Jonah 2

Jon 2:1-10.

JONAH'S

PRAYER OF

FAITH AND

DELIVERANCE.

1. his God--"his" still, though Jonah had fled from Him. Faith

enables Jonah now to feel this; just as the returning prodigal says of

the Father, from whom he had wandered, "I will arise and go to

my Father"

(Lu 15:18).

out of the fish's belly--Every place may serve as an oratory. No place

is amiss for prayer. Others translate, "when (delivered) out of the

fish's belly." English Version is better.

2. His prayer is partly descriptive and precatory, partly

eucharistical. Jonah incorporates with his own language inspired

utterances familiar to the Church long before in

Jon 2:2,

Ps 120:1;

in

Jon 2:3,

Ps 42:7;

in Jon 2:4,

Ps 31:22;

in

Jon 2:5,

Ps 69:1;

in Jon 2:7,

Ps 142:3; 18:6;

in

Jon 2:8,

Ps 31:6;

in

Jon 2:9,

Ps 116:17, 18, and 3:8.

Jonah, an inspired man, thus attests both the antiquity and inspiration

of the Psalms. It marks the spirit of faith, that Jonah identifies

himself with the saints of old, appropriating their experiences as

recorded in the Word of God

(Ps 119:50).

Affliction opens up the mine of Scripture, before seen only on the

surface.

out of the belly of hell--Sheol, the unseen world, which the

belly of the fish resembled.

3. thou hadst cast . . . thy billows . . . thy waves--Jonah recognizes

the source whence his sufferings came. It was no mere chance, but

the hand of God which sent them. Compare Job's similar recognition of

God's hand in calamities,

Job 1:21; 2:10;

and David's,

2Sa 16:5-11.

4. cast out from thy sight--that is, from Thy favorable regard. A

just retribution on one who had fled "from the presence of the Lord"

(Jon 1:3).

Now that he has got his desire, he feels it to be his bitterest sorrow

to be deprived of God's presence, which once he regarded as a burden,

and from which he desired to escape. He had turned his back on God; so

God turned His back on him, making his sin his punishment.

toward thy holy temple--In the confidence of faith he anticipates yet

to see the temple at Jerusalem, the appointed place of worship

(1Ki 8:38),

and there to render thanksgiving [HENDERSON].

Rather, I think, "Though cast out of Thy sight, I will still with

the eye of faith once more look in prayer towards Thy temple

at Jerusalem, whither, as Thy earthly throne, Thou hast desired Thy

worshippers to direct their prayers."

5. even to the soul--that is, threatening to extinguish the

animal life.

weeds--He felt as if the seaweeds through which he was dragged were

wrapped about his head.

6. bottoms of . . . mountains--their extremities where they

terminate in the hidden depths of the sea. Compare

Ps 18:7,

"the foundations of the hills"

(Ps 18:15).

earth with her bars was about me--Earth, the land of the living, is

(not "was") shut against me.

for ever--so far as any effort of mine can deliver me.

yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption--rather, "Thou

bringest . . . from the pit"

[MAURER]. As in the previous clauses he

expresses the hopelessness of his state, so in this, his sure hope of

deliverance through Jehovah's infinite resources. "Against hope he

believes in hope," and speaks as if the deliverance were actually being

accomplished. Hezekiah seems to have incorporated Jonah's very words in

his prayer

(Isa 38:17),

just as Jonah appropriated the language of the Psalms.

7. soul fainted . . . I remembered the Lord--beautifully exemplifying

the triumph of spirit over flesh, of faith over sense

(Ps 73:26; 42:6).

For a time troubles shut out hope; but faith revived when Jonah

"remembered the Lord," what a gracious God He is, and how now He still

preserves his life and consciousness in his dark prison-house.

into thine holy temple--the temple at Jerusalem

(Jon 2:4).

As there he looks in believing prayer towards it, so here he regards

his prayer as already heard.

8. observe lying vanities--regard or reverence idols, powerless to

save

(Ps 31:6).

mercy--Jehovah, the very idea of whom is identified now in Jonah's

mind with mercy and loving-kindness. As the Psalmist

(Ps 144:2)

styles Him, "my goodness"; God who is to me all beneficence. Compare

Ps 59:17,

"the God of my mercy," literally, "my kindness-God." Jonah had

"forsaken His own mercy," God, to flee to heathen lands where "lying

vanities" (idols) were worshipped. But now, taught by his own

preservation in conscious life in the fish's belly, and by the

inability of the mariners' idols to lull the storm

(Jon 1:5),

estrangement from God seems estrangement from his own happiness

(Jer 2:13; 17:13).

Prayer has been restrained in Jonah's case, so that he was "fast

asleep" in the midst of danger, heretofore; but now prayer is the sure

sign of his return to God.

9. I will sacrifice . . . thanksgiving--In the

believing anticipation of sure deliverance, he offers thanksgivings

already. So Jehoshaphat

(2Ch 20:21)

appointed singers to praise the Lord in front of the army before

the battle with Moab and Ammon, as if the victory was already gained.

God honors such confidence in Him. There is also herein a mark of

sanctified affliction, that he vows amendment and thankful obedience

(Ps 119:67).

10. upon the dry land--probably on the coast of Palestine.