And Jonah prayed unto Jehovah his God out of the fish's belly;
Jonah had refused to pray through a storm, through his own confession, and through his drowning. Now, inside a fish, he prays. Two questions follow: what turns a runaway back, and does his prayer save him?
The striking thing is not that Jonah prayed, but how long he had gone without praying.
We noticed something in the first chapter of Jonah. The shipmaster woke Jonah out of his sleep and told him to call on his God. Even then, Jonah made no attempt to pray. He was fleeing from the presence of Jehovah, and that is no time to pray to Him. We saw that he even made a frank confession of his sin to the whole ship's company, but still he did not pray... It is amazing. Even as Jonah was about to die, he seems to have made no effort at all to come to God in prayer. Yet his soul had surely begun to be restored. It often takes some time to bring about full restoration.
Wind, waves, and the prospect of drowning left Jonah unmoved. Something else broke him.
How wonderful are the ways of God. The storm, the raging waves, even death itself could not do it. God now brought it about by His own ways. Jonah was alone in the belly of the fish, in awful darkness and dead silence, with no hope of rescue by any human hand. And Jonah prayed... The proud, rebellious spirit bowed at last, and Jonah prayed.
What broke Jonah is a warning to anyone who has stopped praying.
God can make the proudest spirit bow, and can bring a prayer from the hardest heart... Suppose we keep walking in the paths of rebellion and self-will. Then we may be quite sure that we too will find "trouble and sorrow" — trouble and sorrow so great that they force us to our knees.
The verse does not say Jonah prayed to God, but to his God.
"His" God, note that; not all sense of relationship was lost... Prayer has gone up to God from many unlikely places through the ages. But never anything quite like this. Prisons, caves, mountains and the like have echoed with cries of anguish, but not the belly of a fish. The chastened prophet owned the divine hand in what had happened to him... Deliverance comes to souls in distress only when they own the hand of God.
Chapter one is a man walking away. This first line of chapter two reverses the direction.
The chapter begins with a significant statement. Jonah prayed, and his face is now in the right direction. He had turned his back on Jehovah. But now the divine rod falls on him. It not only stops him; it draws his eyes upward to the One he had tried to flee. Blessed effect of chastisement, when the soul owns its dependence and humbles itself under the mighty hand of God... just as a song of praise is the channel of the soul's joy, prayer is the vehicle of its sorrow.
Jonah prays here, but he is still inside the fish.
The first thing an awakened soul does is to pray, and "Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish." But I want you to see that it is not his prayer that brings him deliverance... In the history of his soul, Jonah had gone down into the depths of hell, and therefore he never went there in reality.
Wolston traces the steps, and release comes at one sentence.
He prays (Jonah 2:1). He cries (Jonah 2:2). He promises, "I shall again look upon your holy temple" (Jonah 2:4). He moralises (Jonah 2:8). He sacrifices and he vows (Jonah 2:9). But he is still in the belly of the great fish. At last he says, "Salvation belongs to the LORD!" and at once he is out on dry land.
Those hidden hours have a meaning larger than one prophet's recovery.
But now we have the silent and secret dealings of God that went on during those three days and three nights when Jonah lay in the depths and spread his misery before God.
Jonah is called to rejoice in this salvation of God. But it gets all its authority from the mystery of the cross. One who was able to do so went down, for us sinners, under the dominion of death and under the judgment of sin. He was in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. Jonah, in the belly of the fish for the same length of time, is the type of Him in that condition.
- Cornered. The storm and even death did not bend Jonah. The darkness and silence of the fish, with no human help in sight, did.
- Turned. God's rod turns his face back toward the One he fled from. Chastening works when the soul owns its dependence.
- Owned. He prays to his God. The relationship survived his running, and he owns God's hand in what happened to him.
- Emptied. Prayers, vows and sacrifices leave him still inside the fish; only "Salvation belongs to the LORD!" puts him on dry land.
- Fulfilled. Those three days and nights are the type of One who went down under the judgment of sin. This salvation draws all its authority from Him.
and he said I cried by reason of my distress unto Jehovah, and he answered me; Out of the belly of Sheol cried I thou heardest my voice.
A runaway prophet is swallowed by a great fish. Inside it he finally speaks to the God he was running from, and his first words are that God answered him. Two questions follow. What made a man who would not pray on the ship pray in the deep? And what does he mean by the belly of Sheol?
Jonah does not dress up his motive.
Honest Jonah — he frankly confessed that it was because of his distress that he was finally forced to cry to God. He could face death without a tremble, but there are worse things than death, as he found out. Now such distress came upon him that there was nothing else for it, he had to pray... If we persist in walking the paths of rebellion and self-will, we may be sure that we too will find trouble and sorrow — such trouble and such sorrow that it will force us to our knees.
One writer draws a general rule from Jonah's case.
Affliction quickens the spirit of prayer; Jonah was asleep in the ship, but at prayer in the whale's belly. Perhaps in a time of health and prosperity we pray in a cold and formal manner... God sends some trouble or other to make us take hold of Him. "They poured out a whispered prayer when your discipline was upon them" (Isaiah 26:16); now their prayer pierced the heavens.
Jonah gives his prison a name: the belly of Sheol.
Alone in the belly of the fish, in that awful darkness and deathly silence, with no hope of rescue by any human hand — Jonah prayed. "Out of the belly of Sheol (or the grave) I cried." Those long hours — three days and three nights "in the belly of Sheol" — were far worse to Jonah than a few short moments under the stormy waves and then death. The proud, rebellious spirit bowed at last, and Jonah prayed.
Commentators set Sheol against qeber, the word for the burial grave that holds the body:
Sheol is always connected with the soul, never with the body... Sheol is connected with distress such as is shown by crying aloud with the voice... Qeber has no such thought connected with it. A dead body cannot cry aloud or feel distress.
One small word in the chapter's opening line survives all Jonah's rebellion.
"Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish." "His" God, note that; for the sense of relationship was not entirely lost... From many unlikely places prayer has gone up to God through the ages, but never anything quite like this. Prisons, caves, mountains and the like have echoed with cries of anguish, but not the belly of a fish... This is very beautiful. It shows that even a believer who slides back knows Whom to turn to in trouble. He is confident that God will not forsake him.
Notice the tense. Jonah is still inside the fish, yet he speaks of the answer as already given.
What could more strikingly show the grace of God, or display the tenderness of His heart! His dealings have done their work, and He answers the cry of His servant at once. In the folly of our unbelief, we are often tempted to think that He cannot forgive us after our sinful and rebellious wanderings. But His grace never fails. More than that, He waits on His people, His ear always open to their cry. His attitude towards us does not depend on what we are, but only on what He is in Himself... And it is just because of His unchanging love that He deals with us in chastening and affliction.
Jesus applied Jonah's three days and nights to Himself. The likeness has a limit.
For the believer there can be no doubt that Jonah is a type of the blessed Lord Jesus Christ. He too was three days and nights, as He said Himself, in the heart of the earth — the crucified Messiah. But then how different! Jonah's strange fate came from his sin — his open refusal to obey God. Christ suffered for others only. It was for the sins of His people... Jonah then cries, and Jehovah hears. He feels deeply the position he found himself in; and this was right. Discipline is meant to be felt, though grace should not be doubted.
- Affliction — distress squeezed the prayer out of Jonah. The man who slept through a storm prayed in the fish.
- Sheol — he names his prison the belly of the grave, a place of conscious anguish where a voice can still cry out.
- His God — even a runaway keeps the relationship; the word "his" shows he knew whose ear he was reaching for.
- Heard — Jonah speaks of the answer as already given, before any rescue comes. God's attitude rests on what He is, not on what we have been.
- Sign — the same three days and nights point to Christ in the heart of the earth. But Jonah went down for his own sin; Christ went down for the sins of others.