Useful Bible Studies > Jonah Commentary > chapter 2
Often, a person who falls into water tries to fight against the water. Those actions can often place the person in even greater danger. Experts teach people to lean back and to stretch out their arms and legs. A person’s body can float in the water.
Jonah had spoken as if he was not afraid to drown (1:12). However, that was before the men threw him into the sea. In the water, Jonah’s words sound like someone who was fighting against an enemy (2:5). Probably the seaweed (plants at the bottom of the sea) could not have wrapped round his head if he were not struggling against it.
Here in verse 6, the description changes. Jonah has lost the strength to fight the sea. He knows that he has failed to save himself. In complete weakness, like a dead body, he sinks down. He goes deeper than he can possibly imagine. He speaks about the earth, by which he might mean the solid ground at the bottom of the sea. However, in his description, this earth or ground has bars, like a prison. It seems to him like a prison from which he will never escape. Perhaps Jonah was already starting to think that he had gone to hell.
However God, who can even bring life to dead people (Hebrews 11:19), had heard Jonah’s prayer. From that low place, which Jonah describes as like a prison or a grave, God rescued Jonah. God, who created life (Genesis 2:7), gave life to Jonah. God declared that Jonah would live – and no prison or grave, not even death or hell, could take possession of him. Jonah may not have physically died but, in a very real way, God rescued Jonah from death.
Next part: Jonah's prayer rose up to God in heaven (Jonah 2:7)
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