3), or that the sea parted, with walls of water on either side allowing the Israelites to cross (Ex. 14), or that hungry lions, driven by their hunger, refrained from attacking Daniel, as though they possessed human wisdom. Conversely, for those lacking faith, let them peruse the fifteen volumes of Ovid's Metamorphoses along with the vast histories of Greece and Rome, noting transformations like Daphne into laurel or the sisters of Phaethon into poplar trees, and how their supreme deity, Jupiter, metamorphosed into a swan and gold, or assumed the form of a bull, along with other mythical accounts that clash with divine purity. They accept these fables yet claim that nothing is impossible for God; in clinging to these dishonorable stories, they affirm God's omnipotence while simultaneously doubting it concerning the honorable truths.
When it states, "And Jonah prayed to the Lord his God out of the belly of the fish, and said," it reveals that upon realizing his safety in the whale, Jonah clung to hope in the Lord's mercy and turned fully to prayer. For God, who declared, "I am with him in trouble" (Psalm 90:15), and “When he calls to Me, I will answer him” (Isaiah 58:9), was indeed with him, and those He responds to can affirm, “In my distress, You have given me relief” (Psalm 4:2).
"I cried out in my distress to the Lord, and He answered me; from the depths of Sheol, I called, and You heard my voice." The Septuagint renders this similarly, modifying it to say, "From the depths of Sheol You have heard the voice of my cry." Jonah’s words reflect the past—he does not say, “I cry,” but “I have cried,” thanking God for what has already occurred. This suggests that when he was thrown into the sea and beheld the colossal fish ready to seize him, it triggered his remembrance of the Lord and his cry for help—prompted perhaps by the calming waters that allowed him space to call out, or by the earnestness of his heart, echoing the words of the Apostle: “crying out in your hearts, ‘Abba, Father’” (Gal. 4:6). He cried to the One who discerns human hearts and who asked Moses, “Why do you cry out to Me?” (Ex. 14:15), even though Scripture does not mention a prior cry. In the first psalm of degrees, it states, “unto the Lord I cried, and He has heard me” (Ps. 119:1). The “belly of Sheol” may signify the belly of the whale, which resembles the depths, but more appropriately relates to Christ, who, under David's name, proclaims in the psalm: “You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor allow Your Holy One to see corruption” (Psalm 15:10). He, alive in the abode of the dead, remained unharmed among them.
THEOSIS