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| Sperm whale (Physeter microcephalus) illustration by Uko Gorter |
We are at the juncture in our story
of Jonah where the Great Sea has resumed to normal. There is no hint that
there ever was a struggle of life and death anywhere in the vicinity or as far
as the eye could see on the surface. There was no trace of Jonah (Jon 1:4-15).
The cargo had either sunk to the bottom or was no longer visible. The
Phoenician mariners are making their way back to Joppa at a faster speed with a
ship relieved of its burden: cargo and Jonah. Jonah is presumed dead by the shipmaster
and his crew. Jonah, however, is still alive and somewhere under The Mediterranean Sea riding in an organic submarine, fare-free (cf. Jon 1:3, he paid the fare).
In our series of Some
Observations in Jonah, we have arrived at the last verse of chapter l: Jonah
1:17. It happens to be one of the most controversial verses in all of the Bible.
For those of us who believe in the inspiration of Scripture, Jonah is part of
the canon which includes Genesis to Malachi and Matthew to Revelation.
For all of those pushed out of
their comfort zone by this incredible and miraculous story of Jonah, they are probably
pre-disposed to take a self-prescribed allegorical pill to alleviate any panic
attacks that this story may literally be true. How else will you explain
the unexplainable: miraculous or metaphorical, actual or allegorical? Those who
do not believe in miracles always go down the allegorical alley.
From a Biblicist point of view,
if there is nothing in the grammatical-historical context of Jonah’s story
indicating that it should be considered an extended metaphor or an allegory, it
must be interpreted as a literal event, particularly when we know that Jesus made a historical reference to Nineveh and Jonah. If it was a fable, how effective
is Jesus’ warning to His generation since it is predicated on a fictitious account?
Jonah and Nineveh were real according to Jesus (Mt 12:40, 41). Jesus didn’t treat
this fish
story of Jonah as an allegory.
How will the fictitious characters
of Nineveh rise up during the judgment and condemn the rejection of Jesus by the
Jews of His generation unless they are real, as real as you or me? If Jonah was
not really in the belly of a great fish for three days and three nights and
lived to tell about it, perhaps Jesus’s time in the tomb and resurrection are
figurative, too?
I have mentioned this question in
another article on Jonah. Whenever you hear the name “Jonah,” what is the
first thing that comes to your mind, a whale, right? For many, as soon as they
hear about a “whale” swallowing Jonah, the story is immediately labeled as an
allegory because, in the mind of the rational interpreter, it could never
happen; it must be a trope. What motivates this? It is driven by the skepticism of
anything that is accredited to supernaturalism.
Today, anyone insisting that Jonah’s
story is metaphorical or allegorical because of the zero-survivability factor
inside a great fish is naturally understandable and an anticipated typical
response by the natural man (cf. 1 Cor 2:14; Jude 1:19). Spiritually speaking,
however, it is tantamount to denying the miraculous and disregarding the
context of Scripture which is a very serious matter (cf. 2 Pet 3:16). They, of
course, may not see that now and snicker, but in the future, they will realize
it to be true and be horrified of what’s coming next.
It makes one wonder if they are
not spiritually devoid of the Spirit (Rom 8:9; 1 Cor 2:14; Jude 1:19; 1;
contrast 1 Cor 6:19; Gal 5:22-23; 1 Jn 5:12) to be so vigorously opposed to a literal interpretation of Jonah’s story? Personally, I will always side with the
words of Jesus rather than the anti-supernatural crowd (the same group: 1 Cor
1:18; 2:14; 2 Cor 4:4).
Here’s our problem. Jonah went
inside a sperm whale whole (Jon 1:17a) and three
days and three nights later (Jon 1:17b), he
came out alive (Jon 2:10). Nowadays, marine zoologists admit the possibility of
a human being swallowed whole by a sperm whale, but such acknowledgment
comes with a caveat, it is doubtful this person would survive. As one who
believes strongly in the supernatural, I’m in agreement with that assessment!
If Yahweh had not interposed, Jonah would have been dead in a matter of seconds
inside the forestomach of the whale for a lack of oxygen, but Yahweh had
intervened on Jonah’s behalf, and His prophet survived this extraordinary ordeal.
Many will disagree about my
opinion about the Scriptures, and that is their right of choice. But for an
opinion to have any weight, it must be based on some recognized authority. Some
base their opinion on self-governance, self-law, or a law unto themselves
(autonomous), or a different kind of law other than themselves, like secular
humanism, socialism, evolutionism (heteronomous), or God’s law (theonomous).
We all go by some authority; I
choose theonomous, and this multi-part series reflects the very authority that
I subscribe to and submit to. Like oil and water, these three authorities are mutually
exclusive of one another. I am of the opinion that the incomparable weight of
authority, based on the Scriptures, is Yahweh, who just so happens to be the
sovereign Creator God of the universe! This does not suggest that my
interpretation of Scripture is infallible. I try to be in accord with Scripture
as best as I know how, but there again, perfect synchronicity is quite
challenging and the ideal, given the nature of sin. Thank Yahweh for Php 4:13.
It’s funny really. Christians have
believed Jonah was swallowed by a great fish
or whale for ages. They were ridiculed for
it. Then comes along some scientists who examine the pharynx (throat to stomach
area, esophageal), and lo, and behold, the gullet or esophagus of a sperm whale is
large enough to swallow a human whole! Imagine that!
Have you ever noticed that real
science never disproves the Word of God; it only substantiates it! Why is that?
Because the arrogance of a finite mind is never going to confirm a fault with an
infinite Author who is all-knowing and all-wise. No creature is greater than
the Creator, and that is an understatement.
Getting back to scientifically
proving the capability of a sperm whale’s esophagus to swallow a human whole, never
mind that since sin entered the world (Rom 5:12; 8:20-22), the primary diet of sperm
whales has always been squid and giant squid. These whales have been swallowing
giant squid whole as big as a man or larger for thousands of years! This was
common knowledge among whalers who hunted them and split their bellies wide
open for decades!
Surviving three days and three nights in the belly of this great fish or sperm whale is the problem now;
the goal post has shifted one might say. Before that, it was deemed impossible
for a sperm whale to swallow a human whole; therefore, addressing survivability
once inside a whale was a moot point. It is now asserted that a human (Or today,
should I say a “hu-person?”) could not possibly survive inside a sperm whale.
I would have to concur even with
my limited research into cetaceans (whales, narwhals, dolphins, porpoises); once
swallowed, there was no way that Jonah could have survived naturally
inside a sperm whale. In fact, my conclusion of what little I had deciphered
was that Jonah would have been dead after his last breath going into the
forestomach, the first of four stomachs in a sperm whale,1 by the way. His survival cannot be explained
by natural causes. This leads to only two conclusions; it never happened or
Jonah survived through supernatural intervention by the Creator God. I’m
betting on the latter.
We know this to be true because
it is found in Scripture! We read of our brother Jonah spending x-number of
hours, minutes, and seconds inside the forestomach, not the main stomach (This
is my hypothesis on where Jonah was positioned in the whale.). It
was there the miracles took place as he prayed to God and was ejected three days and three nights later by the whale onto dry land in Assyria (another
theory of mine).
I think it is probably safe to
say that none of us can identify with Jonah on what it was like being inside a great fish or a
sperm whale. And apart from Jonah, there is no evidence that anyone else had
ever been swallowed whole by a great fish or sperm whale and lived and told his amazing story.
Jonah may very well be the one and only man, in the
one and only time, who had ever been swallowed by a whale and
lived to talk about it, hence, the book of Jonah!2 It
is in the keeping with his other firsts that we know of. He was the only
prophet of God sent to foreign soil in the OT to preach repentance, and he was
the only prophet in the OT to reject God’s commission. <><
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1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sperm_whale
2. On
Friday 6.11.21, a Cape Cod lobster diver (Michael Packard) was engulfed in the
mouth of a humpback whale for approximately less than a minute before the whale
surfaced and spat or slung him out of its mouth. The diver lived to tell the
tale with only a dislocated knee. See https://www.livescience.com/fisherman-swallowed-by-humpback.html and a comparison between a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) and a sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus): https://whalenutrition.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/humpback-whales-vs-sperm-whales/.
