Jonah 2

Chap. 2. The psalm in the second chapter, so far from subserving the ruling purpose of the book, would, on the supposition of the book being a parable, seem to be altogether in the way. It is, no doubt, as eminent critics—for example, Ewald and Bunsen—have pronounced it, a beautiful composition, taking rank in Hebrew poetry with the most perfectly conceived compositions in the Book of Psalms. But its finding a place here can only be explained by the supposition that Jonah had actually composed such a psalm, embodying his sentiments in connection with the situation referred to.

It appears unlikely that a real and eminent prophet, such as Jonah is otherwise known to have been, should gratuitously have been selected, whether by himself or by another, to be represented as so foolish, so wayward, so much out of harmony with the mind of God as he here appears, if he had not in fact so proved himself. It would have been a wanton sacrifice of a prophet’s religious character, without a parallel. B. C.

Jonah’s prayer, or rather thanksgiving, is founded upon the older psalms, especially those of David; and, as one critic observes, it is an excellent instance of the way in which the psalter should be used. For, while almost every phrase is taken from the Psalms, yet Jonah so adapts them to his own condition as to invest them with fresh liveliness and force.

Where David speaks of God hearing his voice from the Temple (Ps. 18:6), Jonah intensifies it: “Out of the belly of sheol [the grave] I cried, and Thou heardest my voice” (verse 2). Where David describes himself as cut off from before God’s eyes (Ps. 31:22), Jonah said that he is “cast out” (verse 4). While David speaks of himself as compassed by the sorrows of death (Ps. 18:4), it is the waters which compass Jonah about; the depth that closes round him; the weeds that are tangled about his head (verse 5). And so throughout, till we reach the most touching point of all. David, conscious of his integrity, had declared that he hated those who regarded lying vanities—i.e., idols (Ps. 31:6); Jonah, humbled by the thought of his own disobedience, meekly says that those who regard lying vanities forsake their own mercy, forsake the God in whom alone mercy is to be found (verse 8). It is, in short, the thanksgiving of one who knew those early psalms by heart, and had constantly employed them in God’s worship; but he uses them with a vigor and power of adaptation to his own circumstances, and with the blending of so much that is original as to make them all new. It is no remoulding of old materials, but a new creation, fresh with living force, and the creation of a mind long used to find utterance for its emotions in the language of inspiration. Even then, at this early date, the sweet singer of Israel supplied the sacred words by which the deepest feelings of the soul in communion with God are alone able to find their proper utterance. R. P. S.

The prophet teaches us to use the psalms, as well as how the holy men of old used them. In that great moment of religious life, the well-remembered psalms, such as he had often used them, were brought to his mind. What had been figures to David or the sons of Korah, as, “The waters are come in, even unto my soul; all Thy billows and Thy waves passed over me,” were strict realities to him. Yet only in this last sentence and in some other sentences, which doubtless had become a proverb of accepted prayer—“I cried out of my trouble unto the Lord, and He heard me”—does Jonah use exactly the words of earlier psalms. Elsewhere he varies or amplifies them, according to his own special circumstances. Thus, when David said, “The waters are come in, even unto my soul,” Jonah substitutes the word which described best the condition from which God had delivered him, “The waters compassed me about, even to the soul.” Where David said, “I am cut off from before Thine eyes,”

expressing an abiding condition, Jonah, who had for disobedience been cast into the sea, uses the strong word, “I am cast out from before Thine eyes.” David says, “I said in my haste;” Jonah simply, “I said,” for he had deserved it. David said, “When my spirit was overwhelmed,” or “fainted within me,” “Thou knewest my path;” Jonah substitutes, “When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord;” for when he rebelled he forgot Him. David said, “I hate them that observe lying vanities;” Jonah, who had himself disobeyed God, says mournfully, “They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy”—i.e., their God, who is Mercy. Altogether, Jonah’s thanksgiving is that of one whose mind was stored with the psalms which were part of the public worship, but it was the language of one who uses and recasts them freely, as he was taught of God, not of one who copies. No one verse is taken entirely from any psalm. There are original expressions everywhere. The words, “I went down to the cuttings off of the mountains;” “the seaweed bound around my head;” “the earth, its bars around me forever”—perhaps the coral reefs which run along all that shore—vividly exhibit him sinking, entangled, imprisoned, as it seems, inextricably. He goes on. We should expect some further description of his state; but he adds, in five simple words, “Thou broughtest up my life from corruption, O Lord, my God.” Words somewhat like these last occur elsewhere: “Thou hast brought up my soul from hell” (Ps. 30:3), agreeing in the one word “brought up.” But the majesty of the prophet’s conception is in the connection of the thoughts. The seaweed was bound round his head as his grave-clothes; the solid bars of the deep-rooted earth were around him, and—God brought him up. At the close of the thanksgiving, “Salvation is the Lord’s,” the deliverance is completed; as though God had only waited for this act of complete faith. So could no one have written who had not himself been delivered from such an extreme point of drowning as man could not, of himself, escape from. . . . What in it is most descriptive of Jonah’s situation, as binding of the seaweed around the head, the sinking down to the roots of the mountains, the bars of the earth around him, are peculiar to this thanksgiving of Jonah; they do not occur elsewhere, for, except through miracle, they would be images not of peril, but of death. Pusey.

9. Precisely what his vows were in his trouble he has not said. Doubtless he promised ised the Lord never again to try to flee from His presence to avoid an unwelcome duty. He closes with this most expressive, glorious testimony: “Salvation is of the Lord.” He and He only can save in times of trouble. H. C.

10. “And Jehovah spake to the fish, and it cast forth Jonah upon the dry land”—that is to say, Jehovah answered the prayer which the prophet put forth by speaking to the fish. “The dry land” would probably be the coast somewhere in the neighborhood of Joppa, so that the prophet would, without any difficulty and no great delay, return to his own home. Redford.

In the Christian life there are three impossible things: First, to escape trouble by running away from duty. Jonah once made the experiment, but soon found himself where all his imitators will, in the end, find themselves. Therefore, manfully meet and overcome the difficulties and trials to which the post assigned you by God’s providence exposes you. Second, to become a Christian of strength and maturity without undergoing severe trials. What fire is to gold, that is affliction to the believer. It burns up the dross and makes the gold shine forth with unalloyed lustre. Third, to form an independent character except when thrown upon our own resources. The oak in the middle of the forest, which is surrounded on every side by trees that shelter and shade it, runs up tall and sickly; put it away from its protectors, and the first blast will overturn it. But the same tree, growing in the open field, where it is continually beat upon by the tempest, becomes its own protector. So the man who is compelled to rely on his own resources forms an independence of character which he could not otherwise have attained. Anon.

Jonah’s character was defective rather than corrupt. Like the Apostle Peter, he needed a great deal of teaching, but the root of his piety was sound and deep. He puts himself at once in the hands of the chastising Jehovah. He sees his error and how great it is, and is ready to leave himself to the merciful disposition of Jehovah, just as David did, while doubtless at the same time praying for deliverance. His faith, though mixed with unbelief, was real and deep, and the Lord rewarded it by delivering him from all his fears, and lifting him up to the height of his vocation as the messenger of love to the world. Redford.

In Jonah’s prayer we see the revival of faith. He emerged from the shades of unbelief; he remembered God. The faith which had sunk

under the burden of duty rose under the pressure of affliction. Faith to act is easier than faith to suffer. Patiently to bear is harder than actively to obey. Yet Jonah by faith endures, though he had not by faith performed the will of God. He had failed in the easier—he succeeds in the more difficult. Natural terror in his circumstances might have led him to pray, might have led him bitterly to cry in his distress; but something more than nature must there have been to inspire him with hope as he lay locked within that living dungeon, to produce in him that calm confidence which comes out in the words, “I will look again toward Thy holy temple.” It was as though he had brought to mind the intercession of King Solomon at the dedication of the Temple. Stoughton.