Jonah 1:17–2:10

1:17 With the end of verse 16, we might think we have reached the end of the story. The rebellious prophet has been thrown into the sea, while pagans have turned to the Lord in worship; the story seems complete.

But it is not, for Jonah’s deliverance, not his death, is the Lord’s goal. God did not want to kill Jonah; he wanted to call Jonah back to himself and to the mission he had given him. The Lord in his relentless mercy continues to pursue this rebellious man.

And so the story continues. Once again showing his sovereignty over nature, “The LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah” and keep him alive. The most incredible part about this is not that a sea creature swallowed Jonah;¹ it is that he somehow remained alive in its belly “three days and three nights.” For some, this is too hard to believe, and so they read the story as a parable. For others, this is no more difficult for the Lord than giving sight to a person born blind (John 9:1–7, 30–33), healing the incurable (Matt. 15:30–31), or raising Jesus from the dead—and doing so after three days (Matt. 12:40; Acts 4:10).²

However we judge the historicity of the event, we are still left to wonder why Jonah waited three days and nights before praying.³ No answer is given, but there are at least three possible reasons for the length of time involved, all of which may be true. First, perhaps the details of this verse are there to orient the listener in terms of space and time. Where is Jonah? In the fish’s belly. How long is he there before he prays? Three days and three nights. By orienting us to these things, the narrator helps us focus on the content of the prayer itself.⁴ Second, it is possible the phrase “three days and three nights” had extra significance to the original readers, such as to indicate the typical amount of time needed for a significant journey (Gen. 22:4; Ex. 3:18). Third, in the context of this story, this time period might be mentioned in order to highlight a contrast between Jonah and a different group of pagans—but we will have to wait until the next chapter to understand what that contrast might be (cf. comment on Jonah 3:5).

2:1 The story now turns to Jonah’s prayer, which is filled with biblical language, especially that of the Psalms. In fact, his prayer is most similar to a number of psalms usually considered “psalms of thanksgiving” (Psalms 18 [=2 Samuel 22]; 30; 32; 34; 66; 92; 116; 118; 138; cf. 1 Sam. 2:1–10; Isa. 38:9–20), which are characterized by thankfulness to the Lord for his protection and deliverance (cf. Jonah 2:2, 6b, 9). Such psalms usually recount the psalmist’s cry for help (cf. vv. 2b, 7) and the trouble from which the Lord has delivered the psalmist (cf. vv. 2b–6a); sometimes they highlight the contrast between the righteous and the wicked (cf. vv. 8–9). For a man who was rescued from certain death because of the Lord’s help, this was the perfect type of prayer to pray—and he prays it while still in the fish’s belly! His trial is not yet over, but he has seen the Lord begin to work and has faith that the Lord will deliver him completely.

2:2 Jonah’s prayer begins by summarizing his distress and deliverance. His distress was clearly severe, as shown by the mention of “Sheol,” which represents the realm of death (1 Sam. 2:6; Ps. 6:5; Hos. 13:14); a person going to Sheol was a person who was going to die, whether righteous (Gen. 37:35) or unrighteous (Pss. 9:16; 31:17). Indeed, to be in Sheol’s belly is to be swallowed up by death itself, to be as good as dead. But Jonah knew the Lord could deliver from the power of death (cf. Pss. 30:3; 86:13; 116:3–6), so he called out to him, and the Lord, in keeping with his mighty power, heard Jonah’s prayer and answered it.

2:3–6 With this summary in place, Jonah now goes back in time to describe his trial in terrifying detail. First, he makes clear it was the Lord’s judgment: “The sailors may have hurled me overboard, but they were simply your hands. You, O Lord, have cast me here! These are your waves and your billows that now pass over me in judgment!” Jonah also makes clear that his punishment is to be entombed in a watery grave, from which he has no chance of escape: he is in the very “heart of the seas,” there is water “surrounding” him on all sides, and mighty “waves” and “billows” form a ceiling of water above his head.

In light of these events, it is natural for Jonah to conclude that he has been “driven away” from the Lord’s sight (v. 4). The Hebrew word for “drive away” (garash) is strong; in some instances it comes close to our word “banish” (Gen. 3:24; 21:10), which fits the context here: he has been banished from the Lord’s presence.

This leads to the second half of Jonah 2:4, where there is a translation issue. The Hebrew text is a statement: “Yet [Hb. ʼak] I shall again look upon your holy temple” (ESV). The “holy temple” is the place where the Lord dwells (Ps. 18:6), which can refer either to the Jerusalem temple (Ps. 79:1) or to the heavenly temple (Ps. 11:4).⁵ The verb “look” is used elsewhere to describe both looking at a physical object (1 Kings 18:43) and looking figuratively to the Lord for help (Ps. 34:5). Jonah is thus saying either that he would be saved and make it back to Jerusalem, or—if speaking figuratively—that he would be able to return to the Lord’s presence and seek his help. Others translate this as a question: “How [Hb. ʼek] shall I again look upon your holy temple?” (RSV). This follows one version of the ancient Greek, and the difference in Hebrew is only the one letter (ʼek vs. ʼak). In either case, as Jonah feels separated from the Lord, his thoughts turn to the place where the Lord’s presence is most keenly felt: his temple.

Jonah’s sense of despair only deepens in Jonah 2:5–6a. The word for “life” (nephesh) can refer to the “throat” or “neck” (Ps. 105:18); he is literally “up to his neck” in trouble, the waters completely surrounding him. His head is “wrapped” in seaweed, a turban worn only by those about to sink into a watery grave. And sink he does! The “roots of the mountains” (Jonah 2:6a) represent the very bottom of the sea,⁶ described here as “the land⁷ whose bars closed upon me forever.” Jonah paints a terrifying picture of a fortified city fastened shut with heavy “bars” to prevent its gates from being opened (cf. 1 Sam. 23:7)—he is locked in this city of death with no way of getting out. He has been “going down” and away from the Lord since the beginning of the story (Jonah 1:3, 5), and now he has “gone down” and away from the Lord as far as he can go. He has no hope of saving himself.

But what is impossible for him is not impossible for the Lord. Jonah had descended to the land of the dead, into a pit from which he could not escape, but the Lord “brought up [his] life from the pit” (v. 6b), a deliverance he will now describe in more detail.

2:7–9 Jonah’s trial is so severe that his life is “fainting away” (2:7), language that can describe those who pass out from hunger or injury (Ps. 107:5; Lam. 2:12), but also those so overcome with trial and affliction that they have lost all strength and hope (Pss. 61:2; 102:1; 142:3; 143:4). At this point of total despair, Jonah “remembered the LORD” (Jonah 2:7). In the Bible, the word “remember” often refers to mental activity accompanied by physical action. It is “to act on the basis of knowledge.”⁸ At this point, in the midst of his troubles, Jonah remembers the reality of who the Lord is and acts accordingly by crying out to him for help. Indeed, in the Hebrew, the Lord’s name comes first for emphasis: “The LORD I remembered.”

The result is remarkable. Earlier, Jonah had thought he could never again look to the Lord in his “holy temple” for help (cf. comment on 2:3–6). But here he realizes this is not true. In his despair, he cries out to the Lord in his “holy temple,” and the Lord hears (v. 7b). Jonah experiences the truth that it is never too late to lift his eyes to a God so rich in mercy and love.

Jonah then does what sometimes happens in prayers of thanksgiving: he describes his own hope and faith in the Lord and contrasts himself with those who put their faith and hope in other things (vv. 8–9; cf. Pss. 32:10; 34:15–22; 92:5–15). Such a contrast emphasizes that the Lord does indeed help those who look to him in obedient faith, and he encourages those in the midst of trial to stay true to the Lord instead of looking elsewhere for salvation. In this context, those who do not hope in the Lord “pay regard to vain idols” (Jonah 2:8a). The words “vain idols” could be translated more woodenly as “worthless things of fleeting vapors,” emphasizing that placing hope in such things is utterly useless; it is like trying to get out of a hole by grabbing onto the wind. Only the Lord can save.

As shown in table 6.2, the second half of verse 8 could be translated in two different ways with two different meanings.⁹