What do we learn from "va'Shem Hetil Ru'ach Gedolah?"?
Malbim: This was not based on the sea's nature then. It was not a time of a storm. Hashem brought it with Hashgachah. Sometimes a storm comes from the dry land. The wind blows the boat away; the wind is on the entire surface of the sea. This wind came from the depth of the water itself. It surrounded this boat; other boats went serenely. The sailors sensed that it is a punishment of Hashgachah.
What is the meaning of "Chishevah Lehishaver"?
Rashi: It seemed as if it was broken.
Radak: People on the boat thought that it will break.
Malbim citing Mahari: A boat does not break in the middle of the sea; it can only sink. It breaks only if the wind casts it on rocks on the shore. The people on the boat feared lest it sink. They thought to veer it to land to break there 1 , so some people would be saved due to proximity to the dry land.
Malbim: This is difficult. It says below (13, after Yonah said that it is due to him and they should throw him off) that they tried to return to the land! (Why did they prefer this, if only some would survive? ? PF) "Ru'ach ha'Kadim Shevarech b'Lev Yamim" (Yechezkel 27:26) shows that boats do break in the middle of the sea! The wind can break the mast and what conducts the boat, like it says in Gitin 28b. (So Perush ha'Mishnayos explains there 'Sefinah she'Avdah.' However, others explain that it sank! ? PF)
