Jonah Part 2

This is the next part of an extended summary of what the book of Jonah is about.

The build up

And Jonah runs in the opposite direction, in complete knowledge that the God He worships is the God of the whole world and wherever he runs it won't do much good to those around him, or himself. (That also happens to be a commentary on sinfulness in general: To go the opposite direction to where God wants you to be doesn't just hurt yourself but those around you as well.) When a storm begins to brew, like a nice cup of tea, the pagan sailors have more fear than Jonah, seeing as Jonah is asleep 'on the cushion' (remind you of Jesus...? Well, let's not get quite so carried away yet). Jonah, sleeping soundly in the boat, while a storm begins to tear the whole ship apart.

The captain went down to see if Jonah knew anything about the commotion, ("What's with all the commotion?!") and the answer was, of course, yes. Jonah knows exactly what's going on, it's almost as if he expected it. It looks like, this is funny, he thought he could run away from God, then, because God would punish him for running away, get killed by whatever that judgment would be (and let's have out in the open sea just in case) so that he would have no more to do with doing something that is against his own selfishness. It boils down to Jonah being a racist.

Here's the bit about the Fish

Jonah offers to be thrown into the sea, hoping desperately to drown. I can't think why else he would offer his own life. The reaction to the storm being settled by the 'Pagan Sailors' is awe and wonder and it causes them to worship. This is highly intriguing, but expected. The sacrifice of one man leads them to believe in that man's God. And yet, this is merely a highlight to the story. This still hasn't got to the main point. And we haven't got past the fish yet.

Jonah is in the sea, feeling sorry for himself no doubt, and God sends along a large fish to take Jonah into his belly. Then comes the prayer of Jonah. It pretty much takes up all of the second chapter of the book and there is one issue I have with the interpretations I've heard of it. The interpretations I've heard put this prayer down to a great faith stirrer, that even in the midst of his struggle Jonah prayed, and then God, in response, released Jonah from the fish onto dry land.

This isn't obvious when you read it. But I've heard preacher after preacher tell me that the application to this text is that if we have enough faith, and pray in this kind of way, Jesus will release us from the proverbial 'Belly of the fish.' According to the text, the prayer is in the past tense. It's all referring to something that's happened. "I turned to your holy temple" "you answered me" all these are about a past event. Anyone know what that past event is? (There aren't any prizes.)

Jonah is praying a great praise song to God because he was saved from drowning by a fish. He was grateful, secretly, that he had not died, and that God had saved him. He was immensely grateful for God saving him and prays a prayer that shows God he's sorry that he went the wrong way and he's grateful God didn't abandon him to death. I don't think we can deduce from the psalm here in chapter 2 that Jonah 'earned' (and I use that word for provocative reasons, not ever because I've heard a preacher or teacher say this outright) his salvation of being spat out of the fish through praying, but rather he responded to the salvation he had experienced from his drowning helpless state.

Then the Vomit happens.

We'll continue soon...