Category: Jonah

NAU Jonah 1:10 Then the men became extremely frightened and they said to him, “How could you do this?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.

Smith argues¹ that the sailors were filled with “holy fear” in light of verse 9 where Jonah states: “I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” If this is the case, it is a fascinating contrast with verse 5 when the men were afraid of the storm. Hence, in verse 5 they become afraid due to the nature of the storm and in verse 10 they become afraid with a holy fear, since through Jonah they discovered that it was God who was controlling the sea. It is “holy” because it is outside of the ordinary and it is “fearful” because God is a consuming fire.

Footnotes

1. Smith, K. Billy, Page, S. Frank. The New American Commentary. Amos, Obadiah, Jonah. Volume 19B. Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1995. Pg. 236. [↩ back]

Jonah 1:5 reads: But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. Page and Smith argue thus:

There he sank into an extremely deep sleep, almost a hypnotic sleep. The same root (rdm) is used in Gen. 2:21 for the sleep of Adam that allowed for ’surgery.’¹

Jesus argues that as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.² This resurrection analogy is conspicuous in the text; however the Adamic analogy is rarely, if ever mentioned. There is a superb contrast being played in the text. Adam’s deep sleep brought about life in Eve (though in one sense, Eve brought death to us all via Adam’s headship). It was through Adam, that Eve came into existence. However, in Jonah’s deep sleep, there was no new life; no repentance.  Rather, he awoke to the consequences of his disobedience. His judgment and curse led him to Sheol; the belly of the great fish. One awakens to life and another to death; a continual cycle of the Deuteronomic blessings and curses, life and death.

Footnotes

1.   Smith, K. Billy, Page, S. Frank. The New American Commentary. Amos, Obadiah, Jonah. Volume 19B.   Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1995. Pg. 232. [↩ back]
2. Matthew 12:40 [↩ back]