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| Sperm whale (Physeter microcephalus) illustration by Uko Gorter |
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| To Part 4 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).
And
Jonah was in the belly of the fish (cont)
Here
is what Jonah could expect on a regular basis while he was in the forestomach
of this cetacean. This creature collects nearly a ton of food per day,
mainly squid and large squid along with fish and whatever was at the wrong
place at the wrong time going in whole down the esophagus into the forestomach,
Jonah’s temporary residence. Like Jonah, food is swallowed whole because whales do not
chew. Even their conical teeth are useless for mastication.
Jonah
is in the darkest darkness of his life; he has been stripped of any sense of
sight by the absolute absence of light. Ever been spelunking deep within the caverns of a cave when all the lights were turned off? Disorientation, isolation, and vulnerability emerge while being in total darkness! Jonah’s other four senses are on high alert and redlining from the volume
of incoming data. He can only feel the wet, slimy, or scaly and the occasional
aquatic plant life (cf. Jon 2:5c).
I
have no idea of the temperature in the forestomach. Coldwater has to be
getting in there from swallowing its prey during deep dives. The sounds of new
food entering the forestomach, the smell of squid being smashed by the thick
walls of the forestomach, the sounds and smell of death and digestion, the
unavoidable horrid taste of the unknown occasionally trekking across the taste
buds (nothing kosher, right) were all creating sensory overload. Jonah will have many
sleepless nights to come for the rest of his life, suffering from PTS; there
will be weeping and whaling.
He
wanted to be away from Yahweh; isn’t that what he told the mariners (Jon 1:10b)?
Be careful what you ask for; you might just get it (read this again, Rom 15:4)!
Of course, Yahweh never had abandoned Jonah at any time; but nothing will convince
him of that right about now!
You
recognize this unlike-Job reaction when talking with other believers in a major
crisis (cf. Job 1:20-21; read Rom 15:4 again)! Jonah’s adventure of three days and three
nights of
this stuff was just beginning! God is choreographing all of his experiences.
Remember this truth? Nothing ever enters your life unless God approves of it
(cf. Heb 13:5b). Oh, how we revel in that truth that God is in control,
particularly in what we interpret as good things happening to us. Then comes
the unthinkable, the unimaginable bad thing; Rom 8:28 works both ways.
God, in His infinite, wisdom defines what is good and what is bad. All things (good
and bad) work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called
according to His purpose. Paul under inspiration did not make a declaration
that all things are good; but God has the power, the knowledge, and the wisdom
to make all things work together for good for His glory. It is a wonderful
verse, but it also can be a tough one to process under pressure unless you have the mindset of Job. You got to like the end result if you
respect the premise behind Rom 8:28 - All things work together for good because Yahweh is sovereign, and in that sovereignty, we discover His sufficiency.
Jonah’s
miraculous survival took place in the first stomach. I have made mention of the
fact about acid reflux entering into the forestomach, causing some digestion to
take place there along with the mashing and grinding by the thick muscular wall
of the stomach. After Jonah’s ordeal, I wonder if he ever finished his second scroll, Good
Times in the Boat, the Belly, and the Bastion?
Some
consider peristalsis as not only moving food throughout the GI tract but also in
the mashing and grinding in the forestomach. I have no data to confirm or deny that to be true. Something is causing muscular movement in the forestomach. If so, God protected Jonah from that as well. Also, I am unsure if it was even possible for Jonah to fit through that channel connecting the forestomach to the main one apart from being broken down into smaller parts?
Once getting out of
this whale, I doubt that I will research any further to find out, but you never know. With time on my hands, I might ponder if that channel was stretchable and do some more investigating of the cetaceans; that's what nerds do, right? If I find corroborating evidence that Jonah would be unable to go into the main stomach whole, it would support my theory that Jonah went no further than the forestomach.
From what I have gathered, this is what Yahweh prevented from happening while Jonah was in the forestomach. Peristalsis
would have broken down the food (Jonah) in the forestomach along with some help by acid reflux from the
main stomach and moved parts of him into the main to be dissolved by digestive acids
and enzymes secreted by the main stomach. Peristalsis would churn this liquid mixture called chyme; yes, Jonah’s name would be changed to chyme.
Peristalsis would carry that chyme (Jonah) from the main stomach to the other two stomachs and continue into the small intestine where the chyme (Jonah) is mixed and shifted back and forth,
allowing nutrients donated by Jonah to be absorbed into the bloodstream through the small
intestinal walls. The strong wavelike motion of peristalsis would continue in the
large intestine where water from undigested food material is absorbed into the
bloodstream.
It gets better! Nearing the end of Jonah’s transit time of 15 to 18 hours later, the remaining waste products of Jonah are moved to be excreted from the body through the rectum and anus. It is oversimplified, but there you have it. He was in the water, sucked up, processed, and released back into the same waters. It's time to sing about the circle of life!
It gets better! Nearing the end of Jonah’s transit time of 15 to 18 hours later, the remaining waste products of Jonah are moved to be excreted from the body through the rectum and anus. It is oversimplified, but there you have it. He was in the water, sucked up, processed, and released back into the same waters. It's time to sing about the circle of life!
We
really should desist from trying to find a way for Jonah to get air from the
whale. Apparently, there were several things that he needed to survive while in the belly of this great beast. Ostensibly, Yahweh addressed them all (cf. Jon 2:10). Can I explain how He did it? No. Jonah remaining in the forestomach may have led the GI system to eject Jonah in God’s timing, not according to the whale’s metabolic
processes.
God created this creature; He could have manipulated its GI system. What we do know is that Jonah went in (Jon 1:17) and came out alive (Jon 2:10); that’s not supposed to happen, but behind the miraculous was Yahweh! He is the God of miracles! Hallelujah! Can you explain any of the miracles of God recorded in the Scriptures? This is the biblical record that we either take it by faith or reject it; I prefer to do the former.
God created this creature; He could have manipulated its GI system. What we do know is that Jonah went in (Jon 1:17) and came out alive (Jon 2:10); that’s not supposed to happen, but behind the miraculous was Yahweh! He is the God of miracles! Hallelujah! Can you explain any of the miracles of God recorded in the Scriptures? This is the biblical record that we either take it by faith or reject it; I prefer to do the former.
In
keeping things interesting for Jonah, “The whales were found to spend seven
percent of their day in vertical sleeping positions near the surface of the
water, where they napped from 10 to 15 minutes.” Researchers suggested that they might be one of the world’s “least sleep-dependent animals.”13 Jolly good for Jonah!
Did
you know that the head of a sperm whale is about a third of its length and is estimated to weigh more than a third of its body weight?14 This is why they are called macrocephalus
(big head, big brain). Because of their massive head and prominent forehead,
sperm whales are easily identifiable.
Sperm
whales also have the largest brain of any living creature on earth, varying in
weight, of course, but an adult brain is about 15 to 18 lbs., weighing in more
than the Blue whales at about 15 lbs.?15 A human brain weighs
around 3 lbs. A larger brain, however, doesn’t equate to greater cognitive
abilities. The brain of the sperm whale is located in the lower back portion of
that huge head.16 When males are bumping
heads, their brains are safely tucked away. That’s rich!
Let’s
look at the length of time Jonah spent in the belly of this magnificent
creature.
three
days and three nights17
This
phrase should not be controversial, but it is by coercive literalists, and
I am not surprised in the least. This phrase three days and three nights could mean in whole or
part. In other words, it is not referring to a precise interval of time but
part of the day or night is considered a full day. It has been referred to as
“Jewish reckoning,” as illustrated in Esther 4:16; 5:1, and we do this all the time in our daily lives. This means that Jonah
and Jesus were literally in a belly/tomb, respectively, but not literally for
72 hours with a natural understanding that a part is being considered a day. See footnote 17.
Mat
12:39) But
He answered and said to them, an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a
sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
(Mat
12:40) For
as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish,
so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the
heart of the earth.
(Mat
12:41) The
men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and
condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a
greater than Jonah is here.
Jesus
treated Jonah as a historical figure, not a fictitious one (Mt 12:39-41;
16:4; Lk 11:29-32). The sign of the prophet Jonah would be meaningless if Jonah
was not literally in the belly of the fish. Jesus viewed it as literal for He
was there with Jonah in the eighth century B.C., and He would be in the tomb in the first century A.D. for
that approximate amount of time that Jonah was in the belly of the whale. It is doubtful that
they both shared a precise duration.
Jesus
declared that Jonah was in Nineveh; God the Son was with him there as well! There is no Assyrian record that Jonah ever visited Nineveh, c. 759 B.C. It
is no wonder; those in power wanted nothing in Assyrian records of the inhabitants in their capital city, of all places, turning from their state gods to the God of the Hebrews! In essence, they were erasing a part of their own history. They were not successful with Yahweh's release of Jonah's account.
Ancient kings were very protective of their narcissism; they only recorded their victories, not defeats, but also, they did not want to disclose any weaknesses to their enemies. For whatever reason, Jonah's visitation didn't make it into the Assyrian record books. It’s funny how history repeats itself. I am fond of quoting my ancient history professor in college who would always say,
“The one thing we learn from history is that man does not learn from history.” Therefore, we are prone to make the same mistakes. The one thing we learn from biblical history is that man does not learn from biblical history!
If
the story of Jonah was figurative, then why could not Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection be treated figuratively as well; in other words, it never really
happened which ultimately leads to the Bible being merely another book of man
on morality and ethics and nothing more! There are those who claim Jesus
resurrected spiritually but not physically. This is a satanic lie and should be
repudiated! How important is physical here? Read 1 Cor 15:17!
Should
we ever make a decision to willfully disobey Yahweh, we need to ask ourselves, “Does Yahweh deserve our eluding His will in light of what He has
done for us?” Jonah could have avoided his situation if he had shown compassion toward the Assyrians in the way he did for those pagan sailors on the Mediterranean Sea in the throes of the storm.
If
we are intentionally avoiding God’s will, it is only a matter of time in His
timing to deal with us in a way that He thinks is best. It is impossible to run
from the presence of God, only obedience (for so long). Some of us learn the
easy way; the remaining gets educated the hard way.
The
miracles Jonah experienced are amazing, but you know what? I just as soon
avoid those tough places and not have to experience those kinds of miracles! I
don’t need any of my senses redlining! I like the miracle of being obedient;
it’s easy on the senses! Next, we take a ride to the depths with Jonah and see what is going on with him; I hope
you come along. <><
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| End of Jonah 1:17 |
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13. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2017/07/sperm-whales-nap-
sleeping-photography-spd/
14.
https://www.britannica.com/animal/sperm-whale
15.
https://ofwhale.com/how-big-is-a-whales-brain/
16.
http://www.petroleumhistory.org/OilHistory/pages/Whale/anatomy.html
17. This Semitic
expression in this context was not intended to be understood as a literal period
of 72 hours. It is merely emphasizing an interval of time that included three days
in whole or part, making a Friday afternoon crucifixion and a Sunday
resurrection at sunrise feasible. Thursday sunset to Friday sunset is day 1;
Friday sunset to Saturday sunset is day 2; Saturday sunset to Sunday sunset is
day 3 in a literal sense in Jewish time. Jesus, however, resurrected during sunrise Sunday, or
shortly thereafter, on day 3. There were still ~12 hours remaining on the third
day. I concur with John MacArthur that alternative possibilities (“elaborate
schemes”) of Jesus dying on a Wednesday or Thursday is merely accommodating “a
modern, extremely literal understanding” of this phrase, “three days and three
nights,” in the name of possibility, I might add. See, The MacArthur’s Bible
Commentary, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005), 1146-1147. Jesus referencing
Jonah’s “three days and three nights,” where the word “days” is emphasized,
does not demand that both Jonah and Jesus shared precisely the same interval of
time: x-number of hours/x-number of minutes/x-number of seconds in the
whale/tomb, respectively. If anything, it should suggest by Hebraic usage that there is some wiggle room in this phrase, “three days and three nights.” Isn't it ironic that liberals accuse conservative Christians of being “literalists,” and ultra-conservatives accuse us of “heresy for not being literal enough! We must be doing something right, literally!
