I was reading Job 1 this morning and found it interesting that the sailors aboard Jonah's ship to Tarshish were converted by fear of the storm, not by conviction of sin and desire for forgiveness and eternal life. In the passage, they find out by lots that Jonah and his flight from God are the cause of the storm, and ask him what they should do. When he tells them to throw him overboard, they do so. The storm abates and the sailors "fear God, offer sacrifices, and make vows." Should we import into these phrases all the things we deem necessary for true conversion, or were they not truly converted?

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Davidius
Husband of Emily
Member of All Saints Anglican Church - Chapel Hill (AMiA / Anglican Church of North America)
Student: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, German and Classics

They certainly were given a very clear example and even verbal teaching about the power and holy nature of God who was able to hurl a storm at his rebellious (sinful) prophet. I think that many other correct inferences could be made from these premises.

Plus, we have no reason to doubt that these worldly-wise men, who had probably traveled over to the Palestinian coast many times, and come into contact with local people (not just the Philistines, but also Israelites), had other basic information concerning the true religion that we do not know about. Just because the story doesn't provide us every detail, doesn't mean it didn't happen, or cannot be inferred.

When the story says they feared Jehovah, I think we ought to take that at face value, unless we have some additional reason to think this was mere lip-service. Surely, the entire message of the book is about the sovereign mercies of God. He WON'T turn Israel's hearts back to himself, but he WILL save many Gentiles that Jonah doesn't want to go and preach to (because he senses that God sill probably convert some of them)! So, even when he runs away, God saves some of THOSE Gentiles sailing his getaway boat!

I think the "big picture" indicates that at least some of those sailors were really saved, just as some of the Ninevites surely were.

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Rev. Bruce G. Buchanan
ChainOLakes Presbyterian Church, CentralLake, MI


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Note the progression or development of this idea of fear:

1) vs. 5 the sailors fear and pray to their gods
2) vs. 9 Jonah claims to fear the God who is causing these thing
3) vs. 10 the men become afraid, not of the storm, but of the God who causes the storm
4) vs. 16 the men fear the LORD after the storm is calmed. Their fear is not slavish trembling but servitude in the form of sacrifices and vows.

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Rev. Daniel Kok
Pastor of Grace Reformed Church (URCNA)
Leduc, Alberta CANADA

"What sort of pledge and how great is this of love towards us! Christ lives for us not for himself!"
John Calvin, Commentary on the Hebrews (7:25)

Daniel, good bullet points and they make sense. The bottom line is that we just don't know. We read nothing more about these men and whether they displayed the evidence of faith beyond the event with Jonah. But the event is certainly a clear demonstration of the sovereignty of God, and His providence in revealing Himself.

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Bill Brown
Elder
Reformed Baptist
Maryland

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