Jonah 2.4-Jonah Thought He Was Banished From The Lord's Sight And That He Would Never Again See His Holy Temple
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday October 20, 2010
Jonah: Jonah 2:4-Jonah Thought He Was Banished From The Lord’s Sight And That He Would Never Again See His Holy Temple
Lesson # 28
Please turn in your Bibles to Jonah 2:1.
This evening we will note Jonah 2:4 and in this passage Jonah reveals that he thought he was banished from the Lord’s sight and that he would never again see the Lord’s holy temple.
Jonah 2:1, “Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish, 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. 3 ‘For You had cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current engulfed me. All Your breakers and billows passed over me. 4 So I said, ‘I have been expelled from Your sight. Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.’ 5 Water encompassed me to the point of death. The great deep engulfed me, weeds were wrapped around my head. 6 I descended to the roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever, but You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. 7 While I was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to You, into Your holy temple. 8 Those who regard vain idols forsake their faithfulness, 9 but I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the Lord.’ 10 Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.” (NASU)
Let’s look at verse 4.
Jonah 2:4, “So I said, ‘I have been expelled from Your sight. Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.’” (NASU)
“So I said, ‘I have been expelled from Your sight” presents the result of Jonah’s statements in verse 3.
Jonah 2:3, “Indeed, You cause me to be cast into the ocean depths, into the midst of the seas so that the ocean current engulfs me. All Your waves, yes, your violent waves pass over me.” (My translation)
The emphatic statement “Indeed, You cause me to be cast into the ocean depths, into the midst of the seas” affirms the events and circumstances that led to Jonah crying out to the Lord in prayer to deliver him from death.
This statement is an acknowledgement on the part of Jonah that Yahweh was responsible for his being thrown into the sea.
The phrase “so that the ocean current engulfs me” presents result of the Lord causing the crew to cast Jonah into the sea.
It begins to describe Jonah’s experience of drowning.
“All Your waves, yes, your violent waves pass over me” describes in further detail Jonah’s experience in drowning.
The verb amar, “said” actually means “to conclude” since the statement “I have been expelled from Your sight” expresses the thought that Jonah had reached as a logical necessary end by reasoning or had inferred based upon the fact he was drowning.
“I have been expelled” is the first person masculine singular niphal passive perfect form of the verb gā∙rǎš (גָּרַשׁ) (gaw-rash), which means “to expel” or “drive out.”
It is implying that Jonah concluded while drowning that by dying he was losing the opportunity and privilege to worship in the presence of the Lord in the temple in Jerusalem because of his disobedience.
This word and the prepositional phrase to follow “from Your sight” do not mean that Jonah concluded he lost his eternal relationship with the Lord because of his disobedience.
Nor, do they indicate that he lost fellowship since Jonah already knows he is out of fellowship because of his disobedience and the discipline he has received.
Rather, they denote that he would no longer be able to worship in the Lord’s presence in the temple in Jerusalem.
Physical death would deprive him of the opportunity and privilege of worshipping the Lord in the temple in Jerusalem.
The Lord’s presence was found in the temple in Jerusalem.
The Israelites would worship the Lord in this temple in Jerusalem.
They considered themselves to be in the Lord’s presence while doing so.
If Jonah died, he could no longer go to this temple and considered that his physical death would drive him out from the Lord’s presence.
“From Your sight” denotes that Jonah is expelled by the Lord from His presence in the temple in Jerusalem.
So this statement “I am expelled from Your sight” expresses Jonah’s conclusion as a result of drowning that his death would prevent him from worshipping the Lord in the temple in Jerusalem.
Jonah 2:4, “So I said, ‘I have been expelled from Your sight. Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.’” (NASU)
“Nevertheless I will look again” is composed of the adverb ʾǎḵ (אֵיךְ) (ak), “nevertheless” and the first person masculine singular hiphil active imperfect form of the verb yā∙sǎp̄ (יָסַף) (yaw-saf), “I will again” and the and the preposition le (לְ) and hiphil active infinitive construct form of the verb nā∙ḇǎṭ (נָבַט) (naw-bat), “look.”
The alternate vocalization אֵיךְ (’ekh), “how” is the original and not ʾǎḵ (אֵיךְ) (ak), “nevertheless” indicating that Jonah is asking a rhetorical question that expresses denial.
Though the external evidence favors the MT; the internal evidence seems to favor the alternate vocalization tradition reflected in Theodotion for four reasons.
The NET Bible writes, “First, the form of the psalm is a declarative praise in which Jonah begins with a summary praise (v. 2), continues by recounting his past plight
(vv. 3–6a) and the Lord’s intervention (vv. 6b–7), and concludes with a lesson (v. 8) and vow to praise (v. 9). So the statement with אֵךְ in v. 4 falls within the plight – not within a declaration of confidence. Second, while the poetic parallelism of v. 4 could be antithetical (‘I have been banished from your sight, yet I will again look to your holy temple’), synonymous parallelism fits the context of the lament better (‘I have been banished from your sight; Will I ever again see your holy temple?’). Third, אֵךְ is the more difficult vocalization because it is a defectively written form of אֵיךְ (‘how?’) and therefore easily confused with אַךְ (‘surely’ or ‘yet, nevertheless’). Fourth, nothing in the first half of the psalm reflects any inkling of confidence on the part of Jonah that he would be delivered from imminent death. In fact, Jonah states in v. 7 that he did not turn to God in prayer until some time later when he was on the very brink of death.”
Therefore, based upon this evidence presented by the NET Bible, we can see that the alternate vocalization אֵיךְ (’ekh), “how” is the original.
It introduces a rhetorical question that expresses denial expressing Jonah’s despair that he would never see the Lord’s temple again.
So Jonah is asserting that he will no longer continue to worship the Lord in His holy temple rather than asserting his surety that he will be delivered or that he will pray in the face of this great adversity.
The verb yā∙sǎp̄ means “to continue” when used with the preposition le (לְ) and the infinitive as we have here referring to the repetition of an action and refers to Jonah “continuing” to look towards the temple in Jerusalem to worship the Lord.
The verb nā∙ḇǎṭ means “to look in a specific direction” and is used of Jonah looking in the direction of the temple in Jerusalem in order to worship the Lord.
“Toward Your holy temple” is composed of the preposition ʾěl (אַל) (al), “toward” and the masculine singular construct form of the noun hê∙ḵāl (הֵיכָל) (hay-kawl), “temple” and the masculine singular construct form of the noun qō∙ḏěš (קֹדֶשׁ) (kaw-doshe), “holy” and the second person masculine singular form of the pronomial suffix ʾǎt∙tā(h) (אַתָּה) (aw-thaw), “Your.”
The noun hê∙ḵāl means “temple” and refers specifically to the holy place in Solomon’s temple.
The word is modified by the noun qō∙ḏěš, which is used in a construct relationship functioning for the same effect as the adjective and means “holy.”
The word describes Solomon’s temple as set apart exclusively for the worship of Yahweh or in other words dedicated solely for the use of worshipping Yahweh.
So the rhetorical question “How will I continue to look towards Your holy temple?” expresses Jonah’s despair that he will never again worship the Lord in Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem.
He is in effect saying that he will never again see the temple of Solomon.