When I was younger I always wondered why Jonah fell asleep. As you said, it seemed so strange. As I've become older I've become more convinced that he was planning on dying there. He just couldn't face what God was asking him to do.
When I went on a fishing boat in Alaskan seas, my wife and in-laws loved the adventure. As soon as the waves got bigger, I became completely nauseated. I was literally willing to pay thousands of dollars to have a helicopter pick me up off the boat, just to end the grief.
The captain suggested that I go down into the lowest and very center part of the boat, which would provide the most limited rocking back and forth. Being in a otherworldly mental state, I fell asleep, just to escape the nausea.
It's possible that Jonah went down below, simply to feel better.
When I was younger I always wondered why Jonah fell asleep. As you said, it seemed so strange. As I've become older I've become more convinced that he was planning on dying there. He just couldn't face what God was asking him to do.
As a very small aside, perhaps Jonah was seasick.
When I went on a fishing boat in Alaskan seas, my wife and in-laws loved the adventure. As soon as the waves got bigger, I became completely nauseated. I was literally willing to pay thousands of dollars to have a helicopter pick me up off the boat, just to end the grief.
The captain suggested that I go down into the lowest and very center part of the boat, which would provide the most limited rocking back and forth. Being in a otherworldly mental state, I fell asleep, just to escape the nausea.
It's possible that Jonah went down below, simply to feel better.