A Whale of a Tale? #5

Friday, November 10, 2023

“For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40 KJV).

Let us consider one of the most misunderstood and most ridiculed accounts presented in the Holy Bible….

Directly disobeying the LORD’S order to go preach to the Assyrian (Gentile) capital city of Nineveh (near modern Mosul, northern Iraq, on the Tigris River—northeast of the land of Israel), Jonah the Prophet fled Jerusalem and boarded a ship that was headed westward from Joppa and going across the Mediterranean Sea. Though he attempted to hide, God knew precisely where he was: a sea storm and the casting of lots revealed Jonah’s defiance! Now, Jonah’s shipmates—desperate to survive the tempest—throw him overboard. The storm passes, but Jonah’s adventure is far from over.

Read Jonah 1:17: “Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” Also, continue into chapter 2: “[1] Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly,…. [10] And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.” If you want, you can read Jonah’s prayer in chapter 2, plus read chapters 3 and 4 to learn the outcome of the narrative. Our focus here, however, is chapters 1 and 2, noting how this creature that interacted with the Prophet is four times designated a “fish.”

When commenting on it in today’s Scripture, the Lord Jesus referred to the animal as a “whale.” This term has engendered a great deal of discussion, skepticism, and mockery. Furthermore, the mere notion of Jonah living inside a fish’s belly (or, as Christ put it, a whale’s belly) for three days and three nights is ridiculous to many people anyway. The whole matter has thus been dismissed as legend or fairytale—but, frankly, to reduce it to something non-literal or figurative is the lazy person’s explanation. Is there any way to account for these Biblical statements without resorting to undermining faith in the Scriptures? Indeed, there is! Let us have enlightenment….

In order to bring you a special study tomorrow, we will temporarily break away from this devotionals arc….