I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord! (Jonah 2:2-9)
Background:
The story of Jonah is one of the most familiar in the Bible. God was aware of the evil of the people of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire from 705 to 612 B.C. The word of the Lord came to Jonah, sending him to Nineveh to call the people to repentance.
Instead of going to Nineveh, Jonah ran from God and his command. He went to Joppa and caught a ship to Tarshish. While he was asleep below deck, God sent a terrible storm upon the sea. The sailors cried out to their respective gods and cast the cargo overboard, but the storm did not lessen in strength. Finally they awakened Jonah and commanded him to cry out to his god as they were doing to theirs.
They cast lots to see who was accountable for the trouble they were in, and the lot fell to Jonah. He told them he was a Hebrew and a worshiper of the Lord, God of heaven. He told them the storm was sent for him, and they must throw him into the sea. The men rowed harder, trying to escape the storm, but they finally relented. Jonah was thrown overboard, and the storm stopped.
As he sank into the sea, God sent a great fish to swallow Jonah, so that he did not drown. He was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. From inside the belly of the fish, Jonah prayed this prayer.
The Prayer:
I called out to the Lord, out of my distress (v. 2): This was not a gentle prayer offered up to God from a believer who was sitting in comfort in his house. This was the desperate cry of a man who was greatly distressed. Everything had gone wrong for Jonah. Just as Job cried out in his despair; just as David cried out as he was hunted by Saul; so Jonah cried out to the One who could save him. Through Isaiah God declared, “Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24).
and he answered me (v. 2): This is what all the people of God want to acknowledge about their prayers and about God. God is a God who answers prayer.
out of the belly of Sheol I cried (v. 2): Sheol is Hebrew for grave or pit. It is considered to be the place of the dead, and was usually considered to be under the earth, possibly at the roots of the mountains. The word is used several times in Scripture. When Jacob is falsely informed of the death of Joseph, he cries, “I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning” (Genesis 37:35). In her prayer of rejoicing after the birth of Samuel, Hannah speaks of God’s greatness, saying, “The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up” (1 Samuel 2:6). David, speaking prophetically of the Messiah, wrote, “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption” (Psalm 16:10). Jonah acknowledges that he is in the pit. He is separated from God.
and you heard my voice (v. 2): Yet, even in the pit of death and hell, God heard his servant.
you cast me into the deep (v. 3): Although the sailors had thrown Jonah into the sea, he knows that God is ultimately in control of all things. It was God who had cast him into the deep. It was God who had sent the great fish to swallow him. It was God who had put him where he was. The is no escaping God.
I am driven away from your sight (v. 4): From the beginning of this story, Jonah had sought to run from the presence of God. He did not want to do what God had commanded, and he sought to hide himself from the Lord. Now he was in the pit of hell, and he did not like the prospects. It now appears that running from God was not the proper course of action. How sad that Jonah did not truly appreciate being in the presence of God until he thought that he was out of God’s sight – away from his presence.
yet I shall again look upon your holy temple (v. 4): But, Jonah realizes that he is not completely out of God’s sight. In the words of David, “If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there” (Psalm 139:8). Again, the beloved of God cannot escape his gaze. And, so, Jonah knows that he will live again. He will again go to the holy temple of God for worship. The God who sees is the God who is worthy of all worship and praise.
Jonah then recounts a number of things that happened to discourage him.
The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; (vv. 5-6)
yet you brought up my life from the pit (v. 6): Yet, despite all these things, God was still with him. God saved him and brought him up from the pit of death and hell.
when my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord (v. 7): Jonah’s life was passing away. He was dying, he thought, away from the presence of the Lord. When all seemed lost, Jonah remember God. As is often the case, the people of God must be stripped of all other things in which they might place their trust before they remember the Lord. And, interestingly, God is not averse to placing his beloved ones in such situations, to do that very thing, thus driving them back to himself and the communion for which they were created and called.
Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love (v. 8): God is a God of steadfast love for his people (Exodus 20:6; 34:6-7; Numbers 14:18-19; Psalm 17:7; 25:10; 33:5; Isaiah 63:7; Lamentations 3:22). Yet, man-made idols have no love or compassion. Those who worship such vain idols have no hope of love, as Jonah and the people of God do.
Salvation belongs to the Lord! (v. 9): “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).
Relevance:
Even from the depths of the pit of death and hell, God heard the cries of Jonah. Even though he sought to run from the presence of the Lord, Jonah could not escape his sight. Even though we may feel despair and wonder if the Lord still cares for us, he is ever present. He will never leave us or forsake us. “If God is for us, who can be against us” (Romans 8:31).
