4 Then I said, H559 I am cast out H1644 of thy sight; H5869 yet I will look H5027 again H3254 toward thy holy H6944 temple. H1964
What prayer H8605 and supplication H8467 soever be made by any man, H120 or by all thy people H5971 Israel, H3478 which shall know H3045 every man H376 the plague H5061 of his own heart, H3824 and spread forth H6566 his hands H3709 toward this house: H1004 Then hear H8085 thou in heaven H8064 thy dwelling H3427 place, H4349 and forgive, H5545 and do, H6213 and give H5414 to every man H376 according to his ways, H1870 whose heart H3824 thou knowest; H3045 (for thou, even thou only, knowest H3045 the hearts H3824 of all the children H1121 of men;) H120
[[To the chief Musician, H5329 to Jeduthun, H3038 A Psalm H4210 of Asaph.]] H623 I cried H6817 unto God H430 with my voice, H6963 even unto God H430 with my voice; H6963 and he gave ear H238 unto me. In the day H3117 of my trouble H6869 I sought H1875 the Lord: H136 my sore H3027 ran H5064 in the night, H3915 and ceased H6313 not: my soul H5315 refused H3985 to be comforted. H5162 I remembered H2142 God, H430 and was troubled: H1993 I complained, H7878 and my spirit H7307 was overwhelmed. H5848 Selah. H5542 Thou holdest H270 mine eyes H5869 waking: H8109 I am so troubled H6470 that I cannot speak. H1696 I have considered H2803 the days H3117 of old, H6924 the years H8141 of ancient times. H5769 I call to remembrance H2142 my song H5058 in the night: H3915 I commune H7878 with mine own heart: H3824 and my spirit H7307 made diligent search. H2664 Will the Lord H136 cast off H2186 for ever? H5769 and will H3254 he be favourable H7521 no more?
I said H559 in the cutting off H1824 of my days, H3117 I shall go H3212 to the gates H8179 of the grave: H7585 I am deprived H6485 of the residue H3499 of my years. H8141 I said, H559 I shall not see H7200 the LORD, H3050 even the LORD, H3050 in the land H776 of the living: H2416 I shall behold H5027 man H120 no more with the inhabitants H3427 of the world. H2309 Mine age H1755 is departed, H5265 and is removed H1540 from me as a shepherd's H7473 tent: H168 I have cut off H7088 like a weaver H707 my life: H2416 he will cut me off H1214 with pining sickness: H1803 from day H3117 even to night H3915 wilt thou make an end H7999 of me. I reckoned H7737 till morning, H1242 that, as a lion, H738 so will he break H7665 all my bones: H6106 from day H3117 even to night H3915 wilt thou make an end H7999 of me. Like a crane H5483 or a swallow, H5693 so did I chatter: H6850 I did mourn H1897 as a dove: H3123 mine eyes H5869 fail H1809 with looking upward: H4791 O LORD, H3068 I am oppressed; H6234 undertake H6148 for me.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Jonah 2
Commentary on Jonah 2 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 2
Jon 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" (Lu 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 Jon 2:2, Ps 120:1; in Jon 2:3, Ps 42:7; in Jon 2:4, Ps 31:22; in Jon 2:5, Ps 69:1; in Jon 2:7, Ps 142:3; 18:6; in Jon 2:8, Ps 31:6; in Jon 2:9, Ps 116:17, 18, and 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 (Ps 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, 2Sa 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" (Jon 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 (1Ki 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 Ps 18:7, "the foundations of the hills" (Ps 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 (Isa 38:17), just as Jonah appropriated the language of the Psalms.
7. soul fainted … I remembered the Lord—beautifully exemplifying the triumph of spirit over flesh, of faith over sense (Ps 73:26; 42:6). For a time troubles shut out hope; but faith revived when Jonah "remembered the Lord," what a gracious God He is, and how now He still preserves his life and consciousness in his dark prison-house.
into thine holy temple—the temple at Jerusalem (Jon 2:4). As there he looks in believing prayer towards it, so here he regards his prayer as already heard.
8. observe lying vanities—regard or reverence idols, powerless to save (Ps 31:6).
mercy—Jehovah, the very idea of whom is identified now in Jonah's mind with mercy and loving-kindness. As the Psalmist (Ps 144:2) styles Him, "my goodness"; God who is to me all beneficence. Compare Ps 59:17, "the God of my mercy," literally, "my kindness-God." Jonah had "forsaken His own mercy," God, to flee to heathen lands where "lying vanities" (idols) were worshipped. But now, taught by his own preservation in conscious life in the fish's belly, and by the inability of the mariners' idols to lull the storm (Jon 1:5), estrangement from God seems estrangement from his own happiness (Jer 2:13; 17:13). Prayer has been restrained in Jonah's case, so that he was "fast asleep" in the midst of danger, heretofore; but now prayer is the sure sign of his return to God.
9. I will sacrifice … thanksgiving—In the believing anticipation of sure deliverance, he offers thanksgivings already. So Jehoshaphat (2Ch 20:21) appointed singers to praise the Lord in front of the army before the battle with Moab and Ammon, as if the victory was already gained. God honors such confidence in Him. There is also herein a mark of sanctified affliction, that he vows amendment and thankful obedience (Ps 119:67).
10. upon the dry land—probably on the coast of Palestine.