Bible Study

Studies in Jonah by Neil Foster
Lesson 3


    • Jonah 1:17-2:9
    • Jonah 1:17
      • Matthew 12:38-40
      • Genesis 18:13-14a
      • Numbers 11:21-22
      • Jeremiah 32:16-17
      • Zechariah 8:4-6
      • Mark 11:20-22
    • Jonah 2:1
    • Jonah 2:1-2
    • Jonah 2:3
    • Jonah 2:4
    • Jonah 2:5-6
    • Jonah 2:7-9

Jonah was a prophet to Israel more than 800 years before Christ. He was instructed by the Lord to go to Nineveh and preach. But he didn't want to go so he tried to run away to Spain and thus (he thought) get away from God's presence.

Somewhere out in the Mediterranean, the Lord "cast forth" a great storm, and the ship Jonah had taken was in danger of being dashed to pieces.

Jonah knew why the storm was upon them, and after this had been discovered by the others by their casting lots, he told them to throw him overboard and then all would be well for them.

The mariners did everything in their power to try to save their ship and Jonah, but finally they gave up and cast Jonah into the sea -- "and the sea ceased from her raging."

A fish swallowed Jonah. What kind of fish swallowed Jonah?

Let's look closely at what we are told here about his fish.

  1. It was apparently big.
  2. It was a fish that the Lord had prepared (the word is "appointed," not created).
  3. It had been "appointed" to accomplish a specific task -- to swallow up Jonah.

And Jonah was in the belly (bowels) of the fish three days and three nights.

Jesus indirectly confirms this fact in a statement related to Himself, and I'm not sure which is the least believed.

"Whale" is translation of "great fish." This is an example of the problems of paraphrases and modern vocabulary translations.

The trend in Protestant churches has been to take a modern approach to the accounts of both Noah and Jonah and say they are myths or stories (not actual events), saying that they just illustrate some moral truths.

  1. These "liberal" views seem to have started in Germany in the late 1800's. They seem to have swept in the churches here in the last 30-40 years.
  2. It starts first with attacks of the "Creation" story, then the "flood," and then such accounts as Jonah.
  3. As liberalness starts, it at first leaves the accounts of Christ's life as truth. But as the mind adjusts, this too gets swept in. The final stage is: "There is no God."

Somewhere in between comes disbelief of the Gospels.

Why must disbelief of the Gospels be inevitable when people reject creation, flood, etc.? I think it is because of just such words as these in Matthew where Jesus says: "As Jonah was . . . so will I be."

It is a parallel account --- If Jesus did, and the book says He did remain three days and nights in the earth, then Jonah must have spent three days and nights in the great fish.

On the other hand, if one first assumes "Jonah" is a myth, to hang on to the idea that it is a myth, he will ultimately (it seems to me) have to decide that Jesus being dead and then resurrected is a myth also -- because He couldn't be like something that was not.

Why should it be thought incredible for God to "prepare a special fish" and raise Jonah after being three days in its belly?

And then there is the scripture we started this study of Jonah with:

If God created the heavens and the earth, then, Jonah's problem is a little thing for GOD.

All of chapter 2 concerns Jonah's "sojourn" in the belly of the Fish.

Here again, is that sort of newspaper style account that I mention often.

Genesis, Chapter 1 tells of the total creation story and in Chapter 2 it reverts back to a detail account of the creation of man.

Jonah 1:17 tells us, not only that the fish swallowed Jonah, but also that he was three days and three nights in the fish's belly. And now, in chapter 2, we go back to the account of events while Jonah was still in the fish.

Jonah prays. When people are in great trouble, I suppose they always pray, but for God's people prayers are meaningful, because they know the One they are praying to.

The mariners on the ship were scared to death and they pray -- but they prayed to the wrong god. In fact, they didn't really know the right one to pray to. Their prayers were like "shots in the dark" hoping they would hit home somewhere.

So likewise, a man in a perilous situation will, I suppose, always pray to what he hopes is god. Someone has said, "There are no atheists in foxholes" because under these conditions men pray to god -- but to what god? God is a generic term -- they don't know what god they should be praying to. This was what was wrong with the citizens of Athens when Paul visited there. They had a statue to the unknown God.

Jonah was in trouble. Like others, he prayed to God, but the big difference was that Jonah knew God, and God knew Jonah and God heard him and God heeded.

All though chapter 2 you will notice places where the writing is in retrospect (past tense). This is also a typical thing in Scripture. It simply shows that the writer at the time of writing knows the outcome. Also, Jonah speaks about Jonah.

I remember once when Mrs. Hawkins column was written by her son, Bob Hawkins. It said, "Bob has had news" . . . . "Mary plans to live with our mother. . . "

Preachers often make a lot out of verses like this, but I will only just mention that in his predicament, Jonah acknowledges that everything is God's and that God had full control.

"Thou hadst cast me" . . .

"all Thy billows and waves" . . .

Jonah considered himself being cast away from God, but apparently knows what he can expect or (hope for) because he says "yet I will look again toward Thy holy temple" . . .

I will again be able to go and worship in Jerusalem, OR "I will again be close to You in Thy heavenly temple."

The main point is that it is contrasted with "I am cast out of Thy sight."

"Cast out of Thy sight -- but will again be close to Thee."

Maybe Jonah knew -- maybe he just hoped -- We have to be careful about jumping at too much conclusion.

A description of Jonah as he went down -- weeds were about him --

"Bottom of the mountains" literally the "cutting off of the mountains", i.e., to the bottom.

Notice the figure of speech "the bars of the earth" -- The Bible is full of such, and mostly they are easy to see and understand.

There is a technical name for these, but I don't know what it is. Anyway, they are descriptions to help our understanding.

Phrases like: "Windows of heaven" -- "Hands of God" -- "Bars of the earth" -- express being shut in. . .

"The earth with her bars about me forever" ---- Except by an intervention of God, the earth had captured Jonah, and "captured" he would be forever if God did not intervene.

But God did intervene: "Yet Thou hast brought up my life from corruption (the pit) . . ." I think this is retrospect -- it had happened and Jonah writes about it.

J. Vernon McGee -- Jonah a type of Christ and died and was resurrected -- Christ only one with new body.

Jonah apparently had made a vow, or vows, and he said he would pay them, i.e., "keep them" -- no doubt one was that he would go to Nineveh.

"Salvation is of the Lord."

Many people make vows to God, but to what God have they vowed when they didn't know him? I personally believe that most vows are not really made to GOD, because the people don't know Him, and therefore, do not speak their vows to Him. To the unknown god, I vow . . . Such vows are like New Year's resolutions. When tomorrow comes and all is well again, they are forgotten.

It is my opinion from my own experience that when one makes a vow to GOD and he knows GOD, and he knows he is addressing HIM, then he will find it much easier to keep his vow than not to. And he will find it a lot harder to not keep -- In fact, I suppose God will always require it.

CONCLUSION

The Picture in Chapter 2 is basically this:

  • Jonah is cast out, he goes down -- He is drowning -- The seaweeds are about his head -- The great fish comes and swallows him --
  • In his dying moments in the belly of the whale, Jonah prays to God and the God he prays to is GOD. God hears his prayer and, after three days and three nights the fish spits up Jonah on dry land "alive."

Was Jonah alive in the whale's belly for three days and nights??? What does the scripture say?

© 1979
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