The Bible

 

Jonas 2:5

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5 Kinukulong ako ng tubig sa palibot hanggang sa kaluluwa; Ang kalaliman ay nasa palibot ko; Ang mga damong dagat ay pumilipit sa aking ulo.

Commentary

 

Exploring the Meaning of Jonah 2

By New Christian Bible Study Staff

In Jonah 2:1-10, Jonah is trapped in the belly of the great fish. He prays for salvation, and in the end, after this terrible trial, he is vomited forth onto dry land.

Before a new church -- either a state of good and truth with a group of people, or a new state of good an truth in ourselves - can come into existence, a period of temptation, of struggle, must occur. During this time a remnant of good and truth from prior states, will be preserved. This happens to us. When we really don't want to do something that we know we should do, we get into a state of spiritual temptation. That's what this chapter is about.

In Arcana Coelestia 756, it says: "In Jonah, 'The waters closed around me, even to my soul, the deep surrounded me. Here... 'the waters' and 'the deep' stand for the full extent of temptation.

This chapter also prophesies, or foreshadows, the combats that Jesus Christ would have with the hells, and his most grievous temptations at the time. The “three days and nights during which Jonah was in the bowels of the fish,” signify the entire duration of the combat with the hells.

In the New Testament, in Matthew 12:39-41, there's a reference back to this story:

"No sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And now One greater than Jonah is here.

For us, then... what? When we've turned away from the Lord, and we're in "the belly of the fish" - in temptations, struggles, combats, and everything looks pretty hopeless - then if we really pray, and seek the Lord's help, he can help us.

Here's a link to an interesting (audio) sermon on this chapter, by Rev. Todd Beiswenger.

Here, too, is a link to Rev. McCurdy's study guide for the Book of Jonah, which is available for free as a .pdf, for your use.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #6978

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6978. 'And it will become blood on the dry land' means the falsifying of all truth and the consequent deprivation of it in the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'blood' as holy truth coming forth from the Lord, and in the contrary sense as truth falsified and rendered profane, dealt with in 4735 (the implications of this have been stated in what comes immediately before this); and from the meaning of 'the dry land' as the natural, dealt with just above in 6976. The meaning of 'blood' as the falsification of truth and the profanation of it is clear in particular in Nahum,

Woe to the city of blood, 1 all full of lies [and] plunder! Prey will not depart! The noise of a whip and the noise of the rumbling wheel, 2 and the neighing horse and the clattering 3 chariot! The mounting horseman, 4 and the glitter of the sword, and the lightning-flash of the spear, and the multitude of slain, and the heap of corpses, and no end of bodies - they trip over their bodies - all because of the multitude of whoredoms of a harlot with goodly grace, the mistress of sorceries, the seller of nations through her acts of whoredom, and of families through her sorceries. Nahum 3:1-4.

'The city of blood' means teachings that uphold falsity, so that 'blood' means truth that has been falsified and rendered profane. This is evident from the internal sense of every word of the description of the city, not only in the verses that have been quoted but also in those that follow them, since the whole chapter continues with a description of it; for' the city' means doctrinal teachings. 'All full of lies and plunder' means full of falsity and of evil resulting from falsity. 'The noise of the whip and the noise of the rumbling wheel' means the defence of falsity by the use of fallacious ideas. 'The neighing horse and the clattering chariot' means by the use of a perverted power of understanding and of teachings similarly perverted. 'The mounting horseman, the glitter of the sword, the lightning-flash of the spear' means a battle against truth. 'The multitude of slain' means that countless falsities and people under the influence of them result from it. 'The heap of corpses, and no end of bodies' means that countless evils and people governed by them result from it. 'The whoredoms of a harlot' means falsifications themselves which take place; and 'sorceries' has a similar meaning.

Footnotes:

1. literally, bloods

2. literally, The voice of the whip and the voice of the sound of the wheel

3. literally, leaping

4. literally, The horseman causing to go up

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.