Say What? (pt. 2) (Jonah 2)

SAY WHAT???• Go to Ninevah?• God’s Prophet Refuses?• God’s Prophet is Angry &

Prejudiced?

Say What?I. God CAPTURES His Runaway Prophet

II. God CHANGES His Runaway ProphetIII. God COUGHS UP His Runaway

Prophet

Jonah 1:17And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish

three days and three nights.

SAY WHAT?God appoints a Great Fish to SWALLOW

His prophet…

James BoiceThose who believe in the God of the Bible will have

little difficulty believing that such a miracle is possible. If the God of the Bible can raise up Jesus

Christ from the dead, he can certainly cause a great monster of the deep to be alongside the ship

when his prophet is thrown overboard and can cause it to swallow him. On the other side, for those who disbelieve in miracles, the evidence,

whatever it may be, is meaningless

NixonThe Lord could have appointed a great bird to transport him to dry land, instead He appointed the great fish. The Lord does not usually protect us from the consequences of our own choices and actions. In His faithfulness and

graciousness towards us, Yahweh comes with us into the consequences of our choices in order to save us there.

Jonah had chosen the sea as his escape route; it is there that the Lord awaits him. Jonah was to discover for

himself the impossibility of escaping Godʼs presence. To learn this, he needed to be in the place of human

powerlessness–ultimately the place of death. Salvation is not, in the first instance, the Lord God taking us “out” of our mess, but God meeting us “within” it. Jonah will find salvation within his watery grave, for there, in the place which eloquently speaks of death, God will meet him”

Whale Shark

Whale Shark

Whale Shark

Sperm Whale

Sperm Whale

A figure of speech in which two or more clauses are related to each other through a reversal of structures in order to make a larger point; that is, the clauses display inverted parallelism.

Chiastic Structure

A. Jonah cries out to the LORD because of his affliction (2:2a) B. Jonah cries out to Yahweh from Sheol and is heard (2:2b) C. Jonah is cast into the sea by Yahweh (2:3) D. Jonah is cast out of Yahwehʼs sight, from His temple (2:4) E. Jonahʼs soul is surrounded by water (2:5a) F. Jonah goes down to the deeps (2:5b) G. Jonahʼs lowest point (2:6a) Fʼ. Yahweh raises Jonah from the pit (2:6b) Eʼ. Jonahʼs soul faints; he remembers Yahweh (2:7a) Dʼ. Jonahʼs prayer reaches Yahweh in His holy temple (2:7b) Cʼ. (Jonah cast into the sea by) idol worshipers (2:8) Bʼ. Jonah worships Yahweh with sacrifices and vows (2:9a) Aʼ. Jonah rejoices that salvation is from the LORD (2:9b)

Chiastic Structure

Jonah 2:2Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the

stomach of the fish.

SAY WHAT?The Prophet of God Prays from the

stomach of a fish…

Going Down..(2:3) – "For You had cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the current engulfed me. All Your breakers and billows passed over me.

(2:4a) – "So I said, 'I have been expelled from Your sight…

(2:5) – "Water encompassed me to the point of death. The great deep engulfed me, Weeds were wrapped around my head.

Bottoming Out…(2:6a) – "I descended to the roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever…

(2:7a) – "While I was fainting away…

Turning Around…(2:7) – "While I was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, And my prayer came to You, Into Your holy temple.

(2:2) – and he said, "I called out of my distress to the LORD, And He answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; You heard my voice

(2:4) – "So I said, 'I have been expelled from Your sight. Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.'

Coming Back Up…(2:2) – and he said, "I called out of my distress to the LORD, And He answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; You heard my voice.

(2:6b) – …But You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God.

(2:9b) – … Salvation is from the LORD."

Jonah 2:10Then the LORD commanded the fish, and it

vomited Jonah up onto the dry land

Matthew 12:39-40But Jesus replied: You want a sign because you are evil and won't believe! But the only sign you will

get is the sign of the prophet Jonah. He was in the stomach of a big fish for three days and nights, just

as the Son of Man will be deep in the earth for three days and nights