Jonah 1.17-2.2-The Lord Answers Jonah's Prayer For Deliverance From Death By Commissioning A Great Fish To Swallow Him
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday October 17, 2010
Jonah: Jonah 1:17-2:2-The Lord Answers Jonah’s Prayer For Deliverance From Death By Commissioning A Great Fish To Swallow Him
Lesson # 26
Please turn in your Bibles to Jonah 2:1.
This morning we will study Jonah 1:17-2:2, which records the Lord answering Jonah’s prayer for deliverance from death by commissioning a great fish to swallow him.
Jonah 1:17 begins the third scene in the book of Jonah and in this passage the Lord appoints a great fish to swallow Jonah and for three days and three nights the prophet remains in the stomach of this great fish.
Jonah 1:1, “The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, 2 ‘Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.’ 3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. 4 The Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up. 5 Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god, and they threw the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep. 6 So the captain approached him and said, ‘How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.’ 7 Each man said to his mate, ‘Come, let us cast lots so we may learn on whose account this calamity has struck us.’ So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, ‘Tell us, now! On whose account has this calamity struck us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?’ 9 He said to them, ‘I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.’ 10 Then the men became extremely frightened and they said to him, ‘How could you do this?’ For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. 11 So they said to him, ‘What should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us?’—for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy. 12 He said to them, ‘Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.’ 13 However, the men rowed desperately to return to land but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them. 14 Then they called on the Lord and said, ‘We earnestly pray, O Lord, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life and do not put innocent blood on us; for You, O Lord, have done as You have pleased.’ 15 So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. 17 And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.” (NASU)
“Appointed” is the third person masculine singular piel active imperfect form of the verb mā∙nā(h) (מָנָה) (men-aw), which means, “to commission” in the sense that the Lord appointed or assigned a great fish for the specific purpose or task of swallowing Jonah so as to deliver him from drowning.
This rendering is supported by the fact that the great fish is personified in 2:10 as being commanded by the Lord to vomit Jonah onto dry land.
Also, the Septuagint translates this Hebrew verb with Greek verb prostasso, “to command, order.”
This verb emphasizes with the reader the Lord’s sovereign control over His creation and His omnipotence over creation.
“A great fish” is composed of the masculine singular form of the noun dāḡ (דָּג) (dawg), “a fish” and the masculine singular form of the adjective gadhol (גָּדֹול) (ga-dol), “great.”
The noun dāḡ refers to creatures in general that live under water in oceans, rivers and lakes and does not make the distinction between creatures that we classify as mammals and fish since Biblical Hebrew has no technical terminology for different kinds of aquatic life.
The adjective gadhol means “enormous” or “huge” since it pertains to the size of this fish having a great mass that is beyond the norm for fish in the sea.
Jonah realizes that he has been delivered by the Lord from drowning after being swallowed by this great fish and that this great fish was not sent to execute him.
Therefore, this great fish was an instrument of God’s grace and mercy for Jonah.
Though he was guilty of insubordination, he was not executed by the Lord but instead was delivered from death.
The Gospels record the Lord Jesus Christ making mention of the prophet Jonah in the stomach of this great fish for three days and three nights (Matthew 12:29-41; 16:4; Luke 11:28-32).
His statements make clear that Jonah was an historical character and that the events recorded in the book of Jonah were historical events.
Jonah 2:1 records Jonah praying to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish.
Jonah 2:1, “Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish.”
Jonah 2:2-9 indicates that the prayer that Jonah offered to the Lord from the stomach of the great fish is a prayer of thanksgiving and not of deliverance which is indicated by the fact that there are no petitions in it.
The prayer is a psalm of thanksgiving as indicated by Jonah 2:9 and was made while in the stomach of the great fish according to Jonah 2:1.
It of course was written after Jonah was vomited onto dry land by the great fish.
Thanking the Father in prayer means that we express gratitude towards Him for revealing His perfect character and integrity, His will, provisions to execute His will, His grace policy, and for bringing other believers into our lives.
Colossians 4:2, “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.”
In Jonah 2:2, Jonah reflects back on his deliverance from drowning and acknowledges that the Lord his God answered his prayer for deliverance from death by drowning.
Jonah 2:2, “And he said, ‘I called out of my distress to the Lord, and He answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; You heard my voice.’” (NASU)
This verse contains the first line in Jonah’s thanksgiving psalm and is a summary of the prophet’s answered prayer or in other words, it presents the reason for his thanksgiving.
It explains the previous clause in verse 1 identifying for the reader specifically the content of Jonah’s thanksgiving prayer to the Lord for delivering him from death by drowning.
These two statements, “I called out of my distress to the Lord, and He answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; You heard my voice” parallel each other with both referring to the Lord responding to Jonah’s prayer for help.
Jonah’s prayer for help while in the stomach of the great fish was an expression of his faith in the Word of God and in particular the Psalms.
David wrote in the tenth century B.C. whereas Jonah lived in the eighth century B.C. thus Jonah’s prayer echoes the Word of God.
Psalm 18:7, “In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried out to my God. From his heavenly temple he heard my voice; he listened to my cry for help.” (NET Bible)
Jonah cry for help in Jonah 2:2 echoes Exodus 15:5-10, Psalm 88, 107:25-32 and 130:1-2 since they possess similar language.
“He answered me” refers to Jonah’s prayer to the Lord for deliverance from death and speaks of God the Father graciously responding in a positive sense to the disobedient prophet’s cry for help in prayer to Him.
The Lord answered him because the prayer for deliverance was offered up by the prophet in faith (Matt. 8:10; Luke 7:9; Matt. 9:22; Mark 5:34; Luke 8:48; Matt. 9:29; 17:20; Luke 17:5; Mark 9:29; Matt. 21:22; Mark 11:24; 1 John 3:21-22; James 1:5-8; 5:15).
The Lord answered his prayer because it was according to His will (1 John 5:14-15).
“From the depth of Sheol” is composed of the preposition min (מִן) (meen), “from” and the masculine singular construct form of the noun bě∙ṭěn (בֶּטֶן) (beh-ten), “the depth” and feminine singular form of the geographic noun šeʾôl (שְׁאֹול) (sheh-ole), “of Sheol.”
The noun bě∙ṭěn means “belly” or “stomach” and is personifying Sheol indicating that Jonah is describing his near death experience in the Mediterranean Sea as being eaten by death.
This imagery appears in other places in the Old Testament.
Psalm 49:14, “They will travel to Sheol like sheep, with death as their shepherd. The godly will rule over them when the day of vindication dawns; Sheol will consume their bodies and they will no longer live in impressive houses.” (NET Bible)
In the Old Testament, the geographic noun šeʾôl “Sheol” often refers to one of the four compartments called in Scripture “Paradise,” which prior to the resurrection of Jesus Christ contained the departed souls of believers.
However, in Jonah 2:2, the noun šeʾôl, “Sheol” does not refer to any of the four compartments of Hades but rather it refers to a life threatening situation, which is indicated by the parallel expression מִצָּ֥רָה, “because of my distress” that appears in the previous verse, which refers to the experience of being close to dying.
“You heard my voice” refers to Jonah’s prayer to the Lord for deliverance from death and speaks of God the Father graciously responding in a positive sense to the disobedient prophet’s cry for help in prayer to Him.