Michael-Grams: M-G: 7.6.19 // Jonah’s Jeopardy is Ours, Part 1 of 2

Have you ever played word association for fun? For instance, if you were to ask me what is the first thing that comes to my mind when I hear the word “fork,” I would say, “Eating.” Then you would tell me that the #1 answer is – “And the survey said!”

What if I, in turn, asked you what was the first word that comes to your mind when I mention the name, “Jonah?” Might your answer be the image to your left? I am guessing that this is the #1 answer whenever someone mentions the name of Jonah. It is the answer that people in my church circles gave when I asked them that very same question. What comes to your mind when you hear the word “cross?” I suspect for believers it would be Jesus.

Liberal interpreters of the Bible, like those who believe the events of Genesis 1-11 are allegorical, think they are having a field day over this great fish swallowing Jonah (Jon 1:17). They view this claim by conservatives that Jonah was swallowed by a whale as an unfortunate distraction from the theme of the book! Since Jonah was written under inspiration (2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1:20-21), the only distraction is their bias toward anything miraculous.

During the time of Jonah, no one knew that whales (cetaceans) were marine mammals and not fish. There were no distinctions drawn in Jonah’s day between fish and mammals. The size was an obvious differentiation among the “fish” of the sea, hence the adjective, great (Heb, gadol, Jon 1:17). There was no word for “whale” in the Hebrew language, except maybe the equivalent translation of an unspecified group of great (gadol) sea creatures (tanniym) found in Gn 1:21. The root of this Hebrew word tanniym in Genesis indicates a creature of some length1 or referring to an elongated creature.

But under inspiration, Jonah utilized the Hebrew word dag (trans. fish). Jonah described this fish as a great fish. The Hebrew gadol is used 14x by Jonah.

It is not my intention on going overboard (no pun intended) on why the Holy Spirit had Jonah use the Hebrew word dag (or fish) rather than tanniym found in Gn 1:21 during inspiration or belabor the point of the zoological ramifications of a whale swallowing a man whole if it truly was a cetacean.

I Googled2 a sperm whale, and typically a sperm whale will grow to 50-55 feet in length and weigh around 35-45 tons. It goes on to say that larger sperm whales obtain 67 feet in length and weigh over 65 tons. Since it is on the internet, it has to be true, right? I think God summoned an unusually big one for Jonah!

It has been suggested a sperm whale could have anatomically swallowed Jonah whole but doubted he would have ever survived. To be intellectually fair, there is no way of knowing what creature swallowed Jonah whole. Something appointed by God, and it was not a make-believe creature for some didactic purpose.

Liberal mindsets have a natural tendency to metamorphicalize (a made-up word but works for me) anything that hints of miraculous. One thing is for certain; dag wasn’t a minnow, yes?

The Bible declared that Jonah was swallowed (Jon 1:17) and he survived (Jon 2:10). The miraculous was not that Jonah was swallowed (even if we set aside the timing of it all which was pretty amazing in and of itself), but that Jonah survived the digestive processes while in the belly of the whale, and proof of his survival is seen when the whale “upJonah” onto dry land (Jon 2:10) which is linked to his decision to keep his vows (to go to Nineveh and preach), Jon 2:9-10.

According to Wikipedia3, the average depth of the Mediterranean Sea is 4,900 feet. Its maximum depth is 17,280 feet. How deep did the whale descend with Jonah on board, and what distance was covered? No one knows. Jonah gives us some insight (Jon 2:3-6). Perhaps what felt like weeds wrapped around his head were actually squid tentacles!? Still, it had to have been a whale of a time for Jonah!

Some believe that this dry land was located at Joppa, but Yahweh could have easily directed the whale to travel further up the coastline, for Jonah was needing some downtime and to make up for time lost in the process of running from the presence of the LORD. “How was that working out for you, Jonah?”

Jonah was probably vomited onto Assyrian soil somewhere suitable for traveling to Nineveh. I am of the opinion that Yahweh wanted eye witness account of Jonah being coughed up on Assyrian shores so this would be reported back to Nineveh before Jonah arrived. Wherever the spew location, it was on the beach and not in the water. Jonah wasted no time in heading to Nineveh, elated over the idea that a foreign beach was better than a belly.

There is no Assyrian record of any Hebrew prophet ever visiting Nineveh (go figure), except from the testimonies of Jonah and Jesus (Mt 12:39-41; 16:4; Lk 11:29-32). It is readily apparent that Jesus considered Jonah an actual historical person. Jesus, who was/is Yahweh, knew Jonah was in the belly of a great fish because He had personally prepared or “appointed” (NAS) a great fish to swallow Jonah whole way back in the eighth century B.C. (Jon 1:17)!

Prepared or appointed is the Hebrew word, manah, which appears 4x in Jonah (Jon 1:17; 4:6, 7, 8). Manah is also translated as muster or summon (cf. 1 Kgs 20:25). Yahweh summoned a great fish to swallow Jonah whole.

If this giant mammal was actually a sperm whale, it eats around a ton of squid, great squid, and occasional fish per day. Jonah was three days and nights in the belly of a whale along with all the catch of the day while being in absolute darkness. The smell alone had to have been unimaginable as the smell of our disobedience is to Yahweh. “Jonah, recall the weeds wrapped around your head (Jon 2:5b)? Are you sure it wasn’t squid?”

Jesus prophesied,

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish so will He be three days and three night in the heart of the earth (Mt 12:40).

Allow me to point out something concerning this expression of three days and three nights (Jon 1:17b; Mt 12:40). This expression, for as Jonah was, tells me that Jonah was not in the belly of the whale for 72 hours. For there is no way we are going to get a literal three days and three nights (72 hours) during the time Jesus was crucified on Friday (0900-1500) and rose from the grave on Sunday sometime after 0600 or sunrise. To make a case for Jesus of crucifixion on any other day than Friday is unwarranted and forced.

Therefore, this expression of three days and three nights could mean in whole or part predicated on the context, for there appears to be a Jewish reckoning that a part represents a whole here (cf. Est 4:16; 5:1). This would mean that Jonah was not precisely in the belly of a great fish for 72 hours; nor was Jesus in the earth for exactly 72 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds. This Semitic reckoning was not referring to a precise interval of time but a part of the day or night was considered a full day. <><