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Jonah 2 is the prayer of Jonah as he fell into the depths of the water, carried in the innards of the great fish. He had attempted to run from God’s mission, ultimately  finding himself slung into the stormy waters of the Mediterranean Sea by pagan sailors. As he flailed in the water, he was swallowed by one of its aquatic inhabitants!  What we get in this chapter is one of most selfish prayers recorded in the Bible.

When we are in distress, we often call to God for help. Pain - emotional, physical, or otherwise - grabs our attention and we cry to God for immediate relief! However, if you count the number of times Jonah uses these three simple pronouns - I, my, and me – you will find that these appear 22 times in the eight verses of the prayer. That is nearly three times per verse!

Despite its focus on personal rescue and distress, the prayer is anchored in one respect and untethered in another respect. First, it is anchored in verse 3: 

3 For you cast me into the deep,
    into the heart of the seas,
    and the flood surrounded me;
all your breakers and your waves
    passed over me.

In chapter one, Jonah appeared unwilling to throw himself overboard to save the sailors from God’s calamitous storm. Instead, the prophet insisted that they throw him overboard. Jonah may have thought that even though he would drown, he will go to the grave knowing that God would punish the sailors for “killing” a prophet. Instead, the boat’s crew calls out for God’s mercy, God grants them mercy, and Jonah is drowning having seen God redeem the lives of foreigners. 

In the prayer, we see Jonah realizing that it was actually God who threw him overboard. It was God’s way of waking him up. Then, from his fishy prison, Jonah prays and determines that he would return to the temple. God spares Jonah’s life, but his route back to the temple in Jerusalem had to go through Ninevah, where he would deliver God’s timely message. 

The unhinged part of the prayer is in verse eight. This is the only verse that does not include “I/me/my.” Instead, he takes a prayerful pot-shot at the Ninevites:

8 Those who pay regard to vain idols
    forsake their hope of steadfast love.

Jonah, pleading for his life and looking forward to God’s deliverance and a return to the temple, cannot hold himself back. He triumphally declares his mistaken assumption: that God’s steadfast love does not extend to those who worship idols.  To his chagrin, God punches back when he delivers Ninevah after they repent. In chapter four, we see Jonah sitting on a hill, looking at the delivered repentant city, declaring God’s character rightly:

 “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” (v. 2, ESV)

God’s mercy does, in fact, extend to our enemies. Even those who, through their own rebellion, pride, and hard-heartedness oppose everything God stands for. Even those who hate us and our Christian witness in this world. Yes, they, too may tap into the richness of God’s love if they would only turn to him in faith and repentance. On that day, we will put our arm around them, welcoming them into the Kingdom and family of God.