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Wenstrom Bible Ministries Marion, Iowa Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom www.wenstrom.org. Wednesday October 13, 2010 Jonah: Jonah 2:1-Jonah Prays To The Lord His God From The Stomach Of The Fish Lesson # 24. Please turn in your Bibles to Jonah 2:1.
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Wenstrom Bible MinistriesMarion, IowaPastor-Teacher Bill Wenstromwww.wenstrom.org
Wednesday October 13, 2010Jonah: Jonah 2:1-Jonah Prays To The Lord His God From The Stomach Of The FishLesson # 24
This evening we will study Jonah 2:1, which records Jonah praying to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish.
Jonah 2:1, “Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish,
2 and he said, ‘I called out of my distress to the Lord, and He answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; You heard my voice.
3 For You had cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current engulfed me. All Your breakers and billows passed over me.
4 So I said, ‘I have been expelled from Your sight. Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.’
5 Water encompassed me to the point of death. The great deep engulfed me, weeds were wrapped around my head.
6 I descended to the roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever, but You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.
7 While I was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to You, into Your holy temple.
8 Those who regard vain idols forsake their faithfulness, 9 but I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the Lord.’
10 Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.” (NASU)
Let’s look at verse one.Jonah 2:1, “Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish.”
This verse records the next sequential event that took place after the great fish swallowed Jonah and the prophet found himself alive in the stomach of this fish.
“Prayed” is the third person masculine singular hithpael middle imperfect form of the verb pā∙lǎl (פָּלַל) (paw-lal), which means “to pray” and does not give any indication as to what type of prayer.
However, Jonah 2:2-9 indicates that the prayer that Jonah offered to the Lord from the stomach of the great fish is a prayer of thanksgiving and not of deliverance which is indicated by the fact that there are no petitions in it.
The prayer is a psalm of thanksgiving as indicated by Jonah 2:9 and was made while in the stomach of the great fish according to Jonah 2:1.
It of course was written after Jonah was vomited onto dry land by the great fish.
There is a five part structure for this thanksgiving psalm: (1) Introduction (2:2) (2) Jonah’s description of drowning (2:3-6a) (3) Reference to God delivering Jonah (2:6b, 7b). (4) Jonah’s appeal to God for help (2:7a). (5) Vow and public declaration of praise of the Lord (2:9-10).
Therefore, in Jonah 2:1, the verb pā∙lǎl does not denote a prayer of deliverance but rather thanksgiving since the word does not denote this and Jonah 2:2-9 indicates that this prayer was a prayer of thanksgiving and that the prayer of deliverance took place immediately after Jonah was thrown into the sea by the crew and was drowning.
So the verb refers to the general concept of prayer without reference to the content of the prayer, which will be indicated by the context.
Lessing writes, “There are seven references to prayer in the four chapters of Jonah. On three occasions, distinct actions of praying are reported, but the body of the prayer is left unrecorded: (1) the sailors’ prayers in 1:5; (2) Jonah’s references in 2:3, 8 (ET 2:2, 7) to his prior prayer; and (3) the Ninevites’ praying to God in 3:8.
There is one unheeded request for prayer: the captain asks Jonah to call on his God (1:6). Three verbal formulations of prayer are recorded after they are introduced in different ways (1:14; 2:3–10 [ET 2:2–9]; and 4:2–3).” (Concordia Commentary: Jonah; pages 208-209)
Prayer is the means by which the believer can approach the Father face-to-face in dependence of His sufficiency and submitting to His will.
All prayer must be addressed to God the Father (John 14:13-14; 16:23-27; Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6; Eph. 2:18; 3:14; 5:20; Col. 1:3, 12; 3:17; 1 Pet. 1:17; Rev. 1:6).
It must be offered in the name or Person of or through intermediate agency of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:13-14; 16:23-24; Eph. 5:20; Col. 3:17).
Prayer must be offered up to the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by means of the power of the Spirit (Eph. 2:18; 6:18; Jude 20).
Not only is thanksgiving a characteristic of a productive prayer life, but it is also and essential element of a prayer.
Thanking the Father in prayer means that we express gratitude towards Him for revealing His perfect character and integrity, His will, provisions to execute His will, His grace policy, and for bringing other believers into our lives (John 6:11; Rom. 1:8; 6:17; 7:25; 1 Cor. 1:4; 11:24; 15:57; 2 Co 2:14; 4:15; 8:16; 9:11; Eph. 1:15-16; 5:4; 5:20; Phlp. 1:3; Col. 2:7; 3:15; 1 Thess. 1:2; 2:13; 2 Thess. 1:3; 2:13; Phlm. 4).
1 Thessalonians 5:18, “In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Colossians 4:2, “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.”
Philippians 4:6, “At this very moment, all of you stop continuing to be anxious about absolutely anything, but rather, concerning anything at all by means of reverential prayer in the presence of the Father and by means of petition accompanied by the giving of thanks, let your specific detailed requests be repeatedly made known in the presence of the Father.”
Thanksgiving to God is the response in the believer’s soul, which expresses itself in love and appreciation for who and what God is, what He has done for us, and what He has done for others.
It is the direct result of the believer’s obedience to the Word of God, which permits the Holy Spirit to produce an attitude of gratitude in the believer.
A Danish proverb states, “A thankless person never does a thankful deed.”
Likewise, a Jewish proverb says, “If men thanked God for good things, they wouldn’t have time to complain about the bad.”
A perfect example, for us, on how we can thank God in prayer is illustrated in Psalm 136, which starts with, “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting,” and goes on, in a beautiful rendition of gratitude to God.
Jonah 2:1, “Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish.”
“To the Lord his God” is composed of the preposition ʾěl (אַל) (al), “to” and the masculine singular form of the proper noun Yahweh (יהוה) (yeh-ho-vaw), “the Lord” and the third person masculine singular pronomial suffix –hû (־הוּ) (who), “his” and the masculine plural construct form of the noun ʾělō∙hîm (אֱלֹהִים) (el-o-heem), “God.”
The proper noun Yahweh is the “Lord” is the personal name of God emphasizing that He is the redeemer of mankind and is used in His relationship to His covenants or contracts with men.
It is the covenant-keeping personal name of God used in connection with man’s salvation and emphasizing that Jonah possessed a covenant relationship with God and implies that He had delivered him from drowning.
It also reminds the reader of the “immanency” of God meaning that He involves Himself in and concerns Himself with and intervenes in the affairs of men.
Thus, it reminds the reader that God had intervened in the life of Jonah by commissioning the great fish to swallow and save him from drowning.
On the other hand, ʾělō∙hîm emphasizes the transcendent character of God and in particular His attributes of omnipotence, sovereignty and love.
ʾělō∙hîm refers to the Lord’s complete sovereign power over creation as evidenced by the fact that He commissioned a great fish to deliver him from downing.
The word also pertains to the fact that Yahweh is a Savior God or in other words, God who delivers, which is indicated by the prayer of thanksgiving in Jonah 2:2-9.
Lastly, the noun speaks of Jonah’s intimacy with Yahweh as indicated by the pronomial suffix –hû, “his” which is attached to the word and functions as a possessive personal pronoun.
