Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why have you done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.
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Jerome
AD 420
LXX: 'Then the men were very afraid and said to him, "why have you done this?" for the men knew that he had fled from the face of the Lord, since he had told them.' The chronological order is reversed here, for you could have said there was no reason to fear because of his declaration: "I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land". Immediately we are told why they were afraid: because he had told them that he was fleeing the presence of the Lord without having carried out his commands. Then they make excuses and say, "why did you do this?", and this means, "if you fear God, why did you do this? If this God that you revere is so powerful according to you, then how can you believe that you will be able to escape him?". They are seized by a great fear, for they realise that he is holy, and from a holy nation (having set out from Joppa they must have known the privilege of the Hebrew people), yet nonetheless they are not able to hide the fugitive. For he who flees may be powerful, but he who seeks is all the more powerful. They do not dare to hand him over to the Lord, yet they cannot hide him. They reprehend blame, and avow their fear. They pray to Jonah to give himself up for the sin he has committed. Or indeed, when they say, "why have you done this?", they are not inciting him, but questioning, wanting to know the cause of his flight, the flight of a servant from his master, of a son from his father, of a man from his God. They ask, therefore, what is this great mystery that makes you flee from the land and seek the seas, leave your country and set out for foreign lands?
