1 Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before Me.
Nineveh was a very wicked city. Jonah was not interested in that job.
3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord,
and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish:
so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it,
to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
Jonah is one of my favorite prophets. He was not in obeying the Lord.
He had a better idea, he thought, to get away from Nineveh
so God wouldn’t ask him to warn the Ninevites.
He didn’t discuss it at that point with the Lord,
he just tried to avoid Him and ignore Him.
I wonder how young he was. He knew the voice of God,
but he had not been seasoned with the reality of God’s request.
God was not going to use someone else. He wanted Jonah to do the task.
4 But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea,
and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.
But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him! Matthew 8:27
The disciples found out when they were with Jesus on the boat in the tumultuous storm that the wind and sea obeyed Him. And centuries before, these other men on the ship with Jonah would soon figure out Jonah’s God had caused their trouble and they would soon realize, their only hope was to throw him off.
5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god,
and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them.
But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.
Remember Jesus was fast asleep on a pillow when the disciples were concerned about the tossing about of their ship? Just one of the many parallels of the story of Jonah to Christ.
6 So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.
At first, Jonah did not tell them he was having a stand-off with God. The God of all creation, maker of Heaven and Earth, the sea and the dry land decided to come after Jonah and make him feel uncomfortable since Jonah was fleeing God’s presence.
7 And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.
The bible says the lots will be chosen by God.
The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Proverbs 16:33
8 Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country?
and of what people art thou?
They were shocked that the God that Jonah served was able to control the wind and the sea. That caused a marvel in their hearts.