Jonah 2 “Out of the Depths” July 8, 2007 Introduction: The Belly of the Fish (1:17-2:1) If you had just been flung into a raging sea, how would you respond? If you were then swallowed by a great fish, what would you say? If you were lying there, soaking wet in the cramped quarters of a fish’s stomach, no doubt with the stench of bile and half-digested fish all around you, what would you be likely to say? Would you say “Salvation belongs to the LORD!”? Verse 17 is a transitional verse. It provides some resolution to the narrative of chapter one, but it also introduces the poem of chapter two. And Yahweh appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. What is this fish doing here? Usually when something “swallows” something else in Hebrew, it is a sign of judgment. The earth swallowed Dathan and Abiram in Numbers 16. Proverbs 1:12 speaks of the grave (and the wicked) swallowing people up. But here God appoints the great fish to swallow up Jonah. Ordinarily being swallowed up alive is a bad thing, but here, being swallowed alive is a means of deliverance! And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Jesus will say in Matthew 12 that the only sign given to this “wicked and adulterous generation” is the sign of Jonah, For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so also will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth If Jonah represents Israel, then the prophetic message to Israel is that Israel must die (at least symbolically) so that the nations can live. But Jonah was only a sign, pointing forward to the Son of Man. The Son of Man will lay down his life, he will descend into hell, and be swallowed up by the grave, so that those who trust in him might live. It is in that context that we hear Jonah’s prayer. Jonah’s prayer consists of two parallel sections, followed by a conclusion. The parallel sections are verses 2-4 and verses 5-7. This poem is very carefully constructed. Each section has a similar flow: in verses 2 and 3 he is crying from the belly of Sheol, and surrounded by the flood while in verse 5 he is surrounded by the deep; and in verse six he goes down to the land whose bars closed upon him. Each section concludes with a reference to Jonah’s prayer and the holy temple, in verses 4 and 7. It is also important to follow the pronouns through this poem. The movement in the first section of the poem is from Jonah’s distress, “out of the belly of Sheol I cried” to the acknowledgement of God’s act of judgment: “you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the sea,” to Jonah’s prayer: “I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.” And then the second section takes a parallel path back up from the depths: Once again starting with Jonah’s trouble “the waters closed in over me to take my life” But then acknowledges that God is the one who rescues him “you brought up my life from the pit” before concluding with Jonah’s prayer “and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.” The conclusion then contrasts Jonah’s voice of thanksgiving with those who pay regard to vain idols – contrasting the two ways of wisdom and folly. We saw last time that Jonah is a type of Christ – that just as Jonah spent three days in the belly of the fish, so also Jesus will spend three days in the belly of the earth. As we go through this poem, we cannot help but see what Jesus was talking about. Brian Estelle, in his excellent little book, “Salvation Through Judgment and Mercy” has pointed out that this poem is very aquatic. Watery images inundate verses 3 and 5. The deep (3,5), the seas (3), the flood (3), waves and billows (3), the waters (5), and seaweed (5). Likewise the images of suffering and death pervade verses 2 and 6, from the belly of Sheol in verse 2 to the land whose bars closed upon me forever (the pit) in verse 6. And of course each section ends with the temple. So the poem moves from the grave to the waters to the temple (section one), and then from the waters to the grave to the temple (section two). So while the two sections operate in parallel, the parallelism is not exact! Let’s look at the poem more carefully to understand why. 1. You Cast Me into the Deep (2:2-4) Part one of the poem starts with Jonah remembering how he cried to the LORD from the belly of the fish. I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. This suggests that the prayer of Jonah as it is found in chapter 2 is Jonah’s retelling of the prayer that he uttered on the day it actually happened. I have no doubt that the basic content of the prayer is the same, but Jonah probably added the literary polish later! Verse three then points out that Jonah’s plight was a result of God’s act of judgment: For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, And the flood surrounded me; All your waves and your billows passed over me. The imagery of drowning is a fairly common theme in biblical poetry. Psalm 69 begins, “Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me.” What does the Psalmist mean by “deep waters”? What are the floods that threaten to engulf him? Later Psalm 69:14-15 makes this clear: “Deliver me from those who hate me, from the deep waters. Do not let the floodwaters engulf me or the depths swallow me up or the pit close its mouth over me.” So the “deep waters” are “those who hate me.” Notice also how Psalm 69 used the language of the pit as a synonym for deep waters. The same parallel is found in Psalm 88:6-7 You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. Your wrath lies heavy on me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. So the raging seas can be an image of death and the grave, or an image of the nations raging against the people of God – or both. Remember that Jonah had been called to preach against Ninevah. He had been called to proclaim judgment against the nation that was raging against the people of God. Now he is cast into the raging seas. As Sally Hanson has put it: “Here we see Jonah cast into the heart of the sea, just as he will later be cast into the heart of Assyria, when he is cast upon the shore of Ninevah.” But Jonah understands that this is God’s doing. You cast me into the deeps. And yet, from the very belly of Sheol – from the very depths of the grave – Jonah cries out to God: I am driven away from your sight; Yet I shall again look upon your holy temple. In the midst of judgment, Jonah has hope. After all, what is the “belly of Sheol”? “Sheol” is the Hebrew name for the grave – the realm of the dead. Sheol is the place that is furthest from the presence of God. In all the earth, Sheol and the Temple are polar opposites. From the belly of Sheol – from the depths of the grave – Jonah knows that he will see the holy temple of God again. Jonah descended into the belly of Sheol as a sign to Israel. And Jesus explains what the sign of Jonah means. Because Jesus descended into Sheol. He endured the wrath and torment – the curse – that we deserved. He remained under the power of death for three days, just like Jonah. Of course, there are differences! Jonah descended into hell because of his own sin – but Jesus was sinless. Jonah did not literally die – but Jesus did! Jesus was driven away from God’s sight – so that he cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?!” All this he endured because of your sin! He descended into hell so that you might ascend into heaven! 2. You Brought up My Life from the Pit (2:5-7) Indeed, this is the theme of part two. Part one ends with the affirmation that I shall again look upon your holy temple, but part two begins in the same trouble: The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. Here we see the language of the watery deep, followed in verse six with further recollection of the descent into Sheol: I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God. Even as part one insisted that it was God who cast him into the deep, so also part two insists that God is the one who has raised him up from the dead. In the ancient world, one of the most common forms of determining guilt or innocence was the trial by ordeal. A man is accused of sorcery: The Code of Hammurabi says to throw him into a raging river; if he survives, then he is innocent! Other cultures might have him walk across burning coals. But Jonah’s trial by ordeal is conducted by God himself! God is the one who casts him into the deep. God is the one who raises him up from the pit. God is the one who brings judgment. God is the one who shows mercy. And this judgment and mercy is revealed as the people of God pass through the waters. Think back to the flood – as the floodwaters destroy the wicked, and the people of God are saved through water. Think back to the Exodus – as the enemies of God go down into the depths, and the Israelites are saved through water. Think of Jesus saying that he has a baptism to undergo – and how distressed he is until it is accomplished. As Meredith Kline has put it, “Jesus saw in Jonah’s trial by water the sign of his own judgment ordeal in the heart of the earth.” As the raging sea reminded the Israelites of their enemies, raging against them, the sign of Jonah reminds them that God will raise them up on the third day. As Isaiah would put it, When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you; when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior (43:2-3) Jonah passes the trial by ordeal – but not because of anything that he did! Salvation belongs to the LORD! When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. As we have seen, the temple is at the heart of this psalm. God’s holy temple is where both of the two main sections of the psalm conclude. Why is this important? Because Jonah is a prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel. For the last two hundred years, the northern kings have refused to allow their people to worship in Jerusalem. The sin of the northern kingdom – the sin of Jeroboam – was that they tried to worship Yahweh at the golden calves of Bethel and Dan instead of at the temple of Jerusalem. Jonah, a prophet of the northern kingdom, prays toward God’s holy temple in Jerusalem. If you want your prayers to be answered, then you must pray toward God’s holy temple. The only true worship of God is worship in Jerusalem. This is still true! The difference is that we worship in the heavenly Jerusalem at a temple made without hands. We come to Jesus and offer our prayers to God through him. And God hears us, because we come to him in Jesus’ name. 3. Salvation Belongs to the LORD (2:8-9) Jonah’s prayer concludes in verses 8-9 with a more didactic tone: Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD! Jonah here is speaking to Israel: If you follow the kings of Israel and turn aside to idols, you forsake your hope of hesed (steadfast love). Hesed refers to covenant faithfulness – steadfast love. Other sins can be dealt with (Jonah’s running away, for instance!). But if you worship another god – if you pay regard to idols – then there is no hope for you! This goes back to Deuteronomy 29:25-26, where Moses explains why God will send his people into exile: It is because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, and went and served other gods and worshiped them. The LORD is our Salvation. There is no other salvation – no other name by which we must be saved. As Psalm 124 puts it, If it had not been the LORD who was on our side – let Israel now say – If it had not been the LORD who was on our side when people rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us, then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us; then over us would have gone the raging waters. And as Psalm 124 concludes: Our help is in the name of the LORD who made heaven and earth. And once again we see how the sign of Jonah points us to Jesus – because though Jesus was swallowed up by death, yet death could not hold him. Death had seized Jesus between its jaws, It had chewed him up and swallowed him. But Jesus was the eternal Son of God, and what is more, he was the Second Adam, the righteous one, and as the grave tried to digest the Son of God, Hell itself had a royal case of food poisoning! Conclusion: the Fish Vomits (2:10) I don’t suppose that you had ever thought of the resurrection as the regurgitation of Jesus, but if we are to think about the sign of Jonah as referring not only to the death, but also to the resurrection of Jesus, then the resurrection must be seen as the grave vomiting forth Jesus, even as Jonah was vomited out by the great fish! Quite frankly the New Testament prefers to use much more glorious language! But Jonah uses strange images of redemption. We have seen that Jonah alone uses the language of “swallowing up” as an image of salvation. Likewise Jonah alone uses the language of “vomit” as a redemptive image. Leviticus uses the word four times – three times in chapter 18 as Moses warns that the land will vomit out Israel if they rebel – just like it vomited out the inhabitants of Canaan because of their sin. All the other uses in the prophets and wisdom literature are equally disgusting. (Think of Revelation 2:16 – “I will vomit you out of my mouth”) But through this strange redemption by vomiting God raises up Jonah from the grave – from the belly of Sheol. Jonah 2:10 is a transitional verse (like 1:17) pointing both forward and backward. It concludes the story of Jonah and the fish – and points forward to what comes next. Jonah, like Israel, has run away from God – he has run away from his task – but Salvation belongs to the LORD, and so God has brought Jonah through death to life, and now he will complete the mission that God had given him. And even so, our Lord Jesus Christ has passed through fire and water and death, and has been raised up and seated at the right hand of the Father. He has successfully passed the trial by ordeal, and so our hope is in him. Truly, Salvation belongs to the LORD. In Revelation 7:9-10 we see what this means: After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” When trial and tribulation comes, cling to Jesus! ?? ?? ?? ?? 1