Jonah 2:1

Jonah prayed. The prayer describes the experience of Jonah while in the body of the fish. It acknowledges deliverance as an accomplished fact. The passages that speak of answered prayer and of deliverance are probably expressions of Jonah’s strong faith in deliverance and of the divine assurance that may have been given him that his life was to be spared.

In Jonah’s prayer there are allusions to certain psalms. Most modern scholars assign to these psalms a postexilic date; accordingly they have given a postexilic date to the book of Jonah. However, those who hold to a pre-exilic authorship of these psalms (see the introductions to the psalms concerned; also Vol. III, p. 617) find no difficulty in dating the book of Jonah in or before the time of Jeroboam II (see p. 995), when, according to 2 Kings 14:25, Jonah lived. The allusions show that Jonah, as a devout Israelite, was familiar with the wording of the psalms.

Whenever they are in need the children of God have the precious privilege of appealing to Him for help. It matters not how unsuitable the place may be, God’s ear of mercy is open to their cry. However desolate and dark the place may be, it can be turned into a veritable temple by the praying child of God.