M-G: 11.13.19 // Some Observations in Jonah 1:17, Part 3 of 5

Sperm whale (Physeter microcephalus) illustration by Uko Gorter

To Part 2 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).

What is actually contentious in our day is v17; the focus has shifted from the cynical belief that a sperm whale does not have the capability to swallow a human whole, because there is evidence that it can, to how could Jonah possibly survive inside this creature for his next breath? It is a great question! 

I agree with that sensible conclusion in the natural realm from what we know of the digestive system of a sperm whale, but Jonah needed oxygen immediately and for his entire duration inside the whale! There is no way Jonah could have survived on his own, but the biblical record stated that he did, not only for Jonah's next breath but for three days and three nights! “Houston, we got an oxygen problem and a digestive process problem.”

By faith, we understand that the Creator God is not subject to His creation and therefore transcends all the natural laws and processes according to His will; that is His sovereign prerogative. Therefore, in order for Jonah to survive for that period of time inside the forestomach (“first, esophageal compartment, paunch,”10 hence, belly) of a sperm whale, Yahweh would have to intervene and supply, shield, or suspend those things listed below.

1. Providing oxygen in an airless environment.

2. Protecting Jonah from the muscular mashing and grinding activities by the thick wall of the forestomach.

3. Preventing peristalsis from moving Jonah into the main stomach or the second stomach (cardiac stomach) where there are numerous fundus glands. Peristalsis is a series of wave-like muscle contractions that move food through the digestive tract in a natural rhythmic fashion. It starts in the esophagus when food is swallowed and ends with the non-digestible leaving the anus.

4. Reducing or stopping Jonah’s exposure to the digestive acid and enzyme reflux from the main going into the forestomach.

5. Preventing the whale’s natural behavior of spontaneously disgorging non-digestible foreign matter from the forestomach, or the main for that matter, into the deep blue. 

What this tells me is that we don’t need to be overly concerned about looking for any extinct creature, an existing creature, or a created creature and prequalify it to satisfy two requirements: swallowability and survivability. The latter is where the miracles reside because there could be more than one sea creature out there in the ocean able to swallow a human whole, but its victim is not going to survive without oxygen. 

It is not about shopping for a marine creature that fits our narrative and can pass the screening test, “Is it capable of swallowing Jonah whole without harming him, and could Jonah survive after being swallowed?” Realistically, don’t you think that no one is going to survive being swallowed whole for three days and three nights? Therefore, all candidates are disqualified though possessing the potential of swallowing a human whole, whether it is a special nuclear mutated giant grouper (kidding), great whites, sperm whales, or whatever! None are going to pass the smell test, none! Because there is no record of it, except for Jonah, and the only reason he survived was by the grace of God. 

Ever get in a conversation about Jonah and people automatically engage in the mode of “I think” because they are familiar with the story from childhood, but you quickly discover they are not really versed in it? What runs through your mind as you listen to them is unfortunately all too familiar because they are merely using Scripture as a launchpad for their opinion.

For example, it was said to me recently, “God created a great fish for the exclusive purpose of dealing with Jonah.” In other words, with that explanation, it stops the naysayers dead in their tracks and stabilizes personal faith. Uh, that magic wand approach is subjective and scary. 

Knowing this and not wanting to get sucked into a long-standing opinion that can be difficult to dislodge without some form of resentment, I nonchalantly made an appeal, “Do you think that the Hebrew word, mânâh, translated prepared (KJV/NKJV) a great fish in this context suggests pre-existing; that God used some great aquatic creature already in existence?” Believe it or not, that was my literal question because I currently was studying the book of Jonah. I didn’t receive an answer, and the conversation went elsewhere. The gist of the unknown answer amounted to “Nope, it doesn’t fit my narrative.”

I am not into the idea that Yahweh built a fantasy fish that we don’t know about that would not only swallow Jonah whole but allow him to survive for three days and three nights in a newly designed mobile fish hotel. Do I think it is possible that there could have been a species in Jonah’s day that is now extinct that we do not know about; I sure do. The marine species Yahweh summoned that day to swallow Jonah alive was more than likely a sperm whale.

Now that it is acknowledged by marine science that a sperm whale could swallow a human whole, the prevailing opinion on survivability was still set at zero. Jonah could not survive on his own. The miracle was in those 5 points above that cut against the grain of all the reasons why he couldn’t survive. We have to stop looking for a creature that Jonah could have survived being swallowed because there is not one. If there was, the needle would swing to a natural explanation.

Let’s take a closer look at this controversial verse in Jonah 1:17. 

Now the LORD [Yahweh]

In Jon 1:4, the LORD sent out; here in v17, the LORD had prepared. This phrase clearly identifies the causality and reality of v17 to Yahweh, not to coincidence or natural occurrence or the unexplainable mysteries of nature!

Now the LORD had prepared (mânâh)

This chart is provided so that the reader may see some of the various ways the Hebrew word, mânâh, is translated consistently.

Ref:	Jonah 1:17	Jonah 4:6	Jonah 4:7	Jonah 4:8
Heb verb:	mânâh	mânâh	mânâh	mânâh
KJV	prepared	prepared	prepared	prepared
NKJV	prepared	prepared	prepared	prepared
RV	prepared	prepared	prepared	prepared
ESV	appointed	appointed	appointed	appointed
HCSB	appointed	appointed	appointed	appointed
NASB	appointed	appointed	appointed	appointed
NIV	provided	provided	provided	provided
NLT	arranged	arranged	arranged	arranged

Please note that God used an existing whale (a great fish); He didn’t create one; He appointed, prepared, provided, arranged, or summoned one.  

a great fish

You can see that I have used sperm whale and a great fish interchangeably. Yes, I want my mammal and fish and eat my cake, too! For the record, I do not want to automatically assume that this great fish in Jonah’s story has to be a sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) that swallowed Jonah simply because it is the only plausible explanation of an existing sea creature that potentially had the capability of swallowing a human whole. Whales don’t chew so they have to swallow whole, right?

If we stick to our guns based on the verbal plenary inspiration view of Scripture, fish (Heb. dag, in this case, a great fish,), size unknown, was intended by the Holy Spirit during inspiration. In that case, technically speaking, it may or may not exclude a sperm whale though it is a mammal and not a fish Do you think the omniscient Yahweh knew the difference between air-breathing creatures and extracting oxygen out of water creatures!? He ought to know; He created them (Gn 1:20-21).

There are four approaches to this great fish (dag). (1) It literally was an unidentifiable great fish (with gills, I presume) already in existence that was large enough to swallow a human whole. (2) This fish was specially created by God to swallow Jonah. (3) There never was any fish that literally swallowed Jonah. (4) A sperm whale swallowed Jonah.

In some respects, I find it not surprising that this landlubber described this creature as a great fish, though fish have gills, no lungs, extracting oxygen directly from the water; sperm whales, on the other hand, are mammals with lungs and a blowhole for breathing and exhaling air. Obviously, Jonah, a landlubber, didn’t know that this great fish that swallowed him was a mammal. 

There is no word for a whale in Hebrew, notwithstanding, Moses used another word for great sea creatures found in Genesis 1:21, great (Heb., gadol) sea creatures (Heb., tanniym). Tanniym is “a word whose root indicates a creature of some length” (Leupold on Gen 1:21; cf. Psa 148:7). It may be possible that cetaceans are located under the umbrella of Moses’ great sea creatures? If this is true, the compelling question was why did Jonah not refer to this aquatic creature as a great sea creature rather than a great fish during inspiration? Jonah used gadol (great)14 times in his book.

Admittedly, the Bible is not a book of science, but whenever it speaks on the subject, it is accurate and authoritative since its Author is the Creator God (cf. 2 Tim 3:16, inspiration, lit., God-breathed, Gk., theopneustos). With that said, I don’t want to discard the possibility that the Holy Spirit preserved Jonah’s viewpoint as a landlubber. He obviously was not a marine zoologist and neither was Moses! Why Jonah did not employ tanniyn (Gn 1:21, a great sea creature) instead of dag (Jon 1:17, a great fish and we associate fish with gills, right?), only God knows. I am fully aware of that and have to admit to the possibility that this great fish may not have been a sperm whale at all.

Over 2,700 years ago, maybe there was a great fish large enough to swallow a man whole that is now extinct for some reason? If so, it was already in existence when Yahweh directed it to swallow His prophet. Maybe this great fish was the last of its kind and died on the shores of Assyria after beaching and giving Jonah up!

The rivulets of imagination stirring and emerging from this story are without end, to say the least. Regardless, I am not going to downplay the miraculous nature of this event, nor insist that Jonah was swallowed by a sperm whale or not swallowed by a sperm whale. Either way, the outcome is the same. 

The Holy Spirit allowed a landlubber like Jonah to use his normal language to describe this behemoth as a great fish. Ezekiel described the vision of the wheels in his own understanding, like Jonah describing his submersible vehicle as a great fish. The miraculous nature of inspiration is God choosing the very words of the individual authors, and yet, retaining the author’s word choice and style! Figure that one out! And by the way, how did Jesus take some clay and spittle and opened the eyes of a man born blind? Will someone please explain that one to me! If God is selecting every word, how do we see differences in Paul’s writings versus John’s or Peter’s, for instance? Miracles defy explanation and so does the doctrine of the inspiration of God (theopneustos).

Since there are insufficient data to be conclusive whether a great dag or a great tanniyn, I am going with a literal sperm whale with the understanding that it potentially could have been something else, a great fish (with gills unless this fish didn’t have any gills which, in that case, it would not be a fish, right, unless it was a “fantasy fish!”). If leaning towards a sperm whale makes me a heretic or a hypocrite, “Oh, whale!” For some, I am already a heretic since I am not a KJO (King James only)! Don’t you see that I am forced to go with sperm whale because I am using a sperm whale icon in every article on Jonah in my current series, Some Observations in Jonah!?

Since this great fish thing is truly miraculous, anyway, maybe my fantasy fish should have been a minnow, a freshwater fish? Forget about being great; I got a magic wand! Swimming in saltwater and swallowing now becomes the miracle along with how could a minnow swallow a human whole and live? <><

To Part 4 Jonah 1:17

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10. 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