Jonah and The Sovereignty of God from the New Dictionary of Biblical Theology:
The first main theological statement in the book is forced from the lips of Jonah by the intense questioning of the sailors. In a creed-like statement Jonah confesses, 'I worship (Heb. 'fear') the Lord, the God of heaven who made the sea and the land' (1:9). In this confession, Jonah condemns himself: knowing this about God, he still chose to disobey. The statement describes the nature of God as revealed to Israel. The Exodus from Egypt had demonstrated that the Lord was the God of the sea and the land: the plagues, the deliverance at the Red Sea and the provision in the barren wilderness all manifested his remarkable control of nature.
God's sovereignty over the sea and the land is demonstrated in several ways in the book of Jonah. He 'sends' the storm (1:4); the verb means to cast or throw and it is used again when the sailors throw Jonah overboard. He calms the storm (1:15). He prepares a great fish to swallow Jonah, and later speaks to it causing it to vomit up its hapless passenger (2:10). The phenomenal growth of the planet shows that fertility is a gift of God (4:6). Even a worm furthers his plans (4:7).
God's power over nature is unrivaled: other gods are useless during the storm, and in the psalm of Jonah (ch. 2) idols are described as "worthless'. Jonah's declaration that God is the maker of heaven and earth reflects Israel's faith in the Lord as the supreme authority. As the psalmist declares, 'The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land' (Ps 95:5).
- J. McKeown, New Dictionary of Biblical Theology: Exploring the Unity & Diversity of Scripture by Brian S. Rosner, T. Desmond Alexander, Graeme Goldsworthy and D. A. Carson, p.247
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