Jonah 2:1

All ten verses of this brief chapter relate almost entirely to the prayer uttered by Jonah from inside the fish. Jonah was a close student of the Holy Scriptures, especially of the Psalms, as indicated by his use of much terminology found also in them. Destructive critics have exercised the most valiant and persistent efforts to make this common terminology between Jonah and the Psalms a basis of their insistence upon a post-exilic date; but, as we shall more pointedly observe in the notes, below, such allegations are groundless. Many of the Psalms having words or clauses in common with Jonah were doubtless dated long before the prophet appeared; and in a very few cases where this is alleged not to be the case, the correspondence clearly indicated that the Psalmist was influenced by Jonah, and not the other way around. In addition to this, there is convincing evidence of the most positive nature found in the prayer itself which indicates a date long before that favored by Old Testament enemies.

Jonah 2:1

"Then Jonah prayed unto Jehovah his God out of the fish's belly."

The first threat to Jonah's life was, of course, that of drowning; and, for whatever period of time he might have been conscious inside the sea-monster, he was profoundly grateful for his being saved from drowning; and that salvation led him to believe that God would preserve him alive throughout the entire experience. This situation explains the double application of some of the expressions in the prayer. Critics like to complain that the passage (Jonah 2) "is not a prayer but a thanksgiving for deliverance."[1] However, in the words of Young who refuted such statements, "Is not thanksgiving of the very essence of prayer?"[2]

"Such critical censure is pointless, displaying ignorance of the fact that thanksgiving is the very heart of prayer; but this is not a psalm of deliverance from the great fish. It is rather a psalm of deliverance from drowning."[3]

THE PROBLEM OF THE PSALM

The fact of a number of words, phrases, and clauses from Jonah's prayer (or psalm) resembling or corresponding rather closely to similar expressions in the Book of Psalms is a big point of contention to some. It is true that a number of parallels exist:[4]

Jonah 2 Psalms

Jonah 2:3b...................Ps. 18:7; 120:1

Jonah 2:4b...................Ps. 18:6; 30:4 Jonah 2:5....................Ps. 42:8

Jonah 2:6....................Ps. 31:23; 5:8

Jonah 2:7....................Ps. 18:8; 69:2f

Jonah 2:8....................Ps. 18:17; 30:4; 103:4

Jonah 2:9....................Ps. 142:4; 143:4; 18:7; 5:8

Jonah 2:10...................Ps. 88:3; 31:7; 26:7; 50:14,23; 42:5; 116:7

All that is actually proved by these similarities is that Jonah was steeped in a thorough knowledge of the devotional language of God's people. Keil was correct in his flat denial that Jonah's prayer was in any way "compounded from passages in the Psalms."[5] Knobel and DeWette, as quoted by Keil, affirm that:

"Jonah's prayer is the simple and natural utterance of a man versed in the holy Scripture and living in the Word of God, and is in perfect accordance with the prophet's circumstances and the state of his mind."[6]

There are no quotations from the Psalms in Jonah's words, but only the usage of certain words, phrases, etc., known to all faithful Hebrews.

"The words (in Jonah's prayer) fit none (of the Psalms) well enough to conclude that they are specific quotations. More likely, many Psalms were in mind and freely paraphrased to fit the particular situation and in a manner which expressed Jonah's appropriate emotions."[7]

Critics will have their way, however, and one of the strategies is to date all of the Psalms at a point long after Jonah lived, but we shall not play games with dating Old Testament Scriptures. If the Psalms are later than Jonah, then the Psalmist was influenced by the Prophet! And, as Deane said, "It is a matter of controversy, incapable of settlement, whether Jonah or the Psalmist is the original!"[8]

Concerning the date of the Psalms, certainly,

"The most of these had then (in the times of Jonah) been written, and, as the Church Psalter, would be familiar to a prophet of God ... and so in all times, all over the world, the saintly praise and pray `in the words of David.'"[9]

The nobility and spiritual import of this matchless psalm-prayer were commented upon by Blaikie:

"Only tell us what a man says into the secret ear of God and you have told us all that is in his heart, have revealed what microscope could not detect, not scalpel lay bare ... It shows Jonah at bottom, a regenerate and saintly man."[10]

PECULIARITIES OF THE PRAYER

Its brevity. One of the startling things about this remarkable utterance on the part of Jonah is the brevity of it, being easily read in less than sixty seconds! Hillis thought this suggested that Jonah "did not live long inside the fish."[11] There is no certain way by which this question may be dogmatically resolved; and we shall leave it open. Many, along with Banks, have observed that, "Conservative Bible scholars believe that he died and point out that this best typifies what happened to Christ."[12]

The use of the past tense. According to Matthew Henry:

"This indicates that he (Jonah) afterward recollected the substance of it, and left it upon record. He reflects upon the workings of his heart toward God when he was in his distress and danger, and the conflict that was then in his breast between faith and sense, between hope and fear."[13]

UNITY OF JONAH

This psalm-prayer is alleged by some to be an addition to the narrative, thus compromising the unity of the Book of Jonah, and leading to the allegation that this chapter is not a part of the original record. This is false. As Young pointed out, "If Jonah 2:2-9 be removed, the symmetry of the book is most certainly destroyed."[14] Besides that, there is not the slightest historical or textual evidence that the 2chapter of this book is any less original than the rest of it. All of the objections to this prayer-psalm disappear upon a careful examination of the text itself.