When in Jonah 2

Using the same mark as you did in Jonah 1, mark all the words that would answer the question "when" in Jonah 2.

When did Jonah pray to the Lord from the stomach of the fish?
When a "when" word such as "then" appears at the beginning of the first verse of a chapter, it's usually necessary to go back to the previous chapter in order to figure out the answer to the question. What do we learn when we look back at the last verse of chapter one? We learn that the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.

What happened then? The next verse in chapter two gives us the answer: Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish . . .

So, what might be your answer to the first question? Perhaps, it would be that he prayed after being swallowed. Maybe you would answer that Jonah prayed after spending three days and three nights in the stomach of the fish. Which one is correct? Well, let's observe some more, and you can decide if one or the other of those answers seems more specifically correct than the other. One thing that we could all agree on is that it was after he was swallowed.

This next question isn't prompted by a "when" word, but it has something to do with what happened when. Did Jonah pray only from inside the stomach of the fish, or does he indicate in this chapter that he prayed from elsewhere at some time before that?

Notice in verse two how he says that he cried for help from the depth of Sheol. He cried out, prayed, before being swallowed. Much of what is described in this prayer in verse two happened between verses 16 and 17 in chapter one. We're backtracking. Meanwhile, while the sailors on the ship were sacrificing to the Lord and making vows, what was Jonah doing? Distressed and near death, feeling totally expelled from God, he's crying out to the Lord.

What "when" term is used in verse five? To what point in his life was Jonah brought by this experience in the deeps?

For how long did Jonah think the earth with its bars was around him? This bleak existence without God seemed endless, yet what happened then? What does Jonah say he was doing when he remembered the Lord?
When did the Lord command the fish to vomit Jonah onto the dry land? What is it that Jonah remembered about the Lord?

Something to think about: We haven't yet studied the message that Jonah is to bring to the Ninevites, but you're probably somewhat familiar with it. At this point we know that Jonah realizes that his salvation came from the Lord. Is he ready to admit that the Lord's salvation is available for others? If and when he eventually heads toward Nineveh, is he primarily going to offer salvation, or is he thinking of something else when he delivers the Lord's message?