‘Then Jonah prayed to YHWH his God out of the fish's innards.' All Jonah probably knew was that he was somewhere safe where he could breathe and pray. It would only be later that he discovered that he was in the innards of a large fish. And knowing that he had been saved from certain death he was n... [ Continue Reading ]
JONAH'S PRAYER OF REPENTANCE AND GRATITUDE (JONAH 2:1). Finding himself rescued from drowning, Jonah expressed his gratitude to God, and, probably puzzled as to where he was, called on God for restitution to His favour, ‘I am cast out from your sight, yet will I look again towards your holy Temple'... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he said, “I called by reason of my affliction to YHWH, And he answered me, Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, You heard my voice.” As he sank into the sea after being hurled from the deck Jonah had felt that he was sinking into the belly of Sheol (the grave). He had felt that he was about... [ Continue Reading ]
“For you cast me into the depth, In the heart of the seas, And the flood was round about me, All your waves and your billows passed over me.” His remembrance of his experience was vivid. He had been cast into the heart of the sea, and had felt as though he was being swallowed up by the sea, almo... [ Continue Reading ]
“And I said, ‘I am cast out from before your eyes, Yet I will look again towards your holy temple.” And his first thoughts as he viewed approaching death was that he had been cast out from before YHWH's eyes. He was a reject. But his automatic impulse had been to look towards the Temple of YHWH in... [ Continue Reading ]
“The waters compassed me about, Even to the soul, The deep was round about me, The weeds were wrapped about my head.” But his awful experience had gone on. (God does not always step in immediately until we have learned our lesson). He had felt as though the waters had entered into his very soul.... [ Continue Reading ]
“I went down to the bottoms of the mountains, The earth with its bars closed on me for ever, Yet have you brought up my life from the pit, O YHWH my God.” He had felt himself sinking lower and lower, into the very depths. ‘The bottom of the mountains' indicates the sea floor, for as men stood on... [ Continue Reading ]
“When my soul fainted within me, I remembered YHWH, And my prayer came in to you, Into your holy temple. In his desperation he had remembered YHWH, and he had prayed to YHWH towards His holy Temple. And he knew that in that moment YHWH had answered, so that here he was, safe, even though he knew... [ Continue Reading ]
Those who regard lying vanities, Forsake their own mercy, But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving, I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of YHWH.” But he acknowledged that he had been clinging on to deceitful vanities as though he was an idolater (for the phrase compare P... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And YHWH spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah on the dry land.' Then the large fish approached land, no doubt under God's direction, and YHWH then spoke to it and it vomited Jonah out on the dry land. Now at last Jonah knew where he had been, in the innards of a large fish. The message was... [ Continue Reading ]