|  Home  |  Old Testament Studies  |  Jonah Table of Contents  |  Previous Section  |  Next Section  |

JONAH 2

PARAGRAPH DIVISIONS OF MODERN TRANSLATIONS

READING CYCLE THREE (see "Bible Interpretation Seminar")

FOLLOWING THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR'S INTENT AT PARAGRAPH LEVEL

This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

Read the chapter in one sitting. Identify the subjects (reading cycle #3). Compare your subject divisions with the five translations above. Paragraphing is not inspired, but it is the key to following the original author's intent, which is the heart of interpretation. Every paragraph has one and only one subject.

CONTEXTUAL INSIGHTS

1. This prayer (Jonah 2:1-9) is beautiful theological poetry. It looks like a refined literary work, not an emotional extemporaneous cry to God. However, it contains so many words about "water" (cf. Jonah 2:3,5) that it truly reflects Jonah's experience.
   
   
2. This prayer has many similarities with the thanksgiving Psalms. Jonah was well acquainted with temple liturgy and the book of Psalms.
    The Jewish Study Bible, Oxford Press, p. 1201, lists the possible allusions to Psalms found in Jonah's stylized prayer. (I changed MT numeration to English versing.)
   1. v. 3 ‒ Ps. 18:6; 30:2; 118:5; 120:1; 130:1,2
   2. v. 4 ‒ Ps. 42:7
   3. v. 5 ‒ Ps. 31:22
   4. v. 6 ‒ Ps. 18:4-6; 69:2
   5. v. 7 ‒ Ps. 30:3; 71:20
   6. v. 8a ‒ Ps. 142:5; 143:5
   7. v. 8b ‒ Ps. 5:7; 18:6; 88:2
   8. v. 9 ‒ Ps. 31:6
   9. v. 10a ‒ Ps. 42:4; 50:14,23; 66:13-15
   10. v 10b ‒ Ps. 3:8
   
   
3. The Jewish Study Bible also asserts that the VERBS in the Psalms of Jonah should be translated as currently occurring. Remember, Hebrew VERBS only carry completed (PERFECT) or ongoing (IMPERFECT) action. Only context can determine which is more appropriate.
   SPECIAL TOPIC: HEBREW GRAMMAR, II. A., B.

WORD AND PHRASE STUDY

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: JONAH 2:1-9
 ¹Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish,
 ²and 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.
 ³For 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.
 ⁴So I said, 'I have been expelled from Your sight.
 Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.'
  ⁵Water encompassed me to the point of death.
 The great deep engulfed me,
 Weeds were wrapped around my head.
  ⁶I 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.
  ⁷While I was fainting away,
 I remembered the Lord,
 And my prayer came to You,
 Into Your holy temple.
 ⁸Those who regard vain idols
 Forsake their faithfulness,
  ⁹But I will sacrifice to You
 With the voice of thanksgiving.
 That which I have vowed I will pay.
 Salvation is from the Lord."

2:1 God had purposely allowed and even structured the predicament in which Jonah found himself (cf. Jonah 1:4, 17; 2:3).

▣ "to the Lord his God" These are the two most common names for Israel's Deity, YHWH and Elohim.

SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY, C. and D.

2:2 "I called out" This VERB (BDB 894, KB 1128, Qal PERFECT) is used often in Jonah (8 times) and in two senses:

1. to proclaim, Jonah 1:2; 3:2,4,5
2. to pray, Jonah 1:6,14; 2:2; 3:8

It is parallel to "I cried" (BDB 1002, KB 1443, Piel PERFECT) for help (e.g., Ps. 30:2-3; 119:146; Isa. 58:9).

This NOUN (BDB 865) comes from the concept of "narrow or restricted," meaning to apply pressure (i.e., crushing grapes with ones' feet, e.g., Ps.18:4-6; 22:11; 25:17; 118:5,120:1).

▣ "depth of Sheol" There may be a play on the term "depth," which is literally "belly" (BDB 105) and Jonah's physical location "inside the great fish" (BDB 588).

The term Sheol refers to the holding place of the conscious dead (parallel to "pit," cf. Ps. 30:3).

1. as the grave is the resting place of our physical body at death
2. so Sheol is the place of our personhood

The OT does not provide much information about life after death. From what little is provided we learn

1. there is a conscious life after physical death
2. the dead are with family
3. there is no fellowship or joy
4. both good and evil people are there
5. God is present there, but not worshiped (cf. Ps. 6:5; 88:10-12; 115:17; 139:8)

SPECIAL TOPIC: WHERE ARE THE DEAD?, I, B.

▣ "You heard my voice" This is a Hebraic idiom for God's hearing and responding to His covenant people's prayers (see Targums).

2:3 There are many terms in Jonah 2:3,5, and 6 that relate to the sea. This may be an allusion to the chaotic waters of creation (cf. Gen. 1:1). As God brought order in creation from chaos, so too, in Jonah's life. The waters have separated Jonah from God (cf. Jonah 2:4; Ps. 69:1,2,14,15; 88:6,7,17), but in reality they (i.e., the fish) become his transport to do God's will.

There are several sets of parallels that relate to water.

1. the deep, Jonah 2:3 (BDB 846)
2. the great deep, Jonah 2:5 (BDB 1062)
3. engulfed, Jonah 2:3 (BDB 685, KB 738, Poel IMPERFECT)
4. encompassed, Jonah 2:5 (BDB 67, KB 79, Qal PERFECT)
5. engulfed, Jonah 2:5 (BDB 685, KB 738, Poel IMPERFECT)
6. the current, Jonah 2:3 (BDB 625)
7. breakers, Jonah 2:3 (BDB 991)
8. billows, Jonah 2:3 (BDB 164)
9. the waters, Jonah 2:3 (BDB 565)

SPECIAL TOPIC: WATERS

▣ "You had cast me into the deep" This VERB (BDB 1020, KB 1527, Hiphil IMPERFECT) shows that Jonah recognized his well-deserved fate and that it was God who used the storm (cf. Jonah 1:4) and the sailors (cf. Jonah 1:15) to execute His judgment.

This VERB (BDB 176, KB 204, Niphal PERFECT) means driven away by force. It is found only here in the OT. In Aramaic it was used of divorce (BDB 176). Jonah knew this was a consequence of his sin and rebellion at rejecting God's commission. At this point he did not know the fish was a means of his deliverance (cf. Ps. 31:22)!

Jonah (or a sage) may have chosen this word because it can also mean the tossing of the sea (i.e., another sea word, e.g., Amos 8:8; Isa. 57:20).

The connotation of this phrase is "from your presence in the temple" (cf. parallel in the next line).

The contextual questions are

1. "Does this line of poetry assert that Jonah believes he will see the temple again (NASB, NKJV, Targums) or that he will not (NRSV, TEV, NJB)?"
2. Is the word an ADVERBIAL INTERROGATIVE, "how" (BDB 32) or an ADVERSATIVE, "surely" (BDB 36)?
3. Does this line follow Jonah's sense of impending death (ADVERB) or Jonah's sense that God will deliver (ADVERSATIVE)?
4. Because Jonah's plight is described in Jonah 2:3-6 and God's help is described in Jonah 2:7-9, it seems that Jonah 2:4, in context, should be translated "how" (ADVERB, BDB 32; see Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible by Theodotion in A.D. 150). However, there seems to be a note of hope in Jonah 2:6c, why not in Jonah 2:4b?

▣ "Your holy temple" The temple in Jerusalem housed the Ark of the Covenant. The Jews believed that God dwelt between the wings of the Cherubim over the Ark (e.g., Exod. 25:22; Num. 7:89; 1 Sam 4:4; 2 Sam. 6:2; Ps. 80:1; 99:1). This was the place where heaven and earth, the spiritual and physical met! Jonah believed he would worship God again in Jerusalem (cf. Jonah 2:9).

SPECIAL TOPIC: THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

SPECIAL TOPIC: CHERUBIM

The VERB (BDB 67, KB 79, Qal PERFECT) is often used in the Psalms for a life threatening time of intense suffering from which YHWH delivers (e.g., 2 Sam. 22:5; Ps. 18:4; 116:3).

The word translated "me," "my soul," "my neck" (BDB 723) is the term nephesh, which denotes "breath" or "life" (e.g., Gen. 2:7). Here and in Ps. 69:1; 105:18; and Isa. 5:14 it has the connotation of a throat (or neck) about to be choked with water (KB 712, #1, i.e., death of a person). See full note online at Lev. 17:11 and Gen. 35:18.

SPECIAL TOPIC: NEPHESH

▣ "Weeds" This word (BDB 693, KB 747) can mean salt water, seaweeds, or fresh water reeds (cf. Exod. 2:3,5). Here it is obviously salt water (KB 747). The sense here is that Jonah is being drowned, choked by water and seaweeds. He is descending into the realm of the dead.

2:6 "I descended to the roots of the mountains" The OT uses the physical direction "down" to describe Sheol (BDB 432, KB 434, Qal PERFECT, cf. Num. 16:30,33; Ps. 55:15; Isa. 5:14; 14:19). The term Sheol and "pit" (BDB 1001) are parallel (cf. Ps. 30:3). It is this metaphorical expression of Jonah's sense of approaching the underworld that makes his experience the object of Jesus' comment (cf. Matt. 12:40-41; Luke 11:30). Jonah believed he was going to die, but God had mercy on him! God's judgment was not His last word. There was purpose in the punishment.

The term (BDB 891) normally means to "cut off" or "shape," but it cannot mean that in this context. In Ecclesiasticus 16:19 (written about 180 B.C.) it means "the foundations of the world." The BDB offers "extremity" as a translation. Possibly the ancient Jews believed the gate to Sheol was at the bottom of the sea, even below the mountains. Jonah was expecting death and entrance into Sheol, the pit. This term is meant to be a poetic parallel to "bars" and "the pit."

▣ "The earth with its bars" The term "bars" (BDB 138) usually refers to gate bars. This is imagery for Sheol as a prison holding the dead, which once entered, could not be exited (e.g., 2 Sam. 12:23; Job 7:9-10; 10:21).

For "earth" see SPECIAL TOPIC: LAND, COUNTRY, EARTH, #7

▣ "You have brought up my life" This VERB (BDB 748, KB 828, Hiphil IMPERFECT with waw) is exactly opposite of "descended" (or "to bring down").

The VERB (BDB 742, KB 814) has been analyzed several ways.

1. Owen's Analytical Key identifies it as a Hithpael PERFECT
2. but OT Parsing Guide identifies it as a Hithpael INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT
3. the NIV Interlinear by Kohlenberger also identifies it as an INFINITIVE

The term itself means to grow weak or faint, here in the sense of death (e.g., Isa. 57:16).

▣ "I remembered the Lord" In the OT, humans are reminded again and again to remember (BDB 269, KB 269, Qal PERFECT) the Lord and His goodness (e.g., Deut. 8:11-20; Ps. 77:11-12). God, on the other hand, is called on to forget mankind's sin and rebellion (notice all the images for forgetfulness, cf. Ps. 103:3,11-13; Isa. 1:18; 38:17; 43:25; 44:22; Micah 7:19). When God forgives, God forgets! See notes at Hosea 7:2 and 8:13.

2:8 This verse seems out of context. It may be an allusion to Ps. 31:6. It may be a reference to Nineveh's idolatry. Jonah may be trying to explain why he did not want to preach to the Assyrian capital.

There are two terms in this phrase with closely related meanings, which intensify the thought.

1. "vain" (BDB 996) means that which is "empty," "nothing," or "vanity" (e.g., Ps. 31:6; Jer. 18:15); see Special Topic below
2. "idols" (BDB 210) means "vapor," "breath," which is imagery for "vanity" (e.g., Deut. 32:21; 1 Kgs. 16:13,26; Ps. 31:6; Isa. 57:13; Jer. 8:19; 10:8,14-15; 14:22; 51:17-18). See full note at Eccl. 1:2.

SPECIAL TOPIC: EMPTY, VAIN, FALSE, NOTHINGNESS (BDB 996)

The VERB (BDB 736, KB 806, Qal IMPERFECT) means "leave" (e.g., Gen. 2:24), "forsake" (e.g., Deut. 28:20; 31:16; Jdg. 10:10; Isa. 55:7; Jer. 1:16), "lose."

The Jewish Study Bible, p. 1202, suggests three translation options for this ambiguous phrase.

1. forsake their own welfare (JPSOA, REB)
2. forsake their (true) loyalty (NRSV, TEV)
3. forsake their bounty

Idolatry has terrible consequences in time and in eternity; see SPECIAL TOPIC: CONSEQUENCES OF IDOLATRY.

The contextual question is, "Does this phrase refer to

1. lovingkindness humans receive from their God (i.e., context of the book, cf. Jonah 4:2; see SPECIAL TOPIC: LOVINGKINDNESS).
2. the faithfulness humans should show to their God (i.e., the immediate context, cf. Jonah 2:7,9; see SPECIAL TOPIC: BELIEVE, TRUST, FAITH AND FAITHFULNESS IN THE OT).

2:9 "I will sacrifice to You,

With the voice of thanksgiving" This implies that Jonah's sacrifice may be verbal, not animal. See full note as Hosea 14:3.

This VERB (BDB 256, KB 261, Qal COHORTATIVE) and "I will pay" (BDB 1022, KB 1532, Piel COHORTATIVE), are both strong promises of what Jonah will do when he gets back to the temple in Jerusalem (BDB 623, i.e., offer a thank offering), what the sailors had done to YHWH in Jonah 1:16.

▣ "Salvation is from the Lord" The Hebrew term "salvation" (BDB 447) means deliverance.

1. Jonah wanted out of the fish!
2. YHWH wanted the Ninevites to know Him (NT sense)

Jonah knew the right theology, he mouthed the right words, but he refused to act on them!

SPECIAL TOPIC: SALVATION (OT Term)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: JONAH 2:10
 ¹⁰Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.

2:10 "the Lord commanded the fish" In Jonah YHWH commands and uses

1. a wind and storm
2. a great fish
3. a plant
4. a worm
5. a desert wind

These are used to show God's

1. sovereignty
2. love for Gentiles
3. His anger against Jewish exclusivism

▣ "vomited" This is a very strong negative term in Hebrew (BDB 883, KB 1096, Hiphil IMPERFECT with waw, cf. Isa. 19:14; 28:8). This may have been YHWH's reaction (i.e., through the fish) to the flowery prayer of Jonah! But in reality, it was God's deliverance of Jonah to do His will in going to Ninevah. The fish vomited him back on the Palestinian coast.

|  Home  |  Old Testament Studies  |  Jonah Table of Contents  |  Previous Section  |  Next Section  |

Copyright © 2014 Bible Lessons International