We are continuing with the book of Jonah. Remember in chapter 1 Jonah is running away from God. God prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah alive. The original language does not say a whale. Too much time has been wasted over the years trying to prove that a whale could swallow a man, and he could live for 3 days in the belly of that whale. God prepared a special fish for a special purose: “Get Jonah to see the error of his way.” In chapter 2 we read the
In chapter 2 we read the prayer of repentance Jonah offers up to God. In the last part of the prayer Jonah says, “The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God. When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD!” (Jonah 2:58)
Now, notice the last verse of chapter 2: “And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.” How does something living get rid of something it has eaten that makes it sick? The fish “vomited Jonah out.” Imagine that you are on the beach when this happens. What would you think about what you just saw? What would you do? I’d run tell others what I had just seen happen. God is preparing a receptive audience for Jonah to preach to.