Jonah 1:17-2:10

Chapter 2...

It may be no surprise to you after this information that I believe we have already completed Chapter 1 of the book of Jonah. You remember of course, because you’ve been so studious in our journey together, that we finished off at Jonah 1:16 and that we were supposed to pickup at Jonah 1:17. The Hebrew version puts the chapter division right there and what we call verse 17 of chapter one, they call verse one of chapter two. I really do think it fits better as the next thought of the narrative portion of the book.

So, lets read and get into it. Jonah 1:17

Jonah 1:17 ESV

And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Now, I’ve joked that I could do an entire Wednesday night on this one verse… I think honestly I could easily do two. One for each half. We could dive into the appointment by God for this situation. That could even dive into the context of the world’s view of cosmology at the time and how this was a demonstration of God’s sovereignty over the chaos believed to be untamable and it’s parallels with Genesis 1:2 We could talk about how fish doesn’t mean fish in the same way we do today, fish here is any creature that lived in the sea. We can dive into the meaning of the phrase three days and three nights and how it’s used contextually through the world, or then later by Christ. But we won’t spend a tremendous amount of time on those things. We’ll just acknowledge that there is a lot going on there that the audience presumably already knows. I do want to come back to Jesus’ authentication in some sense of the story of Jonah though. He states in Matt 12.40 “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Not only does Jesus tell us in this allusion that What happened to Jonah was an historical event he ties himself to the story that expected death and didn’t receive it yet now the one we wouldn’t expect to die will.

Philippians 2:6–8 ESV

who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Hebrews 2:9 ESV

But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

Jesus even died in place of Jonah.

What is Jonah’s response to this situation here though. So far it hasn’t been great let’s see what happens in the next verse, Jonah 2:1 in our Bibles.

Jonah 2:1 ESV

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish,

Prayer! Jonah responds in prayer and we can learn a bit about prayer from Jonah. First in that he responded to his salvation with prayer.

Now, quick rabbit trail, I said there was no first person account from Jonah in this book and quickly it was pointed out that we have first person language in chapter two. I said we’d have to look at that later… now is later. In our first week we talked about possible authorship and why this might not be Jonah that wrote Jonah some of the potential evidence was no use of the first person. Right away in chapter two we get the personal pronoun though and that usually indicates a first person account. However, this is a third person account of first person language and does not count as a first person account. If I am *someone else* telling my own story I would say “I did the things.” But if I were me telling the story of *same someone else* I would report what they said and would say they said “I did the things.” and move on. That’s the kind of language we see here in verse 2.

Jonah 2:2 ESV

saying, “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.

Jonah is praying here but look what his prayer is… it’s a conversation telling God what’s going on in his life.

Let’s actually back up and read the whole prayer and talk about it. And remember that we got no hint in the text that Jonah prayed when the captain came and woke him up asking him to pray, but we get prayer now that the tail hits the water so to say...

Jonah 2:2–9 ESV

saying, “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!”

The first half is getting thrown into the sea then the second half is the coming out of the sea.

What do you notice about this prayer that seems different from our prayers?;

Tell God your story Tell God His story Remind God of His promise. Tell God His work of redemption Tell God your response

Now if you noticed what I did I made my own Chiasm analyzing this prayer. It’s not one I’ve seen others point out it’s just how I saw what happens in this prayer and what I wanted to bring your attention to. How did I do that? By sticking my main point in the middle that’s right.

In vs 4 he pairs being driven away with the declaration he will be back in Jerusalem at the temple the very miraculous act of being swallowed by a fish might have been the promise of redemption… possibly - he certainly seems to take the fact that he is alive though swallowed by a fish as indication of redemption. This also brings out the irony of how he so graciously accepts that God would redeem him who directly disobeyed God while begrudging that God would do this for his enemies… But here’s where I want to tie this to something we learn from Jonah. Often in the Bible we see very important characters telling God the promises God has made as important moments in their life, and in the arc of the story that leads to Jesus contained in all of scripture. So in prayer you might want to

Tell God your story Tell God His story Remind God of His promise. Tell God His work of redemption Tell God your response

It doesn’t hurt that it reminds you of all those things he has done.

Now we finish up with the kids favorite part… vomit.

Jonah 2:10 ESV

And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

Sometimes the first steps in God’s plan after your redemption aren’t that fun, nice, or clean but it is all in God’s plan for those who love him.

Romans 8:28 ESV

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.