Sermon Tone Analysis

Wenstrom Bible Ministries

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Tuesday October 27, 2010

www.wenstrom.org

Jonah: Jonah 2:7-Jonah Reflects Back To When The Lord Responded To His Prayer To Save Him From Death

Lesson # 31

Please turn in your Bibles to Jonah 2:1.

This evening we will note Jonah 2:7 and in this verse the rebellious, disobedient prophet of Israel reflects back upon the Lord responding to his prayer for deliverance from death and sparing his life.

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.”

(NASU)

“While I was fainting away” is composed of the preposition be (בְּ) (beth) whose object is the hithpael middle infinitive construct form of the verb ʿā∙ṭǎp̄ (עָטַף) (aw-taf), which is followed by the preposition ʿǎl (עַל) (al) and the first person singular pronomial suffix ǎnî (אֲנִי), which is followed by the feminine singular construct form of the noun ně∙p̄ěš (נֶפֶשׁ) (neh-fesh) and the first person singular pronomial suffix ǎnî (אֲנִי).

The preposition be is used in a temporal sense as a marker of time when it is simultaneous with another period of time.

Therefore, the preposition be indicates that “while” or “when” Jonah’s life was passing or slipping away due to drowning, he remembered the Lord or in other words, he prayed to Him for deliverance.

The verb ʿā∙ṭǎp̄ means “to pass away, to slip away” and refers to the onset of physical death resulting in a permanent loss of consciousness in the physical body due to physical trauma.

Here it does not refer to “fainting” resulting in a temporary loss of consciousness since Jonah is speaking in the context of drowning.

Rather, the word speaks of Jonah’s physical body “passing” or “slipping away” due to drowning.

Physical death would result in a loss of consciousness in the physical body but not outside the body since the soul continues to exist outside the physical body after physical death.

Old Testament believers would go to Paradise, a compartment of Hades whereas unbelievers in the Old Testament would go to the other compartment of Hades called “torments.”

(see Luke 16).

The noun ně∙p̄ěš means “life” referring specifically to Jonah’s biological life or in other words the life of his physical body.

This is indicated by the verb ʿā∙ṭǎp̄, which speaks of Jonah losing consciousness because he was drowning.

His soul life would not cease to continue when his physical body died.

Thus, the noun ně∙p̄ěš refers to the life of Jonah’s human body.

“I remembered the Lord” is composed of the object marker ʾēṯ (אֵת) (oath) and the masculine singular form of the proper noun Yahweh (יהוה) (yeh-ho-vaw), “Lord” and the first person singular qal active perfect form of the verb zā∙ḵǎr (זָכַר) (zeh-ker), “I remembered.”

The verb zā∙ḵǎr means “to petition” in the sense of audibly invoking someone and asking them for help.

It refers to Jonah petitioning the Lord in prayer to deliver him from death and parallels qā∙rā(ʾ), “I call out” in verse 2.

Jonah 2:7, “While I was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to You, into Your holy temple.”

(NASU)

“And my prayer came to You, into Your holy temple” is a result clause indicating that “as a result of” Jonah petitioning the Lord for help in delivering him from drowning to death, the Lord answered the disobedient prophet and saved him from drowning.

“My prayer came to You” is composed of the third person singular qal active imperfect form of the verb bô(ʾ) (בֹּוא) (bow), “came” and the preposition al (אַל) (al), “to” and the second person masculine singular form of the pronomial suffix ʾǎt∙tā(h) (אַתָּה) (aw-thaw), “You” and the feminine singular construct form of the noun tep̄il∙lā(h) (תְּפִלָּה) (tef-il-law), “prayer” and the first person singular pronomial suffix ǎnî (אֲנִי), “my.”

The noun tep̄il∙lā(h) means “prayer” and refers to Jonah’s petition for himself when he was about to lose consciousness in the depths of the Mediterranean Sea.

The verb bô(ʾ) means “to come” and denotes the arrival of Jonah’s petition in the Temple in Jerusalem indicating that when Jonah was about to lose consciousness and die, he petitioned the Lord for deliverance and as a result his prayer “came to” the Lord or arrived in His presence.

This verb speaks of the Lord answering Jonah’s prayer for deliverance from death since it parallels the verb the verb ʿā∙nā(h) in verse 2.

The fact that his prayer was answered by the Lord indicates that Jonah prayed in faith since answered prayer requires faith and is thus an expression of confidence in God’s ability to meet one’s need (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).

“Into Your holy temple” is composed of the preposition ʾěl (אַל) (ale), “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.”

This prepositional phrase appeared at the end of verse 4.

As was the case in verse 4, 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 an 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.

It is holy because the Lord is present in it.

Israel was commanded to pray nowhere else but toward Yahweh’s dwelling place, which He had chosen and designated as to be in the temple in Jerusalem (cf. 1 Kings 8:38; 2 Chronicles 6:29).

Daniel prayed in the direction of the temple in Jerusalem (Daniel 6:10).

However, during the church age, all those who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior are indwelt by the Trinity (cf.

Father: Ephesians 4:6; Son: Colossians 1:27; Spirit: Romans 8:11).

Jonah 2:7: “As I myself, my life slips away, I petitioned the Lord and as a result my prayer comes to You, into Your holy temple.”

(My translation)

To summarize our findings, we noted that the temporal clause “as I myself, my life slips away I petitioned the Lord” informs the reader that as Jonah was losing consciousness due to lack of oxygen from drowning, he petitioned the Lord in prayer to deliver him from death.

The temporal clause “as I myself, my life slips away” speaks of Jonah’s hopelessness and helplessness and of his desperate circumstances and need.

The declarative statement “I petitioned the Lord” expresses Jonah’s faith in the Lord to deliver him from these life threatening circumstances and provide for him in his hour of greatest need since it demonstrates the prophet’s confidence that the Lord was able to deliver him thus acknowledging the Lord’s omnipotence.

The result clause “and as a result my prayer comes to You” refers to the Lord answering Jonah’s prayer.

Psalm 18:6, “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)

The prepositional phrase “into Your holy temple” speaks of the location of the Lord’s presence and the geographical location in which Jonah’s prayer arrived at.

Jonah 2:7 speaks of the grace of God in that the disobedient, rebellious prophet deserved death for disobeying a holy God but instead God treats him better than he deserves and spares his life.

Yahweh is a God of the second chance.

This passage also speaks of the fact that Yahweh is a God of deliverance.

It also speaks of the fact that what is impossible for man is possible for God.

There seem to be no humanly possible way for Jonah to survive, yet he did because of the Lord’s sovereign grace and omnipotence.