Musar su Giona 1:17

“You shall surely reprimand your countryman and not bear sin because of him.” (Leviticus 19:17). We were warned with this not to incur sin from the sin of our fellow, in our preventing ourselves from rebuking them. And if one man sins when his sin is completely revealed and they did not rebuke him with a rod of reprimands, the whole congregation is punished. And it is accordingly written (Joshua 22:20), “When Achan son of Zerah violated the proscription, anger struck the whole community of Israel; he was not the only one who perished for that sin.” And it is stated (Deuteronomy 29:28), “but with overt [acts], it is for us and our children forever.“ And even the nations of the world said, (Jonah 1:7) “Let us cast lots and find out on whose account this misfortune has come upon us” - and certainly with Israel, who are responsible for one another.

But the truth is that the Holy One blessed is He is merely holding His peace until the person exceeds his limit.. Meanwhile the case against him continues accumulating until Divine wrath strikes at him all of a sudden, just like the storm that struck Yonah’s ship. And just as the tempest grew stronger and stronger until it threatened to destroy the vessel, so do Heaven’s judgments shake up a person’s entire body until he is so agitated and feverish that he must take to his sick bed, where he lapses into deep sleep. This is parallel to what is written in the book of Yonah, “And Yonah went down to the depths of the ship and fell asleep” (1:5). While the person is still confined to his bed a spirit begins to awaken within him. It is the evil inclination, which on this occasion urges him to repent without delay, for the day of his departure from this world is drawing near. This is alluded to in the verse, “And the captain approached him” (1:6). As the Zohar tells us, “this is the evil inclination,” the “captain” of the body. “And he said to him, ‘Why are you sleeping? Get up and call upon your God!’ ” In other words his evil inclination implores him, “This is no time to sleep! You are about to be judged concerning everything you did in this world! Be sure to confess to your Creator!”

The decree of Heaven does not rest and will not be silenced until it has completed its task and taken his soul from his body. This hinted at in the verse, “And they bore Yonah” (1:15). That is, upon his death a person’s body is born to the cemetery. As this is taking place heralds go ahead of his casket. If he has lived meritoriously they proclaim, “Give honor to the image of the King! Let him come in peace!” (Yeshayahu 57:2). This is alluded to in the verse, “And your righteousness will go before you” (ibid. 58:8). That is, it will go ahead of your casket. But if he sullied himself with sin, Heaven forbid, then they proclaim, “Woe to So-and-so! It would have been better had he not been born!” Concerning this was it written, “And they cast him into the sea and the sea stopped its raging” (Yonah 1:15). That is, when they brought him to the cemetery. The fish that swallowed Yonah represents the grave. During the first three days that the body is in the grave the intestines burst open. After three days they cast their filth upon his face, saying, “Take back what you put into me! You ate and drank but did not give to the poor. You spent all your days as if they were holidays and festivals, while the poor went hungry and were not invited to eat with you. So take back what you put into me.” This is the meaning of the verse, “And I will scatter excrement upon your faces, etc.” (Malachi 2:3).

I have found a similar interpretation by the Rekanati who writes as follows: "The plain meaning of the prayer in 21,8: 'do not burden the people of Israel with the guilt of shedding innocent blood' is undoubtedly the spilling of blood of the innocent. We must ask, however, why there is a need to pray to G–d not to burden us with a guilt we have not been guilty of? Who could imagine that G–d would punish without due process of law? Was this not precisely the response of Avimelech to G–d when he knew that he had not actually raped Sarah (Genesis 20,5)? He claimed that Sarah had misled him! King David in Psalms 7,5 said: "If I have dealt evil to my ally, etc." He defended himself against G–d not considering him worthy of intervention because of a sin he might have committed quite by accident. A similar passage is found in the Book of Jonah when the sailors about to go down with their ship reluctantly agreed to save themselves by throwing Jonah overboard (Jonah 1,14).