Jonah Chapter Two

Read Jonah 2:1-10 – Jonah’s Plea and Prayer

v.1 “Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly,”

Like many others who have been in dire straits, Jonah, in his despair caused by his disobedience to God turns to God in prayer. He is like the Psalmist in:

Psalms 130:1-2 “OUT OF THE DEPTHS HAVE I CRIED UNTO THEE, O LORD. LORD HEAR MY VOICE: LET THINE EARS BE ATTENTIVE TO THE VOICE OF MY SUPPLICATIONS.”

Like Jeremiah the prophet, he has nowhere else to turn, he indeed has hit bottom and realizes “Where could I go but to the Lord.”

Lamentations 3:52-56 “Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause. They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me. Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off. I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon. Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.”

v.2 “And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.”

As is obvious, Jonah is writing this record after the events have occurred. In describing his situation he used much the same language that David used:

Psalms 18:4-6 “THE SORROWS OF DEATH COMPASSED ME, AND THE FLOODS OF UNGODLY MEN MADE ME AFRAID. THE SORROWS OF HELL COMPASSED ME ABOUT: THE SNARES OF DEATH PREVENTED ME. IN MY DISTRESS I CALLED UPON THE LORD, AND CRIED UNTO MY GOD: HE HEARD MY VOICE OUT OF HIS TEMPLE, AND MY CRY CAME BEFORE HIM, even UNTO HIS EARS.”

He is suffering, probably not physically, as his life was preserved and his punishment was intended to generate repentance not destroy him. He describes his lot as being in the belly of hell. He cried out to his God and was heard and he’s actually writing this in thanksgiving.

v.3 “For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.”

Even though the men of the ship on which he was traveling cast him into the sea, Jonah knows whose hand is behind his affliction. He knows that God is dealing with him as a disobedient child, because of his refusal to accept the mission God had given him. Again we find similarities between the words of Jonah and those of the palmist as he voices a prayer both of appeal and humility before God.

Psalms 88:2-7 “LET MY PRAYER COME BEFORE THEE: INCLINE THINE EAR UNTO MY CRY; FOR MY SOUL IS FULL OF TROUBLES: AND MY LIFE DRAWETH NIGH UNTO THE GRAVE. I AM COUNTED WITH THEM THAT GO DOWN INTO THE PIT: I AM AS A MAN that hath no STRENGTH: FREE AMONG THE DEAD, LIKE THE SLAIN THAT LIE IN THE GRAVE, WHOM THOU REMEMBERETH NO MORE: AND THEY ARE CUT OFF FROM THY HAND. THOU HAST LAID ME IN THE LOWEST PIT, IN DARKNESS, IN THE DEEPS. THY WRATH LIETH HARD UPON ME, AND THOU HAS AFFLICTED me WITH ALL THY WAVES.”

How many will stand in the fires of hell after the day of judgment and cry out to a God that they knew but did not honor. How many will indeed bow their knees before God and honor his Son in that day like Jonah is here. In Romans 14:11 we’re told that “EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL CONFESS TO GOD.”

v.4 “Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.”

Jonah, deep in the belly of this great fish, feels abandoned by God. I think it would difficult for our imaginations to picture his condition. He has been thrown into the sea and swallowed up but he continues to live, perhaps a day or two days have passed and still there is no relief from his dilemma. He is as David described his condition in Psalms 31:22 “I AM CUT OFF FROM BEFORE THINE EYES:” But sometimes it takes this depth of despair to turn people back to God. We read of the same kind of situation throughout the history of Israel:

I Kings 8:37-38 “If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be; ³⁸What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:”

“THIS HOUSE” in this context is the temple, the dwelling place of God and the words are part of Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem. It symbolized the presence of God in their midst. When trouble and despair struck part of it’s purpose was for them to look, reach their hands, toward to appeal to Almighty God.

v.5-6 “The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.”

Can we imagine being in danger of drowning, especially those of us who might have a fear of water, and having this agony prolonged for three days. Jonah has been to the depths of the sea, in the turbulence of the storm kelp or whatever vegetation found there would be torn up and swept about in the water. He describes weeds being wrapped around his head, and we can assume that he was unable to free himself from them just as he was unable to free himself from any of the afflictions that God has brought upon him. He is helpless, in distress and separated from God.

v.7-8 “When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.”

Jonah acknowledges that when his “SOUL FAINTED WITHIN” him, when he was brought down by God in to the depths that then he remembered his Lord and turned to him in prayer. He comes, figuratively, to the door of God’s “HOLY TEMPLE” to seek and plead for God’s forgiveness for his transgression. Oh, how many are like Jonah today, turning their backs on God, refusing to worship him, refusing to recognize their responsibility to their Creator until they have been brought down like Jonah? How many billions will only do so at the judgment seat and the doors of hell? We should heed these lessons so that we do not become like them.

Jonah also acknowledges that those who follow “LYING VANITIES” are doomed to reap the consequences of forsaking God’s mercy. They are like Israel:

“And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them. ¹⁶And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.” II Kings 17:15-16

The parallel today among those who claim to be children of God is found in the words of Jesus:

“But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matthew 15:9

v.9-10 “But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD. And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.”

Jonah is now ready to do what God has commanded, he is repentant, he will “PAY that THAT I HAVE VOWED”, he understands from where the salvation from his present state must come and what he must do. He is ready to:

“OFFER UNTO GOD THANKSGIVING; AND PAY THY VOWS UNTO THE MOST HIGH: AND CALL UPON ME IN THE DAY OF TROUBLE: I WILL DELIVER THEE, AND THOU SHALT GLORIFY ME.” Psalms 50:14-15

And God rescues him by causing the great fish that held him captive to put him on dry land; dry land from which Jonah can now go to carry out the mission that God has given him.