Study notes

Jonah 2

Introducing JonahWho wrote it, when, why, and what to look for as you read

1:1–3:10 Section

In 2 Kings 14:25 Jonah was described as a servant of the Lord.

In the book of Jonah, God wanted Jonah to share a message of judgement. This message was against the city of Nineveh. But Jonah didn’t obey God or show respect for God. He didn’t go right away to share God’s message with the Assyrians in Nineveh. Instead, he ran away.

This was different from what the plants, animals and weather in this story did. God sent a strong wind and a huge fish. God caused a leafy plant to grow. He also sent a worm and an east wind. The plant, the animals and the wind all obeyed their Creator.

The way that Jonah treated God was also different from how the sailors treated God. The sailors weren’t Hebrew like Jonah was. They didn’t worship only God. But they did show respect for God. They showed it by crying out to God for help and by offering sacrifices to him.

Jonah’s prayer was like many poems in the book of Psalms that give thanks to God. Jonah thanked God for saving him from drowning in the Mediterranean Sea. Yet Jonah didn’t admit that he had done anything wrong. He didn’t say that he was sorry for not obeying God. He didn’t ask God to forgive him.

This was different from what the king, the nobles and the people of Nineveh did. When Jonah announced God’s message of judgement, they admitted that they had done evil things. Right away they went without eating. Fasting and wearing rough clothes were common practices in that time. They were ways that people showed that they turned away from their sin and repented. The Ninevites didn’t allow their animals to have food for a time either. The king sat in the dust. This showed that he made himself humble before God. The people stopped harming others. They repented and prayed to God with all their heart. All of these actions showed how serious the Ninevites were about changing their ways.

God’s anger at their sin stopped. He showed them pity and mercy.

2:1–9

Jonah realized that the Lord had kindly saved him by sending the fish. He then created a prayer similar to a psalm. The prayer's careful structure follows the pattern of a personal song of thanks. This suggests Jonah may have written it after the event, as he remembered his feelings and worries.

2:2

Jonah's psalm-prayer begins by recalling an earlier, less polished but more fervent prayer (his cry for help when he was about to drown).
From the belly of Sheol: Sheol was believed to be the place where the dead lived (see Isaiah 14:15; Ezekiel 31:15–17). The metaphor of Sheol as a belly is unique in the Old Testament. It pictures Jonah's rescue from Sheol through the belly of a fish.

2:4

As Jonah was about to drown, he called out for help, life, and God's renewed presence. It is ironic that Jonah mentioned God driving him away, as Jonah himself aimed to flee to Tarshish (Jonah 1:3).
I will look once more: Jonah was either confident he would be rescued and worship again in the temple in Jerusalem, or he was calling to the Lord in his temple from the sea (compare Jonah 2:7).

2:6

Jonah’s metaphors, like roots of the mountains and the earth beneath me barred me, show ancient ideas about the underworld. People thought the dead were deep within the earth (see also Jonah 2:2). At one point, Jonah felt trapped and doomed to die.
But: The change is striking. Jonah, though sure he would die, was still within God's gracious reach.
the pit: The Hebrew term usually refers to the place where the dead are thought to dwell. Jonah’s words show that, at this moment, he believed he was about to die.

2:7

I remembered the LORD: Here, Jonah means, "I prayed to the Lord."
My prayer … holy temple: The temple was God's special place for worship in Israel, even though God is everywhere all the time (Psalm 139:7–10; Jeremiah 23:23–24).

2:8–9

The end of Jonah’s psalm-prayer is similar to Jonah 1:16: The sailors also reacted to the Lord’s saving power and mercy with sacrifices and promises.

Verse notes: Adapted by Mission Mutual (Aquifer Open Study Notes) from Tyndale Open Study Notes © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers. CC BY-SA 4.0. Section notes: Biblica Study Notes © 2023 Biblica, Inc. CC BY-SA 4.0, via BibleAquifer. About the sources