(1) fearing God
1:9 He said to them, “I am a Hebrew! And I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
1:10 Hearing this, the men became even more afraid and said to him, “What have you done?” (The men said this because they knew that he was trying to escape from the LORD, because he had previously told them.)
a. Jonah claim to worship the LORD, but he did not obey Him. He run away from God and told other people that he worship God. That does not match!
(NET) The word fear appears in v. 5, here in v. 9, and later in vv. 10 and 16. Except for this use in v. 9, every other use describes the sailors’ response (emotional fear prompting physical actions) to the storm or to the LORD. By contrast, Jonah claims to fear God but his attitude and actions do not reflect this. It is clear that Jonah does not “fear” in the same way that they do.
Do we just claim to fear God but do not reflect that in our lives? Are we just offering lip service? In this pandemic, do we have any sin that we aware of but we refuse to repent?
b. From v.10, we know that the men in the boat knew ahead of time that Jonah was trying to escape the LORD. They still allowed him to come abroad, until now, they faced the storm and knew that the God that Jonah escaped from was the One who created the heaven, sea, and dry land v.9. In other words, they did not realize that Jonah was escaping from the Creator God who can control all things all earth! They had underestimate the danger of allowing a person who tried to escape from God to be on board.
Do we underestimate the danger of running away from the will of God? Or we allow people who are doing that to be in our church?
(2) Suicide vs repentance
1:11 Because the storm was growing worse and worse, they said to him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”
1:12 He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea to make the sea quiet down, because I know it’s my fault you are in this severe storm.”
The sailors' question was weird, "What should we do to you..." Jonah should have told them what he was going to do when he finished his claim that he was the worshipper of the Creator God. But he did not. Therefore, the sailors have to do something to Jonah. Noted also, "to make the sea calm down FOR US." It almost like, "Jonah, you did not mind to die in the storm, but we did!"
At last, Jonah realized that he should not have make other people dying with him because of his disobedient. "Its my fault you are in this severe storm." Therefore, he tried to face the penalty all by himself. However, committing suicide was not the right decision. Peter chose repentance while Judah chose suicide. Obviously, the sailors did not agree with his suicidal suggestions and tried to row back to the land v.13.
Jonah did not repent when he suggested to throw him overboard. He did not repent when he saw the sailors trying to row the boat, but could not. Are we stubborn like Jonah? Are we determined to disobey God and do not take the current situation in consideration? I prayed that the leaders of our country will not be like that in handling the pandemic.
(3) Why did God provide a big fish to swallow Jonah?
1:14 So they cried out to the LORD, “Oh, please, LORD, don’t let us die on account of this man! Don’t hold us guilty of shedding innocent blood. After all, you, LORD, have done just as you pleased.”
The last phrase seems to be odd. "After all, you, LORD, have done just as you pleased.” I think they were in a difficult position. They did not want to die, and they did not want to shed blood (to kill Jonah). Therefore, they have that pray. Eventually, they did not die and Jonah was not killed because the big fish swallowed Jonah.
Are we in the same situation as the sailors? When we are put in a difficult decision tell God about that. God will provide us a way out.
Audrey
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