. The command in verse 2 of chapter 1.
Jonah 1:2 – “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.”

We saw that Jonah openly defied God’s command in verse 3.
Jonah 1:3, it says, “But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.”
God said go east. Jonah went west. God said, take the land route. Jonah took to the sea. Then last week. We saw, in a sermon titled “The Raging Storm.” We saw Jonah’s first leg of his rebellious journey. Took him to Joppa, a coastal town, a port town. Where he paid a fare and boarded a ship, which just “happened” to be going to Tarshish. The very place that he sought to go. The very place he sought to flee. A city, which as we saw last time, was about the furthest in the opposite direction of Nineveh that a person could hope to go. We also saw that after the ship shoved off the dock and set out to sea.

Jonah 1:4 – “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.”
Then we encountered this terrified group of pagan sailors. Who were alternating between crying to their “gods” as they cried out for relief, then throwing cargo overboard, to give the ship a chance to stay intact, because it was threatening to break up. We encountered this stupefied captain of the ship below deck. Who stumbled upon Jonah, in this deep sleep, likely snoring his way through this storm and the chaos and all the panic. The captain roused Jonah from his sleep.
In Jonah 1:6 it says 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.”
As we saw, as we concluded last week, the captain below deck, was attempting to wake Jonah from his sleepy state. Above deck, the captain’s crew, the sailors, were casting lots, verse 7 it says, to determine “on whose account this calamity has struck us.” Then at the end of verse 7 it says, “So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.”

That’s where we left off last week. With the lot falling on Jonah. We continue on with the narrative tonight. We’re going to see the high drama of this scene, continue to build and escalate and intensify. The scene develops further here, in the context really of two different lines of dialogue . . . happening between Jonah and the other men on this ship. Now, mind you, up to this point in the narrative, Jonah hasn’t spoken a word. He hasn’t said a thing. He’s acted. He’s rebelled. He’s slept. But he hasn’t said anything.

That all changes in the text we’ll be in tonight. Where Jonah finally speaks up. Which is why this evening’s sermon is titled “The Rebel Replies.” I’ll read the text for you as a whole. Then we’ll take it line by line as we work our way through this scene. We’re going to work through Jonah 1:8-13 tonight. God’s word reads:

“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?’ He said to them, ‘I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.’ 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. 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. 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.’ However, the men rowed desperately to return to the land, but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them.”

So, the lot has fallen on Jonah. All eyes are on Jonah. The “jig”, as they say, I think they say, is “up.” But before Jonah’s able even to say a word. Before he’s able even to string a sentence together to explain what’s happening. Before he could either come up with excuses. Or shoot straight. The choice was his. The sailors let loose with these five rapid-fire questions. Which we see recorded here in verse 8. Look at that verse again, verse 8. It says, “Then they said to him [to Jonah] ‘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?’”

Now, these sailors were pagans. And in this time, and in this part of the world, each of these sailors, depending on what country or people group, or tribe he was from. Likely would have had his own “gods”. These were not followers of the one true God, to be sure. These were not people of Yahweh. They didn’t fear Yahweh. Nevertheless, these were religious men. In the system of religion which pervaded this part of the world at this time. The presence of suffering. The fact of tragedy, the occurrence of a tragedy. Such as this, like a violent storm hitting your ship, so that it’s threatening to break apart. That automatically, in this time and in this context, would have triggered the thought. That some offense. Against some “god.” Against some deity somewhere. Had been committed by someone.

Enter, Jonah. This stranger. This sleeping stranger. We’ve already seen, in verse 7, that the casting of lots had pointed to him. Verse 7, “So they cast lots and the lot fell of Jonah.” But what exactly was this result, the casting of lots, and the falling of the lot on Jonah, pointing to? See, the sailors here had reason to be concerned, they had reason to be inquisitive. They had reason to ask all these questions. Because this storm, which otherwise, from their perspective, had come out of nowhere. Which seemingly had come out like a bolt out of the blue. Was upsetting them. It was upsetting their entire livelihood. We’ve already seen that they were throwing cargo overboard. Getting rid of their profits. Throwing them into the Mediterranean Sea. Not only that, but the storm was also threatening their very lives. As the ship, it was saying, “was threatening to break up.” It was about to break up.

So very naturally, these sailors had some questions. And in the midst of this raging storm, they didn’t have all the time in the world to start asking those questions. Which is why we see these words of urgency at the beginning of verse 8. Where it says, they said to him “Tell us, now!” “There’s no time to waste!” “Out with it!”
And then these questions come out rapid-fire.” As they bombard Jonah with these five religiously loaded questions. We see them again here in verse 8. “On whose account has this calamity struck us?” “What is your occupation?” “And where do you come from?” “What is your country?” “And from what people are you?”
These sailors aren’t interested in making small talk. This is not the time to exchange pleasantries. These are not examples of being good conversationalists. They are, rather, trying to get to the bottom of why this storm came so quickly upon them. Why their ship is now breaking apart. And what his stranger-of-a-man, the lot had fallen upon, had to do with all of it.

Now note, the fact that the sailors even asked these questions of Jonah, was itself a grace. A grace of God shown to Jonah. See, when the lot fell on Jonah. The sailors very well could have, in a panic, freaked out, that’s the theological term. They could have totally freaked out and immediately executed him. They could have hung him. They could have stabbed him. They could have immediately thrown him into the ocean. They could have done what they wished with him. But they didn’t. Instead, and apparently as a way to confirm the way the lot had fallen, and to make quite sure that no mistake had been made. They asked him here a series of questions. Even though the lot had pointed to Jonah, they still give him here, the benefit of the doubt. They gave him a hearing, which started with these five questions.

Now the first question they asked was the most crucial one. That one you see here in verse 8. “On whose account has this calamity struck us?
At the very minimum, the fact that the lot had fallen on Jonah. Led these sailors to the conclusion that he at least had the answer to their question about where this storm had come from. And why it was wreaking havoc upon them now, the way it was wreaking havoc upon them. But apparently, they weren’t yet fully convinced, or aware, that it was Jonah himself who was entirely at fault for this. So, the question here is asked, genuinely. Because they need to know, they want to know “on whose account has this calamity struck us? They’re still genuinely wondering why the lot had fallen on Jonah, and what this meant for them. They were themselves, very much naturally curious about the source of this calamity and this storm. Had they done something wrong? Had this strange man on their ship done something wrong? Were they complicit in helping him do something wrong along with him? Were they guilty by association? Were they harboring a fugitive? Or was this “sleeper” alone to blame? Why had the lot fallen on this man?

So, this question is asked first for a reason. Because it was this most important question. As it addressed the question of “why.” Why was all of this happening? Why was the wind blowing? Why were the waves crashing? Why was the storm raging? Or as it says here in verse 8, “On whose account has this calamity struck us?” Clearly the sailors here, were exceedingly cautious, and equally awestruck, not only by the storm, but by this strange man and the fact that these two had come together at this time.

But they were also curious, and they were also desperate to know about this man’s identity. Who was he? Surely it was no coincidence that the lot had fallen upon this total stranger, on the very occasion that this storm of this magnitude threatens to swallow their ship whole. But the casting of the lots didn’t tell them exactly who this man was. So, they have to ask him. Starting with this question, question two: “What is your occupation [they say]?” “What is your occupation?” Was he a simple tradesman? Was he a religious figure of some sort? Was he a convicted criminal? Was he on the run? Was he a vagrant? Though at first glance, this information might seem somewhat tangential to their first question . . . and somewhat off-topic, given the gravity of the situation here. I mean, now was sort of an odd time to ask for Jonah’s CV, as the ship was starting to go down. To start asking about his trade. And start asking about his vocation. But when you think about it . . . from their vantage point, now was actually the perfect time to start asking this question. Because maybe Jonah was involved, as far as they know, in some illicit activity which brought about the ire of the ‘gods.” Or maybe, depending on what his occupation was, he could help out in some way with this developing crisis on board. They didn’t know. We know, because we read the narrative all these years later. But in the context, they didn’t know. So, they asked him, “What is your occupation?”

Then, with the next three questions. The sailors “narrow the funnel” down even more. You see these three next questions. They are all related to each other. In verse 8, where they ask, “And where do you come from?” “What is your country?” “From what people are you?” And those last three questions have all to do with Jonah’s origin. What people group did he come from? Which land did he come from? Where were his roots planted? By the way, this was not some, you know, random, immigration-related questionnaire they were sending his way. Even these three questions, along with the first two questions, were intensely religiously loaded. See, from the perspective of these pagan sailors. The “god” that one worshiped, was tied to the land that one was from. So, knowing where Jonah was from would help them understand which “god” to pray to. If, indeed, Jonah was the source of this storm that was brewing on the sea. So “narrowing down the funnel” to where this man was from. The sailors thought that they could not only narrow down the answer to their question . . . of where this calamity had come from . . . but they could start narrowing down on a resolution. How to fix it. Again, at this point, they’re not condemning Jonah. At this point, they’re simply trying to figure out who he was. And what he’s doing on their ship. And what ties he had to this “calamity” . . . this storm, that was now threatening to take them under.

Well, Jonah answers them, in verse 9. And for the first time in this book, we see the words of Jonah recorded. And as our sermon title indicates, it’s here that the rebel replies. Look at verse 9, it says, “He said to them, ‘I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land’.”

Now note that Jonah here doesn’t answer the first question they asked. About “where did this calamity come from.” At least not initially. See, Jonah, a theme throughout, was committed to doing things his way. Which is what we see throughout this book that bears his name. The sailors’ main question was: “On whose account has this calamity struck us?” But Jonah doesn’t answer that question. Instead, he answers the question he wants to answer. He answers questions three through five. About where he comes from. And his country. And the people that he’s from. And his response is short and to the point. Verse 9: “He said to them, ‘I am a Hebrew.’” He begins by stating, in no uncertain terms, his nationality. “I am a Hebrew.” Jonah begins by identifying himself by the name that Israelites used among Gentiles of the day. This was the term that Israelites would have used to describe themselves when they spoke to people that were not of Israel, the foreigners. For instance, in interpreting a dream for the Egyptians that he served. Joseph, in Genesis 40:15 says, “I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews.” That’s how he explains where he’s from to outsiders. In Exodus 1:19, we see something similar. There the Hebrew midwives use that same language, the Hebrews, in describing their own people to Pharaoh. They were referring to themselves as “Hebrew women.”

Here in Jonah. That statement alone in verse 9, “I am a Hebrew”, answered many of these sailors’ questions. But as we continue to read on, we see that that answer was just an introduction to what followed. Look at the next few words of verse 9, as Jonah continues. He says: “I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land’.” Not exactly the first words you’d expect to hear from a man like Jonah, in a situation like this. A man who was on the run from God. A man who was acting in direct disobedience to God. A man who, in this context, was openly rebelling against God.
Maybe put it in our context for just a minute. Could you imagine staggering around, sometime this evening, sinfully drunk. Somebody comes across you, as you’re staggering around, sinfully drunk. And they say, “Where are you from?” “And where are you going?” And you say, “I fear the Lord.” Or could you imagine acting out on your sexual lusts and desires. Whether physically, or over a screen. Only to have somebody walk in on you and as you the question, “Hey, what are you doing?” And you reply, “I fear the Lord.” There’s a disjunction there, is there not? What a terrible witness for Christ you would be if caught in such a situation.

It was no different for Jonah, here. Though he was, as a prophet, called to be a mouthpiece for Yahweh. A voice for Yahweh. A herald of Yahweh. Jonah here shows himself not to be a clean and pure vessel for Yahweh. Rather, a polluted and rusty and unrepentant pipe. That didn’t stop him, though. Didn’t stop him from at least attempting to say that he was on “team Yahweh.” No. Look at what comes next, as he’s explaining to these pagan sailors who his God is. Or who he claims his God is. He first identifies his God as being “the Lord.” You see the capital letters, there in verse 9. Where it says, “I fear the Lord.” That’s a reference to Yahweh. The covenant-keeping, covenant-making God of Israel. Then he elaborates by referring to his God as “the Lord God of heaven.” And that title for God, the “God of heaven”, had been used from the earliest times in Israel’s history. Here’s just a few references for you.
Genesis 24:7, Abraham here says, “The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘To you descendants I will give this land’.” So, he calls God, Yahweh, the God of heaven.
Or in Ezra 1:2 – “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, [even a pagan acknowledges this] ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth.”
Or Nehemiah 1:5 – “I said, ‘I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments’.”
Or Daniel 2:17-18 says, “Then Daniel went to his house and informed his friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, about the matter, so that they might request compassion from the God of heaven concerning this mystery.”
In each of those instances, to say that God is the “God of heaven.” Was to distinguish Him from all other things and all other people and all other so-called “gods” of the earth. Jonah’s God . . . unlike the “gods” of these pagan sailors, was the one true Sovereign.
Next, Jonah affirmed that his God, verse 9 still, Yahweh, is the Creator. He’s the “Lord God of heaven” “who made [it says] the sea and the dry land.” That language is reminiscent of Exodus 20:11 – “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore, the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”
Or Psalm 95:5 says, “The sea is His, for it was he who made it, and His hands formed the dry land.”
Or Job 26:12 says, “He quieted the sea with His power.”
Obviously, this information here at the end of verse 9, where it says, the “Lord God of heaven made the sea and the dry land.” That was highly pertinent information for these sailors. To know that the God who Jonah worshiped was not some localized deity. Like the “gods” they worshiped. Rather, Jonah’s God was and is the Creator of the world. He was and is the God who controls nature. Including storms on the sea.
Psalm 89:8-9 says, “O Lord God of hosts, who is like You, O mighty Lord? Your faithfulness also surrounds You. You rule the swelling of the sea; When its waves rise, You still them.”
Yahweh is the “God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” He was the One, as we’ve already seen, who hurled this storm in the direction of these sailors and this ship. And this would have come as a major shock to these sailors! Here they were, scurrying about, trying to find out which local deity they’d offended. And what Jonah reveals to them here. Would have completely rocked their world. As they realized that the scale and the scope of the problem that was now on their hands. They were not only now up against the Maker of this storm. They were up against the Maker of heaven and earth.

Now, one little side trail that I think would be worth pursuing at this point. Even though Jonah was acting in rebellion here. Even though he was, no doubt, being disobedient to God. Even though, I think, he was merely paying lip service to his allegiance to God, here in verse 9. When he said: “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.” It’s nevertheless worth noting, especially for the evangelism that we engage in today, as Christians. That Jonah’s approach to these pagan sailors by appealing to the reality of the existence of the one true God. Is the right one for engaging with the unbelieving world. Note that Jonah here is not building a case for God. He’s not laying out seven reasons for why you should believe in Yahweh. Rather, he simply assumes God’s existence. He describes who God is. He declares God’s creative power and he declares the realm over which God rules. He says in verse 9, “I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.” And there’s something we can take away from that. As, in our day, we reason with those who may not have a religious background. As we work with people, and we witness to people who may not have preexisting biblical knowledge or understanding. But nevertheless, whose reason and whose conscience would naturally lead them to understand that there must be a Creator. In other words, we can appeal to the created order, as we witness to the unbeliever. That’s not a profound thought from me. That’s Acts 17 and Acts 14.
Acts 14:11, this is Paul with the crowds in that scene. It says, “When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycaonian language, ‘The gods have become like men and have come down to us.’ And they began calling Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their robes and rushed out into the crowd, crying out and saying, ‘Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, Who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them’.” Testifying to the existence of the God they already knew was there. Or Acts 17, the scene at Mars Hill, the Areopagus.
Acts 17:23 says, “For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘To an unknown God.’ Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. ‘The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; not is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things.’”
See, it’s perfectly appropriate to reason with the unbeliever by means of Creation. To point out that they are suppressing the knowledge of the God that they already know to be there. It’s exactly what Paul deals with and articulates in Romans 1.
Romans 1:18 where he says, “. . . the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”

Now, back to Jonah. Was this a sincere statement from Jonah? Verse 9, when he says he, “fears the Lord.” Did he truly fear the Lord? Now, up to this point in the narrative, I’d say the evidence is completely to the contrary.
I side with Harry Ironside on this one. Who, in commenting on this verse, says: “On his part, [talking about Jonah] the confession seems to have been coolly enough made. He knows that his case is desperate. His feelings are no doubt aroused; but there is no evidence as yet that his conscience is really in exercise. He is like one who has hazarded all on a false expectation, and now finds that he must lose, and so determines to lose like a man . . .”

Wherever his heart may have been at this point. The reality is, Jonah was a very poor witness for his God. But Jonah’s poor witness was not going to get in the way of God’s will being accomplished. See, the sailors heard Jonah loud and clear. His words resonated with them. Now, they’re coming to this place of understanding that: The howling winds that are swirling around them. God had made those. The sea that was now heaving beneath their feet. God had made that. The rocky coast that lies ahead of them, where their ship could crash very soon. God had made that too. They understood clearly now. They understood who was behind this storm. And as we see now, moving on to verse 10, has terrified them. It says, “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.’” So, hearing that Jonah’s God was the one who controlled the sea. These sailors, as it says here, became very fearful. Their methods, their chosen methods, those five questions they asked him, all in rapid-fire succession. Had actually been more effective than they could have ever dreamed. Through their questions, they learned who Jonah’s God was. That He was, is, the one true God. The creator God. The living God and this led them, it says here in the beginning of verse 10, to become “extremely frightened.” They were “terrified.” This wasn’t the first time that the sailors’ fear is recorded here in the book of Jonah.
In fact, look back in Jonah 1:4-5, it says, “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. Then the sailors became very afraid, and every man cried to his god.” Nor would this be the last time that the sailors’ fear is recorded in this book. Look ahead to Jonah 1:16, it says, “Then the men feared the Lord greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.” That’s after they throw him into the sea. Sorry for the spoiler alert. That’s actually what happens.

Back in our text, though, verse 10. We’re told that the fear that these sailors experienced at this point in the narrative was a unique type of fear. They were “extremely frightened”, it says. They were exceedingly fearful. As some of the older translations render it, they “feared with a great fear.” But why? Why at this point were they experiencing this degree of heightened fear? This knee-knocking level of fear? Why were they apparently more afraid now than they were previously, back in verse 5 when they saw this storm coming upon their ship itself?

Well, part of the answer lies in the fact, that these men surely knew at least something now about Jonah’s God. I mean, these were sailors, after all. These were mariners. These were seamen. There in the Mediterranean area. These were men who had traveled from port to port around the Mediterranean Sea . . . surely hearing stories in their various stopovers . . . about various peoples and their “gods.” Surely, they had, at some point in their journeys, in their voyages, run across certain stories associated with Israel’s God . . . Yahweh. Yahweh, recall, was the God who had brought down plagues on Egypt. So that His people might be led out. Yahweh was the God who had parted the waters of the Red Sea, to allow the Israelites to escape into the desert. Yahweh was the God who led the Hebrews in the wilderness for forty years, protecting them and leading them by a cloud by day, and a pillar by night. Yahweh had given Israel manna to eat and water to drink. He had parted the waters of the Jordan River to enable them to cross over into Canaan. He had leveled the walls of Jericho. He had caused the sun to stand still. This God. Yahweh. The God of the Hebrews. Was a God others would have heard about. He was no weak God. He was known as a great God. He’s now pursuing these sailors and pursuing their ship; all because of Jonah. They had great reason to be terrified.

Look at the sailors’ terror, just leaping off the page here in verse 10, when they ask him. “How could you do this?” By the way, that’s not a question. That’s more of a statement. That’s an exasperated statement of horror. This is a rebuke. The words here could be translated “what have you done?” These sailors, by now, were starting to put two and two together. They already had the sense, by now, that Jonah’s God . . . Yahweh . . . was in some way holding them responsible now, as accomplices to Jonah’s “crimes.” Here in verse 10, they’re really chiding Jonah for his senseless behavior, his senseless action. They’re letting him know, with that question here, that they’re holding him responsible for what is starting to happen here. That’s all loaded into that question, that statement, really, “How could you do this?”

As we look at the rest of verse 10, though. We see that apparently Jonah had already let the cat out of the bag. He’d already told them that he worshiped and feared Yahweh. But he’d already told them also that he had been fleeing from Yahweh. Look at the second half of verse 10. It says, “For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.” In other words, that question, “How could you do this?” Was really in response to what Jonah had already told them. At some point along the way. In the midst of all the chaos and the confusion aboard this crumbling ship. Jonah had made more of a complete confession, at some point, about what he had done and who it was he was running from. In other words, by this point in the narrative, in verse 10. The sailors were as caught up in the situation as we are today, reading this text all these years later. So, their question: “How could you do this?” Or: “What have you done?” Now carries even more weight. We see that their question here is borne out of total bewilderment. Over the fact that Jonah could have been so careless as to put others . . . including themselves . . . in harm’s way by boarding their ship in the first place.
The pieces of this puzzle, in other words, were starting to fall into place. As one commentator puts it, the sailors had now fully realized that “his flight [had] created their plight.” The storm was this divine judgment of a most serious sort. As God – Yahweh – was not punishing one of His prophets who had disobeyed His word. Now this crew of sailors finds themselves in the crossfire. No wonder they asked that question. “How could you do this?”

I appreciate these words from Hugh Martin in his old commentary on Jonah from 1870. He says this of this verse, verse 10. He says, “Suppose yourself in Jonah's place, and hear the question put to you—to you, a man of God, by heathen men, ‘Why hast thou done this?’ Did your God provoke you to flee from him? Did he deal so hardly and unkindly with you that you had no alternative but flight? Were you tired of your God? Had you found him out as no more worthy of your trust and obedience? Had you got to the end of all the duty that you owed to him or of all the protection and support that he could afford to you?” “‘Produce your strong reasons. Has God been a wilderness to you? Have you found a better friend? Have you found a worthier portion? Have you found a sweeter employment than meditation in his word and calling on his name?” “Have you found him unfaithful to his promise? Have you discovered that he discourages his people? Will you say that the more you have known him, the less you have thought of him? It looks like it, O backslider.” If Jonah had been able to think along those lines, to think of the character of God and to think of the ongoing faithfulness of God this very well may have been the moment when he repented when he was confronted with that question, “How could you do this?” But Jonah didn’t repent. Instead, he showed himself to be like many of God’s people when they sin. Instead of thinking clearly, he hardened his heart. He kept his back turned to God. He plunged further into his state of alienation from God.

Now while Jonah’s heart was hardening the hearts of these sailors apparently were softening as it dawned on them that it was Jonah’s God, the living God, the God who rules the winds and the waves. The God who is offended by all forms of sin and disobedience who was behind all of this. There apparently was this prick of the conscience somewhere in these sailors as they came to realize that if God was angry with an Israelite such as Jonah perhaps, he was angry at them, too. Especially considering the fact that just moments before they weren’t crying out to the true God, the one God. Instead, they were crying out to their silly little pagan “gods.” That wouldn’t have pleased God.

This fear, this realization leads to the next development in the narrative where we see the sailors take action. Look at verse 11. It says, “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.” Now this whole scene is moving at a furious pace. You have the rapid-fire questions of verse 8. You have Jonah’s confession of his identity in verse 9. You have the sailors’ terrified response in verse 10. In verse 11 here you have the sailors now demanding that Jonah tell them what they should do to bring about the stilling of this storm. The sailors’ perceptiveness here is again evident. It appears they had come to believe that Jonah’s God, Yahweh does indeed control the sea, just as Jonah had told them back in verse 9. Now they know that Jonah is somehow responsible for this calamity, this storm that has come upon them. So now, putting the pieces together, they realized that something has to be done to Jonah in order to bring about the calming of the sea which we see expressed here in verse 11. “So, they said to him, ‘What should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us?’” They realized that Jonah was not only the key to the storm but the key to the stilling of the storm and the time to act was now. If they didn’t take action, the storm would threaten to destroy them all.

That’s what we see here at the end of verse 11, “for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy.” The lightening of the ship’s load by casting the cargo overboard had only bought them so much time. This ship was still being threatened to be broken apart and to go down. The storm wasn’t dying down. Instead, we see right here the storm was ramping up. The sound of waves slapping against the side of the boat was getting louder. Water, by now, surely was sloshing all over the deck. This was becoming an increasingly dire situation. They only had so much time and a decision had to be made. What to do with Jonah?

Now, for most of us, we’ve read all four chapters of Jonah at some point in our Christian walk. We’ve gotten to the end of the story or at least we’ve caught the Veggie Tales version, and we know how this goes. We know that the solution the sailors employed ultimately was to throw Jonah into the sea. We also know that the solution they employed was ultimately effective. In fact, you can peek ahead to verse 15 again where it says, “So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging.”

But back to our text, before we get to that solution and before we get to Jonah’s solution in verse 12 and the sailor’s response to that solution, I want to put the question before you. How should have Jonah have answered the question in verse 11 where it says so they said to him, “What should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us?” What should have Jonah said? I will tell you what he should have said. He should have said “Take me back to Joppa.” “Take me back to the port we first departed from.” “Take me back to Joppa so that I can get back on dry land and start making my way to Nineveh. It was Nineveh where God first sent me. It’s to Nineveh I need to go to. I need to go to Nineveh to preach repentance to the Ninevites just as I was commanded to do.” That’s the answer Jonah should have given. That would have shown that he truly was obedient to Yahweh and that he was committed to being a good witness to Yahweh or for Yahweh. And to demonstrate to these pagan sailors that he truly did fear the Lord.

But that’s not what he said, is it? No, verse 12. It says, “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.” Now, I actually haven’t seen the Veggie Tales version of this story, so you’ll have to fill me in later maybe in the south lobby tonight about how it all ends in that account. But I can share with you in my studies this week Jonah’s words here are portrayed by many commentators as being an act of repentance. An act of genuine remorse. An act of humility and grace and mercy. They’ll especially latch on to those words in verse 12, the end of verse 12 where he says “for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you,” as though this is some wonderful confession from Jonah. There are even many commentators who will take it even a step further to read the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ back into the narrative here in Jonah and say, “Look at the sacrifice Jonah is making here.” “He’s like a type of Christ.” “Just like Jesus was willing to die on the cross for sinners Jonah was willing to die for these sailors in a watery grave.”

Really? Is Jonah not still, at this point in the narrative, very much still on the run from God? Is he not at this point still openly refusing to go to Nineveh? Christ was doing the Father’s will when He went to the cross. Jonah was rejecting the Father’s will when he says what he says here, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea.” By saying that, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” Jonah was actually saying, “I would rather die than do God’s will.” “I would rather drown than do what God instructed me to do.” “I would rather have water fill my lungs, and lose unconsciousness, and sink to the bottom of the Mediterranean as a lifeless heap than to preach to those Ninevites.” If Jonah were actually repentant, if he really did want to get right with God, if he really did want to turn from his sinful disobedient ways and turn to God when the sailors asked him that question in verse 11, “What should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us?” He should have answered without hesitation, “Turn this ship around! Take me back to Joppa.” Not, “throw me in the sea.” But so determined was he, still, to resist the Lord’s will that that’s the answer he gave. Jonah was no sacrificial hero. Jonah was a disobedient rebel. If Jonah was some sort of prefigurement of Christ, it was a very sad gospel that Jonah preached because all we’re seeing in this narrative so far is Jonah’s determination to have his will prevail over the Lord’s.

The narrative takes one more turn this evening in verse 13. It says, “However, the men rowed desperately to return to land, but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them.” Jonah is a book of contrasts. Jonah says he fears the Lord but as we’ll see next week the pagan sailors were actually the ones who feared the Lord. Verse 16, “Then the men feared the LORD greatly and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.” The pagan sailors prayed. The so-called “man of God” slept. Here, Jonah couldn’t be bothered to go to Nineveh to preach the pagan unrepentant people there. Remember his prayer over in Jonah 4:2? Look at Jonah 4:2. He prays to the Lord later in the account and says, “Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore, in order to forestall this, I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.” There’s that word, calamity. See though Jonah couldn’t be bothered to show compassion to the pagan non-believers in Ninevah, the pagan sailors on this ship are showing clear compassion to him here in verse 13.

Jonah’s already given them an “out.” He’s already said, “I did this. This all happened because of me.” We see that at the end of verse 12, “I know that on account of me that this great storm has come upon you.” So, he says, “go ahead, throw me into the sea.” But they don’t, do they? No, they don’t. They do something totally different. It says, “the men rowed desperately to return to land.” Now that word “rowed” means literally “digging into.” They were “digging into” the waves, “digging into” the sea. You can picture what’s being displayed here. Their muscles straining and their teeth gritting and their hearts racing as they’re getting this incredible aerobic exercise trying to get this ship back to land as they are doing everything they can, humanly speaking, to get Jonah onto terra firma.

The idea here is Jonah’s heart had been closed off to the pagans in that massive city of Nineveh. But these pagan sailors, men who didn’t know God, who were as far off from God as anybody, showed compassion toward him. He had caused them loss of income, loss of livelihood as they threw their cargo into the sea. He’d caused them a lack of rest as they’d been scurrying around the ship, trying to figure out what had happened and what to do next. He’s probably shaved off at least a few minutes off each of their lives just with the sheer stress of this situation. As Hugh Martin writes, "A perfect stranger he was to them. No ties of friendship, or acquaintance, or kin, or country could he plead; and the subject of a strange but strong God, bringing down his God’s wrath on them, verily, they had little to thank him for.” Or O. Palmer Robertson comments, “Although his people had experienced the grace of God for generations, he closes his heart to another people. But in dramatic contrast these coarse sailors do everything they can to spare the life of Jonah, even after he has caused the loss of all their cargo, and now may cause their loss of life.” The only thing Jonah had ever done for these sailors was to bring trouble upon them. Now, what they showed him is compassion.

Have you, as a Christian ever been rebuked by your bad behavior when you’ve witnessed non-believers acting more Christlike than you? Through the love they demonstrate? Through the patience demonstrate? Through the self-sacrifice they demonstrate? Through their ability to be self-controlled? Through their ability to tame their tongue? That’s essentially what’s happening here to Jonah. The compassion he’s being shown by these pagan sailors was a rebuke to him to his bad behavior. To his closed-off heart. To his unrepentant attitude. Now as hard as these men tried, though, as hard as they dug into those waves, as desperate as their attempts were to get Jonah to dry land, we see that those attempts failed. Look at the rest of verse 13. It says, “the men rowed desperately to return to land, but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them.” So, despite their strongest efforts the sailors couldn’t get him to dry land because the storm here was getting worse and worse. Back in verse 11 we saw “the sea was becoming increasingly stormy.” But that apparently wasn’t the worst of it because here in verse 13 it says, “the sea was becoming even stormier against them.”

We’ll pick up the rest of the narrative here in Jonah 1 next week as we go through verses 14 through 17 and that’s going to be an interesting and an adventurous time together because at the end of that section, we’re going to see Jonah landing in the stomach of a great fish. A place he called home for three days and for three nights. It was there, that we know that he began to pray and to truly wrestle with God and to start recognizing how far he truly had drifted from God and where he came to that place where God having rubbed his nose in the dirt for a bit where he would finally confess, Jonah 2:9 that “Salvation is from the LORD.”

Now as we’ve worked through these first 13 verses of Jonah, I haven’t been able but to get rid of this thought of this old poem that I’m sure many of you have heard of or heard referenced before. It’s by Francis Thompson, written in 1890 titled “The Hound of Heaven. The first few stanzas of that poem go like this. It’s all about a man’s fleeing from God.

“I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; I fled Him, down the arches of the years; I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears I hid from Him, and under running laughter. Up vistaed hopes I sped; And shot, precipitated, A down Titanic glooms of chasmed fears, From those strong Feet that followed, followed after. But with unhurrying chase, And unperturbed pace, Deliberate speed, majestic instancy, They beat and a Voice beat more instant than the feet, ‘All things betray thee, who betrayest Me.’” Jonah was running from God who Thompson here calls “the Hound of Heaven.” And it wouldn’t be long before God would catch up with him.

I wonder if there is someone here tonight who is running from the Lord? If you’re a believer, you’ve put your faith in Jesus Christ, there still can be those seasons and those days where you’re running from Him. You’re disobeying Him. You know what His word says. You know what the salvation you’ve been given through Christ empowers you to do. But you’re still choosing to flee from Him, to go your own way. Whatever that looks like, if that’s describing you you know what you need to do. You need to repent. You need to stop running toward your sin the way that Jonah was running toward Tarshish. You need to return to an obedient walk with the Lord. Seek accountability and pray. Seek wisdom from the Word and get back on track. Or maybe there’s some of you here who are not believers tonight. And if you haven’t put your faith in Christ, well, then that’s your solution is not to self-will better behavior, to become a better version of the old self. No what you need to do is acknowledge that you’ve sinned against a holy God. The very God that Jonah was fleeing from. You need to acknowledge that there’s nothing you can do in your own will or your own power to merit favor with a holy God. You need to recognize that Jesus came into the world, Jesus of Nazareth came into this world. died on a cross for the sins of the world so that all who believed upon Him and upon His death, His burial, and His resurrection, would have their sins forgiven, and be granted eternal life. You, too, need to stop running out there into the world and toward the things of the world the way that Jonah here was running to Tarshish. What you need to do is run to Christ. To seek shelter in Him, under Him. To seek forgiveness through Him, to believe upon His name and be saved.

Let’s pray. God, I thank you for this time together in Your word tonight. Every time we come to Jonah; I can help but marvel that You would give us a book like this which in many ways seems so distant. It seems so far away. The scene with the sailors and the sea and the ship. It just all seems not like our world today in the twenty-first century Lincoln, Nebraska. But we know that You are a timeless, unchanging God. We know that all Scripture is breathed out by You and is profitable for our instruction and our training in righteousness. We thank you that we can come to a book like this and extract eternal truths that can impact us in our lives as we seek to live faithfully for Christ. God I would pray, I pray that we would take away from this lesson tonight what rebellion is before You. What it looks like before You. The heartbreak, the grief that it brings You when we rebel against You. May we learn from the negative example of Jonah to always seek to do Your will, to always seek to obey You. For those of us who have trusted in Christ we have this Spirit who guides us and leads us and gives us the ability to obey; I pray that we would do so and bring honor to Your name. For those here in the room who don’t know You, I pray that without the Spirit, that they would see that without the Spirit they have no ability to comply. They have no ability to obey. They will continue to run off to places like Tarshish and make foolish decisions until You hunt them down. God, I do pray that You would bring repentance in this room. That You would bring many to You, to saving faith in Jesus Christ and more and more would be added to Your family. God, we praise You for this day of worship. I pray that You would go before us and lead us, strengthen us for the week ahead. In Jesus’ name, Amen.