Jonah 2:1-10

 Salvation belongs to my Lord, my God.

He will direct my steps in the way that I should go. He answers the prayers for those who trust in Him. He directs my path.

Jonah was lost and without hope until…God stepped in!

Jonah 2:1-10

2 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly. 2 And he said: “I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, And He answered me. “Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice. 3 For You cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the floods surrounded me; All Your billows and Your waves passed over me. 4 Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’ 5 The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; The deep closed around me; Weeds were wrapped around my head. 6 I went down to the moorings of the mountains; The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord, my God. 7 “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; And my prayer went up to You, Into Your holy temple. 8 “Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own Mercy. 9 But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.” 10 So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.  The New King James Version

The prayer that follows is a prayer of thanksgiving and trust. While Jonah appears thankful that the fish has saved him, he doesn’t actually acknowledge his sin or explicitly repent of his actions. He is only thankful that he did not drown.

Yahweh responded to Jonah’s distress by sending the fish to swallow him. The chaos of the sea was associated with drawing closer to the underworld. The Hebrew term for the heart is used here in the sense of the inmost part of the ocean. Jonah felt that God no longer looked on him with favor since he was descending to the depths of the ocean. Therefore, he cried out (past tense) in the midst of his distress. This is a present-tense statement of faith as Jonah reflects on his situation in the belly of the whale.

Jonah trusts that he will be rescued even though he is still in the belly of the fish. Jonah was losing hope. The Hebrew word translated as “life” or “soul” is used here to describe Jonah’s mental state.

The sailors and the men of Nineveh are shown mercy in the narrative. The Israelites refused to repent of their idolatry and eventually were sent to Assyria as exiles. The Hebrew word here is used to denote falsehood or lack of value. Jonah intends to offer a sacrifice in the temple when he returns to Jerusalem. Jonah may have vowed to offer a sacrifice to Yahweh when he prayed for deliverance, or the reference may be to the first half of the verse and Jonah is at that moment making a vow to Yahweh. The Hebrew word used here, yeshu'a, meaning “salvation,” is used in the sense of deliverance. The fish likely deposited Jonah somewhere along the eastern Mediterranean coast, perhaps near Joppa itself. Faithlife Study Bible

In his psalm, Jonah acknowledges God’s help and thanks him for it. The phrase the Lord his God shows that Jonah, even though he was disobedient, was a true believer in God. I cried…these terms come from two different verbs. The first is a more general term meaning “to call aloud,” with a wide range of usage in the Bible. The second is a term that means a “cry for help,” particularly as a scream to God. Jonah was terrified. 

When the sailors threw Jonah into the sea, he seemed to be “as good as dead.” Thus for Jonah, the sea became like Sheol, the place of death.Jonah’s use of the pronouns You and Your in this verse are not accusations, but acknowledgments of the Lord’s sovereign control of his life 

The man who had run from God’s presence was alone, yet he clung to the hope that God would not abandon him. In the Bible, the sea is described as a part of God’s creation that brings Him joy, but it also appears as a symbol for hostile force which the Lord nevertheless holds in His firm control. Jonah pictures himself so deep in the sea that it is as if he had found the moorings of the mountains. 

Jonah reaffirms his faith in the Lord and renews his commitment to Him. Idols here means “vapor,” that which passes away quickly. These vaporous gods were without value. Mercy (loyal love), the term that so often describes God’s faithfulness to His covenant and to His people is used as a name for the Lord. 

I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving: This vow of praise is common in the Psalms. Jonah declares that he will keep his promise, a pledge both to sacrifice and to acknowledge God’s help.

It is the Lord who delivers His people. God acts on behalf of His creation and the redeemed community to insure a relationship with them. 

The focus in the story of Jonah is on the Lord’s sovereign control over creation to bring about His purpose. The NKJV Study Bible

Strong’s #4487: PREPARED.This Hebrew verb basically means “to count” or “to assign.” The psalmist uses this verb to praise God for knowing the number of stars and naming each one. In the Book of Jonah, it signifies “to appoint” or “to ordain,” and describes God’s intervention in natural events to bring about His will. By preparing the fish, the plant, and the worm, God made sure that Jonah’s mission was not left to chance. God exercised sovereignty not only over the plant and animal world, but also over Jonah’s life, using animals as small as a worm to teach Jonah about His great mercy. 

Psalm 16:10 For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.

Psalm 18:5 The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.

Psalm 18:6 In my distress I called upon the LORD, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.

Psalm 69:1 Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.

Lamentations 3:54 The waters flowed over my head; I said, “I am cut off!”