Jonah 2:6-10
Jonah 2:6
(KJV)
I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth
with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from
corruption, O LORD my God.
Jonah was either carried to the bottom of the sea which
would be like mountains underwater or he had sunk to the depth of those
underwater mountains. Sometimes sea
bottoms are not just smooth like a beach but may have mountainous features which
include height of hills and depth of a trench.
Jonah felt that the earth had barred him forever in that he would never
again set foot on ground because he thought the fish would be his grave.
The bars were used on city gates to keep them shut so invaders would be
unable to come in through the gates of the city.
Jonah knew that even though he was in this situation the Lord would bring
him up from becoming completely corrupted which would probably have reference to
the digestive juices beginning to work on him and creating a stench from the
other things the great fish had eaten.
Then Jonah ends this sentence with acknowledging his relationship to God
as “my God.”
Jonah 2:7
(KJV)
When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and
my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.
Jonah was overtaken with many fears, anxieties, and
worries being in his present situation.
That is why he was saying that his soul was becoming weak and fainting.
It was at that point that he remembered the Lord and he began to pray to
God who was in
His holy, heavenly temple.
Habakkuk 2:20 (KJV) But the LORD
is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.
In that remembrance of the Lord, Jonah probably also dwelt upon the fact
that he was in rebellion to God for disobeying His command to go to Nineveh.
Rebellion against God can have a debilitating effect upon our physical
bodies as well as our souls.
Jonah 2:8
(KJV)
They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
A lying vanity would be a worthless, lifeless idol.
Psalm 135:15 (KJV) The idols of
the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
Those who trust in them will forsake their own mercy, that is, the idols
are lifeless things and cannot pardon from sin and have mercy on one’s soul no
matter how much you serve them.
Only God is able to pardon sins and remove them from those He saved.
Psalm 103:12 (KJV) As far as the
east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
With the pardon of sins comes the mercy
of God that the sinner who becomes redeemed will never have to pay the penalty
for their sins because they were laid on Christ at Calvary.
Idols can remove nothing.
Jonah 2:9
(KJV)
But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of
thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.
Jonah now states that he will sacrifice unto the Lord
with a true heart of thanksgiving.
He states it will be to the Lord and excluding all the false gods which can do
nothing for a person’s soul. The
Scriptures do not tell us what Jonah vowed to the Lord and that he would follow
through on fulfilling that vow. The
principle is that if we make a vow to the Lord, we must fulfill what we vowed
because a vow is like a small covenant.
Ecclesiastes 5:4-5 (KJV) When thou
vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools:
pay that which thou hast vowed. {5}
Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not
pay. Jonah then makes a
statement which is the theme of the book of Jonah.
Salvation is of the Lord and no idol in the world can ever bring about a
person’s salvation. Salvation is in
the hands of God and He chooses those whom He is going to save.
Like idolatry, free will is a non-existent thing and cannot bring anyone
to the Lord since before salvation we are all dead sinners needing resurrection
and only God can resurrect. God is
the one who brings about salvation whether in the spiritual realm or the
physical realm.
Jonah 2:10
(KJV)
And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out
Jonah upon the dry land.