Bible Commentaries

OUT OF THE DEEP PIT

‘Yet hast Thou brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.’

Jonah 2:6 (R.V.)

I. Have you got down into the pit?—It may be by your own fault. So it was with Jonah. He would never have been in this plight had he not disobeyed the voice of the Lord. He paid the fare to go to Tarshish, but really to go down into the depths, and to have his return fare given him gratis. Disobedience may be forgiven when we confess it with true repentance, as Jonah did, but it costs us dearly.

II. Can you dare to appeal to God?—Some, when they get down into the pit, are too ashamed and fearful to cry to Him. They think that they have gone too far and sinned too deeply, not knowing the infinitude of His saving grace, which abounds as much more than our sins as the Flood overtopped the highest mountains. But if only thou wilt say: ‘O Lord my God!’ Even if thou art not worthy to be called a child, even if thou supposest thyself to have committed the unpardonable sin, even if all God’s waves and billows have gone over thee—still thou mayest speak to Him as thy God. Did He not create and redeem thee? Has He not encouraged thee by thousands of promises to come? Does not thine own heart instruct thee that weakness and need are always supreme arguments where goodness and strength blend in a noble character? Cry to Him, ‘O Lord my God, be merciful to me the sinner.’

III. Is it not true that with God the pit is the way to the throne?—It was so with Joseph. Was it not so with our Lord? He will not leave thy soul in Hades, nor suffer thee to see corruption. Dare to look again out of the belly of hell towards His Holy Temple. He who brought thee down will again bring up thy life to see the light.

Illustration

‘The fish, through a mistranslation of St. Matthew 12:40, was formerly supposed to be a whale, but the whale’s neck is too narrow to receive a man. The original means simply a great fish. One commentator thinks it was the dogfish, the stomach of which is so large that the body of a man in armour was found in it. Others think it was a shark. Our Lord expressly quotes the incident as a miracle, and as a type of His own resurrection. During his imprisonment in the belly of this great fish the prophet was, so to speak, dead to all the world, and his resurrection was a conspicuous proof of Divine power, such as could not fail to arrest the attention of the Ninevites, when they became aware of it. Jonah’s prayer is very pathetic. He cried. Yes, often enough we do not cry till the oppression of our affliction lies heavily upon us. But God can hear a cry though it comes from the depths of the sea. What a blessed resolution is that of the fourth verse! O soul of man, thou seemest to be cast out of God’s sight by thy own act and deed. Nevertheless, look again towards His Holy Temple. Look again! Look again to the wounds of thy Saviour. Look again for pardon and acceptance! Look in true repentance and faith, and thou canst not look in vain!’