Jonah 1:8

Then they said unto him, tell us, we pray thee,.... They did not fall upon him at once in an outrageous manner, and throw him overboard; as it might be thought such men would have done, considering

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?

Then said they unto him; when the lot pointed out Jonah, these mariners all are satisfied that he was the man, that heaven had determined that grand inquiry, and accordingly they treat with him. Tell us, we pray thee; they try what fair means will do with him, and desire to have the account from his own mouth; so Joshua dealt with Achan, Jos 7: satisfied in the person, next they do, with commendable justice and calmness, inquire into the thing. For whose cause this evil is upon us: what hast thou done, for which God is so angry with thee, and with us for thy sake? sure thou canst not but know what it is, and now frankly tell us what is thine occupation, what course of life hast thou lived, or what employment dost thou now profess to follow, that we may guess by that whether thou art one of flagitious or of honest life. Whence comest thou? ere he give answer to this, probably another asketh whence he cometh, what company he had kept; by this they conjecture at the man. What is thy country? another starts a third inquiry, what country or nation he is of; to those ports persons of different nations flocked; possibly they hoped some or other in the ship might be his countrymen, and so fittest to examine him. Of what people art thou? this seems to be the same question repeated, or else an inquiry where he dwelt. These are the heads of the questions asked him.

Jonah 1:8 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?Ver. 8. Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause, &c.] He confessed not till urged and necessitated. Sin gags people, and prompts them to hide their faults, as Adam; or at least to mince, extenuate, shift them upon other persons and things, as Eve. Sin and shifting came into the world together; and Satan, that old manslayer, knowing that there is no way to purge the soul but upwards, holds the lips close, that the heart may not disburden itself: God, by this means, is often put to his proof, and must bring the malefactor to trial; who, refusing ordinary trial, must therefore be pressed, Jeremiah 2:35. What is thine occupation?] For that thou hast one we take it for granted. At Athens every man was, once a year, at least, to give account to the judges by what art or trade he maintained himself. By Mahomet’ s law the Grand Signior himself must use some manual trade; Solyman the Magnificent made arrowheads; Mahomet the Great horn rings for archers, &c. That which the mariners here inquire after is, whether Jonah’ s occupation be honest and lawful? whether he "laboured the thing that was good," Ephesians 4:28. For if any man overreach or oppress his brother in any matter, by the use of any ill arts, he shall be sure to find that "the Lord is the avenger of all such," 1 Thessalonians 4:6; though haply they lie out of the walk of human justice, or come not under man’ s cognizance. And whence comest thou?] Art thou not of an accursed country? and is not thy people a people of God’ s wrath, as England was in the time of the sweating sickness, pursuing the English wherever they came; which made them like tyrants, both feared and avoided by all nations? How the Jews are to this day hated and shunned as an execrable people is known to all. What is thy country? and of what people art thou?] Notanda brevitas, saith Jerome here, note the brevity of these questions, nothing short of those in Virgil so much admired (Aen. viii. 112). -- “ iuvenes quae causa subegit Ignotas tentare vias? qua tenditis? inquit, Quod genus? unde domo? pacemne hue fertis, an arma? ” Note also here, how these Pagans proceed not to execution till they have fully inquired into the matter, This was far better than that ugly custom of some people in Europe, mentioned by Aeneas Sylvius: that if any one among them be suspected of theft or the like crime he is presently taken and hanged.

(8) For whose cause . . .—The Hebrew idiom is peculiar, on account of which to whom; but in this verse, when addressed by the sailors to the prophet, it is expressed in a more elegant form than when used to each other in the preceding verse, one among many touches marking the artistic perfection of this narrative. It is true some MSS. omit this repetition of the question, and it is therefore by some commentators treated as a gloss. But the repetition is quite natural. The sailors seeing the lot fall on one whose appearance was so little suspicious, are anxious to have it confirmed by his confession. Not less natural is the rapid and excited leap from question to question. (Comp. Virg. Æn. 8:112, 113.)

Verse 8. Tell us - for whose cause] A very gentle method of bringing the charge home to himself, and the several questions here asked gave the utmost latitude to make the best of his own case.

8. for whose cause] The lot has detected Jonah, but they will not condemn him unheard. They will give him an opportunity of clearing himself, or like Achan (Joshua 7:19), of making confession with his own lips. The judicial fairness and calmness of these heathen men, their abstinence from anger and reproach for the wrong done them, their sense of the sanctity of human life, their fear of punishing the innocent, are very strikingly brought out in the whole of this exciting scene. “Even in their supreme danger the mariners were anxious not only to avoid all violence, but all haste. While the fury of the waves and the tempest constantly increased, and every instant was precious to those who prized their lives, they patiently instituted an investigation with almost judicial calmness. Though fully trusting to the reality of the decision by lot, they were resolved neither to execute the judgment without the offender’s confession, nor to execute it in an arbitrary manner.” Kalisch, who quotes the words of Philo: “One might see in the scene a terrible tribunal: for the ship was the court of justice, the judges were the sailors, the executioners were the winds, the prisoner at the bar was the prophet, the house of correction and prison of safe keeping was the whale, and the accuser was the angry sea.” What is thine occupation, &c.] This crowding together of questions in their excitement is very true to nature. It has been compared with the well-known passage in Virgil, Æn. VIII. 112–114.

Tell us, for whose cause - Literally “for what to whom.” It may be that they thought that Jonah had been guilty toward some other. The lot had pointed him out.

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.