Posted by Three pastors were once vigorously debating the best posture for prayer.
“Kneeling is definitely the most reverent,” claimed the first.
“No,” contended the second. “I get the best results standing with my hands outstretched to Heaven.”
“You’re both wrong,” the third insisted. “Lying flat, face down on the floor is the most effective.”
A utility repairman, who had been listening to them from the sidelines, couldn’t contain himself anymore. “Hey, fellas,” he interrupted. “The best prayin’ I ever did was hangin’ upside down from a telephone pole!”
That story may be funny but there’s truth to that. We’ll study one of the most unique and powerful prayer, not just because of the circumstances, or where and when it was uttered, but because of the message of the prayer.
This prayer was not prayed in comfort. It was prayed from darkness, from fear, from consequence, and from desperation. There are prayers prayed from the bottom of the heart. This prayer was from the bottom of the sea. When he prayed, he was not standing in the temple. He was inside the belly of a great fish, sinking beneath the waves.
Let’s study the prayer of Jonah found in Jonah chapter 2.
Runway Prophet
Before we read, I know we all know the story, but let me give a brief summary of the story preceding this prayer:
Jonah was called by God to warn the city of Nineveh (near present day Mosul, Iraq), that their city will be destroyed if they don’t repent. Nineveh is the capital city of Assyria, an enemy nation of Israel, and in fact, 40-60 years later, it eventually conquered and caused the ultimate destruction of Israel. No wonder Jonah refused to go, so he ran away from God.
Jonah tried to escape to Tarshish, the known end of the world at that time, at the end of Mediterranean sea; some modern scholars identify Tarshish with Tartessos, a port in southern Spain. The word Tarshish in Hebrew means a port on the sea. Tarshish is 2500 miles west from Joppa. Nineveh is inland, 550 miles east from Joppa.
Jonah most likely boarded a Phoenician (Lebanon today) merchant ship, which in 800-700 BC, has one mast and one rectangular sail, has a round bottom and is a tub-like vessel, usually measures 75 feet long and 20 feet wide, has a crew of 20 or less men and can load 100-500 tons of cargo.
As the ship sailed in the Mediterranean Sea to Tarshish, a great storm arose. The sailors became desperate that they throw all their cargo and merchandise to lighten the ship, and they called on all the gods they know, but the storm rages on and the ship was about to sink.
Then they found Jonah sound asleep, in the bottom of the ship, even with the storm. Lots were drawn to know who was the cause of the storm, and Jonah got the short straw. Jonah told the sailors who he was and instructed them to throw him overboard and the storm will stop. But the sailors still tried their best to right the ship but to no avail. Finally, they heeded the suggestion of Jonah, so they threw him overboard, and asking for forgiveness on doing so.
Suddenly the sea became calm.
Jonah 2: 1-2
Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly. 2 And he said:
“I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction,
And He answered me.“Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
And You heard my voice.
Jonah ran away from God. He disobeyed God’s command. He endangered the lives of other people. Yet when Jonah cried out, God still listened.
Here we read that Jonah was praying from the belly of the fish. He said that he was in Sheol, which in Hebrew means the underworld or the common grave for man. Jonah must have thought he was doomed to die.
We can pray where ever we are. While driving (just don’t close your eyes), at work, at home, in school, even in the bathroom. We can pray whatever state we’re in.
Here Jonah was praising God for answering his call. He was praising God, even before he was delivered, as he was still in the belly of the fish. This means we can praise God whatever circumstances we’re in.
Speaking of being swallowed by a fish, one of the most critical question of skeptics is if this story is true?
The most compelling proof I have that this story really happened is not by giving you any scientific facts or historical data. The strongest proof I can give you is that Jesus himself refer to this story, as recorded in both Matthew and Luke. Here’s in Matthew 12: 38-40
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”
39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 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.
A Big Fish
Another pressing question is what kind of fish swallowed Jonah?
One of the argument of the skeptics, is that in original text it used the term fish, and a whale (if that’s what swallowed Jonah) is scientifically not a fish, but a mammal.
The Hebrew phrase used to describe the creature in Jonah 1:17 is dag gadol (דָּג גָּדוֹל), which translates literally to “great fish” or “huge fish.” Jesus when talking about Jonah used the word ketos and is defined broadly as a “large sea creature,” “sea monster,” or “huge fish.”
The Bible and ancient texts use broad terms like “great fish” and “sea monster,” rather than modern biological classifications. Ancient Israelites did not classify animals using our modern biological systems. Aquatic mammals (like whales) and large fish (like sharks) were often grouped together as simply “fish” or “sea monster.”
The most common whale species found in Mediterranean Sea are fin whales and sperm whales.
Fin whales are the only baleen whale with a significant resident population in the Mediterranean. Growing up to 72 feet long, they are the second-largest animals on earth (next to Blue whales). Even though their mouth is massive, their throat is narrow to a dimension of a softball, making this species unlikely to have swallowed Jonah.
Sperm whales, on the other hand are the largest toothed whales in the Mediterranean, though not as big as the fin whale. They can get big to length of 50 feet. They are heavily concentrated in deep-sea trenches, especially the Hellenic Trench near Greece.
Marine biologists and Biblical scholars generally agree that the most likely biological candidates are the Sperm whale or the Great white shark.
Great white shark are known to roam the Mediterranean Sea, and they are capable of consuming a person whole, though most of the time they bite their prey in pieces. So this makes the Sperm whale as the widely considered the most biologically plausible option. Sperm whales are apex predators that eat giant squid whole and have throats large enough to swallow a human. They can dive to extreme depths matching Jonah’s description.
However, I cannot fully explain biologically how Jonah survived inside the whale, and it is most likely a miracle. But the greatest miracle isn’t that a fish swallowed a man. The greatest miracle is that God refused to give up on him.
Jonah 2: 3-6
3 For You cast me into the deep,
Into the heart of the seas,
And the floods surrounded me;
All Your billows and Your waves passed over me.
4 Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight;
Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’
5 The waters surrounded me, even to my soul;
The deep closed around me;
Weeds were wrapped around my head.
6 I went down to the moorings of the mountains;
The earth with its bars closed behind me forever;
Yet You have brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord, my God.
In these verses Jonah described his situation. He admits that God was the one who cast him in the deep, not the sailors. He also said that he was swallowed by the deep waters before he was swallowed by the fish. He recounts that sea weeds were wrapped around his head, and he saw the ocean floor where the roots of the mountain arise (moorings of the mountains). He also said that earth’s gates/bars closed on him, and he went into the pit. This means he was really in the deep.
The Book of Jonah contains several ancient descriptions of the sea that align with modern oceanography and biology.
- Anatomy of the “Great Fish”: The reference to a “great fish” (Jonah 1:17) corresponds with biological realities which we already discussed above.
- Deep-Sea Currents: Jonah 2:5 states the “weeds were wrapped around my head,” indicating the presence of deep-sea currents and vegetation.
- Underwater Mountain Ranges: Jonah 2:6 mentions descending to the “roots of the mountains.” This accurate reference to underwater mountains and trenches aligns with the discovery of mid-oceanic ridges.
Uncharted Waters
This make me think, in what part of the Mediterranean Sea was Jonah when he was thrown overboard? Let’s study Phoenician ancient sailing routes.
Phoenician sailing routes from Joppa (modern Jaffa, Israel) to Tarshish (likely in southern Spain) crossed the entire 2,500-mile length of the Mediterranean Sea. Because ancient Phoenician merchant vessels relied heavily on seasonal winds, daylight visibility, and routine replenishment, they did not sail straight through open waters. Instead, they utilized two primary coastal and island-hopping routes to travel west:
1. The Northern Route – sail along the northern part of Mediterranean.
2. The Southern Route – sail along the coast of Africa.
The Northern Route is the most common route for heavy merchant vessels, or “ships of Tarshish,” because it offered frequent landfalls for shelter, trade, and fresh water. Sea currents in the Mediterranean is counter-clockwise. Here’s how the Northern Route looks like (see map above):
- Ships departed Joppa and sailed north along the Levantine coast (easternmost coast of Mediterranean Sea) before cutting west to Cyprus.
- From Cyprus, ships sailed west along the southern coast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey), passing south of Greece, crossing near the Hellenic Trench.
- Vessels then crossed the open Ionian Sea to reach Sicily, moving onward to Sardinia.
- From Sardinia, it was a short journey to the Spanish mainland, sailing south toward the Strait of Gibraltar and to Tarshish.
Given Jonah’s urgency to flee as far away as possible, he likely boarded a large merchant vessel utilizing the Northern Route. This would place his ship right in the volatile weather systems of the Ionian Sea.
The Ionian Sea features shallow sea floors with abundant marine vegetation that drop off into extreme depths. The topography of this region transitions as follows:
- Shallow Vegetated Floors: The continental shelves and coastal zones of the Ionian Sea (near Greece and Italy) have floors covered in seagrasses and algae, growing where sunlight penetrates.
- The Drop-Off: At the shelf break, the seafloor drops into steep continental slopes and deep trenches. The most dramatic is the Hellenic Trench, which plunges to extreme depths.
The Ionian Sea topography matches what Jonah described in his prayer – the sea weeds, plus the roots of mountains and the pit/trenches. I already mentioned earlier that sperm whales are heavily concentrated in deep-sea trenches, especially the Hellenic Trench, so this most likely is where Jonah was thrown overboard.
How far is the Ionian Sea from Levantine coast? About 700-800 miles.
A sperm whale during long distance migration, cruise at speed of 8-10 miles/hour. That means it will take 3 days for a sperm whale to cover the 700-800 miles from Ionian Sea to reach the Levantine coast where it vomited Jonah out. And that’s exactly how long Jonah was inside the whale!
Is it important to know precisely where Jonah was thrown overboard? Not really. What is important is if we study enough, we will find how accurate the facts written in the Bible.
Unsinkable Grace
Let’s go back to Jonah’s prayer. Jonah hit rock bottom, literally, as he sank in the sea floor. He said that the earth’s bars/gate closed on him (v6). That means he thought he’s not coming back. Or is the gate he was describing was the whale’s mouth? He was fish food!
Jonah’s greatest pain though is not his location but his separation from God’s sight due to his disobedience (v4 – cast out of Your sight). But God brought him back from the pit, which is from the bottom of the sea and from inside a great fish.
The fish was not evidence that God had abandoned Jonah. The fish was evidence that God was preserving Jonah. Sometimes what feels like judgment is actually mercy keeping us alive long enough to repent.
Jonah 2:7
7 “When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord;
And my prayer went up to You,
Into Your holy temple.
Jonah had forgotten God while running. But suffering awakened remembrance. When we remember God’s faithfulness, His mercy, His holiness, and His love – repentance begins. Worship returns. Hope rises again.
The “holy temple” Jonah refers to is the literal Temple in Jerusalem, symbolizing His dwelling place and His grace.
Jonah 2: 8-9
“Those who regard worthless idols
Forsake their own Mercy.
9 But I will sacrifice to You
With the voice of thanksgiving;
I will pay what I have vowed.
Salvation is of the Lord.”
Jonah realized that resisting God, running from Him, was like being an idolater. He repented and returned to God with sacrifice and thanksgiving. He promised to pay his vows to God, and obey.
Jonah ends his prayer with one of the greatest declarations in Scripture: “Salvation comes from the Lord.” He understood that he cannot save himself. Only God could save him. And that is true for every one of us, for salvation only belongs to the Lord.
This points us beyond Jonah. It point us to Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself compared His coming death and resurrection to Jonah’s experience in the fish. Jonah spent three days inside the fish and came out, as Jesus spent three days in the tomb and rose again victorious. Jonah reluctantly went to save Nineveh, while Jesus willingly came to save the world.
For summary, here are 3 takeaways from the prayer of Jonah:
1. God’s ways is always superior to us. God means of delivering us may not always what we chose (for Jonah, it meant 3 days and 3 nights inside the belly of the fish), but His ways is far better than ours. Sometimes He uses storm and discomfort to bring us back. Are you undergoing storms? Are you undergoing trials? Maybe it is the only way God can bring you back.
2. Prayers are powerful because the God we are praying to is powerful. This prayer of Jonah was powerful not because of the circumstance that he was under the sea or inside the whale, but it is powerful because the God he was praying to is powerful. It does not depend on the person, or the circumstances, or even the sincerity of the one praying.
3. We are never beyond the reach of God’s grace. Jonah was covered with fish vomit or half digested food of the whale when he prayed, and yet God heard his call. We may be covered with sins when we pray, but God’s grace will still find us.
The Hound of Heaven
When I was in college, we study a poem titled “The Hound of Heaven.” You know hound dogs are good in tracking and pursuing. This poem is about a person trying to run away from God.
I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the midst of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
Up vistaed hopes I sped;
And shot, precipitated,
Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears,
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.
But God like a hound dog continue to pursue this man.
But with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbèd pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
They beat—and a Voice beat
More instant than the Feet—
‘All things betray thee, who betrayest Me’.
This was penned by English poet Francis Thompson between 1889 and 1890, which is an autobiographical masterpiece depicting his own frantic attempts to run from God, only to be relentlessly pursued by His unconditional love.
Francis Thompson’s life was defined by profound personal suffering and failure, mirroring the speaker in his poem. He originally studied to become a doctor to please his father, but he failed his medical exams due to severe anxiety and a lack of interest. He became estranged from his family, he moved to London in 1885 where he lived in abject poverty and destitution on the streets, often working odd jobs to support his opium addiction.
Like the poetic narrator who tries to flee from God by hiding “under running laughter,” Thompson used drugs and isolated himself, seeking to numb his emotional pain and escape his calling. But despite his addiction and periods of severe depression—which even led to a failed suicide attempt—Thompson never fully shook his Christian faith.
He was eventually rescued from the streets by Wilfred Meynell and his wife Alice, who recognized Thompson’s poetic genius when he submitted a manuscript written on dirty, tattered paper. The Meynells helped Thompson get into rehab, and helped him launch his literary career.
It was during this recovery period that he composed the poem, conceptualizing God not as a punishing enforcer, but as a “tremendous lover” and a faithful hound who tracks down a lost soul.
Here’s the end of the poem:
Halts by me that footfall:
Is my gloom, after all,
Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly?
‘Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,
I am He Whom thou seekest!
Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me.’
We have a God, who will keep on pursuing us and whose love will not let us go.
(*above message was shared with a local church; photos taken from the web)