The Bible

 

Jonah 2

Study

   

1 Then Jonah prayed to Yahweh, his God, out of the fish's belly.

2 He said, "I called because of my affliction to Yahweh. He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried. You heard my voice.

3 For you threw me into the depths, in the heart of the seas. The flood was all around me. All your waves and your billows passed over me.

4 I said, 'I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.'

5 The waters surrounded me, even to the soul. The deep was around me. The weeds were wrapped around my head.

6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth barred me in forever: yet have you brought up my life from the pit, Yahweh my God.

7 "When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Yahweh. My prayer came in to you, into your holy temple.

8 Those who regard lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

9 But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation belongs to Yahweh."

10 Yahweh spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah on the dry land.

   

Commentary

 

Sea

  

Water generally represents “natural truth,” or true concepts about day-to-day matters and physical things. Since all water ultimately flows into the seas, then, it follows that a sea represents a huge agglomeration of such natural truths -- usually all of the natural truth a person has, or all the natural truth a church has. Water in the sea mixes freely, and is easily stirred up by winds and currents. This is also true of the concepts we hold about natural things -- they are not all related to each other, and when relationships do exist they usually can change without damaging the concepts themselves. Many of the concepts are easily disputed, and arguments can arise like waves on the ocean -- generally with little effect other than a mixing of waters. But the sea also offers great bounty. We draw fish from it (spiritual food), float ships (doctrinal systems) on it, bathe in it (using true concepts to purify ourselves), and the water that evaporates from it and falls as rain (purer forms of truth that can attach to desires for good) makes life possible.