1:4 Jonah subjected himself to dangers that Israel and the entire ancient Near East viewed as directly under divine control when he launched out on the sea. The sea to them was the embodiment of the chaotic forces that humans could not control or tame (cf. Ps. 24:2; 33:7; 65:7; 74:13; 77:19; 89:9; 114:3, 5; Isa. 27:1; 51:10; 63:11; Jer. 5:22; 31:35; et al.). Jonah was desperate to get away from where he thought God might come after him (cf. Gen. 3:8). Nevertheless God used the wind to bring the prodigal prophet to the place He wanted him to be (cf. Gen. 1:2).
"It was gracious of God to seek out His disobedient servant and not to allow him to remain long in his sin."26
In the Hebrew text the last part of this verse is literally, "the ship thought she would be broken in pieces,"a graphic personification.
1:5 The sailors were obviously of mixed religious conviction. Some of them were probably Phoenicians since Phoenicians were commonly seafaring traders. Phoenicia was a center of Baal worship then. Their willingness to throw their cargo into the sea illustrates the extreme danger they faced (cf. Acts 27:18-20).
Jonah's ability to sleep under such conditions seems very unusual. The same Hebrew word (radam) describes Sisera's deep sleep that his exhaustion produced (Judg. 4:21) and the deep sleep that God put Adam and Abram under (Gen. 2:21; 15:12). Perhaps Jonah was both exhausted and divinely assisted in sleeping. His condition does not seem to have a major bearing on the story; it is probably a detail. The events that follow could have happened if he had been wide awake just as well. What does seem unusual is his attitude of "careless self-security."27He seems to have preferred death to facing God alive. Not only did he flee to Tarshish, but he also fled to the innermost part of the ship (cf. Amos 6:10).
1:6 It took a presumably pagan sea captain to remind Jonah of his duty. The words the captain used are the same as the ones God had used (v. 2, Heb. qum lek). Jonah should have been praying instead of sleeping in view of the imminent danger that he and his companions faced (cf. Luke 22:39-46). The normal reaction to danger, even among pagans, is to seek divine intervention, but this is precisely what Jonah wanted to avoid.
"It is well known how often sin brings insensibility with it also. What a shame that the prophet of God had to be called to pray by a heathen."28
What the captain hoped Jonah's God would do, He did. He is the only true God, and He does show concern for people (cf. 4:2, 11). This demonstration of Yahweh's concern for people in danger is one of the great themes of this book. God showed compassion for the Ninevites and later for Jonah, but Jonah showed little compassion for the Ninevites, for these sailors, or even for himself.
Whereas the first pericope of the story (vv. 1-3) illuminates the lack of compassion that characterized the prophet, this second one (vv. 4-6) reinforces it and implies in contrast that God is compassionate. Not only was Jonah fleeing from God's presence, but he was also displaying a character that was antithetical to God's. Such is often the case when God's people turn their backs on Him and run from His assignments.
