February 1 Daily Discovery
February 1 Daily Discovery
Read Jonah Chapter 1
It's My Fault!
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.
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.
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?
9 And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.
10 Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him. Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
11 Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous.
12 And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
~ Jonah 1:6-12
It appears that this storm was of such an extraordinary nature that the crew intuitively knew that the God that controlled the weather was punishing them for some reason.
Although Joppa (modern-day Jaffa) was allotted to the tribe of Dan, the mariners were not Jews. Nothing in the text explicitly says that any of them were Jews, maybe some were.
We are told that they were all afraid and each called upon his own god as they were casting stuff off of the boat to lighten it. (verse 5)
Territorial gods
The gods that were worshipped in the world were spirit beings that God had assigned to watch over physical localites on the earth and serve the people that God had created.
These spirit beings rebelled against God the Creator and began working to win the affection and worship of the human beings that they were meant to serve.
There is only One Creator, Almighty God
That being said the lesser gods that the people chose to worship did have power to change events and intervene on the behalf of those that were in allegiance to them.
However, any time a lesser god enters into a contest with the Creator, it is no contest at all.
Calling upon their pagan deities did not help.
They had to do what the prophet from Israel, Jonah, told them.
They were reluctant to do so, because they were "sure" it would result in Jonah's death and they did not want to be responsible for that.
The God of Heaven & Earth
There were (and are) territorial (lesser) gods, but then there is the Blessed and Only Potentate, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords that rules over all.
11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
13 I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;
14 That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:
15 Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;
16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
~ 1 Tim. 6:11-16
Jonah's Confession
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.
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.
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?
9 And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.
10 Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him. Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
11 Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous.
12 And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
~ Jonah 1:6-13
The Mariner's Interrogation
The lot fell upon Jonah so that started asking him questions. Jonah confessed his disobedience to God to the men on the ship.
They are not happy with Jonah, but they fear the God that Jonah serves and they try to make things work without sacrificing him.
Reluctantly, they throw Jonah overboard and then immediately the sea is calm.
Some Unexpected Converts?
13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them.
14 Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee.
15 So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.
16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows.
17 Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
~ Jonah 1:13-17
The men then feared teh LORD exceedingly and offered a sacrifice to Him and even made some vows. We are not told what the vows were, but it is likely that there was some vow to continue to worship the God that ruled the sea.
Maybe their fear of the Lord was only temporary?
God was merciful to Jonah to make this an opportunity for him to be a light-bearer for these false god worshipping mariners.
What Jonah Did Right
He owned up to his responsibility. He raised his hand and said, "I'm to blame."
Jonah said, "It's my fault."
God is after Jonah, not them. He was sorry that they were in danger because of him.
"Throw me overboard and you will see, things will get better for you."
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