Yonah's Prayer/1

Yonah's Prayer

Introduction

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Thanks For What?

Chapter 2 of Sefer Yonah is devoted to Yonah's prayer from inside the fish.  At first glance the prayer is one of thanksgiving.  Yonah describes the dangers which he encountered, how he cried out to Hashem and how Hashem answered him:

EN/HEע/E

(ג) וַיֹּאמֶר קָרָאתִי מִצָּרָה לִי אֶל י״י וַיַּעֲנֵנִי מִבֶּטֶן שְׁאוֹל שִׁוַּעְתִּי שָׁמַעְתָּ קוֹלִי. (ד) וַתַּשְׁלִיכֵנִי מְצוּלָה בִּלְבַב יַמִּים וְנָהָר יְסֹבְבֵנִי כׇּל מִשְׁבָּרֶיךָ וְגַלֶּיךָ עָלַי עָבָרוּ. (ה) וַאֲנִי אָמַרְתִּי נִגְרַשְׁתִּי מִנֶּגֶד עֵינֶיךָ אַךְ אוֹסִיף לְהַבִּיט אֶל הֵיכַל קׇדְשֶׁךָ.

(3) And he said: I called out of mine affliction Unto the Lord, and He answered me; Out of the belly of the nether-world cried I, And Thou heardest my voice. (4) For thou didst cast me into the depth, In the heart of the seas, And the flood was round about me; All Thy waves and Thy billows Passed over me. (5) And I said: 'I am cast out From before Thine eyes'; Yet I will look again Toward Thy holy temple.

However, given Yonah's dire circumstances, being entrapped in a sea creature with no air, food, or means of escape, Yonah's words are somewhat surprising.  One expects that Yonah's prayer be filled with pleas for future salvation,¹ not thanksgiving for deliverance already received. How can Yonah speak of his ordeal  in the past tense when the danger is still at its height?  Is there any other way to read Yonah's words?² 

Textual Questons

¹ The question is highlighted by the Midrash which portrays Yonah as expected,  pleading with Hashem for his life, not thanking Him: "ואמר לפניו: רבש״ע, נקראת מוריד ומעלה, ירדתי – העלני; נקראת ממית ומחיה, הרי נפשי הגיעה למות – החייני". (Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer 10).

² These questions have led some modern scholars to posit that the prayer is a later addition to the book, borrowed from elsewhere.