Useful Bible Studies > Jonah Commentary > chapter 2

Jonah turns his attention to God and his temple

Jonah 2:4

In our most severe troubles, we may feel to be completely alone. It may seem to us as if God has left us. If he only turned his eyes towards us, he would want to help us, we say. However, it seems as if God now looks in another direction. He cares about other people, but not about us. That is why we are suffering so much, we say.

For Jonah, that idea combined with the thought that God had sent him away. Jonah had gone away from God (1:3); but now it seemed as if God had sent Jonah away. Such were Jonah’s thoughts as he sank into the sea without any hope of rescue. He expected nothing except death and hell.

However, then Jonah remembered God’s holy temple. The temple in Jerusalem was the house of God in Jerusalem, where God was present in a special way. It was a copy of the true temple, God’s house in heaven (Hebrews 9:23-24).

At the ceremony to open the temple in Jerusalem, Solomon had prayed for Israel’s people. In particular, he prayed for them when, because of their evil deeds, their enemies forced them to leave Israel as prisoners (1 Kings 8:46-51). That was how Jonah felt now. He had not obeyed God, so God had sent him away, like a prisoner without any hope for the future.

However, Solomon had prayed that, in such situations, Israel’s people would turn back to God. They should confess their evil behaviour to God, and they should turn towards the temple in Jerusalem to pray. Then God would hear their prayers in heaven, as he had promised to do (Deuteronomy 30:1-5). He would forgive them and he would bring them back to their own country.

So, Jonah decided in his awful situation that he too would turn back to God. He could not know the direction of Jerusalem, of course; but in his mind and spirit, he turned his attention to the holy temple, the house of God. So, he began to pray.

Next part: Jonah's body is close to death (Jonah 2:5)

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