John Calvin Commentary Jonah 2:7

"When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Jehovah; And my prayer came in unto thee, into thy holy temple." — Jonah 2:7 (ASV)

Here Jonah encompasses in one verse what he had previously said—that he had been distressed with the most severe troubles, but that he had not yet been so dejected in his mind that he had no prospect of God’s favor to encourage him to pray. He indeed first confesses that he had suffered some kind of fainting and had been harassed by anxious and perplexing thoughts, so that he was not able by his own efforts to free himself.

Regarding the word עטף, otheph, it means in Hebrew to hide or to cover; but in Niphal and Hithpael (the conjugation in which it is found here) it signifies to fail; but its former meaning could still be suitably retained here. Then it would be, ‘My soul hid or rolled up itself,’ as it is in Psalm 102:1, ‘The prayer of the afflicted, when he rolled up himself in his distress.’ Those who render it as ‘he multiplied prayers’ have no basis for their interpretation.

Therefore, I have no doubt that Jonah here means either that he had been overcome by a swoon, or that he had been so perplexed that he was unable, without a violent struggle, to raise his mind to God. However it may have been, he intended by this word to express the anxiety of his mind.

So, when we are tossed about by various thoughts and remain, so to speak, bound up in a hopeless condition, then our soul may be said to roll or to fold up itself within us. Therefore, when the soul rolls up itself, all of a man's thoughts in perplexity recoil upon him.

We may indeed seek to unburden ourselves while we toss about various purposes, but whatever we strive to turn away from ourselves soon comes back upon our own head; thus our soul recoils upon us. We now perceive what Jonah meant by this clause, When my soul infolded itself, or failed within me, I remembered, he says, Jehovah. From this we learn that Jonah did not become a conqueror without the greatest difficulties, not until his soul, as we have said, had fainted: this is one thing.

Then we also learn that he was not so oppressed with distresses that he did not at length seek God by prayer. Jonah therefore retained this truth: that God was to be sought, however severely and sharply God treated him for a time, for the remembering of which Jonah speaks proceeded from faith.

The ungodly also remember Jehovah, but they dread him, for they regard him as a judge. Whenever God is mentioned, they expect nothing but destruction; but Jonah applied the remembrance of God for another purpose: as a solace to ease his cares and anxieties.

For it immediately follows, that his prayer had penetrated to God, or entered before Him. We then see that Jonah so remembered his God that by faith he knew God would be propitious to him, and from this came his disposition to pray.

But by saying that his prayer entered His temple, Jonah no doubt alludes to a custom under the Law, for the Jews were accustomed to turn towards the temple whenever they prayed; nor was this a superstitious ceremony, for we know that they were instructed in the doctrine that invited them to the sanctuary and the ark of the covenant.

Since, then, this was the custom under the Law, Jonah says that his prayer entered the temple of God. For that was a visible symbol through which the Jews could understand that God was near to them; not that they, by a false imagination, bound God to external signs, but because they knew that these aids had not been given to them in vain.

So then, Jonah not only remembered his God but also called to mind the signs and symbols in which he had exercised his faith throughout the whole course of his life, as we have just said. For those who view him as referring to heaven depart entirely from what the Prophet meant.

We indeed know that the temple sometimes means heaven, but this sense does not suit this place. Thus, Jonah meant that though he was far away from the temple, God was still near to him.

For he had not ceased to pray to that God who had revealed Himself by the Law which He gave, and who had expressed His will to be worshipped at Jerusalem. God had also been pleased to appoint the ark as the symbol of His presence, so that the Jews might, with an assured faith, call upon Him, and that they might not doubt that He dwelt in their midst, since He had His visible habitation there.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as You have once given us such evidence of Your infinite power in Your servant Jonah, whose mind, when he was almost sunk down into hell, You yet raised up to Yourself, and had so supported with firm constancy that he did not cease to pray and to call on You—O grant that in the trials by which we must be daily exercised, we may raise our minds upward to You, and never cease to think that You are near us. And grant that when the signs of Your wrath appear, and when our sins thrust themselves before our eyes to drive us to despair, may we still constantly struggle and never surrender the hope of Your mercy, until, having finished all our contests, we may at length freely and fully give thanks to You, and praise Your infinite goodness, such as we daily experience, so that being conducted through continual trials, we may at last come into that blessed rest which is laid up for us in heaven, through Christ one Lord. Amen.