Charles Ellicott Commentary Jonah 1:5

"Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god; and they cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it unto them. But Jonah was gone down into the innermost parts of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep." — Jonah 1:5 (ASV)

And cried every man to his god. —If Phoenicians, the sailors would have their favorite deities in the national Pantheon; but they may have been a motley crew composed of various nationalities. For the panic, compare Psalms 107:23-30, and Shakespeare’s Tempest,

“All lost! to prayers! to prayers, all lost!”

Wares. —The Hebrew word is of general import, signifying furniture of any kind, and so includes all the movables in the ship. The cargo would probably, as in the case of St. Paul’s shipwreck, be reserved until the last extremity.

To lighten it of them.— This gives the sense, though the Hebrew idiom appears to mean, to give themselves relief. (Compare 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 word 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 fleeing from a disagreeable duty. To stand on deck and watch the slowly receding shore would have been mental torture.

And was fast asleep.— The fatigue of the hasty flight to the seashore 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.”