Jonah 1:7

“And they said everyone to his fellow, etc.] That Jonah awoke and rose up, upon the shipmaster’s calling to him, is certain; but whether or no he called upon his God is not; perhaps he did: and when his prayer was over, and the storm still continuing, the sailors said one to another, come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil [is] upon us; for, Observing something very uncommon and extraordinary in the tempest, and all means, both natural and religious, failing to help them; and though they might know that they were each one of them sinners, yet they supposed there must be some one notorious sinner among them, that had committed some very enormous crime, which had…”

“cast lots--God sometimes sanctioned this mode of deciding in difficult cases. Compare the similar instance of Achan, whose guilt involved Israel in suffering, until God revealed the offender, probably by the casting of lots (; ). Primitive tradition and natural conscience led even the heathen to believe that one guilty man involves all his associates, though innocent, in punishment. So CICERO [The Nature of the Gods, 3.37] mentions that the mariners sailing with Diagoras, an atheist, attributed a storm that overtook them to his presence in the ship (compare HORACE'S Odes, 3.2.26).”

“Come, and let us cast lots - Jonah too had probably prayed, and his prayers too were not heard. Probably, too, the storm had some unusual character about it, the suddenness with which it burst upon them, its violence, the quarter from where it came, its whirlwind force . “They knew the nature of the sea, and, as experienced sailors, were acquainted with the character of wind and storm, and had these waves been such as they had known before, they would never have sought by lot for the author of the threatened wreck, or, by a thing uncertain, sought to escape certain peril.” God, who sent the storm to arrest Jonah and to cause him to be cast into the sea, provided that its character should set…”

“Cast lots - "Lots are an appeal to heaven in doubtful cases, and therefore not to be used but where the matter is undeterminable in any other way." Jonah 1:8”

“1:7-8 Use of lots was permitted by God for certain purposes (see Lev 16:8; Josh 18:6; 1 Chr 26:12-16; Acts 1:26); however, divination in general, as practiced in the wider ancient world, was displeasing to the Lord (Deut 18:9-13). • to see which of them had offended the gods: It was fairly common in the ancient Near East to assume that bad fortune was the result of a god’s taking offense.”

“every: Jdg 7:13, Jdg 7:14; Isa 41:6, Isa 41:7 and let: Jos 7:14-18; Jdg 20:9, Jdg 20:10; Sa1 10:20, Sa1 10:21, Sa1 14:41, Sa1 14:42; Est 3:7; Psa 22:18; Pro 16:33; Mat 27:35; Act 1:23-26, Act 13:19 for: Jos 7:10, Jos 7:13, Jos 22:16-20; Sa1 14:38, Sa1 14:39; Job 10:2 and the: Num 32:23; Jos 7:18; Co1 4:5 Jonah 1:8”