Jonah 2

Jonah 2:1-10 . JONAH'S PRAYER OF FAITH AND DELIVERANCE.

1. his God--"his" still, though Jonah had fled from Him. Faith enables Jonah now to feel this; just as the returning prodigal says of the Father, from whom he had wandered, "I will arise and go to my Father" ( Luke 15:18 ).
out of the fish's belly--Every place may serve as an oratory. No place is amiss for prayer. Others translate, "when (delivered) out of the fish's belly." English Version is better.

2. His prayer is partly descriptive and precatory, partly eucharistical. Jonah incorporates with his own language inspired utterances familiar to the Church long before in Jonah 2:2 , Psalms 120:1 ; in Jonah 2:3 , Psalms 42:7 ; in Jon 2:4 , Psalms 31:22 ; in Jonah 2:5 , Psalms 69:1 ; in Jon 2:7 , Psalms 142:3 , 18:6 ; in Jonah 2:8 , Psalms 31:6 ; in Jonah 2:9 , Psalms 116:17 Psalms 116:18 , 3:8 . Jonah, an inspired man, thus attests both the antiquity and inspiration of the Psalms. It marks the spirit of faith, that Jonah identifies himself with the saints of old, appropriating their experiences as recorded in the Word of God ( Psalms 119:50 ). Affliction opens up the mine of Scripture, before seen only on the surface.
out of the belly of hell--Sheol, the unseen world, which the belly of the fish resembled.

3. thou hadst cast . . . thy billows . . . thy waves--Jonah recognizes the source whence his sufferings came. It was no mere chance, but the hand of God which sent them. Compare Job's similar recognition of God's hand in calamities, Job 1:21 , 2:10 ; and David's, 2 Samuel 16:5-11 .

4. cast out from thy sight--that is, from Thy favorable regard. A just retribution on one who had fled "from the presence of the Lord" ( Jonah 1:3 ). Now that he has got his desire, he feels it to be his bitterest sorrow to be deprived of God's presence, which once he regarded as a burden, and from which he desired to escape. He had turned his back on God; so God turned His back on him, making his sin his punishment.
toward thy holy temple--In the confidence of faith he anticipates yet to see the temple at Jerusalem, the appointed place of worship ( 1 Kings 8:38 ), and there to render thanksgiving [HENDERSON]. Rather, I think, "Though cast out of Thy sight, I will still with the eye of faith once more look in prayer towards Thy temple at Jerusalem, whither, as Thy earthly throne, Thou hast desired Thy worshippers to direct their prayers."

5. even to the soul--that is, threatening to extinguish the animal life.
weeds--He felt as if the seaweeds through which he was dragged were wrapped about his head.

6. bottoms of . . . mountains--their extremities where they terminate in the hidden depths of the sea. Compare Psalms 18:7 , "the foundations of the hills" ( Psalms 18:15 ).
earth with her bars was about me--Earth, the land of the living, is (not "was") shut against me.
for ever--so far as any effort of mine can deliver me.
yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption--rather, "Thou bringest . . . from the pit" [MAURER]. As in the previous clauses he expresses the hopelessness of his state, so in this, his sure hope of deliverance through Jehovah's infinite resources. "Against hope he believes in hope," and speaks as if the deliverance were actually being accomplished. Hezekiah seems to have incorporated Jonah's very words in his prayer ( Isaiah 38:17 ), just as Jonah appropriated the language of the Psalms.