Jonah's Prayer Of Repentance And Gratitude (Jonah 2:1-10).
Finding himself rescued from drowning, Jonah expressed his gratitude to God, and, probably puzzled as to where he was, called on God for restitution to His favour, ‘I am cast out from your sight, yet will I look again towards your holy Temple', and again, ‘Those who regard lying vanities (Jonah in his flight), forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving, I will pay what I have vowed.' It is apparent that while in the sea he had made certain vows to YHWH.
The prayer is necessary in order to demonstrate that God's mercy was revealed towards Jonah, as it had been towards the sailors, and would be towards Nineveh. It draws attention to his repentance, and prepares for what follows. There is nothing in it which requires a late date, and its ideas are similar to what we view as mainly early Psalms. It suggests that Jonah was very familiar with Temple worship, or with similar worship in Israel. The parallels are not such, however, as to suggest direct borrowing. For examples of such parallels see the introduction.
To those who ask whether Jonah was likely to compose a Psalm while in the innards of the great fish our reply is, what else was he likely to do. He had to have something to occupy his time. For a prophet composing a prophetic psalm would be ideal.
His description of nearly drowning is vivid, even though his experience must only have lasted two or three minutes. At such times the thoughts are very much concentrated. It did, however, give him the opportunity to review what he had done and to repent in his heart. And then quite by a miracle he had found himself seized, and he had found himself enveloped by something he knew not what, and that he was able to breathe. And now here he was, able to thank God for deliverance from drowning and to confirm his repentance, and wait on God for further deliverance. His mind would naturally turn to composing a psalm of thanksgiving.
Analysis of Jonah 2:1-10.
a Then Jonah prayed to YHWH his God out of the fish's innards (Jonah 2:1).
b “I called by reason of my affliction to YHWH, and he answered me, out of the belly of Sheol I cried, you heard my voice” (Jonah 2:2).
c “For you cast me into the depth, in the heart of the seas, and the flood was round about me, all your waves and your billows passed over me” (Jonah 2:3).
d “And I said, ‘I am cast out from before your eyes, yet I will look again towards your holy temple” (Jonah 2:4).
e “The waters compassed me about, even to the soul, the deep was round about me, the weeds were wrapped about my head” (Jonah 2:5).
f “I went down to the bottoms of the mountains, the earth with its bars closed on me for ever, yet have you brought up my life from the pit, O YHWH my God” (Jonah 2:6).
e “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered YHWH” (Jonah 2:7 a).
d “And my prayer came in to you, into your holy temple” (Jonah 2:7 b).
c “Those who regard lying vanities, forsake their own mercy” (Jonah 2:8 a).
b “But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving, I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of YHWH” (Jonah 2:9).
a And YHWH spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah on the dry land (Jonah 2:10).
Note that in ‘a' Jonah spoke to YHWH from the fish, and in the parallel YHWH spoke to the fish about Jonah. In ‘b' he cried to YHWH from the very belly of Sheol, and in the parallel he gives thanks that God heard him and delivered him. In ‘c' we find Jonah seemingly treated without mercy, and in the parallel the consequence of Jonah's lying vanities, will be that he has forsaken his own mercy. In ‘d' he looks towards YHWH's holy Temple, and in the parallel he prays towards YHWH's holy Temple. In ‘e' the waters surrounded his soul, and in the parallel his soul fainted within hi. Centrally in ‘f' he reached the lowest depths only to find deliverance.