Out of the belly of hell - Among the Hebrews שאול sheol means the grave, any deep pit, the place of separate spirits, etc. Here the prophet represents himself as in the bottom of the sea; for so sheol must be understood in this place.
I cried by reason of mine affliction - , or, “out of affliction” which came “to me.” So the Psalmist thanked God in the same words, though in a different order; “To the Lord in trouble to me I called, and He heard me.” He “called,” and God heard and answered, “He does not say, I “call,” but I “called”; he does not pray for the future, but gives thanks for the past.” Strange cause of thankfulness this would seem to most faith, to be alive in such a grave; to abide there hour after hour, and day after day, in one unchanging darkness, carried to and fro helplessly, with no known escape from his fetid prison, except to death! Yet spiritual light shone on that depth of darkness. The voracious creature, which never opened his mouth save to destroy life, had swallowed him, to save it. “What looked like death, became safe-keeping,” and so the prophet who had fled to avoid doing the will of God and to do his own, now willed to be carried about, he knew not where, at the will; as it seemed, of the huge animal in which he lay, but in truth, where God directed it, and he gave thanks. God had heard him. The first token of God‘s mercy was the earnest of the whole. God was dealing with him, was looking on him. It was enough.
Out of the belly of hell cried I. - The deep waters were as a grave, and he was counted “among the dead” Psalm 88:4. Death seemed so certain that it was all one as if he were in the womb of hell, not to be reborn to life until the last Day. So David said Psalm 18:5, “The bands of death compassed me round about;” and Psalm 30:3, “Thou hast drawn my life out of hell.” The waters choked his speech; but he cried with a loud cry to God Who knew the heart. “I cried; Thou heardest.” The words vary only by a kindred letter. The real heart‘s cry to God according to the mind of God and His hearing are one, whether, for man‘s good, He seem at the time to hear or no.
“Not of the voice but of the heart is God the Hearer, as He is the Seer. Do the ears of God wait for sound? How then could the prayer of Jonah from the inmost belly of the whale, through the bowels of so great a creature, out of the very bottomless depths, through so great a mass of waters, make its way to heaven?” “Loud crying to God is not with the voice but with the heart. Many, silent with their lips, have cried aloud with their heart; many, noisy with their lips, could, with heart turned away, obtain nothing. If then thou criest, cry within, where God heareth.” “Jonah cried aloud to God out of the fish‘s belly, out of the deep of the sea, out of the depths of disobedience; and his prayer reached to God, Who rescued him from the waves, brought him forth out of the vast creature, absolved him from the guilt. Let the sinner too cry aloud, whom, departing from God, the storm of desires overwhelmed, the malignant Enemy devoured, the waves of this present world sucked under! Let him own that he is in the depth, that so his prayer may reach to God.”
“And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. PK 268.1
“Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. PK 268.2
“Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous. And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. PK 268.3
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