Matthew Poole and continuators on Jonah 1:9

9 And he said unto them I am an Hebrew , and I fear the LORD the God of heaven , which hath made the sea , and the dry land .

Ionah freely and readily gives account of himself.

One that am descended from Heber, whose Off-spring by Abraham are well known, and probably to these Mariners, he saith not a Iew, because he was not in strictness of speech, for he was of the Tribe of Zebulun, nor an Israelite distinguisht from the Iew, lest he should seem to own himself of that Idolatrous Faction.

I worship and serve the true God only, or possibly it may imply that his employment was in the immediate service of God, as a Religious person that had abdicated the World, and dedicated himself to God.

The Eternal, and Almighty God, yours are upstart Gods, and have no power or might, nor can they do any thing.

Who first made, now ruleth, and ever will rule the Heavens which none of your Gods can pretend to, those Heavens from whence you see this storm falleth.

That Sea which now threatens you for my sake, and threatens me for my sin, my God hath raised the Sea in his quarrel to contend thus furiously, and he can, and none but he can command it to be still.

A Description of the Earth, you would get thither, but all your Gods cannot bring you thither, or give you to set one foot upon it if my God say no. This is the sum of what Ionah declares, by which he intimateth his innocency from any flagitious Crime as they might imagin him guilty, and yet confesseth the greatness of his sin which he had before told them, though they understood it not, or thought light of it, he fled from the presence of the Lord.