Jonah 2:9

But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving,.... Not only offer up a legal sacrifice in a ceremonial way, when he came to Jerusalem; but along with it the spiritual sacrifice of

But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD. I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving.

Jonah here doth intimate his adherence to God, his assurance that he should find God to be a. fountain of mercy to him, that God would hear his prayer. I will sacrifice; in most solemn manner recognize the mercy I receive; I shall have just ground to do it, and I will certainly be just to the mercy of my God and do it. Who wait on gods that cannot deliver shall never have cause to sacrifice to them; if they do the thing, they do sacrilegiously rob God. Unto thee; excluding all others, who shall have as little share in the praise as they had in the thing for which praise is offered. With the voice of thanksgiving; including the heart also; for such is the sacrifice with which God is best pleased, ,23 116:17 . I will pay: vows are, when made, debts we owe to God, and must, as just debts, be paid. That I have vowed: it is not said what it was he had vowed, probably it was a more obedient heart and deportment, likely he resolveth to go to Nineveh and preach what God commandeth him; he will perform his promise to the Lord in all things he did engage to do. Salvation; power to save, and actual deliverance from all dangers, in all distresses: when none of the gods the marine is invoked, neither any one apart nor yet all together, could quiet the tempest, and save from the danger of the sea, Jonah’ s God could do both, he could by his own single power deliver Jonah out of the belly of hell. Is of the Lord; he only can save, none else can as he can, 68:20.

Jonah 2:9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay [that] that I have vowed. Salvation [is] of the LORD.Ver. 9. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving] q.d. Let others do as they think good; let them make a match with mischief till they have enough of it; let them walk till they have wearied themselves in the ways of their hearts and in the sight of their eyes; but let them know (I speak it by woeful experience) that for all these things God will bring them to judgment, Ecclesiastes 11:9. The best that can come of sin is repentance: and that is not in man’ s power but in God’ s gift, 2 Timothy 2:25. If he had not melted my hard heart, and brought me back to himself with a strong hand, I had pined away in mine iniquities, and perished for ever. But now having been so miraculously delivered from so great a death, "I will sacrifice unto the Lord with the voice of thanksgiving"; I will set up my note and sing aloud unto God my Saviour, who hath thus beyond all desert delivered such a miserable wretch, rebel, and regegade as myself. I will sacrifice] Heb. I will slay, sc. those birds and beasts in use for feasts and sacrifices at Jerusalem, with the voice of thanksgiving] Heb. of confession, that is, I will confess and acknowledge God to be what he is, to do what he doth, and to give what he giveth. Now to offer a sacrifice at such a confession or thanksgiving added much to the solemnity thereof; and made it more honourable in itself, and more acceptable to God. To these gratulatory sacrifices the word slaying is attributed, as hero, to show that even in gratulation expiation must be made; and that by the blood and sacrifice of Christ all our offerings are accepted in heaven. I will pay that I have vowed] Not my general vow only as a covenanter, to devote myself to his fear and service all my days; but those particular, personal, voluntary vows made in my distress; such as was that of Jacob, Genesis 28:20; Hannah, 1 Samuel 1:11; David, Psalms 132:1-2, &c. In affliction men are wondrously apt to promise great matters, if they may but be delivered. See Psalms 78:36. Pliny, in an epistle to one of his friends, that desired rules from him how to order his life aright; I will, saith he, give you one rule, that shall be instead of a thousand: Ut tales esse perseveremus sani, quales nos futuros esse profitemur infirmi: That you be sure to be the same when well that you vowed to be when you were sick. But this is few men’ s care. See Jeremiah 34:10-11.

(9) But I will.—The prophet, however, is not among such. He has sinned, but is still a member of the covenant people, and by sacrifice can be formally restored to that favour which repentance has regained. Salvation is of the Lord.—Or, Deliverance is Jehovah’s. (Comp. Psalms 3:8.)

Verse 9. But I will sacrifice unto thee] I will make a sincere vow, which, as soon as my circumstances will permit, I will faithfully execute; and therefore he adds, "I will pay that which I have vowed." Salvation is of the Lord.] All deliverance from danger, preservation of life, recovery from sickness, and redemption of the soul from the power, guilt, and pollution of sin, is from Jehovah. He alone is the Saviour, he alone is the Deliverer; for all salvation is from the Lord.

9. But I] in contrast to my former self, and to the whole body of those of whom I then was one, will humbly claim and gratefully acknowledge my share in “my Mercy.” “I will sacrifice unto Thee,” &c. Salvation is of the Lord] Comp. Psalms 3:8, Revelation 7:10. This is at once confession and praise, a Creed and a Te Deum. It is the sum of his canticle, the outcome of all he has passed through. Deliverance in its fullest sense is already his in faith and confident anticipation. But God alone is the Author of it, and to Him alone shall the praise for it be ascribed. This point reached, Jonah’s punishment has done its work, his discipline is at an end.

But (And) with the voice of thanksgiving will I (would I fain) sacrifice unto Thee; what I have vowed, I would pay - He does not say, I will, for it did not depend upon him. Without a further miracle of God, he could do nothing.

8, 9. The wonderful deliverance has taught the singer a lesson. Whatever others may do, he will remain loyal to Jehovah, the God of his deliverance.