The Pulpit Commentary — Jonah — Section 40

rray anywhere. Jeremiah could pray in the miry pit, Daniel in the lions' den, and Jonah in the fish 11mid the paths of the seaB. I-le was in sad and extreme cBSe. Ho was aB II dead man out of mind; yet he can pray. What distress is ours? Our hopes may be" ready to perish." But think of Jonah I He could have recourBe to prayer. So can we. The greatest of all was Jonah's Friend. In losing his liberty he has found hi~ God. Be prays" unto the Lord his God." "0 Lord my God" (ver. G), he cries. We, too, have the greatest of all as our Friend. None need despair with such a Helper. II. J oN AH's PRAYER w AS A CRY. Whether a vocal cry or not, it was the cry of his soul. In t,his second chapter we have a well-arranged prayer. If not the exact order, we have here the S"Ubstance of the requests be cried unto the Lord. What agony and horror may be in a human cry I In cries from the sea when perishing men call for a lifeboat I Jonah cried to God. What tears in his words I what distress in his tones I What hope for him, as "out of the belly of hell" (the unseen world, the place of the dead) he cried? Already he seemed numbered with the dead. The sense of God's dis- pleasure wa.s the soul of his affliction. " All thy billows and waves passed over me." W a11 God favoorably there? "I said, I am ca.st out of thy sight." That was the pang. He had sought to escape God's presence; now he mourned the Divine absence. He had no enjoy- ment in his prayer, yet it was accepted. The prayer of agony ends in the voice of singing. III. JoNAB's PRAYER WAS ONR OF FAITH. "I will look again," he said-mentally look again-" toward thy holy temple." How much the "temple" included-the Law, worship, sacrifices I towards these he looked, and thus overcame his fears. Down there, in those depths, in that living tomb, by that "look" this man becomes one of the heroes of faith. He, too, like a prince prevailed. That look was seen. God was pleased with it, and accepted it. Still God sees a look when the soul is in it. Though no word be spoken, we can look unto him and be saved. IV. JoNAB's PRAYER WAS ONE OF TH..il'KFULNESS. In this prayer he recalls and makes his own words from the Book of Psalms. Some of the old cries of David became the new cries of Jonah. And, marvellously preserved, his prayer was praise ; and, in view of his deliverance, he vowed unto the Lord. And hie vow was kept. The very subsequent writing of this chapter warrants our belief of that. A.nd what of the vows tDe have made in times of peril? "Vow and pay." Say, "I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back." V. JoNAH's PRAYER WAS ONE OF UTTEB DEPENDENCE ON GoD. Such was bis spirit, such his prayer. With "salvation is of the Lord" it ended. A.nd by that he seems to have meant that he left all with God. He was in the best hands. In his own time and way God would save him. If he will, creatures will act contrary to their natures, as did this fish in not hurting Jonah. It God bad "prepared" or appointed ; and now its work was done, the prophet penitent, saved not only from death, but also from trusting in "lying vanity," "the deceitful promise of his own will and his own way," no longer "forsaking his own mercy," even God, but cleaving to him. Now "the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited Jonah upon the dry land." And the prophet is o. saved man -saved body and soul, the word, his creed and Te Deum, upon his lips, "Salvation is of the Lord." Still, "he must save, and he alone." Jesus, and no other, "shall save his people from their sins."-G. T. C. Ver. 17 with eh. ii. 10; iii. 3 (cf. Matt. xii. 89-41).-Jonah a prophetic sign oj Ohrist. L IN BOTH WE BEE A MARKED JUDGlltENT OF Gon. 'l'he storm, the detec- tion, the punishment, were all from God. Jonah was the sinner on board.. Christ, "without sin," "became sin for us." He suffered at the hands of wicked men; yet "the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all." "He was wounded for our transgres- sion." 'l'he vast world-vessel went plunging on to destruction, the storm unappeased while the sin was unpunished. On!- " When lo ! upon the reeling deck a weary stranger stands, And to the dark devoted crew stretches liis suppliant hands: From the face of God, from the face of God, from the face of God ye flee: 'Tis the blast of the breath of Lis nostrils that shakes this stormy see.. But take ye me and cast me into the troubled deep, A.nd the wrath that is roused against you will be pacified, and sleep." Yes, he is our Peace! "For the transgression of my people was he stricken." <lll. I. 1-17.] THE BOOK OF JONAH. 37