Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once! The sailors were awestruck by the Lord’s great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him. Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights. (1:15-17)
Jonah, upon seeing the increased winds and the fury of the sea, suggests to the sailors that they give him the heave-ho, and the sea will calm down. But the sailors ignore his suggestion, and row like mad instead. But here’s where it gets increasingly interesting! The sailors now cry out to Jonah’s God, and beg Him in verse 14 to not “hold us accountable for killing an innocent man...”
Do we assume an ignorant heart is an unreceptive one, and being as the sailors did not believe in the God of Israel, they must not care about morality? Wasn’t that the idea originally hidden in Jonah’s heart? Why bother with those who do not know our God? And yet, here they are, crying out to Jonah’s God alone! They did not lump Him in with their gods. They are looking only to Him! This is a perfect moment for Jonah to capitalize on and share his message. But he chooses not to.
The winds are acting as a kind of messenger. They are, in fact, doing the very job that Jonah has failed to do. They are displaying the mightiness of God, thus causing people to turn to Him. As it says in Psalm 104:4: “He makes winds His messengers, flames of fire His servants.” So, these winds are also prophets of the Lord. The sailors are hearing the message. But is Jonah as well?
Because Jonah is fully occupied with himself, he chooses the harder way. By having the men throw him overboard, is he sacrificing himself because he feels guilty and thinks he deserves death, or is he seeking death as a relief? Either way, he will be out of the picture as far as the prophetic message is concerned. A dead prophet is not useful to God. Jonah is proposing to end it all: his message and his life. But the sailors fear the consequences of taking him up on his offer because they fear the Lord. Jonah’s Lord.
But, in verse 15, they throw him overboard, and the “raging sea grew calm.”
Bingo. Jonah’s God is truly God and now the sailors are probably quite open to this possibility. Or, it is possible that they just embraced Jonah’s God as the strongest One among many gods?[1]
Either way, it’s a start! Verse 16 says, “At this [the calming of the sea] the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord, and made vows to Him.”
I wonder what the vows were. But sadly, Jonah’s message ended when he hit the water. He couldn’t follow up on their openness to Israel’s God. Talk about a Divine Appointment! These men were eager to understand Jonah and his God and where’s Jonah? Bobbing up and down in a calm sea.
But the sea wasn’t just a sea.
To the ancient world, the sea was a place of chaos. In cultures where people didn’t swim, probe the depths with submarines or scuba gear, the dark waters were a place of fear: the fear of the unknown. How would you know what is really down there? The forces that generated a raging sea could one day rise up and devour the land.
The Great Flood in Genesis was an ancient people’s worst nightmare: dark heaving waters did in fact swell up and utterly covered the land, destroying the people. Drowning was and still is a terrifying thought.
The Sea of Galilee in Jesus’ day was considered an abyss. Even though His disciples were fishermen, when the Sea of Galilee raged, they were terrified. Have you ever wondered why, in Matthew 14:25-33, the disciples thought Jesus was a “ghost” as He walked past them, as they struggled with the mighty waves of a storm? They were fishermen, and they were used to storms. The disciples feared that they were being tossed about over the abyss. Perhaps they feared that they were at the very gates of Hades itself, as many people in Jesus’ day saw the Sea of Galilee. It was seen as an entrance into chaos, uncertainly, fear. So, what do the disciples see? A “ghost”! One of the occupants of Hades! Right? No. It was Jesus, walking over the abyss. He was walking over death, chaos and fear.[2]
Peter left the boat, and walked with His Lord for a few precious moments. He was then filled with doubt, and began to sink. Jesus “caught him,” and asked Peter why he doubted. “And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down” (Matt. 14:14-32).
Sound familiar? With this proof God’s mightiness exhibited by Jesus Himself, the disciples worship Jesus. They exclaim, “Truly you are the Son of God” in verse 33. The calming of the seas evoked awe and respect in the disciples. Jesus was not only the Master over the elements but also over their darkest fears about chaos and death.
The sailors, as they peered over the edge and saw Jonah in the dark waters, must also have felt awe and respect. But the sailors, like the disciples, were in the safety of the boat. Jonah had been thrown into the abyss. Into chaos. Into darkness.
Jonah is now in a place of uncertainty. He is in real danger.
Have you ever been in a place where it is just dark enough that you can’t quite see what’s out there? You know far more of “what’s out there” in our natural world today than did the ancients, but I am sure that you found that uncertainty very disconcerting.
Jonah is afraid to pop over to Nineveh, where he knows what the dangers are. Now, bobbing up and down in the dark waters, he faces unknown dangers. The sea may be calm, but it is still dark. He is terrified! Just think about the disciples of Jesus, who spent their lives on the water and the fears they had. Here is Jonah, a land-loving prophet out in a much bigger sea, without a hand or a plan! No one was walking up to him or inviting him back into the boat!
Our fears can drive us into even deeper waters, so to speak, and we can end up even more afraid.
I had a dear friend whose husband was sexually abused as a child. Their marriage was rocky for many years. When she would throw down the gauntlet of “Counseling or else!” he would go, staying just long enough to iron out the immediate issues to placate his wife. They’d soon settle back in to old the routine, and sure enough, something else would come along and start a new fire.
I asked my friend one day if her husband had discussed the abuse with the counselor. She said, “Oh no, it is just too painful for him.” So, year after year, he continued to manipulate her and hurt her because his pain was so great. Finally, many years later, she left him, and I am sure that the pain he experienced was tremendous. His unwillingness to face his own Nineveh (the sexual abuse, his anger at the abuser and the sense of betrayal by his parents) eventually led to an even greater pain. He was thrown into the abyss of a failed marriage, with little or no hope of reconciliation with his wife.
How often, when we avoid our Nineveh, do we end up in a scarier and lonelier place? We think by avoiding the pain that somehow we will be freer. This avoidance leads to more bondage. Instead of being free, we now have even more pain.
The sailors aren’t jumping in to rescue Jonah. They are afraid of the water as well. Once he is in, he is in. Their ship catches the gentle breeze and it sails away. But God is constantly reaching out to bring Jonah back to Himself. God devises a plan. He sends a “great fish.”
Now, picture this: You’re bobbing up and down, eyes at sea level, wondering what’s below you, and then, gulp…down you go! Are you being pulled down to drown? To be eaten? To enter the very gates of hell?
How about a charming combination of all three?
I am sure at this point Jonah is thinking: Great. Wonderful. I am doomed. No more second chances. I am being judged. For good. I wonder who’s having me for dinner?
Let’s look at this fishy candidate gulping down our Jonah. It is known by various names in the Bible. By the way, the word used in both the Old and New Testaments means “great fish.”[3]
Let’s be fair here. When a large whale carcass washes up on the shore, an ancient person isn’t going to know whether it’s a fish or a mammal. It’s just big and dwells under water.
I will use the word “whale,” because it is more familiar. Either way, no one wants to go down the gullet of some marine animal.
Another Old Testament prophet, Amos, called this occupant of the deep a “sinister serpent.” Amos warns his people who are seeking to escape God’s judgment what will befall them: “Though they hide from Me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them.” (9:3) However, even the scary monsters under the water are subject to God’s control.[4] They are not independent of His hand.
Another name of this creature is “Leviathan.” In describing another time of judgment, the Old Testament prophet Isaiah says,
In that day,
the Lord will punish with his sword—
his fierce, great and powerful sword—
Leviathan the gliding serpent,
Leviathan the coiling serpent;
he will slay the monster of the sea. (27:1)
Repetition is used here to get across not only how God mightily defends His own, but how He will vanquish those who come against Him and His people.
Another name for this creature is “monster of the deep.” Job complains in his suffering (which he sees as judgment) “Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep, that you put me under guard?” (7:12)
God holds the sea monster under His mighty hand, and Job resents being treated as such.[5]
Psalm 74:12-14 celebrates God’s mighty power to deliver His people and to provide salvation:
But God is my King from long ago;
he brings salvation on the earth.
It was you who split open the sea by your power;
you broke the heads of the monster in the waters.
It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan
and gave it as food to the creatures of the desert.
This creature, who is trying to overcome God’s people, is controlled by His hand. It is on a divine leash (if you will) to remind His people that they need not fear. Why? God is mightier than even the mightiest of creatures.
So, Jonah, fearfully watching the blue sky and lighted waters recede from him as he plunges down into the whale, wonders if God is judging him through a monster of the deep. But is He? Consider this: “The Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah…” (1:17)
When I was little, I thought that Jonah was in big trouble and that’s why he got swallowed. Later, I thought that again when I heard that the little ones at our church were learning about Jonah. I would again think, “Wow, you blew it to get swallowed! Next time, Jonah, man up and do what is right!”
Now after studying Jonah, I see his descent into the belly of the whale not as a punishment but as a provision. God is not judging him. God is providing a “safe place” to go. It is scary, yes, but it is not a place without hope.
Jesus uses the story of Jonah when He tells His disciples that the belly of the whale is comparable to the tomb He will occupy after His crucifixion. While His death will be terrifying, it will not be without hope. Although it is dark inside the carved rock tomb where Jesus’ broken body will be placed, Jesus will walk out three days later into the light of that lovely spring morning.
Jesus uses Jonah’s story to instill hope in His disciples as He faces His impending death.
Jonah’s time in the whale’s belly is limited. He is there to learn of God’s mightiness, not His judgment. God is indeed devising a plan to call back His estranged prophet, even though it means sitting in the sloshing juices of a large fish’s stomach for three days!
[1] NIV Study Bible, note on Jonah 1:16.
[2] “Sea of Galilee”
[3] NIV Study Bible, note on Jonah 1:17.
[4] NIV Study Bible, note on Amos 9:3.
[5] NIV Study Bible, note on Job 7:12.
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