The following prayer is mainly thanksgiving for deliverance from drowning. It is not thanksgiving for deliverance from the fish. Jonah prayed it while he was in the fish. Evidently he concluded after some time in the fish's stomach that he would not die from drowning. Drowning was a particularly distasteful form of death for an ancient Near Easterner such as Jonah who regarded the sea as a great enemy. Jonah's ability to thank God in the midst of his black torture chamber, which pitched him uncontrollably in every direction, shows that he had experienced a remarkable change in attitude (cf. 1:3, 12).
Jonah could have composed this psalm, which contains his prayer, while he was inside the great fish. He may have composed or polished it sometime after he was safely back on dry land. It bears many similarities to other psalms in the Psalter. Clearly Jonah knew the psalms well, and he could have spent much time reflecting on them during his three days in the fish.
This chapter corresponds to chapter one in its contents.41
2:2 Jonah, as many others, called to the Lord out of a distressing situation asking for help, and the Lord responded to his entreaty with deliverance (cf. Ps. 3:4; 120:1). The second part of the verse is a parallel restatement of the first part. The prophet compared the fish's stomach to a burial chamber from which he could not escape. "Depth"is literally the "belly"of Sheol, the place of departed souls that the Hebrews conceived of as under the earth's surface. Jonah thought that he had gone to join the dead (cf. Ps. 18:4-5; 30:3).
2:3 Jonah saw God's disciplinary hand behind the sailors who had only been His tools in casting the prophet into the sea (cf. Ps. 88:6-7). He also acknowledged that the sea belonged to God (cf. 1:9). Evidently the waves overwhelmed him many times before the fish swallowed him (cf. Ps. 42:7).
2:4 This condition made Jonah believe that God had turned His back on him (cf. Ps. 31:22). Nevertheless he determined to seek God in prayer (cf. Ps. 5:7). Looking toward God's holy temple is a synonym for praying, the temple being the place of prayer in Israel.
"He felt he was cast out from the special regard and care which God exercises over His own. Now he realized how dire a thing it is to be apart from the presence of the Lord."42
2:5 Jonah sensed his hopelessness as he continued his downward plunge into the deep. He seemed to be in death's grip rather than God's. Seaweeds (Heb. suph, reeds) bound his head as the water encased his body (cf. Ps. 69:1-2).
2:6 The prophet descended in the sea to the bottoms of the mountains, their very foundations. There he felt caged as a prisoner unable to escape. However even though human deliverance was hopeless, Yahweh, Jonah's strong God, lifted him up out of Sheol's pit (cf. Ps. 49:15; 56:13; 103:4).
2:7 As Jonah was feeling that his life was ebbing away, his thoughts turned to Yahweh (cf. Ps. 107:5; 142:3). Even though he felt far from God his prayer reached the Lord in His heavenly dwelling place.
"As in 1:6, prayer is presented as the key to the salvation of the one who would otherwise have perished."43
2:8 Jonah proceeded to philosophize a bit. Everyone who makes an idol his or her god abandons the source of his or her loyal love (Heb. hesed) by doing so. The source of loyal love is Yahweh. This is true of pagans, but the prophet himself had done the same thing. The idols (lit. empty vanities) in view are things that one puts in God's rightful place in his or her life (cf. Ps. 31:6; 1 John 5:21).
2:9 Jonah's desperate condition had brought him to his senses. He would return to the source of loyal love and express his worship of Yahweh with a sacrifice. His sacrifice would have to be thanksgiving though since he despaired of being able to offer an animal or vegetable offering. He also promised to pay his vow to God. This probably refers to his commitment to serve the Lord faithfully from which he had departed but to which he now returned (cf. Ps. 50:14; 69:30; 107:22).
The testimony that salvation comes from Yahweh is the expression of Jonah's thanksgiving that he promised God. The last declaration in this psalm is one of the great summary statements about salvation in the Bible. Salvation, either physical or spiritual, ultimately comes from Yahweh and only from Him, not from idols or people including oneself (cf. Ps. 3:8; 37:39). It is in His power, and only He can give it. This statement also implies a recognition of the fact that God has the right to save whom He will.
The end of this psalm shows Jonah doing what the sailors had done earlier namely offering a sacrifice and making vows (1:16).
"The narrator by his inclusion of the psalm immediately after ch. 1 slyly intends his audience to draw a parallel between Jonah's experience and that of the seamen. Both faced a similar crisis, peril from the sea; both cried to Yahweh, acknowledging his sovereignty. Both were physically saved; both offered worship. Ironically Jonah is at last brought to the point the Gentile seamen have already reached. In his supreme devotion he is still only following in the wake of the heathen crew. He who failed to pray, leaving it to the pagan sailors, eventually catches up with their spirit of supplication and submission."44
Thus the prophet repented and returned to the Lord in his heart. Having experienced the precious gift of God's salvation in his own life Jonah was now more favorable to announcing His salvation to the Ninevites. He now appreciated the condition of the heathen as he had not done before.
