Let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us.
Conditions to be observed in casting lots
1. We must never fall to lottery but when necessity enforceth us: all other lawful means must be first assayed.
2. We must use great reverence and religiousness in the action. Holy things must be done in a holy manner.
3. We must avoid impiety and idolatry therein, ascribing the event of our wishes neither to the stars nor to any other celestial body, which cannot want the ingestion and intermeddling of devils.
4. We must not apply the oracles of God in His sacred Scriptures to our earthly, temporary, and transitory losses.
5. The ends of our lots must be respected; the honour of God, as the moderator of all such ambiguities; the furnishing of His Church, if two or more be fit, with the fitter; the preserving of justice; the avoidance of greater mischiefs.
6. We must eschew all fraud and deceit in permitting our causes to heavenly arbitrament. (Bishop John King.)
The lot
In the proposal of the sailors, though superstition seems to have dictated it, I perceive an implied recognition of the agency of God in the storm. They considered their present distress as a visitation from God. And in this they judged truly. Storms do take place under the direction of Divine providence. I perceive, further, the operation of natural conscience in these heathen men; for they believe not only that it was God who sent the storm, but that the storm was the evident token of His displeasure on account of sin. Sin indeed is the great cause of all the evils with which mankind are afflicted. The conscience of the sinner may at other times be lulled into a false peace, but the pressure of great calamity, or the fear of its approach, rouses it from its slumber. In this case, the conscience of these heathen, though not enlightened by revelation, accused them. There is, however, no direct evidence that these mariners were impressed, severally, each with a conviction of his own sins in particular. Every man looked away from himself, as if he were blameless, and turned his thoughts towards some other of the company as the guilty cause of the storm which threatened their destruction. Besides, they were ill-informed respecting the administration of Divine providence towards sinners in this present world. They seem to have thought that the sufferings which befall men in this life are in exact proportion to the measure of their iniquities. This was the error of Job’s friends. The sailors considered the storm as a special visitation inflicted because of some more than ordinarily aggravated transgression, committed by some unknown individual among them. So they appealed to God by lot, in order to discover the Guilty person. The whole business of the sailors casting lots must be ascribed to their ignorance and superstition. We should err were we to judge of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of actions merely by their event; and God is often pleased to employ for His purposes the ignorance and folly of men. (James Peddie, D. D.)
And the lot fell upon Jonah.
Finding the guilty one
God will certainly find out the Jonah that causeth the storm. The guilty person shall not always go undiscovered.
I. Persons under guilt may go a long time undiscovered. Some men’s hidden works of darkness are sooner brought to light than others.
II. Some men’s sins are not discovered until they come to the great reckoning, the great audit day. “Some men’s sins are open beforehand to judgment, and some men they follow after.” Then the hidden things of darkness that escape discovery now will all be brought to light; and what if you he hid here, this will but harden you: whereas a discovery might be a means to awaken you and bring you to repentance.
III. Some men’s guilt comes under more dreadful aggravations than others. Ordinarily, the more aggravations that men’s sins are clothed with, the sooner will God lay them open to a discovery.
IV. Upon their discovery they either grow worse and are hardened, or they are deeply humbled. Jonah, upon his dis covery, acknowledges and accepts the punishment of his iniquity. Now we inquire, What ways and means doth God take for the discovery of guilty persons?
1. By pursuing them with the terrors of conscience.
2. By sending judgments and afflictions after them.
3. By suffering them to fall into some notorious sin.
4. By giving the guilty person up to some gross and notorious error.
5. By causing the power and authority of the Word to seize upon them and arrest them.
6. By wonderful providences.
7. By bringing them to heart and con science examination.
By such discovery of guilty persons God gets Himself a name. A name for His justice, wisdom, omniscience, omnipresence, and also for His Word and truth. Why will the Lord discover guilt? To bring poor souls to shame, and so to repentance, and all this while He hath a design of love to the soul in the discovery. Because He will have some persons made cautions and examples to others. That the world may know of His displeasure against sin. That the rottenness of many hearts may appear, and they may no longer go on to deceive others. (John Ryther.)
The discovery
Let sinners conceal themselves as they may, their transgressions will sooner or later assuredly discover them.
I. Sin may be long concealed from the eye of man. There is, indeed, a gracious covering provided for the sins of believers. There is also a charitable concealment to which in many instances we are bound; but this regards the transgressions of others. But there is a covering which is not of God’s Spirit; a concealment by which sinners are encouraged to “add sin to sin.” This is worn sometimes in the form of delusion, and then sinners deceive themselves. At other times they wear their covering in the broad and ostensible form of hypocrisy. Ought every transgression to be avowed, however secret Were it viewed in relation to God we should say absolutely that it is hypocrisy to conceal. What are the cases where, in obedience to the Scripture, we are conscientiously bound to confess our faults, not only to God, but also in the presence of one another?
1. Such disclosure would be necessary when, in exercise of lawful authority, the sinner may be regularly called.
2. Disclosure of secret offences is required where, in their consequences, they may implicate others.
3. The interests of the Divine honour, not unfrequently, may require it. The honour of Divine grace is by such confession promoted.
II. All sins, even the most secret, shall be eventually revealed. Sentence against an evil work is not at all times speedily executed. But delay does not secure final impunity. As there can be no hiding-place to the impenitent, neither shall any species, any degree of transgression escape.
III. There are certain kinds of transgression which the wisdom of the Divine government reveals, and its justice generally avenges, even in our present state of being.
1. The general characters by which such sins are distinguished.
2. God is in no want of instruments for the discovery of the concealed transgressor.
3. For what purposes are these discoveries made?
(1) For the manifestation of the Divine glory.
(2) In mercy to the sinner himself.
(3) To afford us all the most salutary warning. (James Simpson.)