A Fish Story?

 

"You don't really believe that stuff" he said to me. "Who in their right mind would believe that a man could be swallowed by a whale and live?"

 

"I do believe it, with all my heart" I replied. "All of it except for the fact that it was possibly a fish not a whale."

 

"Hah! I got you" he snorted. "The Bible contradicts itself. My Bible says fish in the Old Testament and whale in Matthew 12. It cannot be both."

 

"You are right some translations do say whale in Matthew, but that is an English translation error not a contradiction. Most translations show "big fish" or "great fish". The Greek translated here actually means sea monster or sea creature. Technically, it is not even an error, rather it is confusion generated by modern systems of taxonomy (classification). When the King James Version was translated (1611) the modern classifications which show whales as mammals not fish was not yet invented. A whale was considered to be a form of fish. It was a logical use of the word."

 

A variety of possibilities have been offered as candidates for the "great fish". The whale shark, the largest known of all fish can reach 18 meters in length and weigh 10 tons. The sperm whale is another. Both have been known to be found in the Mediterranean. When I was in South Africa I saw Humpback whales that certainly looked big enough, they reach 45 feet and weigh up to 65 ton. Now, I confess that I do not know enough about fish or whale physiology to know if these candidates are valid possibilities or not. Frankly we do not know what kind of "fish" it was.

 

Just as frankly, it does not really matter whether it was fish, whale or some form of "sea monster" or "sea creature". We are talking about a supernatural occurrence where Jonah was indeed swallowed by something huge that swam in the ocean. It is an actual, literal historical occurrence with supernatural intervention. God created all that existed with a word. He could easily have created a sea creature for just such a purpose, although there are a variety of fish and whales large enough to have done so.

 

It is particularly appropriate that Jonah would be swallowed by a whale/fish/sea creature. He was being sent to Nineveh to minister to people who worshipped a fish god, Dagon. His appearance there after having escaped the mighty fish would have trumped their god hand down.

 

There is no question that the event was a miracle. Actually, there are six direct instances of God's intervention in the Jonah account, some of which involved the divinely directed use of natural phenomena. These were:

Jonah 1:4 NIV
Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.

 

Jonah 1:17 NIV
But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.

 

Jonah 2:10 NIV
And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

 

Jonah 4:6 NIV
Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine.

 

Jonah 4:7 NIV
But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered.

 

Jonah 4:8 NIV
When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live."

Some would even say that the repentance of people of Nineveh constitutes a miracle. I would agree that it is a wondrous example of what God's grace can do, but would not count it a miracle per sae.

 

I recommend that you read all of Jonah. It is a short book, only four chapters long and there is much in it to ponder. It provides great insight into the times in the New Testament when Jesus tells the people that they will see the sign of Jonah. It is quite apparent that Jesus accepted the account as truth. The God of all truth would not use a lie or a myth to show His divinity.

 

Just a Jonah was three days in the belly of the whale then seen alive, so Jesus was three days in death and then seen alive. Our God truly is a God of the miraculous. The biggest miracle of all is that He cares enough about us to offer us salvation purchased by His own blood.

 

GLEANINGS FROM THE WORD MINISTRIES by Kevin F. Corbin © 2001 - 2007. All rights reserved. For prayer request please email us at prayer@gleaningsfromtheword.com (Please include this line to forward the message).