Reflections on Jonah 2

Jonah 02 (Contemporary English Version)


1. From inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the LORD his God:
   
2. When I was in trouble, LORD, I prayed to you, and you listened to me. From deep in the world of the dead, I begged for your help, and you answered my prayer.
   
3. You threw me down to the bottom of the sea. The water was churning all around; I was completely covered by your mighty waves.
   
4. I thought I was swept away from your sight, never again to see your holy temple.
   
5. I was almost drowned by the swirling waters that surrounded me. Seaweed had wrapped around my head.
   
6. I had sunk down below the underwater mountains; I knew that forever, I would be a prisoner there. But, you, LORD God, rescued me from that pit.
   
7. When my life was slipping away, I remembered you-- and in your holy temple you heard my prayer.
   
8. All who worship worthless idols turn from the God who offers them mercy.
   
9. But with shouts of praise, I will offer a sacrifice to you, my LORD. I will keep my promise, because you are the one with power to save.
   
10. The LORD commanded the fish to vomit up Jonah on the shore. And it did.
    

---

Chapter 1 raised some questions I had not previously considered when reading the book of Jonah. Since the book is written for the benefit of the Israelites, what might its message be to them? The book is about Jonah going to the Assyrians at Nineveh, but might its message really be to the Israelites? A second question is raised from this first one, might this venture by Jonah actually be a demonstration staged by God to illustrate to the Israelites what He wants to do for them? If it is such a demonstration, there is God's dealings both with Jonah and with the Ninevites that are illustrated.

As we approach chapter two with these questions in mind, Jonah is in the belly of the whale expressing thanks to God for his deliverance. In chapter one it seemed Jonah was rather nonchalant about having the sailors throw him overboard, but his prayer of thanksgiving to God in this chapter express his distress over this event. As stated in the reflections of chapter one, Jonah was a contemporary of Amos and Hosea whose prophecies precede his, both in order of scripture and in time of occurrence. Israel had at that time extended God's patience to its limit and these two previous prophets delivered messages of judgment on Israel. But with His messages of judgment, God always makes a call for repentance. He always leaves the door open for the return of His people. I have a growing sense that this is what the book of Jonah is all about, and it has as much or more to do with Jonah than with the Ninevites. Here was Jonah running away from God as had been the case with Israel. In verse 4 of this chapter Jonah states in his prayer that when he was thrown overboard he considered himself banished from God's sight. Israel was at this point - on the verge of being banished from God's sight - which was part of the message delivered by the previous prophets. Now, in the case of Jonah, God provided deliverance and salvation. This is exactly what God wanted to do for Israel and it is what He wants to do for us when we run away from Him.

So, Jonah's deliverance by way of the whale and his resulting prayer convey a message of deliverance to the Israelites. Verses 8-9 convey a message concerning the worthlessness of worshiping idols. This was the route the Israelites had chosen. They had turned to idols and away from the Lord. Could an idol, made by a man, have done what God did in causing the huge storm and then providing a whale to deliver Jonah from it? Besides that, God also made the storm cease once Jonah was off the ship. What inanimate object made of wood or stone could do this? Besides the inability of an idol to provide this deliverance, Jonah points out another factor in clinging to worthless idols. In doing so, one is forsaking faithful love. Such faithful love comes only from God. No idol will offer love of any kind, let alone faithful love. The whole concept around worshiping idols is about appeasement. There is no concept of love involved. One is simply following the formulas for appeasing the idol god so he will do for them what they are wanting. That is a totally foreign concept to that of worshiping God. Many bring that thinking to their worship of God, but it does not fit. God is not one who is an angry and unloving God who must be appeased. He is a loving God who wants our love in return. And after all, why shouldn't we love Him? He made us and gives us everything we have! But therein lies our problem. When we don't acknowledge this truth we fail to understand God's love for us and have a desire to also love Him.

Jonah's prayer of thanksgiving came from inside the whale. The last verse of this chapter tells us that God had the whale vomit Jonah on dry land. Now Jonah was free to complete the mission on which God had sent him.