Jonah 2:5-9, 5 “The waters surrounded me, even to my soul;
The deep closed around me;
Weeds were wrapped around my head.
6 I went down to the moorings of the mountains;
The earth with its bars closed behind me forever;
Yet You have brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord, my God.
7 “When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord;
And my prayer went up to You,
Into Your holy temple.
8 “Those who regard worthless idols
Forsake their own Mercy.
9 But I will sacrifice to You
With the voice of thanksgiving;
I will pay what I have vowed.
Salvation is of the Lord.”
2:5
the waters surrounded me, even to my soul;
The deep closed around me;
Weeds were wrapped around my head.
The vegetation of the Mediterranean Sea wrapped around his head.
2:6
I went down to the moorings of the mountains;
Jonah went right to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.
The earth with its bars closed behind me forever;
Jonah thought that this was going to be his burial place.
Yet You have brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord, my God.
At the point of Jonah’s abject hopelessness and despair, God sent the fish to save Jonah from a watery grave. God is always the God of grace.
2:7
When my soul fainted within me,
Just when Jonah thought that he was going to pass into death, the Lord delivered him from death. Jonah thought that his life was ebbing away.
I remembered the Lord;
And my prayer went up to You,
Into Your holy temple.
The “holy temple” here is probably the presence of God in heaven and not the temple in Jerusalem.
2:8
Those who regard worthless idols
Those who worship idols have no hope in a God who can deliver people from a watery grave. This may be a reference to the Phoenician sailors.
Forsake their own Mercy.
Mercy here emphasizes grace. Those who worship anything other than the Lord forsake the source of grace in their lives.
Lam 3:22-23, “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.”
Ro 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”
Eph 2:4, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us…”
He 4:16, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
1 Pe 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…”
2:9
But I will sacrifice to You
With the voice of thanksgiving;
Jonah said that his sacrifice would not be an animal sacrifice but the sacrifice of his voice in praise.
I will pay what I have vowed.
This vow may be a promise to do what God told him to do in the first place – to go to Nineveh.
Salvation is of the Lord.”
Salvation is wholly of Jehovah. It belongs completely within His camp. No one other than He Himself has a share in bestowing it.
Ps 28:6, “Blessed be the Lord,
Because He has heard the voice of my supplications!”
PRINCIPLE:
We must remember God’s grace and mercy when under God’s discipline.
APPLICATION:
Where did Jonah get the colossal nerve to thank God for deliverance while sitting in the fish’s belly? He understood something of the grace and mercy of God. Our privilege of serving the Lord is out of sheer, unadulterated grace. We do not deserve to be used by Him to make Christ known.
If you are out of fellowship with the Lord and are experiencing His discipline, remember God’s grace and mercy. Claim it as your own. God will not reject your claim on His grace.
