Jonah 1:5

5 The sailors were terrified and cried out for help, each one to his own god. Then, in order to lessen the danger, ^[a] they threw the cargo ^[b] overboard. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone below and was lying in the ship's hold, sound asleep.

Jonah 1:5 Meaning and Commentary

Jonah 1:5

Then the mariners were afraid
Perceiving that the storm was not an ordinary, but a supernatural one; and that the ship and all in it were in extreme danger, and no probability of being saved. This shows that the storm must be very violent, to frighten such men who were used to the sea, and to storms, and were naturally bold and intrepid. The word used signifies "salters", so called from the salt sea they used, as they are by us "mariners", from "mare", the "sea"; though R. Japhet in Aben Ezra thinks the commodity they carried in their vessel was salt: and cried every man to his god:
to help them, and save them out of their distress. In the ship it seems were men of different nations, and who worshipped different gods. It was a notion of the Jews, and which Jarchi mentions as his own, that there were men of the seventy nations of the earth in it; and as each of them had a different god, they separately called upon them. The polytheism of the Pagans is to be condemned, and shows the great uncertainty of their religion; yet this appears to be agreeable to the light of nature that there is a God, and that God is to be prayed unto, and called upon, especially in time of trouble: and cast forth the wares that [were] in the ship into the sea, to
lighten [it] of them;
or, "the vessels" ^F3, a word the Hebrews use for all sorts of goods, utensils it includes, with others, their military weapons they had to defend themselves, their provisions, the ship's stores or goods it was freighted with; finding their prayers to their gods were ineffectual, they betook themselves to this prudential method to lighten the ship, that they might be able to keep its head above water. So the Targum,

``when they saw there was no profit in them;''

that is in the gods they called upon, then they did this; the other was a matter of religion this a point of prudence; such a step the mariners took that belonged to the ship in which the Apostle Paul was, ( Acts 27:18 Acts 27:19 Acts 27:38 ) ; but Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship;
into one of its sides, into a cabin there; the lowest side, as the Targum: and he lay, and was fast asleep;
even snored, as some versions have it: it may seem strange he should when the wind was so strong and boisterous; the sea roaring; the waves beating; the ship rolling about; the mariners hurrying from place to place, and calling to each other to do their duty; and the passengers crying; and, above all, that he should fall into so sound a sleep, and continue in it, when he had such a guilty conscience. This shows that he was asleep in a spiritual as well as in a corporeal sense.

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 (Mylkh ta) "vasa", V. L. Vatablus, Grotius.

Jonah 1:5 In-Context

3 Jonah, however, set out in the opposite direction in order to get away from the Lord. He went to Joppa, where he found a ship about to go to Spain. He paid his fare and went aboard with the crew to sail to Spain, where he would be away from the Lord.

4 But the Lord sent a strong wind on the sea, and the storm was so violent that the ship was in danger of breaking up.

5 The sailors were terrified and cried out for help, each one to his own god. Then, in order to lessen the danger, they threw the cargo overboard. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone below and was lying in the ship's hold, sound asleep.

6 The captain found him there and said to him, "What are you doing asleep? Get up and pray to your god for help. Maybe he will feel sorry for us and spare our lives."

7 The sailors said to each other, "Let's draw lots and find out who is to blame for getting us into this danger." They did so, and Jonah's name was drawn.

Footnotes

• [a]. lessen the danger; [or] lighten the ship.
• [b]. cargo; [or] equipment.