Jon 2:1-3 | KingComments | STEP | Jonah 1 represents the history of Israel in the history of Jonah. In Jonah 2, in the experiences that Jonah has in the sea and in the stomach of the fish, details are given about experiences that Israel gains. While Jonah is kept in the stomach of the fish, he is also under the disciplining hand of God. That is also the case with Israel among the nations. Jonah’s prayer is a prayer of thanks for the saving he has experienced, that he is not swallowed up by the sea, but is alive in the stomach of a fish. The prayer that Jonah prays when he is in the fish shows us much of prayer in general. There is first and foremost the reason for his prayer. Jonah prays because he is in great distress and a hopeless situation. Where is he when he prays? He is in the stomach of a fish. Secondly, this shows that the way to heaven is always open to any prayer, no matter from where it is sent. Thus Paul and Silas pray from a prison ( ). Thirdly, it is clear to Whom he prays: he prays to the LORD his God, Whom he believes in, with Whom he has a personal relationship. And fourth, what does he pray? His prayer is not a prayer for salvation, but a confession and thanksgiving for the salvation he received. He speaks to “his God” and a little further on he speaks of “my God” ( ). These statements show his trust in God. Despite the fact that he fled from God, he knows that God did not let him go. Jonah is here a picture of the believing remnant of Israel in the end times when they are in great tribulation and without prospect. The remnant, like Jonah here, can turn to no one but God alone; it can expect help from no other than God alone. God will answer their prayer. He will keep the remnant of His people through the fire and the water, and be with them therein ( ).

‏ Jonah 2:1-3

Introduction

Jonah 1 represents the history of Israel in the history of Jonah. In Jonah 2, in the experiences that Jonah has in the sea and in the stomach of the fish, details are given about experiences that Israel gains. While Jonah is kept in the stomach of the fish, he is also under the disciplining hand of God. That is also the case with Israel among the nations. Jonah’s prayer is a prayer of thanks for the saving he has experienced, that he is not swallowed up by the sea, but is alive in the stomach of a fish.

Jonah Prays

The prayer that Jonah prays when he is in the fish shows us much of prayer in general. There is first and foremost the reason for his prayer. Jonah prays because he is in great distress and a hopeless situation. Where is he when he prays? He is in the stomach of a fish.

Secondly, this shows that the way to heaven is always open to any prayer, no matter from where it is sent. Thus Paul and Silas pray from a prison (Acts 16:25).

Thirdly, it is clear to Whom he prays: he prays to the LORD his God, Whom he believes in, with Whom he has a personal relationship.

And fourth, what does he pray? His prayer is not a prayer for salvation, but a confession and thanksgiving for the salvation he received. He speaks to “his God” and a little further on he speaks of “my God” (Jona 2:6). These statements show his trust in God. Despite the fact that he fled from God, he knows that God did not let him go.

Jonah is here a picture of the believing remnant of Israel in the end times when they are in great tribulation and without prospect. The remnant, like Jonah here, can turn to no one but God alone; it can expect help from no other than God alone. God will answer their prayer. He will keep the remnant of His people through the fire and the water, and be with them therein (Isa 43:2).

In the Depth of Sheol

It is striking that Jonah, while praying this prayer in the stomach of the fish, does so in the past tense. This seems to indicate that his prayer refers to his (short) stay in the water and not in the fish. He does not actually talk about the latter. Perhaps we can see it in such a way that his stay in the fish has to be seen as a kind of salvation, or at least the beginning of it. It gives him hope for real salvation. He saw his hopeless situation as already gone by when he was in the fish. His hope for his salvation is therefore clearly expressed in his prayer.

When Jonah was thrown into the raging sea, he thought he was in the depth of Sheol, i.e. the realm of the dead. The place where he was, seemed to him to be the place where they are who have left life and where death is. At the place of death, all self-interest is gone. He has been thrown back on himself. Every resistance is broken. So he is in the right position before God and God can bring him where he needs to be.

He called to God in his distress and was heard. All expressions of his distress are strongly echoed in expressions that we often hear in the book of Psalms. The Psalms express the experiences and feelings of the pious Jew, often when he is in great distress.

A comparison between Jonah and Psalms shows a number of similarities:

Jona 2:2a – Psa 3:4 ; Psa 120:1

Jona 2:2b – Psa 18:5-6 ; Psa 30:3

Jona 2:3a – Psa 88:6-7

Jona 2:3b – Psa 42:7

Jona 2:4a – Psa 31:22

Jona 2:4b – Psa 5:7

Jona 2:5a – Psa 69:1b-2

Jona 2:6b – Psa 103:4

Jona 2:7a – Psa 107:5-6 ; Psa 142:3

Jona 2:8a – Psa 31:6

Jona 2:9a – Psa 69:30 ; Psa 107:22

Jona 2:9c – Psa 3:8 ; Psa 37:39

Jonah must have been familiar with the book of Psalms and stored the Psalms in his heart. Now the Spirit can remind him of these parts and can let him quote these. Because Jonah knows them, he can take support and comfort from them. And so Scripture is meant for us (Rom 15:4).

The LORD Has Done It

He does not attribute the situation in which he finds himself to what the sailors have done with him (Jona 1:15). Nor does he talk about an accident. No, in what happened to him, he acknowledges God’s actions as a result of his disobedience. God had cast him into the deep. The sailors were only the executors of God’s discipline. In the same sense Paul never calls himself a prisoner of Nero or of Rome, but of Jesus Christ.

It is important to look beyond the circumstances and see that God is behind them. Jonah humbles himself under the mighty hand of God (1Pet 5:6-7). Salvation for a soul in need can only come if the hand of God is recognized in it.

What Jonah experiences corresponds to what is written in Psalm 42 (Psa 42:7). There a God-fearing Israelite is speaking who remembers how he used to go to God’s house with the multitude of God’s people. But that is over. He has been driven out of the land. He experiences the chastening of God which had to come over His unfaithful people as the breakers and billows that pass over him.

So it was with Christ when He was nailed on the cross. Only, He was in distress and misery and among the “breakers and billows” of God’s judgment for the benefit of others because He made Himself one with the sins of others. Because of this He not only did feel Himself alone, but He really was alone in the three hours of darkness. Then, and only then, He was forsaken by God. Never will this apply to any man except those in hell. Neither did it apply to Jonah in the stomach of the fish.