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.

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.

Then, when this preternatural tempest fell-with all its violence into the sea, the mariners; passengers are not here named, who, unaccustomed to sea, might be too apprehensive of danger; but the men that were acquainted with the sea, and had seen many a tempest, and weathered many a storm, were afraid, heartily afraid, full of apprehensions that they should be wrecked. Cried, with loud voice and earnest petitions, as the manner of such men is, when danger awakens them to the duty they neglect whilst safe. Every man; not a man of them but feared, nor a man of them but cried out, by which it is evident it was a most dreadful storm. Unto his god: by this it appears that the ship’ s crew was a mixture of men who worshipped several gods, and every one doth now cry to the god whom he worshipped: whatever god it might be, it was not he that did raise nor could allay the tempest. Cast forth the wares that were in the ship: when prayer to their false gods doth no good, but their danger continued and threatened them with foundering in the sea, to prevent this they lighten the ship, as is usual in such cases, and cast the wares out; not as sacrifice to the god of the flea, or as repenting of piracy, by which the goods were gotten, though some conjecture so, but the text tells us it was to lighten the ship that it may bear up its head and work with the sea better than when heavy laden. But Jonah, the greatest weight, and only danger to ship and seamen, was gone down into the sides of the ship; was under the hold in some cabin or other in the side of the ship, whither he went before the storm arose; and was fast asleep; in a very deep sleep, as the word imports.

Jonah 1:5 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.Ver. 5. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man to his god] Forced by the present necessity, first these stout fellows were surprised with fear; neither could they look pale death in the face with blood in their cheeks. Death is the "king of terrors," Job 18:14, Nature’ s slaughter man, God’ s curse, and helps purveyor. Next they "cried every man to his god." This was a lesson of Mother Nature’ s teaching, sc. that there is a God, and that this God is to be called upon, and especially in distress. Those fools of the people that said there was no God could not (when hardly bestead) but look up to heaven and cry out for help. All "people will walk every one in the name of his god," Micah 4:5. These mariners or saltmen δξμηιν (so called, either because they dealt in that commodity, or else because they rowed in the salt sea) had their several gods, according to their several countries, and these they now called upon, whom, till now, perhaps they little enough cared for; seamen are not overly pious for the most part. And yet of the Turkish mariners I have read, that every morning they salute the sun with their general shouts, and a priest saying a kind of Litany, every prayer ending with Macree Kichoon, that is, be angels present: the people answer in the manner of a shout Homin, that is, Amen. But it is remarkable that these in the text, though they cried every man to his god, yet, lest they might all mistake the true God, they awaken Jonah to call upon his God. This uncertainty, attending idolatry, caused the heathens to close their petitions with that general Diique Deaeque omnes (Serv. in Georg. lib. 1). But thirdly, as they cried to their gods, so (according to that rule, Ora et labora), They cast forth the wares that were in the ship] Not doubting to sacrifice their goods to the service of their lives. "Skin for skin, and all that a man hath," &c.: so Acts 27:18-19; Acts 27:38. Let us lose anything for eternal life, Luke 16:8; Luke 9:25 Matthew 18:8; suffer any hardship for heaven: we cannot buy it too dear. A stone will fall down to come to its own place, though it break itself in pieces by the way; so we, that we may get to our centre, which is upward. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship] Into the bottom of it: hither he had betaken himself before the storm; not considering that God had long hands to pull him out of his lurking holes, and bring him to judgment.

(5) And cried every man unto his god.—If Phœnicians, the sailors would have their favourite deities in the national Pantheon; but they may have been a motley crew composed of various nationalities. For the panic comp. Psalms 107:23-30, and Shakespeare’s Tempest,“All lost! to prayers! to prayers, all lost!” Wares.—The Hebrew word is of general import for furniture of any kind, and so including all the movables in the ship. The cargo would probably, as in the case of St. Paul’s shipwreck, be reserved till the last extremity. To lighten it of them.—This gives the sense, though the Hebrew idiom appears to mean, to give themselves relief. (Comp. Exodus 18:22, “So shall it be easier for thyself;” 1 Kings 12:10, “Make thou it lighter unto us.”) Sides.—Rather, recesses. The word is used of the inner part of the Temple (1 Kings 6:16), of a cave (1 Samuel 24:3), of a dwelling-house (Psalms 128:3). Ship.—The Hebrew is different from the word used earlier in the verse, and is peculiar to this passage. Its derivation from a root meaning “to cover with boards,” indicates a decked vessel. Jonah had gone below into the cabin, the natural course for a man flying from a disagreeable duty. To stand on deck and watch the slow receding shore would have been mental torture. And was fast asleep.—The fatigue of the hasty flight to the sea-shore accounts for this deep slumber. The same expression is used of Sisera (Judges 4:21). Besides, when a resolution is once irrevocably (as we think) taken, conscience ceases to disturb with its wakeful warning, and the restlessness of remorse has not yet arrived. There is a brief time during which “the exile from himself can flee.”

Verse 5. Cried every man unto his god] The ship's crew were all heathens; and, it is probable, heathens who had each a different object of religious worship. Cast forth the wares] Threw the lading overboard to lighten the ship, hoping the better to ride out the storm. Jonah was gone down] Most probably into the hold or cabin under the deck; or where they had berths for passengers in the sides of the ship; something in the manner of our packets. Was fast asleep.] Probably quite exhausted and overcome with distress, which in many cases terminates in a deep sleep. So the disciples in the garden of Gethsemane.

4–16. Jonah’s Punishment. The Storm and its consequences No sooner does Jonah decide upon his course of action and think himself now secure of its accomplishment, than God arrests him by the judgment of the storm.

And cried, every man unto his God - They did what they could.

Jonah’s punishment, Jonah 1:4-16.4, 5. Great wind… mighty tempest — Two synonymous expressions. The statement is repeated to indicate the fierceness of the tempest.