JONAH 2

The Structure of Jonah 1:7-2:10

1. Fish swallows Jonah at the LORD's command (1:17)

2. Jonah prays to the LORD for deliverance (2:1)

3. Jonah is cast out by the LORD (2:2-4)

4. Jonah's progress (2:5-7)

                                                        a. downward (2:5-6b)

                                                        b. upward (2:6c-7)

3'. Jonah's restored fellowship with the LORD (2:8-9b)

2'. "Deliverance belongs to the LORD" (2:9c)

1'. Fish vomits out Jonah at the LORD's word (2:10)

Sections 3, 4, and 3' refer to the Temple in Jerusalem (Section 3' references the temple by alluding to a sacrifice that Jonah is planning to make there in the future.) There are prose sections before (1:17-2:1) and after (2:10) the psalm.

Jonah 1:17 In 1987, a Japanese fisherman was swallowed by a shark and escaped with his life. English sailor in 1800's also escaped from a large fish. Attempts over the years to explain this in other ways include (a) Jonah dreamed the whole thing while in the hold of the ship, (b) Jonah was rescued by a ship called The Great Fish, or (c) Luther's opinion that the whole story was a fable/parable. Jonah descends even further, but is perfectly safe. Some see parallels between Jonah's journey and that of Israel who (1) passed safely through the Red Sea and (2) even emerged after being swallowed by Assyria and sent into captivity. Matthew refers to a ketos (large sea monster, sometimes translated “whale” in Greek literature.) Some scholars even suggest that Job truly died in the fish and was resurrected by God, in a strict parallel to what happened to Jesus.

Jonah 2:1 A medieval Jewish commentator noted that “fish” in this verse is feminine rather than the masculine in verse 1:17. He speculated that Jonah was too comfortable in the male fish so God had him transferred to a pregnant female fish full of young fish and therefore in more cramped quarters. In any case, you sometimes have to be at your lowest point to really turn to God. He turns for help after the sailors had, but it is never too late to pray to God.

Read the whole poem/psalm/prayer and see if it fits the story since many liberal commentators feel the poem was imported from somewhere else and stuck here.

Does it fit? Why is this in the past tense as if Jonah had already been rescued?

Explanation 1: Jonah is using the prophetic past, meaning that he is so sure of his future deliverance that it is as if it has already happened.

Explanation 2: Jonah is praying this while in the belly of the fish, and God has already delivered him from drowning.

Explanation 3: Jonah composed the poem afterward and is recounting the whole incident as it happened in the past. Verses 2-7 cover what Jonah said as he was drowning in the ocean. When he woke up and saw how God had rescued him, he made the future vow in vv. 8-9. However, this explanation is somewhat contradicted by verses 1-2. (Josephus rearranges the verses and mistranslates others to make this theory work.)

Jonah 2:2-4

2:2 Jonah compares the belly of the fish with being in Sheol. There was a Sumerian belief that it took three days and nights journey to reach Sheol (see 1:17).

2:3 Jonah is not the actor as in chapter 1; here he recognizes that he is the only the object of God's actions.

2:4 This is ironic since Jonah was fleeing from the LORD's temple in the first place. Note the similarity to Christ crying, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

Jonah 2:5-6

2:5 The older translations say the water closed in “over my soul” making it more of a religious experience of despair. The same word for soul appears in 2:7. In Jewish thinking, the sea represented all the forces of chaos (probably because they were not a seagoing people). The word for “deep” is the same one in Genesis 1:2.

2:6 This is the turning point in the story (see structure) when Jonah calls God, “My God.” There is a parallel in Psalm 16:10 quoted by Peter in Acts 2:27: “Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades, nor let thy Holy One see corruption.” “Bars” is an allusion to the idea that Hades has a barred gate that prevents the dead from returning to life. Remember Jesus' words to Peter: “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”

Jonah 2:7-10

2:7 Although Jonah may have been fleeing from God's specific presence in the temple, here he says that the temple was where God heard his prayer for help. “At this moment he was with God. He 'remembered the Lord'. In this great danger, and God responded. Hence, when Jonah was plunged into death and hell, he was not separated from God. Nothing can put a barrier between us and our Savior once a little movement on our part has restored this link which God patiently re-establishes for us. God is with Jonah in the depths of the ocean. God is with Jonah in the belly of the fish. God is with each of us in death. When human bonds are snapped, when coma arrests human actions, when there is agony, we can know that this is both a last trial and also a final dialogue with the Savior. Hell does not merely obey this almighty Lord; it is also open to him. As we enter it, God also enters it so as not to leave us alone.” Jacques Ellul, The Judgment of Jonah, p. 55.

2:8 Jonah has not really learned the lesson of God's mercy to all people; he immediately starts condemning the pagans.

2:9 Again Jonah is following in the sailors' footsteps by making a vow (see 1:16).

2:10 This is humorous since it implies that even the fish couldn't stomach Jonah.