We often forget that at this point, Jonah didn’t know what was going to happen next. He must have thought when he was thrown overboard that he was going to die.
It appears the only thing that will bring Jonah to his senses is by praying from inside this great fish, Jonah 2:1. Jonah was clearly in distress, hence why he now calls on the Lord for help, Jonah 2:2 / Psalm 3:4 / Psalm 120:1. We see that he was lamenting in prayer, Psalm 88:3-12 / Psalm 120:1 / Psalm 142:1 / Lamentations 3:55-58.
He compares being inside the fish to being in the realm of the dead, Jonah 2:2 / Psalm 18:4-5 / Psalm 30:3. The word ‘Sheol’, Jonah 2:2, is often found in the Old Testament, but it doesn’t mean ‘hell’; it simply means ‘the realm of the dead’, the grave.
We’re told that ‘the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing’, Ecclesiastes 9:5, and according to Psalm 115:17, ‘It is not the dead who praise the LORD, those who go down to the place of silence’.
De Haan, in his commentary, says the following concerning Jonah 2:2.
‘Jonah actually died, basing it upon the contrast between the belly of the fish and the belly of Sheol, in which different words were used by the Holy Spirit.’
Myer’s, in his commentary, says the following, concerning Jonah 2:2.
‘It may very well be that Jonah meant, ‘that the Lord had snatched him from the Jaws of death, delivering him before the gates of Sheol closed upon him.’
Many people believe that Jonah quotes from several Psalms in his prayer, which would imply that he knew the Scriptures well. However, there are no quotations from the Psalms, but only the usage of certain words, phrases, etc., known to all faithful Hebrews.
Wycliffe, Bible Encyclopaedia, says the following.
‘The words (in Jonah’s prayer) fit none (of the Psalms) well enough to conclude that they are specific quotations. More likely, many Psalms were in mind and freely paraphrased to fit the particular situation and in a manner which expressed Jonah’s appropriate emotions.’
Jonah now understands that everything He was going through was God’s doing, Jonah 2:3 / Psalm 88:6-7 / Jonah 1:9 / Psalm 42:7. He now understands that it was God who was bringing him to a state of repentance in order for him to submit to God’s will and go to Nineveh.
He understood that he had been banished from God’s sight because of his disobedience towards God’s command, Jonah 2:4. It’s understandable that Jonah felt like God had turned his back on him, Jonah 2:4 / Leviticus 21:7 / Psalm 31:22. This is a perfectly human response when we feel vulnerable.
Jesus, being human, experienced this same emotion. He felt that God had turned His back on Him, Matthew 27:46, but the reality was that God never did turn His back on Him, Psalm 22. Despite Jonah feeling that God had turned away from him, he still sought God in prayer, looking towards His holy temple, Jonah 2:4 / Psalm 5:7.
Notice he says, ‘I will look again’, Jonah 2:4. This is what repentance is all about, it’s about looking again at your situation. He obviously believes that if God delivers him from his current situation, he would go on to obey God’s command to go to Nineveh.
It’s here he confesses his sins and promises that he will be obedient to God. Whilst being entangled in seaweed, He thanks God for saving him from dying in the sea, Jonah 1:5 / Psalm 69:1-2.
Notice Jonah felt like he had sunk to the root of the mountains, and he felt like he was imprisoned, Jonah 1:6. The good news is, God delivered him, He brought him back to life, He brought him back from the pit, Jonah 1:6 / Psalm 49:15 / Psalm 56:13 / Psalm 103:4.
Wiersbe, in his commentary, says the following.
‘When you turn your back on God, the only direction you can go is down.’
When Jonah ‘remembered the Lord’, Jonah 2:7, he didn’t think God was being unfair, even though he was inside the belly of a fish. He confessed his own sinfulness because he knew it was his own selfish actions which got him into the mess he now finds himself in, Hosea 4:6.
If there’s ever been a prayer of repentance, this is it; he now knows that his life means nothing unless he obeys the will of God. Jonah thought his life was coming to an end, and so he turned to God, Jonah 2:7 / Psalm 107:5-6 / Psalm 142:3 / Psalm 142:5-7. Despite feeling the way he was, he still turned to God in prayer; his prayer rose up to God, who was in His holy temple, Jonah 2:7.
He knows that idols are worthless and he knows that idolatry turns people away from the love of God, Jonah 2:8 / Deuteronomy 32:21. He thanked God because he now knows it was God who actually saved him, by providing this great fish, Jonah 2:9. Because he made a vow to ‘make good’, Jonah 2:9 / Psalm 50:14 / Psalm 69:30 / Psalm 107:22.
He was determined not to go against God’s word, as he did earlier, and he now believes that God will deliver him from the belly of the fish and get on with the task of preaching repentance to the Ninevites.
Jonah was desperate and in a desperate situation, and he turned to the only person who could help him, and that’s God Himself. He had three days to reflect upon his actions, repent of his actions and then trust God to take care of him.
Notice God ‘commanded the fish’, Jonah 2:10, to vomit Jonah out, and notice where he landed, on ‘dry land’, Jonah 2:10. Exactly where this is, is unknown, but it’s close enough for Jonah to walk to that great city of Nineveh.
Banks, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Jonah’s deliverance is the only pleasant usage of the word vomit in the whole Bible.’
There are many people who believe that Jonah actually died in the stomach of the fish, and many people who believe that he didn’t. The truth is, we simply don’t know, despite there being many arguments for and against it. I guess in the grand scheme of things, it may not be all that important.
When we read this chapter, we see that the text appears to read in the past tense, and so the question becomes, if Jonah died, when did he die? In the sea or in the fish?
I believe if God wanted to keep Jonah alive, He could do so very easily, after all, He was the One who provided this fish in the first place, Jonah 1:17. I also believe that if Jonah died, it would have been no problem for God to bring him back to life.
I’ve personally changed my mind on this question a few times over the years, as I read and hear other people’s arguments for and against and no doubt I may change my mind again.
Notice, however, that nowhere in the Bible does it say that Jonah actually ‘lived’ in the belly of the fish for three days and nights. This leads to the question, where does it actually say that he ‘died’ in the fish?
The Bible does say that Jonah prayed ‘whilst inside the fish’, Jonah 1:1, but then he cried out ‘from deep in the realm of the dead’, Jonah 2:2. We know that people are still very much alive and conscious after death, Luke 16:19-31, but how else would Jonah be able to pray if he wasn’t alive and conscious in the afterlife?
In Matthew 12:38-40, Jesus said Jonah, in the great fish’s belly, was a picture of His own physical death. Just as Jonah spent three days and three nights in the great fish, so Jesus spent three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
If Jonah died in the sea before the fish swallowed him, but whilst in the fish, he was raised back to life, this makes Jesus’ statement in Matthew 12:38-40 more powerful.
This leads me to conclude that Jonah did physically die at some point, just as Jesus was going to be physically dead in the tomb. Jesus was raised to life while He was in the grave and rose from the grave three days later, just as Jonah was raised to life within the whale, but three days later was vomited out of the fish.
Like I mentioned earlier, I wouldn’t stake my mortgage on this, because no one knows if he literally died or not, but if Jonah did die, this would correspond exactly to what Jesus was teaching the Pharisees about His own death and resurrection, Matthew 12:38-40. When God resurrected Jonah from the grave, Jonah 2:6, He was showing us that Jesus Christ would be resurrected from the grave.