I’m doing some work on Jonah 1 at the moment (again!), and it seems that we have another fine example of responsibility being passed between groups of people and representative individuals.
Jonah seeks to flee from the presence of the Lord; as a result, distress comes on the entire crew of the ship. Jonah is very clear in verse 12 that this is “on my account” that this has happened. His individual sin has led to judgement on the whole crew.
His answer to this is to hurl him into the sea, which they do and the sea stops raging. Jonah was sent to alleviate trouble in Nineveh; instead he ends up alleviating trouble for the sailors. One irony is that he is the cause of the trouble. The second irony is that he alleviates it by expending himself – he alone bears the judgement that is otherwise to fall on them all.
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