Daily Devotions
Jonah
"I am a Hebrew; and I fear the LORD"
Text: Jonah 1:9
AN HONEST ANSWER
Confronted with so many questions, Jonah could not but give an honest answer. He had managed to keep his identity hidden from the captain of the ship and others on board ship when he first boarded. He had gone to the lowest part of the ship and had not been in contact with others on board. But the time for secrecy was now over. He had to give a full disclosure of who he was and what he was doing on board ship.
“So he said to them, ‘I am a Hebrew;
and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven,
who made the sea and the dry land.'”
Jonah 1:9
1. “I am a Hebrew”
a) This was an old term.
b) People from Israel were called “Hebrews”.
2. “I fear the LORD”
a) This describes his faith in the LORD God of Israel.
b) It is another way of saying, “I believe in the LORD”.
c) The word “fear” had the following connotations:
i) Personal reverence for God.
ii) Personal practice of this regard for the Lord.
iii) But Jonah had lapsed badly at this point of time.
3. A common way of describing God
a) As the Creator.
b) As the Maker of the sea and the dry land.
THE RESPONSE OF THE MARINERS
The mariners expressed horror when they heard this word from Jonah.
“Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him,
‘Why have you done this?’
For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD,
because he had told them.”
Jonah 1:10
1. “Exceedingly afraid”
a) Partly because of the storm.
b) Partly because of the word from Jonah.
2. “Fled from the presence of the LORD”
Once again, we come across this expression (Jonah 1:3). This may not have been fully comprehended. But there is no mistaking the sense of deep fear the mariners felt. Jonah had disobeyed God and a great storm had been created to pursue Jonah and now everyone’s life was in danger!