Jonah 2:4

Yet will I look again toward Thy holy temple.

The backslider’s vow

The leading feature of the story is that of one man sacrificed for the rest of the crew: it is the execution of the culprit, in arrest of judgment on the innocent. Lessons--

1. The deepest remorse has its remedy in a return to duty. Jonah’s truant flight was a sudden impulse. The backslider often knows that the sin by which he fell away was the result of sudden temptation.

2. Looking again to the covenant of God in Christ is the appointed way of salvation. It is also useful to consider what it was that cast you out of God’s sight, in order that you may cast that out of your sight. (Joseph B. Owen, M. A.)