(23-32) Storm-tossed mariners.

(23) They that go down to the sea.--An expression so exactly opposite to the ancient equivalent for embarking that we feel we have the very Hebrew feeling. From the high lands of Judaea it was a literal descent to the shores of the Mediterranean. So Jonah went down to Joppa (Jonah 1:3). (Comp. Isaiah 42:10.)

Do business.--Probably with allusion to commercial enterprise.

Verses 23-32. - Finally, there are cases among those whose business requires them to traverse the sea, where the danger is great, and death seems imminent. Let such persons cast themselves upon God, and "cry to him in their trouble," and they too will be heard and delivered. Must it not be their duty also to give thanks? Verse 23. - They that go down to the sea in ships. That many of the Israelites engaged in maritime pursuits appears from 1 Kings 9:26-28; 1 Kings 10:22; 1 Kings 22:48; 2 Chronicles 20:36; as also from Judges 5:17; Psalm 48:7; Proverbs 23:34; Proverbs 30:19; and from many passages of the Apocrypha. Joppa was at all times an Israelite port, from which trade was carried on by the residents (2 Chronicles 2:16; Ezra 3:7; Jonah 1:3). That do business in great waters; i.e. the sea of Galilee and Lake Merom.

107:23-32 Let those who go to sea, consider and adore the Lord. Mariners have their business upon the tempestuous ocean, and there witness deliverances of which others cannot form an idea. How seasonable it is at such a time to pray! This may remind us of the terrors and distress of conscience many experience, and of those deep scenes of trouble which many pass through, in their Christian course. Yet, in answer to their cries, the Lord turns their storm into a calm, and causes their trials to end in gladness.They that go down to the sea in ships,.... This is the fourth instance of persons in distress crying to the Lord for help, and, having it, are laid under obligation to praise him; the case of seafaring men: so the Targum introduces it,

"mariners that go down to the sea in ships;''

the same form of expression as here is used in Isaiah 42:10. Some affirm the sea to be higher than the earth, but by this it should be lower; besides the earth is said to be founded on the seas, which suggests superiority; and all the rivers run into the sea, which supposes a declivity; but, be it so that it is higher than the earth, yet this phrase is to be justified by the shores being higher than the sea, from whence men go down to take shipping, as Kimchi observes; though Kimchi's father is of opinion that it respects persons going down into the ship, which is deep, as Jonah is said to do, Jonah 1:3.

That do business in great waters: which refers either to the steering and working of the ship, and everything relating to the management of the ropes and sails, and other affairs; and in a storm much business is done, all hands are employed: or else to the business they go to sea about, as catching fish, curing them, and carrying them to market; or else to traffic and merchandise of goods, they convey from place to place. The phrase is much like that, "as many as trade by sea", Revelation 18:17.