Jonah 2: an exegetical study

Jonah’s Prayer: An Exegetical Study

Jonah, son of Amittai was born in Gath-Hepher, in the tribe of Zebulon (2 Kings 16:25). He was a prophet during the reign of Jeroboam II and foretold the success of his arms war with the Assyrians as well as the restoration of the kingdom’s ancient boundaries (Keil). The book that bears his name is set “during the reign of Jeroboam II, King of Israel who gave Israel some political stability. Spiritually, however, the kingdom was suffering” (textbook 453). Assyria, to which he was called by God, was a nation in decline. Having just experienced a famine and solar eclipse (an ominous sign) historically, it makes sense that they would be receptive to Jonah’s message (Alexander, Obadiah, Jonah, Mica). In the story, Jonah traverses the lands of Joppa (in Israel), Tarshish (near modern day Spain) and Nineveh (a large Assyrian city). He initially runs toward the earlier to escape God’s call, and after a storm during which he was thrown overboard and saved by a large fish, he finally travels to the later to respond to God’s call.

As for authorship and date, “the book was traditionally thought to have been composed by the eighth-century prophet whose name it bears… For those who consider the narrative to be biographical, the events took place in the first half of the eighty century B.C. and were written shortly after… (Allen, 152). On the other hand, “if it is pure fiction, its author could have used this prophet as a character because he wanted to make a point about divine compassion: God in showing mercy to the Ninevites, humbled this angry, super-patriotic prophet… Those who regard Jonah as postexilic fiction typically view the work as a counter to the nationalistic zeal of Ezra and Nehemiah” (Study Bible(1474)).

This controversy in authorship also leads to problems relating to the type of text. The book “resembles, in contents and form, the narratives concerning the prophets in the historical books of the OT, e.g. the history of Elijah and Elisha, rather than the writings of the Minor Prophets.” (Keil, 380). Because it is not an overt sermon or prophetic letter, the story has been viewed either as a historical narrative or a non-historical fable, or allegory.

There are several problems with a historical approach. The first relates to the improbability of Jonah’s survival inside of a fish and the repentance of the entire city of Nineveh. Sometimes, the text seems satirical because of potential exaggerations. In this way, the story has an entertaining quality not usually found in historical records. A symmetrical structure and didactic nature make the text appear more fictional. (Alexander: Obadiah, Jonah, Micah): In favor of a historical account, tradition holds it to be a true story. A historical introduction is found in within the book, and a historical Jonah is found in Scripture. Concerns about miraculous events within the narrative are removed when the rest of Scripture is studied. Yahweh is a God of miracles. Jesus Christ resurrected from death. It is not too big a task for God to sustain a man in a fish… or any circumstance for that matter. As for the genre of Chapter 2, “in the opinion of most scholars, the prayer, as it stands, is a good example of psalm-poetry, in which the poet drew upon the regular liturgical language common to the book of Pslams and other poems in the Old Testament in such a way as to fit this situation. It may be a psalm that had been composed at an earlier date, but had not been incorporated in the collection of psalms that we now have. In support of this latter view about the age of the prayer is the fact that its language reflects an early period in Hebrew literature, unlike much of the prose material in the rest of the book” (Clark, handbook). The prayer’s structure follows an acknowledgement of distress (2:2-4), an expression of need (2:5-7), and praise for deliverance (2:8-9).

With the previous in mind, verse-by-verse analysis is now appropriate. “Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the stomach of the fish” (Jonah 2:1). “The reader naturally expects this prayer to be a frantic appeal for help, but to his amazement he finds that it is a prayer of thanksgiving… The nature of the prayer has been explained in various ways: (1) It is a prayer spoken by Jonah after he was vomited out by the fish, in which case it should properly come after verse 10. (2) It is a psalm of thanksgiving uttered in the fish’s belly when Jonah suddenly discovers that he is safe from the raging sea. He expresses thanksgiving for full deliverance even before it comes, because his faith assures him it will come. (3) it is a psalm inserted at this point in the story by a later writer who saw its resemblance to the experience of Jonah. For some time most twentieth century scholarship has been inclined toward this view” (pickard). The verse seems to speak for itself, whether added initially or later, the prayer was prayed “from the stomach of the fish” (Jonah 2:1).

The second verse finishes the thought the first started. “…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” (Jonah 2:2). Jonah almost drowned, but God in his mercy saved him with a fish. God did not forget Jonah. It’s verses like these in his prayer that reflect parallels with the book of Pslams. This verses specifically seems to draw from Psalm 18:4-6. A concept often mentioned in both is “Sheol.” “The word occurs often in the Psalms and the book of Job to refer to the place to which all dead people go. It is represented as a dark place, in which there is no activity worthy of name.” (Clark, Handbook). It is often called the “pit.” It is significant that Jonah connects being thrown out to the stormy sea with Sheol because he acknowledges real danger of death and his inability to save himself.

Moving into the third verse, he says "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” (Jonah 2:3). “He calls them God’s billows and his waves, not because he made and rules them, but because he had now commissioned them against Jonah, and ordered them to afflict and terrify, but not to destroy him. These words are plainly quoted from Ps 42:7. What David spoke figuratively and metaphorically, Jonah applies to himself as literally fulfilled” (M. Henry). Although thankful for rescue, Jonah also realizes that his distress was initially ordained by God as a cleansing, humbling experience. Connecting this verse with the previous is a Hebrew poetic device. One of the chief characteristics of Hebrew poetry is this use of parallelism. Being swallowed up in the “heart of the seas” is equivalent to being in the “belly of sheol.” It is the same phrase from Psalm 42:7.

In the fourth verse, Jonah affirms his trust in God’s deliverance, no matter what the cause of his distress. "So I said, 'I have been expelled from Your sight Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple' (Jonah 2:4). “The greater part of expounders render the clause thus ‘But I shall see the temple of thy holiness;” as though Jonah here reproved his own distrust, which he had just expressed, as the case is with the faithful, who immediately check themselves, when they are tempted to entertain any doubt” (Calvin, 79). From the time of Josiah (621 BC), worship was centralized in the temple at Jerusalem (pickard). Turning his eyes to the temple was similar to saying that even in his greatest distress, God is always worthy of worship. Instead of looking only to his pain, he looks to what is better.

Verse five expresses “what dreadful temptations presented themselves to him while he was endeavoring to offer up prayers. It came first to his mind that God was his most inveterate enemy” (Calvin, 78). "Water encompassed me to the point of death The great deep engulfed me,
Weeds were wrapped around my head” (Jonah 2:5). There should have been no escape from death. It was an impossibility that Jonah would survive. Still, God is a God of miracles.

"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” (Jonah 2:6).