I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’
Parallel Translations
-
I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’
-
Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
-
(2-5) And I said: 'I am cast out from before Thine eyes'; yet I will look again toward Thy holy temple.
Cross-references (15)
Passages linked to Jonah 2:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 31:22 As for me, I said in my haste, “I am cut off from before your eyes.” Nevertheless you heard the voice of my petitions when I cried to you.
- Psalms 5:7 But as for me, in the abundance of your loving kindness I will come into your house. I will bow toward your holy temple in reverence of you.
- 2 Chronicles 6:38 if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have carried them captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, and the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name;
- Isaiah 38:17 Behold, for peace I had great anguish, but you have in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for you have cast all my sins behind your back.
- 1 Kings 8:38-39 whatever prayer and supplication is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, who shall each know the plague of his own heart, and spread out his hands toward this house, then hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know (for you, even you only, know the hearts of all the children of men);
- Jeremiah 7:15 I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole offspring of Ephraim.
- Daniel 6:10 When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house (now his windows were open in his room toward Jerusalem) and he kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did before.
- 1 Kings 8:42 (for they shall hear of your great name, and of your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm); when he comes and prays toward this house;
- 1 Kings 8:48 if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name;
- 1 Kings 9:7 then I will cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and I will cast this house, which I have made holy for my name, out of my sight; and Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
- Psalms 77:1-7 My cry goes to God! Indeed, I cry to God for help, and for him to listen to me. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My hand was stretched out in the night, and didn’t get tired. My soul refused to be comforted. I remember God, and I groan. I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed. You hold my eyelids open. I am so troubled that I can’t speak. I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. I remember my song in the night. I consider in my own heart; my spirit diligently inquires: “Will the Lord reject us forever? Will he be favorable no more?
- Isaiah 38:10-14 I said, “In the middle of my life I go into the gates of Sheol. I am deprived of the residue of my years.” I said, “I won’t see Yah, Yah in the land of the living. I will see man no more with the inhabitants of the world. My dwelling is removed, and is carried away from me like a shepherd’s tent. I have rolled up my life like a weaver. He will cut me off from the loom. From day even to night you will make an end of me. I waited patiently until morning. He breaks all my bones like a lion. From day even to night you will make an end of me. I chattered like a swallow or a crane. I moaned like a dove. My eyes weaken looking upward. Lord, I am oppressed. Be my security.”
- Isaiah 49:14 But Zion said, “Yahweh has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me.”
- Jeremiah 15:1 Then Yahweh said to me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not turn toward this people. Cast them out of my sight, and let them go out!
- Ezekiel 37:11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost. We are completely cut off.’
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain In the first clause of this verse Jonah confirms…
In the first clause of this verse Jonah confirms again what I have said, — that when he sought to pray, not only the door was closed against him, but there were mountains, as it were, intervening, so that he could not breathe a prayer to God: for he did not so much think of the state in which he was; nay, but he chiefly considered his own case, how he had provoked the wrath of God. Hence he says, I have said, I am cast away from the sight of thine eyes. Some give this frigid exposition, that he had been only expelled from his own country, that he might not behold the temple. But I have no doubt but that Jonah tells us here that he suffered extreme agonies, as though every hope of pardon had been cut off from him: “What! shall I yet hope that God will be propitious? It is not to be hoped.” This then is the casting away of which he speaks: for it is said that God casts us away, when he allows us no access to him. Hence Jonah thought that he was wholly alienated from God. Were any to object and say, that then his faith must have been extinct; the obvious answer is, — that in the struggle of faith there are internal conflicts; one thought is suggested, and then another of an opposite character meets it; there would indeed be no trial of our faith, except there were such internal conflicts; for when, with appeased minds, we can feel assured that God is propitious to us, what is the trial of faith? But when the flesh tells us that God is opposed to us, and that there is no more hope of pardon, faith at length sets up its shield, and repels this onset of temptation, and entertains hope of pardon: whenever God for a time appears implacable, then faith indeed is tried. Such then was the condition of Jonah; for, according to the judgment of the flesh, he thought that he was utterly cast away by God, so that he came to him in vain. Jonah, then, having not yet put off flesh and blood, could not immediately lay hold on the grace of God, but difficulties met him in his course.
The latter clause is differently explained by interpreters. Some take it negatively, “I shall no more look towards the temple of thy holiness:” but the words admit not of this explanation. אך, ak, means in Hebrew, truly, nevertheless; and it means also, certainly; and sometimes it is taken dubitatively, perhaps. The greater part of expounders render the clause thus, “But I shall see the temple of thy holiness;” as though Jonah here reproved his own distrust, which he had just expressed, as the case is with the faithful, who immediately check themselves, when they are tempted to entertain any doubt: “What! dost thou then cast away hope, when yet God will be reconciled to thee if thou wilt come to him?” Hence interpreters think that it is a sort of correction, as though Jonah here changed his mind, and retracted what he had previously taken up, as a false principle derived from the judgment of the flesh. He had said then that he had been cast away from the presence of the Lord; but now, according to these expositors, he repels that temptation, But I shall see thy holy temple; though I seem now to be rejected by thee, thou wilt at last receive me into favor. We may, however, explain this clause, consistently with the former, in this way, At least, or, but, I would again see, etc., as an expression of a wish. The future then may be taken for the optative mood, as we know that the Hebrews are wont thus to use the future tense, either when they pray or express a wish. This meaning then best agrees with the passage, that Jonah as yet doubtingly prays, At least, or, but, I would again, O Lord, see the temple of thy holiness. But since the former explanation which I have mentioned is probable, I do not contend for this. However this may be, we find that Jonah did not wholly despair, though the judgment of the flesh would drive him to despair; for he immediately turned his address to God. For they who murmur against God, on the contrary, speak in the third person, turning themselves, as it were, away from him: but Jonah here sets God before his eyes, I have been cast away, he says, from the sight of thine eyes He does not remonstrate here with God, but shows that he was seeking God still, though he thought that he was cast far away.
Read full note →
Then he adds, I would at least see again the temple of thy holiness. And by speaking of the temple, he no doubt set the temple before him as an encouragement to his faith. As then he had been cast away, he gathers everything that might avail to raise up and confirm his hope. He had indeed been circumcised, he had been a worshipper of God from his childhood, he had been educated in the Law, he had exercised himself in offering sacrifices: under the name of temple he now includes briefly all these things. We hence see that he thus encouraged himself to entertain good hope in his extreme necessity. And this is a useful admonition; for when every access to God seems closed up against us, nothing is more useful than to recall to mind, that he has adopted us from our very infancy, that he has also testified his favor by many tokens, especially that he has called us by his Gospel into a fellowship with his only-begotten Son, who is life and salvation; and then, that he has confirmed his favor both by Baptism and the Supper. When, therefore, these things come to our minds, we may be able by faith to break through all impediments. Let us go on —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain This declared what his prayer was, and how he…
This declared what his prayer was, and how he labored between hope and despair, considering the neglect of his vocation, and God’s judgments for the same: but yet in the end faith got the victory.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jon 2:4 Then I said, I am cast out…
Jon 2:4 Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
Ver. 4. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight] Thus those straits brought him to these disputes of despair, as they did likewise David, Psa 31:22, the Church in the Lamentations, Lam 4:22, and others, apt enough in affliction to have hard conceits of God and heavy conceits of themselves. While men look at things present, while they live by sense only, it must need be with them as with a house without pillars, tottering with every blast; or as a ship without anchor, tossed with every wave. They must therefore thrust Hagar out of doors, and set up Sarah; silence their reason, and exalt faith, as did Jonah here; "Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight." Here you may take him up for a dead man; here he inclineth somewhat to that of Cain, Gen 4:13-14, and surely they that go down to this pit of despair, as Hezekiah speaketh of the grave, Isa 38:17, cannot hope for God’s truth as long as there they stay.
Read full note →
Yet I will look again toward thine holy temple] Here he recollects and recovers himself; as the same soul may successively doubt and believe, not simultaneously; and faith, where it is right, will at length out wrestle diffidence, and make a man more than a conqueror, even a triumpher. When sense saith such a thing will not be, reason saith, It cannot be, faith gets above and saith, Yea, but it shall be; what talk you to me of impossibilities, I shall yet (as low as I am, and as forlorn) look again towards God’s holy temple of heaven; yea, that here on earth, where God is sincerely served, and whereto the promises are annexed. Faith is by one fitly compared to the cork upon the net; though the lead on the one sinks it down, yet the cork on the other keeps it up in the water. The faithful soon check themselves for their doubtings and despondency, as Jonah here; as David chides David, Psa 43:5; and as Paul saith of himself and his fellows, that they were staggering, but not wholly sticking, 2Co 4:8.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Then: though this word with us ordinarily denoteth time,…
Then: though this word with us ordinarily denoteth time, yet here it denoteth order and connexion; the Hebrew is And. I said, with myself, I thought in the midst of my fears and sufferings.
I am cast out of thy sight; cut off from all hope of life among men; rejected, forsaken, and as it were forgotten of my God, and left by this death to pass to a worse death. Thus he was racked with sense of present danger from God’s displeasure, and. is almost carried away with a despair of ever seeing the face of God again with comfort. much as Psa 31:22; Lam 4:22.
Read full note →
Yet I will look again: his faith begins to recover itself; he will not, as despairing ones, any more look toward lost hopes, but with reviving hope he will hope against hope, and never yield to such despairs.
Towards thy holy temple; where the ark of the covenant, where the mercy-seat, where propitiatory sacrifices are offered, where is God’s high priest, types of the great Redeemer, Mediator, and Saviour, by whom sin is expiated, sinners pardoned, grace and favour communicated, where God commands the blessing, life for evermore; he will look and hope to appear in the material typical temple, and to find there grace dispositive for, as well as significative of, glory in the heavenly temple; he hopes for both.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain The waters compassed me about, even to the soul,....…
The waters compassed me about, even to the soul,.... Either when he was first cast into the sea, which almost suffocated him, and just ready to take away his life, could not breathe for them, as is the case of a man drowning; or these were the waters the fish drew into its belly, in such large quantities, that they compassed him about, even to the endangering of his life there. So the Targum,
"the waters surrounded me unto death.''
Read full note →
In this Jonah was a type of Christ in his afflictions and sorrows, which were so many and heavy, that he is said to be "exceeding sorrowful", or surrounded with sorrow, "even unto death", Mat 26:38; see also Psa 69:1;
the depth closed me round about; the great deep, the waters of the sea, both when he fell into it, and while in the belly of the fish: thus also Christ his antitype came into deep waters, where there was no standing, and where floods of sin, and of ungodly men, and of divine wrath, overflowed him; see Psa 18:4;
the weeds were wrapped about my head; the sea weeds, of which there are great quantities in it, which grow at the bottom of it, to which Jonah came, and from whence he rose up again, before swallowed by the fish; or these weeds were drawn into the belly of the fish, along with the water which it took in, and were wrapped about the head of the prophet as he lay there; or the fish went down with him into the bottom of the sea, and lay among those weeds; and so they may be said to be wrapped about him, he being there, as follows. The Targum is,
"the sea of Suph being over my head;''
the same with the Red sea, which is so called, Psa 106:9; and elsewhere, and that from the weeds that were in it; and R. Japhet, as Aben Ezra observes, says the sea of Suph is mixed with the sea of Joppa; that is, as a learned man (e) observes, by means of the river Rhinocorura, through which the lake of Sirbon mingles with the great sea; and which lake itself is so called from the weeds in it; yea, was anciently called Suph, and the sea of Suph, or "mare Scirpeum", hence Sirbon: and the same writer thinks that the father of Andromede, said to be devoured by a whale about Joppa, had his name of Cepheus from hence.
(e) Texelius, Phoenix, l. 3. c. 6. p. 242, 243, 244, 228, 229.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain I said - With myself, I thought in the…
I said - With myself, I thought in the midst of my fears and sufferings. Cast out - Cut off from all hope of life, and as it were forgotten of God. I will look - Toward heaven.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 4. I am cast out of thy sight]…
Verse 4. I am cast out of thy sight] See Ps 31:22.
Thy holy temple.] Then Jerusalem was not yet destroyed, for the temple was standing.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jon 2:4-7. Then I said, I am cast out,…
Jon 2:4-7. Then I said, I am cast out, &c. — “My first apprehensions were, that as I had justly forfeited thy favour by my disobedience, so thou wouldest cast me out of thy protection; yet, upon recollecting myself, I thought it my duty not to despair of thy mercy, but direct my prayer toward thy heavenly habitation.” — Lowth. The waters compassed me even to the soul — Or life; that is, to the extreme hazard of my life; and I thought of nothing more than losing my life among the waves. I went, &c. — I went down to the bottom of the sea, where the foundations of the mountains lie. Or, the fish carried me down as deep in the sea as are the bottoms of the mountains. The earth with her bars was about me — I found myself enclosed on every side, without any way for escape; and should have been enclosed for ever, had not thy power interposed. Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption — But, notwithstanding it was involved in all these terrible circumstances, which seemed to preclude all possibility of its being preserved, yet thou, O my God, by thy power didst save my life from destruction. When my soul fainted within me — When I seemed just expiring, and lost all hopes of being preserved; I remembered the Lord — I thought of thy almighty power and boundless mercy, O Jehovah, who causest to be whatsoever thou willest; and my prayer came in unto thee — And therefore I addressed my prayer to thee, as being persuaded that thou couldest still preserve me, even in the most extreme dangers; and my faith was not disappointed; for I found, by the event, that thou couldest deliver me, as I believed thou wast able to do.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain I am cast out of Thy sight - ,…
I am cast out of Thy sight - , literally, “from before Thine eyes.” Jonah had willfully withdrawn from standing in God’s presence. Now God had taken him at his word, and, as it seemed, cast him out of it. David had said in his haste, “I am cut off.” Jonah substitutes the stronger word, “I am cast forth,” driven forth, expelled, like the “mire and dirt” Isa 57:20 which the waves drive along, or like the waves themselves in their restless motion Isa 57:20, or the pagan (the word is the same) whom God had driven out before Israel (Exo 34:11, and the Piel often), or as Adam from Paradise Gen 3:24.
Yet (Only) I will look again - He was, as it were, a castaway, cast out of God’s sight, unheeded by Him, his prayers unheard; the storm unabated, until he was cast forth. He could no longer look with the physical eye even toward the land where God showed the marvels of His mercy, and the temple where God was worshiped continually. Yet what he could not do in the body, he would do in his soul. This was his only resource. “If I am cast away, this one thing will I do, I will still look to God.” Magnificent faith! Humanly speaking, all hope was gone, for, when that huge vessel could scarcely live in the sea, how should a man? When God had given it no rest, while it contained Jonah, how should tie will that Jonah should escape? Nay, God had hidden His Face from him; yet he did this one, this only thing only this, “once more, still I will add to look to God.” Thitherward would he look, so long as his mind yet remained in him.
Read full note →
If his soul parted from him, it should go forth from him in that gaze. God gave him no hope, save that He preserved him alive. For he seemed to himself forsaken of God. Wonderful pattern of faith which gains strength even from God’s seeming desertion! “I am cast vehemently forth from before Thine eyes; yet this one thing will I do; mine eyes shrill be unto Thee, O Lord.” The Israelites, as we see from Solomon’s dedication prayer, “prayed toward the temple,” (1Ki 8:29-30, 1Ki 8:35 ff) where God had set His Name and shown His glory, where were the sacrifices which foreshadowed the great atonement. Thitherward they looked in prayer, as Christians, of old, prayed toward the East, the seat of our ancient Paradise. where our Lord “shall appear unto them that look for Him, a second time unto salvation.” Heb 9:28. Toward that temple then he would yet look with fixed eye for help, where God, Who fills heaven and earth, showed Himself to sinners reconciled.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain cast out from thy sight--that is, from Thy favorable…
cast out from thy sight--that is, from Thy favorable regard. A just retribution on one who had fled "from the presence of the Lord" (). Now that he has got his desire, he feels it to be his bitterest sorrow to be deprived of God's presence, which once he regarded as a burden, and from which he desired to escape. He had turned his back on God; so God turned His back on him, making his sin his punishment.
toward thy holy temple--In the confidence of faith he anticipates yet to see the temple at Jerusalem, the appointed place of worship (), and there to render thanksgiving [HENDERSON]. Rather, I think, "Though cast out of Thy sight, I will still with the eye of faith once more look in prayer towards Thy temple at Jerusalem, whither, as Thy earthly throne, Thou hast desired Thy worshippers to direct their prayers."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 4. Two emotions struggled within the supplicant. At first…
4. Two emotions struggled within the supplicant. At first despair seized him.
Cast out — He thought Jehovah had no further interest in him or care for him (Psa_31:22). But the despondency was only temporary. He determined, even in his apparently hopeless condition, to appeal to Jehovah (Jon_2:7).
Read full note →
Look again toward thy holy temple — The position of prayer (1Ki_8:38; Psa_5:7). On holy see on Joe_2:1; Zec_14:20. The temple in Jerusalem is the earthly dwelling place of Jehovah. The words do not necessarily express the expectation that the supplicant will be delivered and that after the deliverance he will “look toward the temple.” Even now, from the midst of the danger, in spite of the apparent hopelessness of the situation, he will again, as in times past, lift up his heart in prayer. There is no reason for changing 4b so as to read, “How can I again look toward thy holy temple?”
Jon_2:5 continues the description of the deadly peril.
Even to the soul — The most vital part; it seems all over with him (Psa_18:4-5; Psa_69:1; for the second line compare Psa_69:2).
The weeds were wrapped about my head — The sea grass grows at the bottom. Another indication, therefore, of the depth of trouble to which the petitioner has sunk (Jon_2:3). Wellhausen calls attention to the fact that sea grass does not grow in the belly of a fish.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 4. Then I said, &c.] The first clause of…
4. Then I said, &c.] The first clause of this verse may, perhaps, be a reminiscence of the first clause of Psa_31:22 (Heb. 23), though there the words “in my haste” are added, and a different verb (“cut off” instead of “cast out”) is used. “Jonah substitutes the stronger word, I am cast forth, driven forth, expelled, like the mire and dirt (Isa_57:20), which the waves drive along, or like the waves themselves in their restless motion (ib.), or the heathen (the word is the same) whom God had driven out before Israel (Exo_34:11), or as Adam from Paradise. (Gen_3:24.)”—Pusey.
thy holy temple] Not the heavenly temple or dwelling-place of God, but the literal temple. This is not, however, an expression of Jonah’s confident belief that, outcast as he now seemed to be, he would certainly be delivered, and visit again, and behold once more with his bodily eyes the temple on Mount Sion. It is the then present thought and resolution with which, when he said “I am cast out of Thy sight,” he corrected and overcame his unbelieving despondency. “One thing is left me still, one resource is still open to me, I will still pray, I will look (mentally) yet again towards Thy holy temple.” The phrase “to look towards the temple,” denoting prayer, has its origin in the prayer of Solomon at the dedication of the Temple. See 1Ki_8:29-30; 1Ki_8:48, and comp. Dan_6:10. The fact that Jonah was a prophet of the Northern Kingdom is no valid objection to this view. The Temple on Mount Sion was the only centre of the true worship of Jehovah, and was recognised as such by all faithful Israelites. But it would be enough to say with Calvin, “He had been circumcised, he had been a worshipper of God from his youth, he had been educated in the Law, he had been a constant participator in the sacrifies: under the name of the Temple he briefly comprehends all these things.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (4) I am cast out of thy sight.—“Jonah had…
(4) I am cast out of thy sight.—“Jonah had wilfully withdrawn from standing in God’s presence. Now God had taken him at his word, and, as it seemed, cast him out of it. David had said in his haste, “I am cut off” (Psa_31:22), Jonah substitutes the stronger word, “I am cast forth,” driven forth, expelled like the mire and dirt which the waves drive along, or like the waves themselves in their restless motion, or the heathen (the word is the same) whom God had driven out before Israel, or as Adam from Paradise” (Pusey).
Yet I will look again.—The Hebrew is very impressive, and reads like one of those exile hopes so common in the Psalms: “Yet I have one thing left, to turn towards Thy holy Temple and pray.” (For the attitude see Note on Psa_28:2.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Jonah confesses that he at first fully expected death;…
Jonah confesses that he at first fully expected death; but faith and hope soon triumphed over despondency. I am cast out of thy sight. This was his thought when what is mentioned in ver. 3 happened unto him. The words are a reminiscence of Psa_31:22, altered somewhat to suit Jonah"s circumstances. The psalmist says, "I said in my haste." Jonah says simply, "I said," without any limitation; and for "I am cut off," Jonah uses, "I am cast out." Septuagint, apwsmai a strong term, implying banishment with violence. Out of thy sight; literally, frown before thine eyes; i.e. from thy protecting care. (comp. 1Sa_26:24 1Ki_8:29) He who had fled from the presence of the Lord in Canaan fears that he has forfeited the favour of God. Yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. I will turn in prayer to that holy place where thou dost manifest thy presence. The Jews were wont to turn towards Jerusalem when they prayed. (comp. 1Ki_8:30, etc.; Dan_6:10 Psa_18:6 Psa_28:2) Some think that Jonah expresses a hope of worshipping again in the temple; but the turn of expression in the text hardly warrants this. Others refer the term to the heavenly temple, as they do in ver. 7 Psa_11:4 Psa_18:6.
Looking toward the temple.
Read full note →
It is remarkable that in two passages of this prayer the prophet should allude to the temple. Although he was from Northern Palestine, and lived whilst Judah and Israel were distinct kingdoms, it does not seem open to question that his allusion is to the sacred edifice at Jerusalem, where Jehovah manifested his presence and favour, and received the worship of his people. Yet the temple must have been referred to, not so much as a material edifice, as in the light of the symbol of the manifestation of the presence and the favour of the Most High.
I TO LOOK TOWARD THE TEMPLE IS TO BE REMINDED OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. As the sight of a house may remind us of the friend who dwells there, as the sight of a palace may lead us to think of the king, so to look toward the temple is to look to God. Jonah may have been tempted to say, "There is no God;" or, "If there be a God, he regards not me." When he turned in heart to the temple, such thoughts vanished, and God"s existence Became a reality to him.
II TO LOOK TOWARD THE TEMPLE IS TO SEEK THE FAVOUR OF GOD. The temple was the place where sacrifices were offered and accepted; where God showed himself to be gracious to his covenant people, where sin was pardoned, and the penitent sinner was received into acceptance. And Jonah knew, even from the very commission he was unwilling to fulfil, that God delighted in mercy, and was long suffering and compassionate. He had incurred Divine displeasure, but he began to feel that he was not beyond the reach of Divine commiseration and help.
III TO LOOK TOWARD THE TEMPLE IS TO EXPECT THE DIVINE INTERPOSITION AND DIRECTION. The pious Jews sought Jehovah in his house, consulted the oracle, invoked guidance, implored blessing. And when Jonah directed the gaze of his heart towards the dwelling place of his God, it was with the well formed expectation that, however impossible it was for him to make a way of escape for himself, God would surely do this upon his behalf. There is no depth from which he cannot lift us; no recess from which he cannot draw us forth; no sorrow of which he cannot relieve us; no sin which he cannot pardon. Of how many of God"s people may it be said, "They looked unto him; and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed"!
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Yet will I look again toward Thy holy temple.
Jon_2:4
Yet will I look again toward Thy holy temple.
Read full note →
The backsliders vow
The leading feature of the story is that of one man sacrificed for the rest of the crew: it is the execution of the culprit, in arrest of judgment on the innocent. Lessons--
1. The deepest remorse has its remedy in a return to duty. Jonahs truant flight was a sudden impulse. The backslider often knows that the sin by which he fell away was the result of sudden temptation.
2. Looking again to the covenant of God in Christ is the appointed way of salvation. It is also useful to consider what it was that cast you out of Gods sight, in order that you may cast that out of your sight. (Joseph B. Owen, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 2:4 On the brink of drowning, Jonah called out…
2:4 On the brink of drowning, Jonah called out for help, for life, and for God’s renewed presence. It is ironic that Jonah spoke of God as driving Jonah from his presence, for that was Jonah’s own aim in fleeing to Tarshish (1:3). • I will look once more: Either Jonah was confident that he would be rescued and thus worship again in the Temple in Jerusalem, or he was calling to the Lord in his Temple from the sea (cp. 2:7).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.