The story of Jonah is one of the most popular stories from the Old Testament. It is retold in several children’s books and even in the great works, such as Moby Dick. Yet this well-crafted narrative is more complex and controversial than initially supposed. In exploring the world and the text of Jonah the reader is left wondering what the central message of the book is. Is the major message of the book that God is merciful to the other nations? Or is this book more about the posture of Jonah? With the ambiguous ending given by the author, one might question the intentions of Jonah.
Once Jonah is swallowed up by a fish he offers a prayer to the Lord. The purpose of this prayer has been debated by many theologians. Whether this was a genuine outcry from Jonah or merely a ploy of psalms compiled together in the hopes to escape doom, this prayer contributes heavily to the overall understanding of the book of Jonah. This chapter of Jonah, his prayer to the Lord in the belly of a fish, is pertinent to grasping the central message of the story. Jonah’s prayer is a reflection of the attitude of Israel in regards to their relationship with God and the surrounding nations. This prayer serves to challenge the Israelites understanding of piety and prayer in juxtaposition to caring for the nations that surround them.
The Biblical Text
In the English Standard Version (ESV), chapter 2 of Jonah reads:
“Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying,
“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. 3 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. 4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ 5 The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head 6at the roots of the mountains. 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. 7 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. 8 Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. 9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”
10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land”
When comparing this translation with the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), there are zero differences in structure, both versions recognize that the text mirrors the Psalms in poetic structure. However, there are subtle differences in language between the translations which can be found in the later verses of the text. Verses 1 through 3 are identical in language, making the first linguistic variation in verse 4. Where the ESV reads “yet I shall look again upon your holy temple.”, the NRSV states, “how shall I look again upon your holy temple?” The ESV poses this as a declaration whereas the NRSV poses this to be a question and not a decree.
Other variations between the ESV and NRSV appear in verses 5, 7, 8 and 9. In verse 5 the ESV states that “the waters closed in over me to take my life;” and the NRSV states “the waters closed in over me;” not specifying that it was for the purpose of death. In verse 7 the ESV reads “When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord,” whereas the NRSV reads “As my life was ebbing away, I remembered the Lord;” creating a different spatial meaning. In translating verse 8 the ESV asserts that those who worship idols “forsake their hope of steadfast love”, but the NRSV states that those who worship idols “forsake their true loyalty”. The last translation variation between the ESV and the NRSV is in verse 9, where the ESV reads “Salvation belongs to the Lord!” and the NRSV reads “Deliverance belongs to the Lord!”.
When comparing the ESV with the New King James Version (NKJV), there are more structural differences in the translations. While the NKJV does recognize this to be in the same poetic structure as the ESV, there are varying paragraph breaks. The NKJV breaks us the chapter in to section 1-2a, 2b-6, 7, 8-9, and then finally verse 10, whereas the ESV and the NRSV section together verse 2-9 together as a cohesive prayer. The ESV and the NKJV also vary more in language difference than the ESV and NRSV.
The first significant difference is in verse 4 when referring to temple, the ESV states “yet I shall again look upon your holy temple”, but the NJKV states “Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple”. This is the difference between being within proximity to lay one’s eyes upon the temple and looking in the general direction of the temple. The following verse, 5, creates another distinction in language and understanding. While the ESV translates the Hebrew text to read “The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me;”, the NKJV understands the Hebrew to read “The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; The deep closed around me;”. The difference in this sentence lies in a literal or metaphorical understanding of the waves. The ESV reads in a more literal sense, the waters are closing in and can take Jonah’s actual life, as opposed to the NKJV where the waters are metaphorically surrounding even his soul.
Further variations between the ESV and NJKV are in verses 7-9. The NKJV is specific in verse 7 to states the prayer “went up to You [God], into Your holy temple”, whereas the ESV excludes this detail and states the prayer “came to you, into your holy temple”. In verse 8 the NKJV reasons that those who regard idols “forsake their own mercy” as opposed to the ESV translation that they “forsake their hope of steadfast love”. The former uses this idea of mercy in regards to the mercy of God whereas the latter reflects upon the hope of the covenant. The last noteworthy variation is in verse 9, when discussing salvation, the NKJV makes the distinction that “Salvation is of the Lord” instead of “Salvation belongs to the Lord” (ESV).
Exploring the World of the Text
In Gowan’s Theology of the Prophetic Books, he begins by stating that Jonah cannot be dated by scholars nor is there much information regarding authorship. Some scholars argue that at the very least one can assume that the author was “(a) a scribe; (b) trained in Jerusalem; (c) employed at something other than writing short stories; and (d) wrote down the story for others who were of similar background to himself”. In regards to the dating of Jonah, Catherine Muldoon writes in her book In Defense of Diving Justice that Jonah should be attributed to the mid-sixth, through early fifth centuries. She writes, “the preponderance of accumulated evidence in, including the book’s literary allusions and indication of its author’s ‘canonical consciousness,’ and its linguistic fingerprints, argue – provisionally we must admit – for a date of composition with the early Persian era”. As for the audience, one can conclude that the book was written for the people of Israel.
However, this question of dating and authorship must then lead one to acknowledge a larger question: is the book of Jonah an historical account of an event that took place with a literal prophet named Jonah? There have been two camps within scholarship, one which argues that the book of Jonah written for the purpose of historical accuracy, and the other of which believes that the book is a parable that is meant to teach an important lesson without being literally true. While this question does not take away from the meaning of the text itself, the argument for historical accuracy then provides another layer of complexity when dating the literal event orfJonah’s prophecy and Nineveh’s repentance, which is not cited in other cultural narratives. The stance that will be taken in the context of this paper is that the book of Jonah is didactic fiction.
The structure of the book of Jonah is significant in the themes found within the book. In her work Rhetorical Criticism: Context, Method, and the Book of Jonah, Phyllis Trible argues that the external design of Jonah warrants much consideration in overall understanding the message of Jonah. Trible expounds on the symmetry found in Jonah by comparing the structures of chapters 1 and 2, with chapter 3 and 4. Through this comparison and study of symmetry the reader can see just how much the story of Jonah parallels to the story of Nineveh, furthering the authors central message. According to Tible’s chart, chapter 2 of Jonah, the prayer of Jonah, parallels with the response of Jonah later made in chapter 4. Therefore, in order to understand both texts well they must be read in relation to and reflection of one another.
Within the book of Jonah, Jonah’s prayer comes after the initial problem, when Jonah flees, and before the ending problem, when Jonah is upset with God for his merciful actions. Contextually this prayer is the “remedy” to the first problem and leads the way into the second. Jonah is called by God in the beginning to deliver a message of judgment to Nineveh and refuses. Some scholars might argue that this was because he was a narrow nationalist that did not want to preach repentance to the gentiles, while others such as Donald Gowan argue that is because he did not want to pronounce “judgement”. After Jonah flees his mission and the presence of God, he finds himself on a boat that is about to be destroyed by a storm. There is the casting of lots, Jonah is thrown overboard and the pagans on the ship begin praising Jonah’s God for their deliverance. Jonah’s prayer is crafted after these occurrences.
The imagery present within Jonah’s prayer in chapter 2 articulates the sovereignty of God and the deliverance of God. Before Jonah’s prayer God commanded a fish to swallow up Jonah, which Jonah understood as God’s sovereign act. It is from the belly of this fish that Jonah then prays to God knowing that he will answer him during his time of need. Even though Jonah is in the “belly of Sheol” he knows that God has heard his cries. This prayer articulates Jonah’s desire for deliverance from the belly of the fish and the assurance that he has in God to deliver him. The fish as well as the waters in Jonah allude to God’s control over creation in the midst of chaos.
If Muldoon’s dating is correct, this prayer would have been one that the Israelites would have resonated with. While chaos surrounds them they trust that God will deliver them from the oppression that they face. This payer is a reflection on the truth that God is in control of all things; creation, their situation, and their deliverance. This prayer embodies the prayer of the Israelites.
One argument questioning the genuine nature Jonah’s prayer is that while he praises God for all that he has done and will do, Jonah never repents for his actions. During this pious-sounding prayer Jonah knows that God is present even though he tried to flee from his presence in the opening chapter. Yet, God has mercy on him and delivers him from the fish after the declaration that “salvation belongs to the Lord”. The purpose and Jonah’s intention with his prayer is then questioned even more as the reader is informed on how Jonah reacts to God’s merciful nature in the reaminder of the book.
In the chapters following Jonah’s prayer, chapters 3 and 4 which are parallel to this story, Jonah is said to have gone to Nineveh where he preached a one-liner and the entire city repented. However, the controversy of the text erupts when Jonah becomes displeased with the Lord for being merciful to the city of Nineveh. Jonah goes outside the city to mourn and pout rather than rejoice in what the Lord has done. While Jonah is sitting on a hill east of the city the Lord raises up a palnt to shade and protect Jonah and the next day he destroys is. Jonah responds by being upset with God and wanting to die. God then questions Jonah asking why he pities the plant if he did not labor it or make it grow, yet he is upset with God for pitying Nineveh. The following chapters again display themes of God’s sovereignty and deliverance and they shape the interpretation of Jonah’s prayer. Jonah’s actions later in the book reveal the purpose of the prayer in chapter 2.
Exploring the Text Itself
To begin this prayer, the author begins by stating the setting in which it took place, “Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish”. Jonah is tossed into the water, which is represents chaos, yet is rescued from this chaos by being “swallowed”, a phrase which is traditionally negative in connotation, by a fish. The use of the fish here is significant when considering how animals are used within Scripture and Near Eastern literature. Jack M. Sasson in his commentary within The Anchor Bible notes that the introduction of the big fish is “a tool that can most economically achieve a desire end”. Sasson understands the introduction of the fish to be one of the appropriate conditions for teaching Jonah a lesson. Jonah disobeys and is then thrown into chaos, God appoints a fish to swallow him up as an act of mercy and of judgement, and from the belly of this fish Jonah is then prompted to pray.
In verse 3 Jonah begins his prayer to the Lord, “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”. A major point of contention in this verse that continues throughout Jonah’s prayer is the usage of tense. The argument has been made that Jonah is thanking God for delivering him from the chaotic waters which could/should have engulfed him. Jonah speaks in past tense as if what he is asking for has already been accomplished. Jonah prays a prayer of thanksgiving, disregarding the situation which would normally call for lament, and thanks God, asserting that he has already been delivered from his situation. However, Philip Cary argues that this is because Jonah is praying with the assurance that God will deliver him, he is taking an eschatological approach. The desire for mercy within the belly of the fish that Jonah pleas for is as an accomplished fact. The answer to this dilemma can be found in the understanding of parallelism in this prayer. This poetic text parallels the belly of the fish, distress, and the belly of Sheol. Jonah called out from the literal belly of the fish, the abstract point of distress, and the poetic description where Jonah finds himself, the belly of Sheol. Thus, affirming that Jonah is thanking God for the future deliverance from the belly of Sheol, because he heard Jonah’s voice. George Cruz writes, “This prayer psalm of Jonah is a deliverance prayer that expresses complete assurance and trust on the one being prayed to.”
Jonah then continues his prayer by stating in verse 3, “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.” In this section Jonah speaks in second person, drawing the attention away from Jonah and to the action of God. Jonah is thrown into the deep, the heart of the seas where the flood surrounds him, which is then intensified by the language that the waves and billows passed over him. Cary argues that this verse alludes to sin and the consequence of that sin as being death. The water imagery describes a setting of death in which Jonah blames God for.
After acknowledging being casted into the deep Jonah says in verse 4 “Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.” This is the first time in the prayer that Jonah speaks about what he has done and even then it is passive, the action is done to him. The irony that is to be found in this verse is that Jonah states he was “driven away” from God’s sight, however in chapter 1 the audience is told that Jonah fled from the presence of the Lord. Section b of this verse is where scholar disagree with the syntax. The ESV chooses to translate it as a decree made by Jonah, but some translate it as a request or question made by Jonah. Sasson interprets this text, as does the Septuagint, as a meek request made by Jonah given his hopeless position. However, given the assurance that is mentioned in verse 2, that God will deliver Jonah from the belly of Sheol, an accurate interpretation would be that Jonah is again speaking with that assurance.
“The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head”, are the next words of Jonah. Again, Jonah is focused on the self and what is unfolding around him as the waters close over his ‘nephesh’ the Hebrew word meaning neck which also infers a double meaning. The waters are closing in over his neck and what is also interpreted as his ‘life’. Cary argues that this is representing the people of Israel who have gone into exile. In comparison to the language earlier in which the waters surrounded him, he is now swallowed by them. No longer is Israel a besieged city, but is taken into exile and is swallowed by the other nations.
Jonah has gone even deeper into the pits of Sheol. Jonah’s perilous descent brings him to what appears to be a point of no return which is emphasized in verse 6. Jonah states in the next verse that “at the roots of the mountains. 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.” Jonah descended down to the mountains at the base of the world which were believed to be the deepest part of Sheol, holding up the foundation of the world, a place without hope for deliverance. Yet, God delivered Jonah. Jonah says “I went down” and contrasts that with “yet you brought up my life” again drawing on more dead to life imagery. Where verses 5 and 6a speak of Jonah’s descent and situation, 6b speaks of his triumphant deliverance by God.
After this triumphant delivery Jonah asserts that “When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.” Again Jonah uses the term ‘nephesh’, articulating that when his life, his neck, or what could be interpreted as his resources, were fainting away, he remembered the Lord. In Sasson’s commentary he suggests that this verse is a poetic plea in which Jonah comes to God with a petition which, like verse 2, he approaches with an assurance that God will deliver him as an act and profession of faith. Whereas, the NIV commentary petitions that this verse is meant to show the juxtaposition between Jonah’s current position in the belly of the fish with the piety in which Jonah proclaims for himself. It is because Jonah has committed the pious act of turning to the Lord in the belly of the fish in prayer that he with confidence can say that God will deliver him. In his assurance he proclaims that his prayer arrived to God in the holy temple and had delivered him. When reading this text in light of the Israelites exile one can assume that the poem is implying that it is because the people remembered their God in exile that God delivered them.
When reading this prayer with double meaning, understanding in light of Jonah’s context as well as the Israelites, helps form a better understanding of verse 8. Jonah prays, “Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.” While some scholars believe that this verse is in regards to the sailors that were previously mentioned in chapter 1, this cannot be the case because the sailors become worshippers of God. Others argue that those worshipping vain idols might be the Ninevites, but this also cannot be the case, because they too will worship God with true piety. Which means that this interruption in Jonah’s prayer is meant to further show Jonah’s position of piety, as a representative of the people of God. While those who are “fools” worship “false gods”, they forsake the covenant. In Cary’s commentary he notes that this verse is meant to show Israel’s faithlessness in contrast to Judah’s faithfulness. This verse belongs in this prayer and in Jonah’s story because it “explains why Jonah in the belly of the beast, representing Judah in Babylon, does not come to the same hopeless end as Israel in Assyria”.
The height of irony is found in the last verse of the prayer when Jonah states, “But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!” The tense in this verse switches, as it looks not what has been done but what will be done by him. Here Jonah is offering a thanksgiving to God for a redemption that has yet to take place. This echoes with self-centered language furthering the theme of piety. Jonah assumes the position of a pious man, asserting that he will offer thanksgiving to the Lord, because deliverance or salvation belongs to the Lord. The irony in this verse is rich. Jonah states that salvation belongs to the Lord in this scenario, when his life is the one in danger, however, he flees from God when God wants to deliver another nation.
The last verse is a testament to God’s deliverance, but whether that is deliverance is Jonah’s or the fish’s, scholarship is unclear. The last verse in chapter 2 reads, “And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land”. This verse, again, shows the sovereignty of God as he spoke to the fish and commanded it to vomit Jonah out. Indeed, deliverance belongs to the Lord. The fish, God’s creation, listened and obeyed his instructions, something that has not been seen by Jonah at this point in the narrative. The word “vomit” is meant to imply that the fish became nauseous with Jonah, and therefore spit him up. This idea of making the fish sick reiterates the theme of counterfeit piety. Even the fist became sickened by Jonah’s claims in which he never admits his own wrongdoing. The obedient fish recognizes this injustice. After Jonah is spit up onto dry land the narrative begins again, telling the same story a second time, helping the readers make sense of the first.
The Message of the Text
To read this text as a genuine prayer to God in which Jonah “repents” is to lose sight of what the prayer means. In Amanda W. Benckhuysen’s article Revisiting the Psalm of Jonah, she states that “Those who agree that the psalm is integral to the story adopt one of two strategies for dealing with the points of dissonance between the psalm and the larger narrative: (1) infer Jonah’s reconciliation with God, or (2) read the psalm ironically.” If one is to read Jonah’s prayer as reconciliation with God, then they overlook that fact that Jonah never repents for trying to flee from the task entrusted to him.
To the original audience this text would have been one that would have called out the counterfeit piety amongst them. The audience would have heard the story of Jonah and been reminded of the task that was entrusted to them, that is, to be a light to all nations. Yet, they have strayed from this task. Becoming indifferent toward the deliverance of other nations, yet praising God for his affection towards them. While Israel has been displaced and charged with the command to be a light to the nations they find themselves content with where they are and the false view of God in which they have constructed. Like Jonah, Israel has found themselves in a point of distress. This position is one in which they have put themselves in, by being disobedient to God and betraying the covenant. While God has not destroyed them, they feel as though they are without him. While God did not let the chaos consume them, he provided them with their own belly of Sheol. They are thankful that they were not murdered like the others of Israel. Like Jonah, they have reached the bottom of Sheol and hope to one-day look upon God’s temple.
Israel would have heard Jonah’s story, and his prayer to God in the belly of the fish as one which reflected their story in some ways and would have been challenged by other ideas. It is evident when reading this prayer, that Jonah makes a fool of himself. He claims that salvation and deliverance is from the Lord, but only on his terms. Salvation and deliverance is from the Lord, but only when that salvation and deliverance is for him, because he is the one that does not worship other idols, unlike the other nations. However, Jonah does not appear to be worshipping God in this prayer so much as he is pushing his own agenda. Jonah is separating a God that requires repentance and obedience from the God in which will deliver him. Benckhuysen states “nowhere in the psalm is there an indication of repentance or even a change of heart on the part of the psalmist. Nowhere does the psalmist acknowledge that his distress is, in part, a consequence of his own actions.”
The story of Jonah, and particularly the prayer, is one that is still relevant to the church. Too often the church clings to the salvation of the Lord as if it is something separate from his call for obedience and repentance. It is as though salvation is something that belongs to the church and the church alone. The task of being a light to the nations is lost as we look to God in prayer for our own needs over and against our neighbor. Yet, even the fish was made nauseous by this false sense of piety. Piety is not found in praying the right things and giving God thanks, piety is a posture, it is a position before the Lord.
Conclusion
It was asked in the beginning, is this prayer genuine? Does Jonah pray from a place and posture of thanksgiving to the Lord? Probably. I think Jonah, much like the Israelites, are thankful for their deliverance. However, they have a skewed view of God in this midst of this thanksgiving. While this prayer is a perfect example of God’s sovereignty and placement over all things and people, they fail to acknowledge that God’s love and mercy are for all people as well. This prayer shoes that while Israel is displaying their counterfeit piety, they are misunderstanding what it means to be God’s people; to be a light to the nations. This prayer serves to challenge the Israelites understanding of piety and prayer in juxtaposition to caring for the nations that surround them.