Wenstrom Bible Ministries Marion, Iowa Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom wenstrom

1. Wenstrom Bible MinistriesMarion, IowaPastor-Teacher Bill Wenstromwww.wenstrom.org

2. Thursday October 28, 2010Jonah: Jonah 2:9-Jonah Vows To Fulfill His Promise To Offer A Sacrifice To The Lord With A Song Of Thanksgiving And Affirms That Salvation Belongs To HimLesson # 33

3. Please turn in your Bibles to Jonah 2:1.

4. This evening, we will note Jonah 2:9 and in this verse, Jonah vows to fulfill his promise to offer a sacrifice to the Lord and publicly praise him and affirms that salvation belongs to Him.

5. Jonah 2:1, “Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish, 2 and he said, ‘I called out of my distress to the Lord, and He answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; You heard my voice.

6. 3 ‘For You had cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current engulfed me. All Your breakers and billows passed over me.

7. 4 So I said, ‘I have been expelled from Your sight. Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.’

8. 5 Water encompassed me to the point of death. The great deep engulfed me, weeds were wrapped around my head.

9. 6 I descended to the roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever, but You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.

10. 7 While I was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to You, into Your holy temple.

11. 8 Those who regard vain idols forsake their faithfulness,

12. 9 but I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the Lord.’” (NASU)

13. “But I will sacrifice to You” is a disjunctive clause that contrasts the idolaters mentioned in verse 8 with Jonah who worships the Lord.

14. “But I will sacrifice to You” is composed of the conjunction wa (וָ) (wa), “but” and the first person singular pronomial suffix ǎnî (אֲנִי) (an-ee), “I” and the first person singular qal cohortative active imperfect form of the verb zā∙ḇǎḥ (זָבַח) (zaw-bakh), “sacrifice” and the preposition le (לְ), “to” and the second person masculine singular form of the pronomial suffix ʾǎt∙tā(h) (אַתָּה) (aw-thaw), “You.”

15. The first person singular pronomial suffix ǎnî, “I” refers of course to Jonah and is setting Jonah himself in contrast to idolaters by emphasizing that he offers a sacrifice to the Lord with thanksgiving.

16. The verb zā∙ḇǎḥ means “to offer a sacrifice” by killing an animal as an act of worship and is used with Jonah offering Yahweh a sacrifice by killing an animal as an act of worshipping Him.

17. This verb was used in Jonah 1:16 of the crew vowing to Yahweh to offer Him a sacrifice for sparing their lives as a collective act of worship.

18. In both instances, both the crew and Jonah offer sacrifices to Yahweh in response to His saving their lives.

19. It is a response to the mercy and grace that Yahweh bestowed upon them for sparing their lives.

20. This worship of the Lord by the Phoenician crew and Jonah through offering animal sacrifices was the appropriate response by them to the manifestation of the Lord’s grace and mercy as well as His omnipotence and sovereign rulership over creation.

21. Jonah’s response to the Lord for delivering him from drowning by designating a great fish to swallow him was to possess an attitude of deep respect and awe for Him.

22. The prophet’s response to the Lord for delivering him from drowning by designating a great fish to swallow him was to esteem the excellence of the Person of God.

23. Jonah’s response to the Lord for delivering him from drowning by designating a great fish to swallow him was to possess an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration for the Lord.

24. His response to the Lord for delivering him from drowning by designating a great fish to swallow him was one of being filled with admiration, amazement and awe.

25. The prophet’s response to the Lord for delivering him from drowning by designating a great fish to swallow him reached right into his heart and shook him up and enriched his life.

26. The Lord saving him from drowning by designating a great fish to swallow him overwhelmed him with an emotion that was a mixture of gratitude, adoration, reverence, fear and love for the Lord.

27. Jonah wasn’t looking for explanations since he was lost in the wonder of God.

28. Therefore, Jonah offered a sacrifice to the Lord in order to approach Him to worship Him in the sense that he was manifesting an attitude of deep reverence, respect and awe of the Lord for saving his life with such a magnificent display of His power and sovereign rulership over creation.

29. Therefore, when Jonah offered a sacrifice to the Lord, he was worshipping Him and expressing his thanks to Him for saving his life by designating a great fish to swallow him.

30. Jonah 2:9, “But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the Lord.’” (NASU)

31. With the voice of thanksgiving” is composed of the preposition be (בְּ) (beth), “with” and the masculine singular construct form of the noun qôl (קֹול) (kole), “the voice of” and the feminine singular form of the noun tô∙ḏā(h) (תֹּודָה) (to-daw), “thanksgiving.”

32. The noun tô∙ḏā(h) means “thanksgiving” or “gratitude” specifying the type of public declaration that will accompany Jonah’s sacrifice.

33. The noun qôl means “song” since the word functions as a metonymy of cause for effect meaning that the content of what the voice produces, i.e. hymns of praise or declarative praise testifying to God’s deliverance.

34. The preposition be is a marker of accompaniment indicating that Jonah’s sacrifice of an animal would be accompanied by a song of thanksgiving to the Lord for sparing his life.

35. In Old Testament Israel, formal expressions of thanks which Jonah speaks about were made at the Temple and prior to this structure, the Tabernacle.

36. As a thank offering, tô∙ḏā(h) was one of the fellowship offerings mentioned in Leviticus 7:12-15 and 22:29.

37. Along with the words of the thank offering, the worshiper was to bring food in the form of cakes of both leavened and unleavened bread, unleavened wafers, cakes of fine flour and meat.

38. These would be eaten with the priest in the presence of the Lord and all of the meat was to be eaten on the day it was offered (see 2 Chronicles 29:31; 33:16; Psalm 50:14, 23; 107:22; 116:17).

39. The tô∙ḏā(h) was more than an offering in that it was also a song of praise (2 Chronicles 29:31; Nehemiah 12:27; Psalm 42:4; 69:30; 95:2; 100:4; 147:7; Isaiah 51:3; Jeremiah 30:19).

40. Jonah 2:9, “But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the Lord.’” (NASU)

41. “That which I have vowed I will pay” is composed of the relative particle ʾǎšěr (אֲשֶׁר) (ash-er), “that which” and the first person singular qal active perfect form of the verb nā∙ḏǎr (נָדַר) (naw-dar), “I have vowed” and the first person singular piel active cohortative form of the verb šā∙lēm (שָׁלֵם) (shaw-lam), “I will pay.”

42. The verb nā∙ḏǎr means “to make a vow” referring to making a binding promise to the Lord and refers to the act of voluntarily and verbally dedicating and devoting oneself to the service of the Lord.

43. It appeared in Jonah 1:16 for the crew earnestly vowing to offer a sacrifice to the Lord and here in Jonah 2:9, it is used of course of Jonah making a vow.

44. The context indicates that it would be offering a sacrifice in the Temple accompanied by a song of thanksgiving for his deliverance.

45. This relative clause is actually epexegetical indicating the sacrifices to be offered are the ones Jonah vowed in the first clause that appears in Jonah 2:9, “But in direct contrast, I myself will offer a sacrifice with a song of thanksgiving.”

46. In Jonah 2:9, the verb šā∙lēm means “I will fulfill” and refers to performing that which Jonah promised to do, which was to offer a sacrifice in the Temple accompanied by a public declaration in the form of a song of thanksgiving to Yahweh for delivering him from drowning.

47. “Salvation is from the Lord” is composed of the feminine singular form of the noun yešû∙ʿā(h) (יְשׁוּעָה) (yesh-oo-aw), “salvation” and the preposition le (לְ), “from” and the masculine singular form of the proper noun Yahweh (יהוה) (yeh-ho-vaw), “Lord.”

48. The noun yešû∙ʿā(h) means “deliverance” from physical death and speaks of Jonah’s deliverance from drowning when the Lord sent a great fish to swallow him.

49. The proper noun Yahweh, “Lord” is the covenant-keeping personal name of God used in connection with man’s salvation and is emphasizing that Jonah possessed a covenant relationship with God.

50. It expresses Jonah’s conviction and experience that God is His deliverer from death.