Jonah 2:9

"But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving;

I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation is of Jehovah."

"I will sacrifice ..." These are bold words indeed for one in the precarious situation of Jonah at the time he uttered this promise; and Deane must surely be correct in pointing out that "The Hebrew words here denote rather, `I would fain sacrifice,' as it depended not on him but upon God whether or not he would be able to worship again in the Holy Land."[39]

Livingston commented that, "The true act of sacrifice is an expression of gratitude to God, rather than an effort to appease His wrath."[40] However, the experience through which Jonah had so immediately lived surely indicates that penalties exacted for sin and disobedience are directly connected with the appeasement of the wrath of God, as when Jonah's being cast overboard was followed by the great calm. Thus, there is an element of propitiation, and not merely expiation alone, both in the experience of Jonah the type, and in the greater wonder of the atoning death of the Christ upon Calvary.