Fri.3.20.15...Jonah 2- Why?

Why?

Remember when you or your little one was in the “Why” stage? Why are there mosquitoes? Why do birds fly and cats don’t? Why don’t I feel rested if I sit with my eyes closed instead of going to bed? Ugh! (Great questions. Go ask your mother:) We can be glad when their “Why” stage is over, exposing how little we know. But I hope you never outgrow the “Why” stage when it comes to reading God’s word. It’s how great discoveries are made. So let’s ask a “Why” question regarding Jonah chapter 2 and see what riches God might open our eyes to. Why did God devote all of chapter two, to Jonah’s prayer? Think about it. The book of Jonah is only four chapters long. So one fourth of the book is given to this poetic lament prayer. Why? After all, without it, the action of the book would flow quite nicely. (And I like action:) So I wrote in my Bible, “Why would a whole chapter be devoted to prayer?” I’m not the brightest bulb in the crayon drawer (to mix metaphor’s as my son and I like to do), but it seems that prayer must be an important ingredient in the story. Bingo! So then it dawned on me how important the theme of prayer was in chapter 1- Look at 1:5,6,14,16. Look also ahead to 3:8 and 4:2. So let me ask you a “Why” question now in light of all this.

1.-Why do you think prayer is so important in the book of Jonah? (Relax, there are no wrong answers.)

Before we get into reading chapter two, it will help you to understand it better by seeing how it’s laid out. Hebrew poetry often uses something called Chiastic structures (Ugh! Why such weird words? The word "Chiastic" comes from the Greek letter Chi which looks like our X. The word has to do with a criss-cross or a back and forth structure.) There are different ways these back and forth structures can appear. Some have seen the entire book of Jonah with such a back and forth structure, climaxing in the middle portion.

A Jonah’s commission (1:1-2)

  B Jonah vs. the LORD: Jonah’s flight and the LORD’s storm (“anger”) (1:3-4)

    C Dialogue between sailors and Jonah: “fear” motif (1:5-13)

      D The sailors’ prayer (1:14a)

        E The LORD’s sovereign freedom (1:14b)

          F The sea ceased its raging (“anger”) (1:15)

           G The men feared the LORD with a great fear (1:16)

             H The LORD appointed a great fish to change Jonah’s mind (2:1-2)

                I Song of Jonah (2:3-10)

                  J Jonah’s deliverance (2:11)

                       JONAH’S COMMISSION RENEWED (3:1-4)

                  J’ Nineveh’s repentance (3:5-7a)  

                I’ Decree of king of Nineveh (3:7b-9)

              H’ God changed His mind (3:10)

            G’ A great displeasure came to Jonah (4:1a)

          F’ Jonah became angry (4:1b)

        E’ The LORD’s sovereign freedom (4:2)

      D’ Jonah’s prayer (4:3)

    C’ Dialogue between the LORD and Jonah (4:4-9)

  B’ The LORD vs. Jonah: the LORD’s justification of His compassion (4:10-11)

A’ Jonah/Israel’s response needed (implied)

http://www.inthebeginning.org/chiasmus/xfiles/xjonah.pdf

Let’s read chapter 2 now using a "back and forth" color coded look. If you just read the Green highlighted words, the thoughts flow similarly, emphasizing the lament portion of Jonah's praying to God. Then if you just read the Orange highlighted words, you'll see that they emphasize Jonah's feelings of being overwhelmed by the waters. The back and forth motion of these verses may also reflect how Jonah felt being tossed back and forth by the waters. 

1From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. 2He said:

“In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.  (Jonah knew his Bible and paraphrases from it- Ps.18:6)

From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.  (Note how in this Hebrew poetry, the second half adds more to the first.)

3You hurled me into the depths,

into the very heart of the seas,

and the currents swirled about me;

all your waves and breakers

swept over me.  (He knew Ps.42:7 as well.)

4I said, ‘I have been banished

from your sight;  (A wonderful cross reference comes to mind- 2 Sam.14:14b)

yet I will look again

toward your holy temple.’ (The place of God's presence which Jonah had sought to flee from before- 1:3,10)

5The engulfing waters threatened me,

the deep surrounded me;

seaweed was wrapped around my head.

6To the roots of the mountains I sank down; (This is poetic, a figure of speech)

the earth beneath barred me in forever.

But you, Lord my God,

brought my life up from the pit. (In Mt.12:40 Jesus likens his death to Jonah's experience)

7“When my life was ebbing away,

I remembered you, Lord,

and my prayer rose to you,

to your holy temple.

(Now Jonah gives a life lesson for the idol worshiping Ninevites that he is now willing to preach to.)

8“Those who cling to worthless idols

turn away from God’s love for them.

(But Jonah, those who cling to worthless, wayward ways as you did, also turn away from enjoying God's love for them.)

9But I, with shouts of grateful praise, 

will sacrifice to you.

What I have vowed I will make good. (May we also be faithful to give God grateful praise)

I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’ ”

(As we saw with many lament psalms, they start sad and often end in praise. Jonah has faith that God will deliver him and thus makes vows to keep his commitment to be a praising person. If only he and we could better maintain such a devotion to praising the Lord and sharing His salvation message with others- Salvation comes from the Lord.) 

(Now we see in the next verse that God responded with compassion to Jonah's heartfelt prayers.) 

10And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Jonah's prayer reminded me at first of the prodigal son that forsook his father to go to a far country. But when he sank down so deep, he finally looked up, repented and returned, requesting mercy from his father. But here's another way to look at it. Jonah was like rebellious Israel. They were to be a representatives of God to make him known to the Gentiles. Instead, they went their own sinful, stubborn way, just like Jonah. Thus, they would end up being swallowed up by Nineveh (Nineveh means "house of fish!") and the rest of the Assyrians in as little as 40 years after the time of Jonah. 

2.-Early Christians often drew pictures of Jonah in or coming out of a great fish to symbolize Christ coming out of the grave. Jonah was and is a powerful pre-figure of Christ. So write out this very important verse on your MP3 card- "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Mt.12:40

May you never grow out of the "Why" stage of asking questions about the Bible. May you always remain curious. It's been said, "Curiosity killed the cat." But lack of curiosity kills the catecumen (the learner)." May you be a lifelong learner.

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