• He Learned From His Mistakes
    Imitate Their Faith

    • 12. (a) Why should we not be too quick to judge Jonah for sleeping as the storm raged? (See also footnote.) (b) How did Jehovah reveal the cause of the trouble?

      12 Feeling powerless to help, Jonah went below the deck of the ship and found a place to lie down. There, he went fast asleep.b The captain found Jonah, woke him up, and urged him to pray to his god, as everyone else was doing. Convinced that there was something supernatural about this storm, the seamen cast lots to see which of the people on board might be the cause of their trouble. No doubt Jonah’s heart sank as the lots eliminated one man after another. Soon the truth was plain. Jehovah was directing the storm, as well as the lots, toward one man​—Jonah!​—Read Jonah 1:5-7.

  • He Learned From His Mistakes
    Imitate Their Faith

    • b The Septuagint stresses the depth of Jonah’s slumber by adding that he snored. However, lest we judge Jonah’s sleep as a sign of indifference on his part, we might recall that sometimes an urge to sleep overcomes those who are very low in spirits. During Jesus’ agonizing hours in the garden of Gethsemane, Peter, James, and John were “slumbering from grief.”​—Luke 22:45.