The setting changes. Jonah is ready to flee from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord will have none of this!
It seems to me that the next scene has a complete narrative arc. To be more precise, a scenic arc within the larger arc of the story. I would suggest we approach the scene in the following way (remember Freytag’s Pyramid?):
Exposition (1:4)
Rising Action (1:5-13)
Falling Action (1:14-15)
Dénouement (1:16)
Exposition (Jonah 1:4)
“But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.”
Here in the setup of the scene, we are introduced, strangely, to two characters: The Lord and the ship. The ship? I’ll explain.
As Jonah tries to escape from the presence of the Lord, He will have none of that. God agitates the sea, through a great wind, and attacks the ship Jonah is in. The ship responds, through action, by threatening to break up.
As the NETBible mentions, the conjugation of the verb khashav (think), translated here as “threat”, gives the idea of thinking about or seriously considering. Taking this into consideration, as God moves against the ship, on account of Jonah’s disobedience, the ship acts by threatening to break up, which would lead to Jonah’s demise.
This situation places Jonah in a tight position. On the one hand, God is moving against him, making himself present. On the other hand, the ship holding him is threatening to break up. It’s an impossible situation to get out of! This is the third tension - God x the ship.
Rising Action (Jonah 1:5-13)
In the rising action, we have several characters who will take part in the scene: the marines, Jonah, and the captain.
The impossible situation established in the exposition doesn't affect just Jonah but everyone else on the ship who are all, with the exception of Jonah, unaware of why this is happening.
The marines come into the scene completely afraid of what’s happening. Their first attempt to escape this situation is through speech by crying out to their gods. Here, the verb “cry out” is the same one we see in verse 2 when God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh and call out / cry out against it. However, instead of being in a context of judgment, like in verse 2, it is in a context of supplication.
Their second step is to move from speech to action. In an attempt to make the ship lighter, they begin hurling the cargo to the sea. However, all of these attempts are futile because we readers know that the cause of all of this is not the anger of the marines’ gods or the weight of the ship, it’s Jonah. And here we have a stark contrast between the marines and Jonah. While they’re attempting to save the ship, Jonah is sound asleep below the deck!
The captain of the marines comes into the scene and asks him what he’s doing. The ship is sinking after all! Followed by this question, is an interesting request:
“Arise, call out to your god!”(1:6)
The command of the captain sounds quite similar to the Lord’s command in the second verse:
“Arise,…, and call out against it” (1:2)
And curiously enough, the narrator gives us no indication that Jonah responded to this request! Maybe he did, and the narrator doesn’t find it important to mention this. Maybe he didn’t, and he preferred to perish at the sea instead of fulfilling the Lord’s command! The narrator never tells us.
By casting lots, the marines find out that the one responsible for this is Jonah. Once Jonah tells them what is going on, the men become even more afraid than before (1:5; 1:10). They understand now that their situation is not a result of the wrath of the sea. Their situation is the result of the wrath of the Lord who is, according to Jonah, “the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land”. They are not in the midst of a natural situation, but a supernatural one! And their question?
“What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” (1:11)
The situation is out of control. The storm is getting more and more intense as each minute passes. Their fears are growing as they realize that it is Jonah’s God who is doing this and not just the sea. Their question is completely valid!
At this moment, as the situation is reaching its climax, Jonah tells them that the only way for them to get out of this alive is to throw him into the chaotic sea. The marines are hesitant to do this, and they try as much as possible to get back to land. But the situation is irreversible. There is only one way out…to kill Jonah.
The falling action (1:14-15)
At the falling action, the crying out appears again. This time, it is by the marines, not to their gods, but to the Lord. Their cry consists of three considerations:
Don’t let us die because of him;
Don’t kill us for what we’ll do to him;
You have done as you wish;
As soon as the marines throw Jonah into the sea, everything quiets down. The third tension (God x the ship) is resolved.
The Dénouement (1:16)
In a story, the dénouement is the moment where the tension is resolved and a new reality emerges as a result of this. One of the main things to pay attention here is how the characters or the setting has changed after having passed through the whole adventure. In this case, the dénouement focuses on the marines.
Back in the rising action, when the characters question Jonah, wanting to know who he is, he describes himself as “a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord” (1:9). Now, at the end of the marines’ adventure, they are changed. As the text mentions,
“Then, the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows” (1:16).
In the dénouement, the trait of the “hero”, supposed to be sent by the Lord, becomes embodied in these secondary characters who, for all intents and purposes of the story, were supposed to display antagonistic characteristics, and are now true followers of the Lord.
And the hero? He’s sent down to the abyss of the sea to meet his Maker.