@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 116:17,18,3:8. 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.