1:17
Jonah has been thrown overboard and is presumed dead.  The storm is gone and the sailors are worshiping Yahweh on the ship.  God’s plan for Jonah, however, is not over.

We do not know for how long Jonah sinks into the sea before the fish swallows him.  In his prayer he will make it plain that he almost drowns before being rescued.  God mercifully sends a fish to save him but not before allowing the discipline of the ocean to have almost its full effect.

We also do not fully know why God chooses such a strange and miraculous way to save him.  He could just as easily have had some kind of floating object take Jonah to land.  Several thoughts to consider, however.  The fish shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is the agent of his salvation.  If he would have somehow found land some other way he might have thought he was just fortunate.  Also, the fish allows God to keep him in the darkness and under the surface for three days – and at least part of that time is spent in prayer and reflection.  Finally, the fish allows Jonah to be a type of Christ – he spends three days and three nights [probably not an exact time – in Hebrew, time is somewhat relative and any part of three days is considered a full three days – also, when referring to time it is common to equate the number of days with the number of nights – this is true in New Testament references to Jesus in the tomb, where He is from Friday evening to Sunday morning but it is called three days and three nights] in the fish to represent the time Jesus will spend in the grave.

What kind of fish swallows Jonah?  We have no idea.  Is it possible for a man to survive for days inside a fish?  When God wants him to – yes.  Does this really happen or is it just a parable or an allegory?  Jesus seems to think it really happened when He refers to it in Matthew 12.  Why does the author not give us more details about the fish and Jonah’s time in it?  BECAUSE THE FISH IS NOT THE POINT OF THE STORY.  The fish gets TWO verses and no description.  It gets all the publicity and makes the book a great children’s story, but the author seems to take great pains to deemphasize it.

Note God’s mercy.  He could’ve allowed Jonah to simply resign as His prophet and live the rest of his life in disobedience (in Tarshish presumably).  That’s not what God does, however.  He doesn’t let Jonah go.  He pursues him and disciplines him to ensure he can’t escape (just like a parent, our heavenly Father disciplines us because it’s best for us – it’s a sign of His mercy) and then in the midst of the discipline provides for his physical safety.  He also mercifully allows the discipline the time it needs to (mostly) change Jonah’s heart.  If Jonah gets vomited on to land after a shorter time, he may not come to his senses and reflect on God’s mercy as he is about to do.

Note something else too.  God saves Jonah only AFTER allowing him to be thrown into the sea in the middle of a storm so fierce that the sailors assume it has supernatural origins, and only AFTER allowing him to sink to the point of encountering weeds.  God lets him believe he is going to die and provides no evidence to the contrary until the appearance of the fish.  We should never underestimate the lengths God will go to turn us to Him and make us appreciate His salvation.  He is willing to allow some very nasty stuff in our lives to make us realize our dependence on Him and then praise Him for our rescue.  Note that it is only after the events of Chapter 1 that Jonah utters the prayer of Chapter 2.

2:1-10
Jonah prays from the stomach of the fish.  It is easy to read this prayer and assume it was added to the story after the fact.  After all, who prays out of a desperate situation in horrible conditions and makes the prayer in the form of poetry?  What must be remembered, however, is that Jonah knows the Psalms – has learned them since childhood, presumably – and quotes them extensively throughout the prayer.  Some of the possible quotations are as follows (chart is from H.L. Ellison – The Expositor’s Commentary):

Jonah                 Psalms
2:2a                    3:4, 120:1
2:2b                    18:4-5, 30:3
2:3a                    88:6-7
2:3b                    42:7
2:4a                    31:22
2:4b                    5:7
2:5a                    69:1-2
2:6b                    49:15, 56:13, 103:4
2:7a                    107:5, 142:3
2:8a                    31:6
2:9a                    50:14, 69:30, 107:22
2:9c                    3:8, 37:39

Something else to consider when reading the prayer; Jonah says nothing about the fish.  It is interesting to wonder how much he understands about where he is.  Was he conscious when he was swallowed (and if he was, how scary was that?)?  Did he realize what was happening when it happened?  Has he just perhaps regained consciousness in the fish and is trying to figure out what in the world is going on?  Did he just go from a dark watery place to a dark dry place and not know how or why?  Since we do not know any details of what the conditions inside the fish are, it is impossible to know the answers to these questions.  Jonah again does not include any details about his emotions or physical condition while in the fish.

Jonah begins his prayer with thanking God for his rescue.  He says he cried out in his distress – sinking to the bottom of the ocean – and God saved him.  He uses the term depth of Sheol to describe where he cried to God.  By this he means he was nearing death in the bottom of the sea – a watery grave with no hope of survival.  Even in the depths of Sheol God heard him and responded.  Verse 2 is paralleled in verse 6.  He elaborates on what he means by the depth of Sheol – he descended to the roots of the mountains and the earth was about to claim him forever.  Verse 6 also elaborates on God hearing him.  God heard and brought his life up from the pit.

Verse 6 is the first time we see Jonah going up.  To this point in the book, all his actions have been down.  He went down to Joppa and down into the ship (1:3).  He went down in the hold of the ship to sleep during the storm (1:5).  He went down into the sea (1:15).  All his down actions have been away from the Lord.  God now brings him UP from the pit and toward Himself.

Verse 3 and verse 5 are parallel.  Both make reference to the deep – a symbol of chaos and evil to the Hebrew mind.  Jonah was cast into the deep (the sailors threw him overboard, but notice that he says “You” (meaning God) threw him in – he knows the Author of his judgment) and it surrounded and overwhelmed him.  He was in a completely hopeless situation.  Note, however, that he describes the breakers and billows in verse 3 as YOUR breakers and billows.  He knows even in the midst of drowning that the storm and the sea belong to God.

Verses 2-3 and 5-6 show that God did not rescue Jonah immediately after he was thrown into the waves.  He nearly sank to the bottom of the sea where death seemed inevitable.

Verse 4 is the center of the first six verses – it is the central thought of this part of the Psalm.  Jonah said to himself while he was drowning, “I have been expelled from Your sight.  Nevertheless, I will look again toward Your holy temple.”  He was being punished but he could still pray (look again to Your holy temple) with confidence that God would hear and respond.  Even in the midst of discipline or judgment that we have brought on ourselves we serve a God who will hear our cry and act.  What an amazingly hopeful statement born out of contrast: “I have been thrown out of your sight – BUT – I can still look to You and You will hear me.”  Initially Jonah ran from God.  Then God took it a step further and threw him out.  Even so, however, Jonah cried out and was heard and delivered.

In verse 7 he summarizes the situation of verses 2-6.  “While I was fainting away, I remembered the Lord” (“Just as I was about to lose my senses I came to my senses.”).  Jonah finally prayed and his prayer came to God’s holy temple and God heard him.

There are difficulties in translating verse 8.  He begins by referring to people who worship vain idols in place of the true God.  He then says they forsake their faithfulness.  This second phrase can be translated two different ways.  He might be saying that those who worship idols forsake the faithfulness that they owe to God.  It may also mean, however, that they are forsaking the faithfulness that God gives to His followers.  Both the NIV (forfeit the grace that could be theirs) and ESV (forsake their hope of steadfast love) take the second approach.  The NASB (forsake their faithfulness) leaves it somewhat ambiguous (which is actually truest to the text).  The word translated faithfulness/grace/steadfast love is chesed.  Typically this refers to God’s actions toward man – not vice versa (see 4:2 where it is translated lovingkindness in the NASB).  Consequently, it seems to make more sense to assume it refers to what idol-worshippers give up when they put something in the place of God – they forsake God’s steadfast love and mercy.

Thought: The second translation makes this an incredibly powerful verse for today.  Simply stated, when we put something in the place of God – the definition of idolatry – we give up living in the steadfast covenant loyalty and love and grace of our Creator.  What an unbelievable sacrifice we make for the privilege of worshiping things (money, sex, power, prestige, etc.) that are temporal and ultimately unsatisfying.

Jonah ends his prayer with a promise to worship and sacrifice to God with thanksgiving for his deliverance.  He also says that this is not a meaningless vow but one he will surely keep.

The last phrase of his prayer is the most important.  As a matter of fact, it could be argued that this is the key verse of the entire Bible.  Salvation is from the Lord.  This sums up the entire message of God’s Word.  This is the point God wanted Jonah to get to.  It is the point He wants everyone who goes through trials to get to (sometimes over and over again).  Jonah knows he ran away from God and did everything in his power to forsake God and yet God pursued him and pulled him out of the deep.  So Jonah reaches only one obvious conclusion: salvation is from the Lord.

Did Jonah do anything to effect his rescue?  Could he have gotten himself out of the depths?  Was he worthy of saving?  No, no, and no.  Salvation is from the Lord.

This is the ultimate statement of who God is and why He is to be glorified.  If salvation is from any other, then God is not God.  If salvation is only from Him, then He alone is worthy of worship and glory.  It is the reason for the first commandment.  Salvation is from the Lord.

After Jonah comes to his senses and prays and acknowledges God and effectively re-assumes his office of prophet, God has the fish vomit him on to dry land.  The author gives us no details about this.  We can assume, however, that being vomited from a fish on to the beach is not one of the more pleasant events in Jonah’s life.