Jonah 2 Prayer
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Review
Review
The book of Jonah is one of the most complex writings in all of Scripture!
To talk about Jonah is to talk about the Whole of the Hebrew Bible. In other words, Jonah is a microcosm of the entire Hebrew Scriptures.
Last week we looked at how the word ka-tos (greek) and tanin (hebrew) in the oldest manuscripts of Jonah reflect the fact that Yahweh has control even over the gods of the sea.
We talked a bit about the ordered world from the viewpoint of the Biblical authors.
We talked about the idea of 3 days and 3 nights. It’s not as much about chronology as it is the purpose of the journey.
a time of testing, danger, or nearness to death
the time of an ominous journey
Jonah’s Song-Prayer
Jonah’s Song-Prayer
Jonah’s prayer is very similar to other inset prayers in the Hebrew Bible.
Let’s look at Jonah’s prayer, and then other examples with similar themes. (analyze a bit as we go)
1 And Jonah prayed to Yahweh his God from the belly of the fish
2 and said, “I called from my distress to Yahweh, and he answered me; from the belly of Sheol I cried for help— you heard my voice.
3 And you threw me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the sea currents surrounded me; all your breakers and your surging waves passed over me.
4 And I said, ‘I am banished from your sight; how will I continue to look on your holy temple?’
5 The waters encompassed me up to my neck; the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6 I went down to the foundations of the mountains; the Underworld—its bars were around me forever. But you brought up my life from the pit, Yahweh my God.
7 When my life was ebbing away from me, I remembered Yahweh, and my prayer came to you, to your holy temple.
8 Those who worship vain idols forsake their loyal love.
9 But I, with a voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you; I will fulfill what I have vowed. Deliverance belongs to Yahweh!”
Initial thoughts/questions?
Initial thoughts/questions?
1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to Yahweh, and they said, “Let me sing to Yahweh because he is highly exalted; the horse and its rider he hurled into the sea.
2 Yah is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him—the God of my father—and I will exalt him.
3 Yahweh is a man of war; Yahweh is his name.
4 The chariots of Pharaoh and his army he cast into the sea, and his choice adjutants were sunk in the Red Sea.
5 The deep waters covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.
6 Yahweh, your right hand is glorious in power; Yahweh, your right hand destroyed the enemy.
7 And in the greatness of your majesty you overthrew those standing up to you; you released your fierce anger, and it consumed them like stubble.
8 And by the breath of your nostrils waters were piled up; waves stood like a heap; deep waters in the middle of the sea congealed.
9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide plunder, my desire will be full of them, I will draw my sword, my hand will destroy them.’
10 You blew with your breath; the sea covered them; they dropped like lead in the mighty waters.
11 Who is like you among the gods, Yahweh? Who is like you—glorious in holiness, awesome in praiseworthy actions, doing wonders?
12 You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them.
13 In your loyal love you led the people whom you redeemed; in your strength you guided them to the abode of your holiness.
4 I call upon Yahweh who is praiseworthy, and I am saved from those who hate me.
5 For the breaker waves of death engulfed me; the currents of chaos overwhelmed me.
6 The ropes of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.
7 In my distress I called upon Yahweh, and to my God I called. He heard my voice from his temple, and my cry for help was to his ears.
16 Then the channels of water of the sea were exposed, the foundations of the world, at the rebuke of Yahweh, from the blast of the breath of his nostrils.
17 He sent from a high position and took me; he drew me from mighty waters.
18 He delivered me from my strong enemies, from those who hate me, for they were mightier than I.
19 “The kings came, they fought; then the kings of Canaan fought; at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo, they got no plunder in silver.
20 The stars fought from heaven; from their courses they fought against Sisera.
21 The wadi torrent of Kishon swept them away, the raging wadi torrent, the wadi torrent of Kishon. March on, my soul, with strength!
5 Those who were full must hire themselves out for bread, but those who are hungry will become fat. As for the infertile, she will bear seven, but she who has many sons withers away.
6 Yahweh kills and restores alive, he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
7 Yahweh makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and also exalts.
8 He raises up the poor from the dust. From the ash heap he lifts up the needy, to cause them to sit with noble people and to cause them to inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth belong to Yahweh and he has set the inhabited world on them.
10 I was the one who said, “I must go in the quiet of my days; I am summoned through the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years.”
11 I said, “I shall not see Yah! Yah in the land of the living! I shall no more look at humankind among the inhabitants of the world.
18 For Sheol cannot praise you; death cannot praise you. Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.
19 The living, the living one praises you like me today; a father will make your faithfulness known to children.
20 Yahweh, save me, and we will play my music on stringed instruments all the days of our lives at the temple of Yahweh.”
Cosmology of Bible
Cosmology of Bible
Oddities of Jonah’s Prayer
Oddities of Jonah’s Prayer
Why is Jonah offering a prayer of thanksgiving for deliverance instead of a confession of guilt or a plea to be released from the fish?
It appears that Jonah has received what he already wants!
The prayer is a thanksgiving for a rescue that has already happened, though it seems that Jonah is still in danger of death by a monster.
The “great fish” is actually the vehicle of salvation for Jonah from death and the underworld.
The “vehicle of death” is paradoxically his salvation. Jonah describes his peril as death by drowning, not by fish digestion!
“In the context of chapter 1 and the remainder of the book it can only be seen as another inappropriate, hypocritical, pious-sounding affirmation like 1:9 before it and 4:2 after it. By it, Jonah shows the reader more clearly his true colors. His phrases sound good and right, but in the event they turn out to be empty. " - John Holbert, “Deliverance Belongs to Yahweh! Satire in the Book of Jonah,” 74-75
Misquoting the Psalms
Misquoting the Psalms
2 He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.
1 I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me.
2 Save me, Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.
21 Praise be to the Lord, for he showed me the wonders of his love when I was in a city under siege.
22 In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from your sight!” Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help.
3 You 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.
7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.
8 By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?”
10 My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
11 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
4 I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’
1 I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; before the “gods” I will sing your praise.
2 I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your unfailing love and your faithfulness, for you have so exalted your solemn decree that it surpasses your fame.
3 When I called, you answered me; you greatly emboldened me.
5 The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit.
1 Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.
2 I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me.
3 I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God.
4 Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head; many are my enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me. I am forced to restore what I did not steal.
5 You, God, know my folly; my guilt is not hidden from you.
7 “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.
1 Lord, you are the God who saves me; day and night I cry out to you.
2 May my prayer come before you; turn your ear to my cry.
3 I am overwhelmed with troubles and my life draws near to death.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am like one without strength.
5 I am set apart with the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more, who are cut off from your care.
6 You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths.
7 Your wrath lies heavily on me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
8 You have taken from me my closest friends and have made me repulsive to them. I am confined and cannot escape;
9 my eyes are dim with grief. I call to you, Lord, every day; I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you show your wonders to the dead? Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
11 Is your love declared in the grave, your faithfulness in Destruction?
12 Are your wonders known in the place of darkness, or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?
13 But I cry to you for help, Lord; in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 Why, Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me?
15 From my youth I have suffered and been close to death; I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
16 Your wrath has swept over me; your terrors have destroyed me.
17 All day long they surround me like a flood; they have completely engulfed me.
18 You have taken from me friend and neighbor— darkness is my closest friend.
8 “Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them.
9 But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’ ”
1 Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me!
2 Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.”
3 But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.
4 I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain.
5 I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.
6 I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.
7 Arise, Lord! Deliver me, my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.
8 From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people.
Thoughts?
Thoughts?