Jonah — Chapter 2

Et oravit Ionas ad Dominum Deum suum

Jonah prays 'to the Lord his God'—à Lapide notes that even in his flight and punishment Jonah maintains personal relationship with God. The prayer is composed almost entirely of citations from the Psalms, which shows that the Psalter is the prayer-book of the prophets. He identifies seven distinct psalm texts woven into Jonah's prayer, demonstrating the canonical unity of the Hebrew Scriptures.

Proiecisti me in profundum in corde maris

'Thou hast cast me into the deep, into the heart of the sea.' À Lapide reads this as Jonah's acceptance of divine justice: he does not protest that the punishment is unjust but recognizes God's hand in his suffering. Christologically, the 'heart of the sea' figures the 'heart of the earth' (Matt. 12:40)—the tomb, the power of death. The billows and waves passing over him are the waves of the Passion.

Cum angustiaretur in me anima mea

'When my soul was in distress within me I remembered the Lord.' À Lapide develops the theology of prayer in extremity: the soul compressed by trial turns to God when all other help has failed. He cites Augustine's Confessions on how tribulation is God's pedagogy drawing the soul back. The entry of prayer into the holy Temple (v.8) is understood as prayer reaching the heavenly sanctuary.

Et praecepit Dominus pisci

'And the Lord spoke to the fish and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.' À Lapide treats the obedience of the fish as a demonstration that all creation obeys God—only the rational creature rebels. The vomiting on dry land on the third day is the literal counterpart to Christ's Resurrection. He responds to rationalist objections about the feasibility of surviving in a fish, citing later cases (which he takes from travellers' accounts) of men found alive in large marine animals.