JONAH AND PSALM 139

Several commentators have noted the relationship between these two passages of Scripture, more in terms of the opposite attitudes they reflect rather than correspondences. And in today's rancorous religious and political climate, it is well to note the distinction they teach in the way we should feel regarding those with whom we disagree.

I am reminded of an incident I recently learned about in which a preacher had just finished preaching a sermon on the necessity of forgiving and loving our enemies. One of his parishioners approached him afterward and warned him never again to say such things from the pulpit.

Psalm 139:1-6

Turning first to the psalm in question, the author begins by stating that God has searched his heart and discerned his thoughts. This obviously speaks to God's omniscience. “A major theme of Psalm 139 is 'knowing.' The word yada occurs seven times in the psalm (vv. 1,2,4,6,14,23 [2x]), four times in vv. 1-6...for the beleaguered singer of Psalm 139, that thought is comforting.” (deClaisse-Walford)

On the other hand, that word only appears in the Book of Jonah twice (1:12; 4:2), both times on the lips of Jonah declaring what he knew, not what God did.

Cary says that “it is a very good thing when Jonah is revealed in the inner depths of the boat [cf. Jonah 1:5]. From Jonah's perspective, it is not just some sailors who have found him, but the same LORD from whom he is fleeing. As the psalmist reminds us: 'You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways' (Ps. 139:3). This depth of divine knowledge is for the comfort of the obedient and for the discomfiture of the disobedient, but in both cases for our good.”

The fact that God hems us in (v. 5) is comforting to the Psalmist but not at all to Jonah, who finds God pushing him one way or another as He wills.

Psalm 139:7-12

At this point, the Psalmist changes subjects to extol God's omnipresence in no uncertain terms. Here we see the most direct comparison with the events in the Book of Jonah.

Anderson finds a possible allusion to the story of Jonah in the translation of 'thy Spirit' in v. 7 as 'wind, wrath' instead. “The verse as a whole is a rhetorical question expecting a negative answer. It does not imply that the Psalmist wanted to escape from God (as Jonah tried to do; cf. Jon. 1,:3,10); on the contrary, he seems glad that there is no place in this world where he might find himself beyond God's care (see verse 10). In a way this is also an implicit protestation of innocence; believing what he does, he would have been absolutely foolish to rebel against God, or to try to hide his guilt, had he committed some offense.”

Commenting on Jonah 1:1-3, Allen says, “That Jonah was prepared to entrust himself to an ocean-going boat rather than face up to God's call must have struck the hearers as proof positive of his mad determination. Surely no good can come of this foolhardy venture...In his hasty plans he has reckoned without the Hound of Heaven. It is as the psalmist said [in Psalm 139:7,9].”

Sasson notes that Psalm 139:7-10 “actually refers to four (not two) compass points and, paradoxically, conveys an immobility due to a situation acknowledged as hopeless. Whether fleeing heavenward, or to Sheol (Hades), whether escaping toward the East, or toward the West – the poet acknowledges – there is no escape [from the presence of God].” Contrast Jonah who proposes to “flee from the presence of the LORD,” as mentioned no less than three times in the text (1:3 [2x],10) and stated in slightly different terms in Jonah 4:2.

For two verbal correspondences between the two documents, we can first point to the occurrence of Sheol in Psalm 139:8b (“If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there”) and Jonah 2:2b (“Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice”). Both passages appear to express a belief in the presence of God with the speaker wherever he might be. However, in the case of Jonah there is an obvious caveat when one additionally considers the first part of verse 2:4 – “Then I said, 'I am driven away from your sight.” That seems to indicate that Jonah felt that his location on the bed of the sea (i.e. in Sheol) was outside of God's domain.

One way to resolve the question is to look next at Jonah 2:4 in which he states, “I am driven away from your sight; how shall I look again upon your holy temple. It there are two parallel thoughts being expressed, then Jonah indeed may be picturing God as a national deity who primarily dwelt in the Jerusalem temple.

This point is echoed by Cary, who states, “We might well wonder what Jonah could be thinking. How can anyone flee from God, who is everywhere. The psalmist's prayer is certainly not lost on Jonah: 'You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.' (Ps. 139:2). But what Jonah and his readers know – they practically feel it in their bones – is that there is more to the presence of the LORD than omnipresence and omniscience. There is a specific place where the God of Israel meets his people, hears their petitions, and judges their cause (1 Kgs. 8:27-40), a place, we could say, of the LORD's presence in person.” Namely the temple in Jerusalem. “His flight is not an attempt to escape divine omnipresence so much as an effort not to heed this word.”

In discussing Jonah 2:6, Cary notes that 'precisely here the LORD reverses the whole direction and movement of Jonah's story by bringing him upward. There is no place where he does not know his own.” Cary at this point quotes “the great biblical confession of divine omnipresence,” namely Psalm 139:7-10.

By the way, the opposite words “up” and “down” are prominent in both passages under consideration, appearing five times in Psalm 139 and ten times in the Book of Jonah.

There is another point brought out by Sasson, who feels that Psalm 139:8-10 talks figuratively about God's two hands hemming him in. The analogy of two hands also appears in a Jonah 4:11 in which God describes the people of Nineveh as not able to distinguish their left hand from the right, an expression explained by Allen as meaning that they are “also as virtual children compared with the Jews. They know no better, for they have not had the spiritual advantages of Israel and so it is necessary to make allowances for them.”

In verse 9, the author says, “If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me...” Even though there is much uncertainty regarding the exact location of Tarshish, Jonah's stated destination in 1:3, one strong contender is a town on the coast of Spain. If so, then this would literally be “the farthest limits of the sea.”

Verses 11-12 of this psalm confess that darkness cannot conceal a person from the presence of God. But that appears to be exactly what Jonah is trying to do by hiding in the dark hold of the ship (Jonah 1:5). And, of course, it will get even darker when he is in the belly of the fish underwater.

Psalm 139:13-18

In these verses we have a hymn to the omnipotence of God as evidenced by the greatest of His creations, mankind. By contrast, God goes to great lengths in 4:6-11 to show Jonah that the only part of creation he appears to be concerned about is the small portion that impacts him directly.

“We could call the gourd [of Jonah 4:10] a 'nightling.' It emerged from the darkness and returned to it, for it was 'made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth' (Ps. 139:15).” (Cary) Thus we see the unity of the most supreme of God's creations with “Jonah's” lowly gourd.

Verse 18 reads, “I awake – I am still with you.” We see an allusion to this verse in Jonah 1:5-6 where the sailors wake the prophet up from his sound sleep to tell him of the disaster than Jonah knows has been caused by God Himself.

Psalm 139:19-22

These are really the only verses in this psalm in which we might be tempted to see a direct parallel between the attitudes of the Psalmist and Jonah. But in reality, there is quite a contrast between the two people.

“The target of the psalmist's enemies appears to be God (vv. 20-21), suggesting that the psalmist is speaking in defense of God and perhaps that the previous verses of the psalm were composed as an 'apology' on behalf of God.” (deClaisse-Walford)

Jonah, on the other hand, when confronted by God in the final chapter of the book is totally unable to explain to Him what is wrong with showing mercy on those human beings who have repented and are certainly worth more in God's eyes than the plant over Jonah's head.

Psalm 139:23-24

Finally, as the other half of the inclusio encapsulating the psalm, verses 23-24 repeat some of the same key words in verses 1-3, but this time in the imperative mood – The Psalmist actually invites God to search his heart again in order to point out any evil that may be in it. Few of us would be so bold to welcome such an examination. Again, as in vv. 1-6, the emphasis is on God's omniscience. This is emphasized by use of the word “know” twice at the end of the psalm. We can contrast this to the two times Jonah uses the same word – both referring not to God's knowledge, but to his own (see Jonah 1:12 and 4:2).

Certainly Jonah is in no mood for God to reveal what He thinks of Jonah's thoughts and actions, even though all the events of that narrative are expressly designed to bring Jonah to his senses. It all comes to a head in the final chapter in which God gently prods Jonah into self examination by asking probing questions, two of which Jonah actually refuses to answer.

In my earlier blog titled “The Prodigal Son: Part 2,” I demonstrated that there is practically an identical literary structure in Jonah 4 and Jesus' parable. I concluded with these words: “Notice that God's behavior in the story of Jonah and the father's attitude in this parable are identical. He shows equal compassion toward those outside and those within the fold and gives each of them time to repent. The parable is not an attack on the Pharisees, and the ending “functions as an invitation for them to change their attitude..' (Snodgrass)  Jesus is not saying that the older brother (Pharisees) has no relationship with God, merely that he should not have a disdainful attitude toward repentant sinners.” We can say the exact same regarding God's method of gently dealing with Jonah.