Jonah Reading Plan | Week 2 – Day 3
Cedar Creek Church

Jonah Reading Plan | Week 2 – Day 3

Jonah 1:11 – 12 ESV 

Jonah is Thrown into the Sea

11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. 12 He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.”

Blue Letter Bible Commentary: 

a. What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us? The more the sailors hear, the worse the situation gets – the sea was growing more tempestuous.

b. Pick me up and throw me into the sea: Jonah was willing to sacrifice his life to save everyone else on the ship. We may consider what his motive might have been.

  • Perhaps it was compassion for the sailors.
  • Perhaps it was a desire to be forced into complete dependence upon God alone. After all, There is no safer place than casting yourself totally upon God.
  • Perhaps it was a feeling that anything was better than his continual resistance against and running from God.
  • Perhaps because he had already truly repented. If this is the case, it illustrates that repentance is not only a matter of heart and mind, but also a matter of action.

i. In all this, Jonah is a wonderful picture of the Messiah that would come after him, Jesus Christ. Jesus threw Himself into the fury of God’s storm to rescue those far from God. However, there are many differences between Jonah and Jesus, and one of the greatest was that Jonah was disobedient and guilty, and Jesus was completely obedient and innocent.

Read Further in Jonah