Jonah 2:1-9
‘Jonah prayed…from out of the fish…and said: “Out of the belly of the grave, I cried out…. You have brought back my life from corruption!… Salvation is from the LORD!”‘ Jonah 2:1-9.
Jonah did not die when thrown from the ship into the sea. Nor when swallowed by the big fish. Nor thereafter when at the bottom of the ocean. Though he did not then die, He was then resurrected, and deposited on the dry land — in order to continue His work for God there!
Calvin comments: “Jonah…was indeed cast into the sea by the hands of men. But God…presided!…. ‘The Lord…prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish, three days and three nights’….
“‘A fish was prepared by the Lord’…. The Lord caused the fish to meet him…, to the preservation of Jonah…. There are some fishes which can swallow men whole and entire…. Jonah…was received into the inside of the fish, as though it were into a hospital…. He was as safe…as though he were walking on land!… Jonah says that he ‘prayed from the bowels of the fish’…. Jonah (felt he) was…doomed …. The bowels of the fish…were…to him…the grave… He does not simply say that he prayed to ‘Jehovah,’ but he adds that He was ‘his God’…. For he was persuaded that God would be propitious to him!
“‘I cried (out),’ he says…, ‘to Jehovah! I cried out from the grave’s bowels! You have heard my voice!’…. The bowels of the fish…were like the bowels of the grave. She’ool, derived from ‘corruption’; is called the grave…. The fish was like the grave…. He was…shut up in the grave…
“When Jonah was in this state, he says that he was heard by the Lord!… He did not howl, as the unbelieving are wont to do…. He cried, and cried aloud — to God!… ‘You have cast me into the deep…. All Your billows and Your waves passed over me!’…
“His mind was fixed on God…. As though he said…, ‘To You do I come!… I seek You!… Far is it, that these terrors drive me to a distance from You!… I come willingly to You! For nowhere else is there for me any hope of deliverance!’…
“He was ‘surrounded by the deep.’ But at length he adds that God ‘made his life to ascend’…. He had so sunk, as to be fixed in the deep under the roots of the mountains…. He afterwards comes to thanksgiving: ‘And You, Jehovah my God, have made my life to ascend from the grave!'”…
“‘I will sacrifice to You!… Salvation is from the Lord!'” This shows Jonah knew God would spare him, so he could then bring a sacrifice to Him. ‘And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land!’… This deliverance of Jonah, is an image of the resurrection!”
Though Jonah did not then die, he was indeed inside the belly of the great fish — possibly in a comatose condition. But God heard his conscious outcry, even from the belly of the grave!
