Jonah 2:6-11*
(*2:5-10 in English translations)
6 The waters encompassed me up to the neck,
the deep surrounds me,
reeds were wrapped around my head.
7 To the foundations of the mountains I descended,
the land, her bars [were] around me for an eternity
and you brought my life up from the pit, YHWH my God.
8 While my life was ebbing away before me
I remembered YHWH
and my prayer went up to you to the temple of your holiness.
9 Those who worship idols of worthlessness
forsake their steadfast love.
10 And I, in a voice of thanksgiving, let me sacrifice,
to you what I have vowed, let me repay deliverance to YHWH.”
11 And YHWH spoke to the fish and he vomited out Jonah onto the dry land.
Comments
This is the second half of Jonah’s prayer to God from within the belly of the fish sent by God to rescue him from the raging sea. As with Jonah 2:1-5 (1:17-2:4 in English bibles) it is a mixture of words of praise to God and descriptions of the despairing situation which Jonah has found himself in. During his time in the fish, Jonah is transformed, from an unwilling prophet of God, to one who is willing, although he is still in disagreement with God over what the Lord will do through him.
Verse 5 ended with a note of hope. Jonah prayed that even though he had been driven away from before God he would still look upon his temple. He would still stand as a servant of God, albeit a disgraced one in temporary exile. Now in verse 6 the despair of his situation breaks through again. He describes the waters as both up to his neck and the deep as surrounding him, with reeds wrapping around his head. This verse describes Jonah being sucked under the waves and sinking among the reeds of the sea. The description of the water being up to his neck appears to contradict his situation in 2:4 where the waves are passing over his head, sweeping him under. This is most likely describing Jonah being repeatedly thrown under the waves before resurfacing. By contrast 2:6 is the last moment before he was swept under the waves for the final time, unable to regain the surface. The deep is the same word used in Gen 1:2 (tehom), so it is indicating more than just the sea itself that it all around him, but the very bottom of the sea, where the reeds (or seaweed) is thick and wraps around him.
By verse 7 Jonah has descended to the foundations of the mountains, which are at the very bottom of the sea. His next statement is more confusing. The land’s bars were around him for an eternity. As he is at the bottom of the sea at this point, the land he is referring to is the sea floor, but what the bars are is less clear. It could be that the depth he is at prevents him from sinking any further, but also from regaining the surface, thus baring him in on all sides. Regardless of the exact meaning of ‘bar’ here, Jonah is describing a totally hopeless situation. He is trapped at the bottom of the sea and is far from any help. But in the final line of this verse everything changes. YHWH has brought Jonah up from the pit. Pit (shachath) is both at literal pit (being trapped at the bottom of the sea is like being trapped in a pit in the ground) and the abode of the dead (as he was close to dying at the bottom of the sea). This saving act by God is Jonah being swallowed by the fish. Jonah’s situation is reversed in this action. He thought himself to be banished from God (2:5) but now he has been rescued by God, a clear sign that his position as God’s prophet has been restored.
Verse 8 goes back to the moments before Jonah was rescued by God. As he was drowning in the sea and his life ebbing away, he remembered YHWH. This type of remembering is not merely calling to mind something (like something one has to do later), but the act of focusing all one’s mental energy on something. It is used in Ex 2:24 when God remembers his covenant with the Israelites and then steps in to save them from Egypt. This kind of remembering always leads to action. Thus in Jonah 2, Jonah remembers God and prays to the temple of his holiness. This temple is likely the same idea that he referred to in 2:5 where he considered himself only worthy of looking upon it as he was banished from before God himself and thus couldn’t pray to him directly.
Verses 9-10 end Jonah’s prayer with a word of praise to God. In verse 9, Jonah states that those who worship idols forsake the steadfast love God could bestow upon them. Jonah himself has experienced this steadfast love when he was rescued from the sea and now he sees that those who worship idols (which he considers to be worthless) give up the chance to also experience this love. In verse 10 he contrasts these idol worshippers with himself. He declares that he will sacrifice to God what he has vowed that he will sacrifice in order to repay him for saving him. All this he will do in a voice of thanksgiving, meaning he will do it willingly and with great pleasure.
Here the poetry ends and the book returns to the narrative. God speaks to the fish after the three days and nights are over and Jonah is vomited out on to dry land (2:11).
Jonah’s prayer details the emotional rollercoaster of hope and despair the prophet experienced while he was stranded and drowning in the sea. He experienced crushing despair while struggling on the surface with the faintest glimmer of hope that God would save him only to be swept down into the depths of the sea and back into despair. His rescue by the fish once more gives him hope that God had not abandoned him in the sea.
The end of chapter 2 of Jonah marks the end of the first half of the book which told of his rebellion against God and attempt to flee from him to escape from the task he was called to do: to prophecy to Nineveh. His attempt has failed and he has been almost drowned in the sea and rescued by being swallowed by a fish. Through this experience he has learned that it is futile to run from doing the will of God as God will pursue him. The rest of the book will tell of what happened when he does go to Nineveh to prophecy God’s judgement on them.
The next section is Jonah 3:1-10.
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