There are several points that I would like to cover with regard to Jonah and the whale. First off, was Jonah swallowed by a whale? Some people say that he was not; it’s impossible, the way a whale’s digestive tract is set up, no whale can swallow anything as large as a man. Even if it could, no man could survive being in the stomach of a whale for three days, the digestive fluids would cause him to die a slow and painful death (although not three days worth of slow). Of course, God does the impossible; in fact, the Bible tells us that God prepared the whale for Jonah, so this wasn’t an ordinary whale.
Secondly, was it a whale that swallowed Jonah? The book of Jonah actually says it was a great fish. Biologists tell us that whales are not fish, because they are mammals. Of course, biologists also tell us that tomatoes are not vegetables, because they have seeds, making them, technically, fruits. They aren’t particularly fruit-like, though, so most of us just refer to them as vegetables, anyway (The US Supreme Court has actually ruled that tomatoes are vegetables, so that they can be taxed as vegetables—there is no import tax on fruits). My point is that, in simpler times, people just referred to anything that swam in the sea as a fish, whether it had gills or a blowhole. So, yes, the book of Jonah says it was a great fish, in the Gospels, Jesus says it was a whale. There is no contradiction there.
Thirdly, did Jonah actually survive the ordeal, or did he die and get resurrected? There are a couple of indications that he might actually have died: One, he said himself that he was in Hell, and two, Jesus makes reference to the story of Jonah as the archetype of His own resurrection. Now, was Jonah speaking literally or figuratively? In context, there’s not really any way to tell, that I can see, although it certainly highlights another Messianic prophecy, when David said, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell.” Now, in the reference in the Gospels, Jesus said that there would be no sign given unto “this generation” but the sign of the prophet Jonah, that “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.” To be honest, that doesn’t sound to me like Jesus is suggesting that Jonah died and resurrected, more that He is comparing His own entombment with Jonah’s unusual mode of travel. In fact, it further seems to me that, God put Jonah in the belly of the whale to keep Jonah from drowning, and to give him a chance to consider his own actions. It seems to me that, when Jonah was first swallowed, he figured his time was up. He was going to die, and there was nothing he could do about it. It’s possible that, when he said he was in Hell, he was still alive and didn’t realize that he was still alive. After a few days, realizing that he not only wasn’t dead, but, that, against all probability, he wasn’t even dying, he came to an understanding that God wasn’t going to let him off that easy. I don’t believe that Jonah died in the belly of the whale, I think God kept Jonah alive specifically because He wasn’t through with him. I am honest enough to admit that my reluctance to accept the idea that Jonah died and was resurrected may be a result of my own feeling that once one is dead, then one is dead, and there is nothing more that can be done. I feel a certain finality with death, which isn’t necessarily true when God is involved. I can’t help but think that, if God was willing to let Jonah die, and then resurrect him, then the whale was a huge waste of time and energy: Let Jonah drown, explain to him face to face exactly what he needs to do, resurrect his body on (or near) shore, and turn him loose. And if Jonah tries to run to Tarshish again, then drown him again (I don’t really think that would be necessary—a face-to-face with God should straighten anybody out, even more effectively than being in a whale’s belly).
Secondly, was it a whale that swallowed Jonah? The book of Jonah actually says it was a great fish. Biologists tell us that whales are not fish, because they are mammals. Of course, biologists also tell us that tomatoes are not vegetables, because they have seeds, making them, technically, fruits. They aren’t particularly fruit-like, though, so most of us just refer to them as vegetables, anyway (The US Supreme Court has actually ruled that tomatoes are vegetables, so that they can be taxed as vegetables—there is no import tax on fruits). My point is that, in simpler times, people just referred to anything that swam in the sea as a fish, whether it had gills or a blowhole. So, yes, the book of Jonah says it was a great fish, in the Gospels, Jesus says it was a whale. There is no contradiction there.
Thirdly, did Jonah actually survive the ordeal, or did he die and get resurrected? There are a couple of indications that he might actually have died: One, he said himself that he was in Hell, and two, Jesus makes reference to the story of Jonah as the archetype of His own resurrection. Now, was Jonah speaking literally or figuratively? In context, there’s not really any way to tell, that I can see, although it certainly highlights another Messianic prophecy, when David said, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell.” Now, in the reference in the Gospels, Jesus said that there would be no sign given unto “this generation” but the sign of the prophet Jonah, that “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.” To be honest, that doesn’t sound to me like Jesus is suggesting that Jonah died and resurrected, more that He is comparing His own entombment with Jonah’s unusual mode of travel. In fact, it further seems to me that, God put Jonah in the belly of the whale to keep Jonah from drowning, and to give him a chance to consider his own actions. It seems to me that, when Jonah was first swallowed, he figured his time was up. He was going to die, and there was nothing he could do about it. It’s possible that, when he said he was in Hell, he was still alive and didn’t realize that he was still alive. After a few days, realizing that he not only wasn’t dead, but, that, against all probability, he wasn’t even dying, he came to an understanding that God wasn’t going to let him off that easy. I don’t believe that Jonah died in the belly of the whale, I think God kept Jonah alive specifically because He wasn’t through with him. I am honest enough to admit that my reluctance to accept the idea that Jonah died and was resurrected may be a result of my own feeling that once one is dead, then one is dead, and there is nothing more that can be done. I feel a certain finality with death, which isn’t necessarily true when God is involved. I can’t help but think that, if God was willing to let Jonah die, and then resurrect him, then the whale was a huge waste of time and energy: Let Jonah drown, explain to him face to face exactly what he needs to do, resurrect his body on (or near) shore, and turn him loose. And if Jonah tries to run to Tarshish again, then drown him again (I don’t really think that would be necessary—a face-to-face with God should straighten anybody out, even more effectively than being in a whale’s belly).
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