Jonah 1:9

And he said unto them, I [am] an Hebrew,.... He does not say a Jew, as the Targum wrongly renders it; for that would have been false, since he was of the tribe of Zebulun, which was in the kingdom of

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. And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew.

And he said unto them; Jonah freely and readily gives account of himself. I am a Hebrew; one that am descended from Heber, whose offspring by Abraham are well known, and probably to these mariners: he saith not, a Jew, because he was not in strictness of speech, for he was of the tribe of Zebulun; nor an Israelite, distinguished from the Jew, lest he should seem to own himself of that idolatrous faction. I fear; I worship and serve the true God only; or possibly it may imply that his employment was in the immediate. service of God, as a religious person that had abdicated the world, and dedicated himself to God. The Lord; the eternal and almighty God; yours are upstart gods, and have no power or might, nor can they do any thing. The God of heaven; who first made, now ruleth, and ever will rule the heavens, which none of your gods can pretend to, those heavens from whence you see this storm falleth. Which hath made the sea; that sea which now threatens you for my sake, and threatens me for my sin; my God hath raised the sea in his quarrel to contend thus furiously, and he can, and none but he can, command it to be still. And the dry land; a description of the earth: you would get thither, but all your gods cannot bring you thither, or give you to set one foot upon it, if my God say no. This is the sum of what Jonah declares, by which he intimateth his innocency from any flagitious crime, as they might imagine him guilty, and yet confesseth the greatness of his sin, which he had before told them, though they understood it not, or thought light of it, he fled from the presence of the Lord.

Jonah 1:9 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].Ver. 9. And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew] i.e. A true believer, as was Eber the patriarch, Genesis 10:21, and, after him, Abram the Hebrew, as he is called, Genesis 14:13. This name of Hebrews, as it was the first title given to Abraham and his seed, so it endureth one of the last, 2 Corinthians 11:22 Philippians 3:5; Epistle to the Hebrews, title. And I fear the Lord God of heaven] That is mine occupation; "I serve God with my spirit in the gospel of his Son," as Paul hath it, Romans 1:9. Every faithful minister is servant to the King of heaven, Acts 27:23 (this the devil could not deny, Acts 16:16-17); neither is he of his meaner or inferior servants, of his underlings, but of the noblest employment; ministers are his stewards, ambassadors, paranymphs, or spokesmen, &c., and this is their occupation, or their work; far beyond that of Solomon’ s servants. Which hath made the sea and the dry land] This troublesome sea that now so threateneth you, and that dry land which you would so fain recover. These, with all their contents, are his creatures; neither did he make them, and then leave them to fate or fortune, as a carpenter leaves the house he hath built to others, or a shipwright the ship; but he ordereth and ruleth them at his pleasure, and will unmake all again rather than have his people lack help in one season, Psalms 124:8; Psalms 134:3. This was part of Jonah’ s confession, and but part of it; for he told them (no doubt) how ill he had dealt with this great and good God, running away by stealth from his Master’ s service, and detracting his yoke, and that, therefore, he was justly apprehended and adjudged to death. To this purpose was Jonah’ s confession, quae ei salutis fuit exordium, saith Mercer, which was the beginning of his safety and salvation. Now his hard heart is broken, and his dumb mouth opened, not only to confess his offence, but to aggravate it; in that being not only a Hebrew of the Hebrews, a member of the true Church, but a prophet, a doctor in Israel, he should deal so perversely and perfidiously. It is a sweet happiness when sin swells as a toad in a man’ s eyes, and he can freely confess it in the particulars, and with utmost aggravation; laying open "all his transgressions in all his sins," as Moses phraseth it, Leviticus 16:21. Affliction sanctified will bring a soul to this, as here it did the prophet; like herein to that helve Elisha cast into the water, that fetched up the iron that was in the bottom.

(9) And he said . . .—“The emergency recalls Jonah to his true self. All the better part of his character now comes out. His conduct throughout the remainder of the chapter is dignified and manly, worthy of a servant and prophet of Jehovah” (Perowne). I am a Hebrew.—The original order is more striking, A Hebrew I. The LXX. read, “a servant of the Lord.” Which hath made . . .—These words mark the great change that has already come upon the prophet. He feels now how futile it was to try to hide or fly from the Creator of all the universe. But he speaks also for the sake of the crew, who, though recognising the existence of Jehovah as the tribal God of Israel, had never realised His relation to themselves as Creator of the world in which they lived, and of the sea on which they sailed. The storm preached the omnipotence of God.

Verse 9. I fear the Lord] In this Jonah was faithful. He gave an honest testimony concerning the God he served, which placed him before the eyes of the sailors as infinitely higher than the objects of their adoration; for the God of Jonah was the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land, and governed both. He also honestly told them that he was fleeing from the presence of this God, whose honourable call he had refused to obey. See Jonah 1:10.

9. The emergency recalls Jonah to his true self. All the better part of his character now comes out. His conduct throughout the remainder of the chapter is dignified and manly, worthy of a servant and prophet of Jehovah. a Hebrew] This is the name by which the Jews were known to foreigners (comp. the use of it by Juvenal and other classical writers). It is quite in keeping with Biblical usage that Jonah employs it in describing himself to the heathen sailors. Had he been addressing one of his own countrymen, he would have spoken of himself as an Israelite. I fear the Lord] Rather, I fear Jehovah. They knew already (Jonah 1:10) that he was a worshipper of Jehovah, and that he had offended Him, and was fleeing from His presence. But hitherto they had only looked upon Jehovah as a god, one of many, with whom they had no concern. Comp. Pharaoh’s contemptuous question, “Who is Jehovah, that I should obey his voice, to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, neither will I let Israel go.” Exodus 5:2. Now, however, when Jonah added that Jehovah was the God of heaven, who had made the sea and the dry land, while the tempest raged still to confirm his words, “The men were exceedingly afraid.”

I am an Hebrew - This was the name by which Israel was known to foreigners.

8. The case seemed clear against Jonah. The sailors, however, do not condemn him unheard; they give him an opportunity to clear himself, if possible. For whose cause this evil is upon us — As in Jonah 1:7.