Jonah 1:17

"And Jehovah prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights."

The word "prepared" as used here actually means "commissioned" or appointed, or "ordered."[36] It may be assumed that the great fish was ready at the instant God needed it, just as the tree had been growing by the bitter waters of Marah for a long time prior to the moment when Moses was commanded to cast it into the waters for the purpose of making the bitter waters sweet (Exodus 15:23f). The miraculous nature of the event narrated here is seen in the timing of the fish's appearance and swallowing Jonah and in the fact of the experience not being fatal to Jonah.

"Three days and three nights ..." Most commentators move quickly to protect the popular superstition regarding this being a reference to the so-called "Hebrew idiom," in which any part of three days and three nights, as for example two partial days, one whole day, and two nights may properly be called "three days and three nights!" However, we reject this, not only as it is alleged to apply here to the experience of Jonah, but in the fact of its application to the experience of Christ as well, who was in the grave "three days and three nights," rising the third day. Sunday was described in the Book of Luke as "The third day since" the crucifixion (Luke 24:21); and there is no honest way to make that mean that Sunday is the third day since Friday! (See my dissertation on this entire subject in my commentary on Mark, pp. 343-351.)

THE GREAT FISH

The King James translators made an unfortunate mistranslation of Matthew 12:38-40, in which this great fish was called "a whale"; but that word is nowhere found in the Scriptures in connection with the events recorded here.

As to what kind of fish this was, there is utterly no way of knowing. Many scholars have needlessly exercised themselves in trying to help God out (!) by finding a record of some great fish that could actually swallow a man; but such "findings" have no value at all. The event here described is clearly beyond nature and above it. The supernatural is written on every word of this narrative. In nature, there is no such thing as a fish that could swallow a man without killing him; and it is a futile kind of vanity that looks for such a thing. As a type of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, this event was designed to be altogether above and beyond the ordinary occurrences in the realm of nature.

A more pertinent question, it seems to this writer, is that of whether Jonah remained alive for that three days and three nights within the belly of the great fish, or if God raised him from the dead upon the occasion of the great fish's vomiting him out upon the dry land. The record of the prayer which Jonah prayed after being swallowed seems to argue that he was alive; but, since the prayer was only a matter of a very few minutes duration, it falls short of proving Jonah's continued life within the fish's belly for a whole three days and three nights. Basing argument upon the fact that Jesus Christ certainly was not alive for three days and nights in the tomb, DeHaan did not hesitate to affirm that, "Jonah was dead for three days and three nights, and then was resurrected and sent forth to preach."[37] The event must be accepted as "a sign from heaven," no matter how it is understood, that is, whether Jonah was maintained alive inside the fish for that extended period, or if he was resurrected after the fish vomited him up.

It really serves no purpose to find examples of extraordinarily large specimens of ocean life such as the Mediterranean white shark, and others, which are alleged to have swallowed men, or even horses; what of it? No such event ever heard of even approaches what is said here of Jonah. This is intended as a sign from God, the particular sign to which Jesus appealed in his struggle against the Pharisees, and the one which he made, preeminently above all others, the sign of his own death, burial and resurrection (Matthew 12:38-40).

"Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, Teacher, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonah: for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:38-40).

It is poor exegesis that attempts to explain Jesus' words here as anything other than an acceptance of the events in Jonah as factual. He even went on to declare in that same passage:

"The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jonah is here" (Matthew 12:41).

And in the very next line, Jesus went on to mention the queen of the south who would rise up in judgment and condemn the generation of the Pharisees, "For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here" (Matthew 12:42). The only logical deduction that may be made from this statement is that Christ considered Jonah just as historical as the queen of the south.

THREE MIRACLES IN THIS CHAPTER

There are no less than three miracles in this first chapter:

(1) the great tempest which God sent out into the sea,

(2) the immediate calm which ensued when Jonah was cast overboard, and

(3) the great fish appointed at the right instant to appear and swallow up Jonah. Strangely enough, one finds little objection to the first two of these wonders. Why is that? The same applies to the other miracles that appear subsequently in the narrative, such as

(4) the worm,

(5) the gourd vine, and

(6) the scorching east wind.

DeHaan explained the complacency with which the lesser wonders are received as follows:

"The one incident in the Book of Jonah upon which almost all the attacks are leveled is the story of Jonah's sojourn in the belly of the fish. We hear little objection to the worm, or the supernatural gourd, or the stilling of the storm. The reason for this becomes immediately evident in the fact that Jonah's experience was a picture of the gospel of the death and the resurrection of Christ! That is why the enemies of Christ can swallow the storm, and the calm, and even the worm and the gourd vine, etc; but the fish, the fish (!) - that is just too big a mouthful for them."[38]

We conclude the study of this chapter with Deane's comment regarding the wonders related in it:

"The historical nature of these occurrences is substantiated by Christ's reference to them as a type of his own burial and resurrection. The antitype confirms the truth of the type. It is not credible that Christ would use a mere legendary tale, with no historical basis, to confirm his most solemn statement concerning the momentous fact of his resurrection."[39]

Before leaving this chapter, it should be noted that Jonah here appeared as a remarkable type of Israel. Christ of course is the "new Israel," Jonah being also a vivid and instructive type of the Lord Jesus Christ; but it also follows that his life in certain particulars is also typical of the old Israel.

JONAH; A TYPE OF SECULAR ISRAEL

Both Jonah and Israel were satisfied in Jerusalem, or Samaria.

Both Jonah and Israel despised the Gentiles.

Both Jonah and Israel were unwilling to preach to Gentiles.

For Jonah's failure, he was "cast overboard"; and for Israel's failure, they were rejected as "the chosen people."

Jonah was overruled by God who required him to preach the word to Gentiles; and Israel too in the person of the apostles was required to preach the truth to the Gentiles.

Jonah's preaching converted many Gentiles; and Israel's witness to the Gentiles (by the Jewish apostles and Paul) also converted a host of Gentiles.

Jonah was sorely displeased by the Gentiles' conversion; and secular Israel also stubbornly rejected all allegations that Gentiles should be saved by the gospel.