Jonah 2.3-6-The Lord Delivers Jonah From Drowning
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday October 24, 2010
Jonah: Jonah 2:3-6-The Lord Delivers Jonah From Drowning
Lesson # 30
Please turn in your Bibles to Jonah 2:1.
This morning we will study Jonah 2:3-6, which records the Lord delivering Jonah from drowning in the Mediterranean Sea.
In Jonah 2:3, the disobedient prophet acknowledges in his prayer of thanksgiving to Yahweh that He was responsible for his being thrown into the sea.
Then, he follows this up by beginning to recount his drowning experience.
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.” (NASU)
“For You had cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas” emphasizes and 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.
Not only is Jonah acknowledging God’s sovereignty over him and His providence but also that he is being disciplined by God, which expressed God’s love for him.
The phrase “and the current engulfed me” is a result clause that presents the result of the Lord causing the crew to cast Jonah into the sea.
It begins to describe Jonah’s experience of drowning.
“All Your breakers and billows passed over me” should be rendered “All Your waves, yes, your violent waves pass over me.”
It is a declarative statement that describes in further detail Jonah’s experience in drowning.
It is taken verbatim from Psalm 42:7 indicating that Jonah was recalling Scripture to express himself in this psalm.
Psalm 42:7, “One deep stream calls out to another at the sound of your waterfalls; all your billows and waves overwhelm me.” (NET Bible)
There are other Old Testament psalms that use the imagery of drowning to express experiencing great adversity.
Psalm 18:1-6, “For the music director; by the Lord’s servant David, who sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord rescued him from the power of all his enemies, including Saul. 1 He said: ‘I love you, Lord, my source of strength! 2 The Lord is my high ridge, my stronghold, my deliverer. My God is my rocky summit where I take shelter, my shield, the horn that saves me, and my refuge. 3 I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I was delivered from my enemies. 4 The waves of death engulfed me, the currents of chaos overwhelmed me. 5 The ropes of Sheol tightened around me, the snares of death trapped me. 6 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)
Psalm 69:1-2, “Deliver me, O God, for the water has reached my neck. 2 I sink into the deep mire where there is no solid ground; I am in deep water, and the current overpowers me.” (NET Bible)
In Jonah 2:4, 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 2:4, “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” expresses Jonah’s conclusion as a result of drowning that his death would prevent him from worshipping the Lord in the temple in Jerusalem.
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.
It does not mean that Jonah concluded he lost his eternal relationship with the Lord because of his disobedience.
Nor, does it 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, it denotes 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 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.
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 actually a rhetorical question that expresses denial and should be translated “How will I continue to look towards Your holy temple?”
It 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.
In Jonah 2:5-6, Jonah reflects back on his drowning experience and his Lord and God delivering him.
Jonah 2:5, “Water encompassed me to the point of death. The great deep engulfed me, weeds were wrapped around my head.” (NASU)
This verse contains the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh descriptions of Jonah’s experience in drowning and echoes Psalm 18:4 and 69:1.
Psalm 18:4, “The waves of death engulfed me, the currents of chaos overwhelmed me.” (NET Bible)
Psalm 69:1, “Deliver me, O God, for the water has reached my neck.” (NET Bible)
The statement “Water encompassed me to the point of death” in the Hebrew means that “the waves encompass me up to the neck” and is the third description of Jonah’s drowning experience.
The first two appear in verse 2.
This statement describes the prophet as struggling against the swirling waters of the Mediterranean Sea with water up to his neck.
The statement “The great deep engulfed me” in the Hebrew means “the raging ocean depths enshroud me” and is the fourth description of drowning and describes Jonah as submerged in the raging ocean depths.
The statement “weeds were wrapped around my head” in the Hebrew means that “seaweed is wrapped around my head” and is the fifth description of Jonah drowning describing him as having seaweed wrapped around his head like a shroud.
It describes the rebellious prophet at this point as submerged in the Mediterranean Sea and loosing oxygen and at the brink of death.
Jonah 2:6, “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.” (NASU)
The statement “I descended to the roots of the mountains” in the Hebrew means “I descended to the foundations of the mountains” and is Jonah’s sixth description of what it was like to drown.
It expresses the hopelessness he felt and the utter impossibility of his being delivered.
The statement “the earth with its bars was around me forever” in the Hebrew means “the earth bar’s are behind me forever” is the seventh and final description of drowning and expresses the fact that at this point Jonah had no hope of surviving and considered himself as good as dead.
It echoes Jonah 2:2 and the expression “belly of Sheol,” which does not refer to any of the four compartments of Hades but rather that Jonah was near death or in a life threatening situation.
The adversative clause “but You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God” means that the Lord caused Jonah’s life to be brought up out from death.
It refers to the immanent and transcendent God delivering Jonah from drowning to death.
This clause is an expression of praise and is recognition of God’s sovereign power.
It speaks of the fact that God was gracious to him and compassionate even though he was deserving of death for his disobedience.
This statement speaks of the Lord as a God of deliverance.