Come, and let us cast lots. — We are to suppose that Jonah, coming on deck in compliance with the captain’s request, adds his prayers to those of the crew. Finding all unavailing, the sailors propose recourse to the ancient custom of casting lots to discover the guilty person against whom the deities are so enraged. Classical authors as well as the Bible (comp. Joshua 7:14, seq.; 1 Samuel 14:36-46) afford many illustrations of the belief that the presence of an impious man would involve all who shared his company in indiscriminate ruin. Naturally the feeling expressed itself most strongly at sea.
“Who drags Eleusis’ rite to day,
That man shall never share my home
Or join my voyage; roofs give way,
And boats are wrecked; true men and thieves
Neglected Justice oft confounds.”
HOR.: Od. iii. 2, 26-30. (Conington’s trans.)
Comp. the story told by Cicero of Diagoras (de Nat. Deor. 3:3). Æsch. Sept. cont. Theb. 601-604. Soph. Ant. 372.