Bible Study - Book of Jonah Part 4 - Jonah 2:1-10

We begin this study at Jonah 2:1, after Jonah was thrown into the Mediterranean Sea in a great storm and, by a miracle of God, did not drown but was swallowed by a great fish. For parts of three days, Jonah was in the belly of the great fish, protected and kept alive by God Himself. While inside the fish, Jonah had plenty of time to think and meditate, and he especially seemed to focus on psalms that he knew from his work as a prophet and from his time in worship, where psalms were the songbook, the hymnal, for God’s people. All this leads Jonah to the prayer that he prayed to God in Jonah, Chapter 2.

Dr. Walter Roehrs suggests that we consider three things about this prayer:

1. The prayer is seen and described and written down “retrospectively” (after the fact) “from the vantage point of his deliverance.” So, “both his past petitions and his present thanksgiving are recorded.”
2. There is nothing about the physical aspect of his being in a great fish and being vomited out. The prayer is only about his inner spiritual thinking and meditation.
3. The prayer is sincere toward God, but never does Jonah clearly confess his own sin of rebellion against God and His will. He thinks about Jerusalem and the temple there, but there is still no clear thought about Nineveh, and the needs of the people there. Jonah still is far from understanding God’s will and plan.

As we get into that prayer, then, we see that Jonah does clearly recognize and pray to the one true God, “the Lord his God.” (If your translation has “the LORD” all in capital letters, that indicates that this is the special Hebrew name for God, often called “Yahweh.” Jonah used that special name four times in this short prayer, and it is used is verse 1 and verse 10, as well. Jonah kept faith with the one true God, even though he was still struggling with God’s specific plan for him, as we will see.

As a prophet, Jonah also knew and used God’s Word and had worshipped Him using the songbook, the hymnal of God’s people, the psalms. David had written many of them nearly 200 years before, and Jonah seems to have had them in mind as he was in the great fish for those three days. Many of the phrases he uses have parallels in the psalms and some might even have been direct quotes from psalms he remembered. (In the podcast I suggested keeping your Bible open to Jonah but also to the psalms, and I read from many of them. In this summary, I will simply list Psalm parallels, and you can look them up on your own, as you choose.)

In Jonah 2:2-3, Jonah knew to call upon the LORD in his distress “in the belly of Sheol.” He trusted that the Lord would hear and answer. (Sheol is a Hebrew word which can mean "the place of the dead.” Jonah must have felt near to death and not sure if he would survive. “Sheol” can also be a word for “hell” in some contexts, but not here, though Jonah may well have felt that he was in a “hellish” situation, in a great fish in the sea. See parallels in Psalm 18:3-6, a psalm of David, and Psalm 130:1.)

In Jonah 2:3, Jonah admits that it was really not the sailors but the Lord who had “cast” him “into the deep.” He says, in verse 4, to the Lord, “I am driven away from Your sight.” He had purposely tried to run away from God and now realizes what great agony he had brought upon himself and how much he needed the Lord from whom he had tried to escape. (See parallels in Psalm 31:22, another psalm of David.) How much Jonah wishes he could be in the “holy temple” in Jerusalem, where God would show His presence and he could hear God’s Word (Jonah 2:4 and 2:7). (See parallels again in Psalm 31:22 and Psalm 27:4-5.)

Again, Jonah thinks of how trapped he is in a “land whose bars could close upon him forever,” in death, in “the pit” (Jonah 2:5-6). (See the parallels in Psalm 69:1-3, still another psalm of David.) Yet, in Jonah 2:7, when his “life was fainting away,” Jonah “remembered the Lord,” and seemed to realize that the Lord could still “bring his life up from the pit.” He could still talk with the Lord in prayer, right where he was, and be heard and helped, through the Word of God that he knew, in these psalms. (See Psalm 5:7 and Psalm 77:9-16,19.)

What Jonah was going through is important for all of us when we go through turbulent times in our lives. We can go up and down in our thinking and feelings, from one moment to the next, as Jonah did. We can have times of great discouragement and depression, but remembering the Lord and His Word and His mercy and care can pull us up to hope again. (See Psalm 42, where the psalmist’s soul is “cast down and in turmoil” until he remembers God and His house and His steadfast love and mercy. See especially verses 4-8, where he is lifted up by His Lord and His hope, and yet needs to keep remembering His Lord, for he can slip back into discouragement. He mentions this in Psalm 42:11, again, and in Psalm 43:3-5.) Doesn’t that sound like Jonah’s thoughts, while in the belly of the great fish? Does that sound like you and me, too, at times in our lives?

We all need to keep “remembering the Lord” and what He really wants to give us all - His steadfast love and mercy and forgiveness, as we listen to His Word and trust in Him. (See another psalm of David, Psalm 103:1-13.) That’s why we need to keep studying His Word, as we are doing right now and as we do in worship, as we hear of the mercy and forgiveness of God. Dr. Roehrs, in his comments on Jonah 2, also points us to how often God told His Old Testament people (and us) to keep remembering Him and what He has done for us, in His rescue of His people from slavery in Egypt, (and His rescue of us all now through Jesus our Savior, above all). See Deuteronomy 7:18, 8:2, 8:18, 11:2-3, 24:9,18, and 22, 15:15, and 16:12, for example.

Finally, this message also got through to Jonah. He knew that “those who pay attention to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love” from God. (Jonah 2:8). (See the warning God gave to His own people in Hosea 4:1-3, when they did not know and remember and listen to Him. Does verse 2 sound like our own country, at times?)

In contrast, Jonah was finally trusting that the Lord was going to spare him, and he was already thanking the Lord for His mercy and making plans to sacrifice to the Lord and make promises and vows to Him that he would carry out in the future, when he was rescued (Jonah 2:9). (See parallels in Psalm 50:14-15 and 56:12-13 and 61:8.)

Jonah was also quoting from Psalm 3:8, another psalm of David, when he finally said, “Salvation belongs to the Lord.” And on the third day that Jonah was in the great fish, “The Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land” (Jonah 2:10). He was saved by His Lord, who who still cared about him. And we are saved by our Lord Jesus, as we keep trusting Him, too.

We will see, as we continue the story of Jonah, how well he does with his vows and promises and thanksgiving to His Lord. There is such a thing that is called “jailhouse religion” or “foxhole religion.” When people are in big trouble or danger, they sometimes get serious and call upon the Lord and make promises to Him, if He will only help them out. But as soon as they are out of danger, they forget all about their vows and good intentions and leave the Lord behind again. May the Lord help us to keep trusting in Him, staying faithful to Him. It is always the best for us and is our way of thanking Him for His mercy to us. And as God is merciful to us, we are called to merciful and caring to others, even those who treat us badly. See Luke 6:27-36. That is a message that Jonah still needs to learn, as we shall see.