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| Sperm whale (Physeter microcephalus) illustration by Uko Gorter |
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| To Part 1 of Jonah 1:17 |
Now the LORD had prepared a
great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days
and three nights (Jon 1:17).
For Jonah to survive at all, it
had to be the result of divine intervention, not an allegory to symbolize it
away! Here is what we do know according to the biblical record; Jonah was
swallowed whole by something big and remained alive three days and three nights in its belly (emphasizing a vital duration in
light of this phrase being referenced by Jesus); afterward, it literally vomited
him onto dry land.
He went in (Jon 1:17) and came
out (Jon 2:10) alive. This is the official account of Yahweh; there is no
higher authority. We need to exercise caution as believers in attempting to validate
a miracle, particularly if we cite something in support of our position that turns out to be a
hoax! Our job is not to make believability conducive; such a thing tends to make us all
look fickle in our faith. God has not called us to validate His Word but to
walk in the truth! This doesn’t mean that we do not support apologetic efforts to defend the faith. We just have to be wise in the way we go about it.
My intent here in v17 is simple;
it is not to lend validity to Jonah’s testimony (cf. 2 Tim 3:16, All scripture is given by inspiration of God). I cannot make anyone see what they refuse to see. The
opening of the eyes I leave with the Holy Spirit. My task and yours is to put
the truth out there that is Scripturally supported. I know by doing so that His
Word (or truth) will not return to Him empty-handed (Isa 55:11). Speaking for
myself, I am satisfied by this whether one believes or chooses not to believe.
The second clause of v17 is
where the controversy is now embedded. It remains an unsurprising attempt by
non-supernaturalist to discredit the miraculous nature of Jonah’s survival in a
very non-survivable environment.
There is a remote possibility
that someone other than Jonah was swallowed by a whale but never lived to tell
about it, but how would that bring glory to God anyway? The miracle was not
being swallowed but coming out alive! There was this one story in circulation in
the late 1900s about some whalers cutting open a sperm whale, and a man was
found alive inside; this turned out to be a hoax.2 Based on
the biblical record, we can at least say that Jonah was the only man we know of
that was swallowed by a whale and survived by no greater authority than the
Creator God Himself, yes?
You might be thinking that God
was a bit overreactive with His disobedient prophet? Look back on all of the
negative energy expended thus far over a singular incident; Jonah was running
from God’s will. We must take seriously the premise that it doesn’t pay to
disobey. He failed to fulfill his vow to Yahweh. From our perspective, from
what we read in the Word is that God will go to great lengths to get us to
where we belong. It is not called spite, but agape (love). That is
sobering and comforting.
Keep in mind; Jonah asked for
chastening in attempting to elude God’s will to go to Nineveh. We cannot run
from God, only from obedience; the ellipsis of that sentence is “for so long.”
His prayer inside the whale suggests that he reneged on what he vowed to Yahweh (Jon
2:9). As a prophet of God, Jonah knew Yahweh was all-knowing and knew his
thoughts (cf. Jer 17:10).
Jonah lied to God, but God knew
beforehand that His prophet intended to put more crow miles between him and
Nineveh as he spoke to Him. Jonah made a vow to Yahweh back in Jerusalem, and
He is going to hold Jonah to it! Would to God, parents included this in their
parental skills! Are we personalizing or getting any of this (cf. Rom 15:4)?
Let’s talk about sperm whale innards!
The transit time through the GI
tract of a sperm whale is about 15-18 hours from entrance to exit.2a Sperm whales have one of the longest intestinal systems
in the world, exceeding 984 feet (300 meters) in the larger specimens;3 that is over 3 football fields in length! The
human intestinal system is about 20 feet in the smaller (or upper) intestine and 5 feet in the large (or lower) intestine for a whopping total of 25 feet.
That won’t even get you a first down! It takes a lot more guts to be a sperm whale, yes! It would stand to reason that the GI transit time of food being swallowed, processed, and excreted for sperm whales does not apply to all cetaceans given the obvious physical size differences.
Consider the transit time of humans. It takes 6-8 hours for food to pass through the stomach and small intestine. Upon entering the large intestine for further digestion, the average time through the large intestine (colon) and the elimination of undigested food is 40 hours. There are notable differences in transit time for men and women.3a
The muscular and glandular activities of the first two stomachs of a sperm whale must be fast-acting given an appetite of shoveling in practically a ton of food per day.4 All of this food once swallowed enters the forestomach or first stomach (rumen). I mentioned earlier in this series this is where I thought Jonah may have resided for three days and three nights.
I looked at the only review I could find on the Whale’s Way Inn in chapter 2. Ghastly would be an understatement. Reading between the lines, it looked as if Jonah, Son of Amittai, gave it a 1 out of 5. I am of the impression that he would have given it a 0 out of 5 if 0 was an option. I would agree that dark, wet, smelly, creepy, and horrifying is no way to treat a guest. Though I didn’t read this in the review, per se, it would seem that this one and only review caused the five senses of J. Son of Amittai to redline the entire stay there! I don’t know how he stood it? I guess he had no choice in the matter. Sometimes you take what you can get, right? Isn’t it remarkable how Yahweh can get our full attention when we are intentionally ignoring His will! Selah.
In my inquiry into sperm whales, I picked up some disagreement among marine zoologists concerning the function of the forestomach.5 It is beyond my paygrade to weigh in on the merits of the functional capacity of this antechamber. Nonetheless, this aroused my interest because, again, this is where I think Jonah was positioned in the sperm whale for the duration.
What I find very interesting is that there is to some degree a backward flow of gastric juices secreted from the main stomach entering the forestomach,6 which would suggest there is indeed some digestion taking place in the forestomach, even though there is no glandular activity originating in the forestomach. The whale is incapable of chewing; instead, there is mashing and grinding by the thick muscular walls of the forestomach in reducing its prey to a manageable size before peristalsis moves it to the main.7 Some refer to the biomechanical movements in the forestomach as peristalsis as well.8
It would seem that any water residing in the forestomach would have to be toxic to cephalopods (squid or giant squid) or other fish caught up in the whale’s mouth due to any reflux entering the forestomach from the main. There would be no extraction of oxygen from digestive acids.
How in the world could Jonah survive the biomechanical and biochemical actions in the GI system of the whale? He couldn't apart from divine intervention. I have no idea of the PSI (pounds per square inch) being exuded on the contents (including Jonah) in the forestomach.
That won’t even get you a first down! It takes a lot more guts to be a sperm whale, yes! It would stand to reason that the GI transit time of food being swallowed, processed, and excreted for sperm whales does not apply to all cetaceans given the obvious physical size differences.
Consider the transit time of humans. It takes 6-8 hours for food to pass through the stomach and small intestine. Upon entering the large intestine for further digestion, the average time through the large intestine (colon) and the elimination of undigested food is 40 hours. There are notable differences in transit time for men and women.3a
The muscular and glandular activities of the first two stomachs of a sperm whale must be fast-acting given an appetite of shoveling in practically a ton of food per day.4 All of this food once swallowed enters the forestomach or first stomach (rumen). I mentioned earlier in this series this is where I thought Jonah may have resided for three days and three nights.
I looked at the only review I could find on the Whale’s Way Inn in chapter 2. Ghastly would be an understatement. Reading between the lines, it looked as if Jonah, Son of Amittai, gave it a 1 out of 5. I am of the impression that he would have given it a 0 out of 5 if 0 was an option. I would agree that dark, wet, smelly, creepy, and horrifying is no way to treat a guest. Though I didn’t read this in the review, per se, it would seem that this one and only review caused the five senses of J. Son of Amittai to redline the entire stay there! I don’t know how he stood it? I guess he had no choice in the matter. Sometimes you take what you can get, right? Isn’t it remarkable how Yahweh can get our full attention when we are intentionally ignoring His will! Selah.
In my inquiry into sperm whales, I picked up some disagreement among marine zoologists concerning the function of the forestomach.5 It is beyond my paygrade to weigh in on the merits of the functional capacity of this antechamber. Nonetheless, this aroused my interest because, again, this is where I think Jonah was positioned in the sperm whale for the duration.
What I find very interesting is that there is to some degree a backward flow of gastric juices secreted from the main stomach entering the forestomach,6 which would suggest there is indeed some digestion taking place in the forestomach, even though there is no glandular activity originating in the forestomach. The whale is incapable of chewing; instead, there is mashing and grinding by the thick muscular walls of the forestomach in reducing its prey to a manageable size before peristalsis moves it to the main.7 Some refer to the biomechanical movements in the forestomach as peristalsis as well.8
It would seem that any water residing in the forestomach would have to be toxic to cephalopods (squid or giant squid) or other fish caught up in the whale’s mouth due to any reflux entering the forestomach from the main. There would be no extraction of oxygen from digestive acids.
How in the world could Jonah survive the biomechanical and biochemical actions in the GI system of the whale? He couldn't apart from divine intervention. I have no idea of the PSI (pounds per square inch) being exuded on the contents (including Jonah) in the forestomach.
You get the idea that it was not
a fun time for Jonah being in an extremely hostile environment inside the whale. The whale’s GI
wanted to break him down like food, push him through the processes, and poop
him out, nothing personal, just all-natural.
Contents in the forestomach are moved by peristalsis into the main gastric bath of the main stomach that converts food into absorbable substances through glandular activity producing acid and enzymes to digest food (hydrochloric acid and pepsin). Cetaceans have no gallbladder, but they have the largest liver of all mammals to generate bile for digestion.9
Contents in the forestomach are moved by peristalsis into the main gastric bath of the main stomach that converts food into absorbable substances through glandular activity producing acid and enzymes to digest food (hydrochloric acid and pepsin). Cetaceans have no gallbladder, but they have the largest liver of all mammals to generate bile for digestion.9
It had to have been a living
nightmare for Jonah even though Yahweh supernaturally provided the much-needed
oxygen in order for him to survive and protected him from being crushed by the biomechanics of the thick muscular walls of the
forestomach, but we have to keep in mind that Jonah volunteered for chastening by Yahweh by his disobedience to do His will. Jonah was also shielded from a certain amount of biochemical harm due to gastric juices being secreted from the main stomach into the forestomach where Jonah was located.
Jonah was also supernaturally prevented from being moved into the main stomach by peristalsis of which most certainly would have made Jonah into a gastric soup by the whale’s digestive acids. I am sure it didn't sit well with the whale with Jonah taking up residence in its forestomach. Yahweh would have to intervene to keep this massive creature from dumping Jonah out into deep blue water to make its tummy feel better. We have to conclude that, yes, it was highly probable that a sperm whale engulfed Jonah into its forestomach, but there is no way that Jonah could have survived inside that beast without Divine intervention.
Jonah’s ride inside the whale
was anything but romantic, to say the least. Rebellion takes us to places we
cannot imagine. Taking a look at the innards of the first two stomachs, we can
understand the position of marine science that survival is impossible. Since
the biblical record indicates that Jonah did survive (Jonah 2:10), and based on
that authority, the only explanation for Jonah surviving against all odds was through
divine intervention! <><
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2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bartley
(see Investigations)
2a. https://baleinesendirect.org/en/how-does-digestion-take-place-in-whales/
3.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sperm_whale (see Biological systems)
3a. https://www.mayoclinic.org/digestive-system/expert-answers/faq-20058340
4. https://oceanwide-expeditions.com/to-do/wildlife/sperm-whale
(see How do sperm whales hunt?)
5.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/physeter
(must register to gain access to information) citing James
G. Mead, in Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals (Second Edition), 2009
6. Ibid.
7. Op cit (3)
8.
9. Op cit (2a)
9. Op cit (2a)
