Beneath the Billows – Jonah 1:17-2:9

Little did Solomon know the extreme conditions under which his prayerful request would be answered as he dedicated the temple in I Kings 8:29 saying: “..That your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said: “My name shall be there, that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place.” Nor could David have known how literally useful his songs would show themselves to be as when he sang: (Ps 69:1-2) “Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters and the flood sweeps over me. Or (Ps 18:4-5) “The cords of death encompassed me, the torrents of destruction assailed me, the cords of Sheol entangled me, the snares of death confronted me.” Neither could the sons of Korah have realized how fitting their words would be in years to come as they cried: “Deep calls to deep, at the roar of your waterfalls, all your breakers and your waves have gone cover me (PS 42:7). Yet for the prophet Jonah, these words of scripture where fulfilled and illustrated in profound ways indeed, even as he – no doubt – clung to them for consolation through his watery ordeal. Our passage today is framed by 2 distinct and dramatic events that set the stage to feature profoundly, the salvation of the Lord (Jonah 1:17, 2:10)