Project 119: Jonah 2
| Project 119 | Joel Burks
Before we begin talking about this chapter of Jonah I want to begin with saying that I believe that this story found in the Bible is a historically accurate event that actually happened. We find evidence for this in the form of seeing Jonah mentioned in two other places in the Bible. First Jonah is mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25 NIV: “He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher” (2 Kings 14:25, NIV). Second, in Matthew, Jesus references Jonah’s story: “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40, NIV). All that I am saying is that, if Jesus believes in the account of Jonah, then I think we should consider it true as well. And if you have doubts about how it happened, John Piper says “If you ask how a man can survive in the belly of a fish three days, the answer is, he probably can't—any more than a person can stay three days in the grave and live again. That's why Jesus called it a ‘sign’” (see sermon from John Piper, The Education of a Prophet, https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-education-of-a-prophet-jonah).
When I read this passage of Jonah, I can’t help but put myself into his shoes. Pitch-black darkness around me, the fish breathing beneath me, and the smell…Jonah has just been cast into the sea, and swallowed by a big fish and he begins to do the only thing he can think of: pray. We must remember as we take a look at this passage that the sea is what Jonah is fearful of, not the big fish. The fish is Jonah’s salvation in a time of need. God took this selfish prophet and decided to teach him about His mercy. God proves through this chapter of Jonah that He does hear our cries of distress. Moreover, He has the power to respond and intervene in our physical reality. This is just one of the few times in Jonah’s life that God chooses not to condemn Jonah, but instead chooses to be merciful towards him. Are you in distress today? I pray that God will reach into your situation and shift the tide in your favor. He has the power to do that; do you believe it?
Jonah 2 (ESV):
Jonah’s Prayer
1 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying,
“I called out to the LORD, out of my distress,
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 flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows
passed over me.
4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away
from your sight;
yet I shall again look
upon your holy temple.’
5 The waters closed in over me to take my life;
the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped about my head
6 at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
whose bars closed upon me forever;
yet you brought up my life from the pit,
O LORD my God.
7 When my life was fainting away,
I remembered the LORD,
and my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple.
8 Those who pay regard to vain idols
forsake their hope of steadfast love.
9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the LORD!”
10 And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.