Did a whale really swallow Jonah?

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

Jonah, a prophet sent to Nineveh, initially refused and fled from God's command, causing a storm at sea. Realizing he was the cause, Jonah asked to be thrown overboard, and a great fish swallowed him for three days. Upon being vomited onto shore, Jonah obeyed and preached to Nineveh, where everyone, including the king, repented. This miraculous conversion, along with the supernatural elements of Jonah's experience with the giant fish (or whale), is the reason why people find the book of Jonah difficult to believe. The Ninevites' worship of Dagon, a fish god, makes Jonah's story plausible to them. Jesus referenced Jonah, using it as a sign of his own death and resurrection, affirming its truthfulness, which leads believers to accept Jonah's story as a miraculous reality, akin to Jesus's resurrection. Yes, Jonah was swallowed by a great fish.

FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT

• Jonah was a prophet sent to the town of Nineveh to preach to the people there, telling them to repent and turn to God (Jonah 1:1-2).
• Jonah did not want to go to the Ninevites, so he ran away from God and got on a ship (Jonah 1:3).
• God brought a storm (Jonah 1:4–16), and the ship was nearly destroyed. Jonah realized it was his fault, so he asked the sailors to throw him overboard. They did. Once Jonah was sent overboard, the storm dissipated. Then, a giant fish (often assumed to have been a whale) swallowed Jonah, and he was in the belly of the fish for three days and nights, after which the fish spewed Jonah onto the shore near Nineveh (Jonah 1:17; 2:10).
• After Jonah appeared in Nineveh, he preached to the people, and they all, including the king, repented and believed in God.
• History presents a fascinating detail about the Ninevites. They worshiped a god called Dagon, who was a fish god. He was often depicted as a man wearing a fish, or as a half-man, half-fish creature. Dagon was also worshiped by other ancient people, including the Philistines (Judges 16:23–24; 1 Samuel 5:1–7; 1 Chronicles 10:8–12). We know that the Ninevites worshiped Dagon because of archeological finds: images depicting Dagon found in the remains of their palaces and temples. With this in mind, if the Ninevites saw a man being spewed out of the mouth of a giant fish, it is plausible they would have believed him to have divine origins and would have been persuaded to listen to anything he had to say and to obey his words, which is exactly what the Bible tells us happened (Jonah 3).

FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT

• Jesus referred to Jonah, saying, "For just 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. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here" (Matthew 12:40–41; Luke 11:29–30, 32). Jonah was a prophet, in that he spoke truth to the Ninevites, but Jesus treated the details of Jonah's story as a prophecy pointing to his own death, burial, and resurrection.
• Furthermore, speaking of the unbelieving Jews, Jesus said that "no sign will be given to [this evil generation] except the sign of Jonah" (Matthew 12:39; Matthew 16:4; Luke 11:29). Apparently, Jesus believed the story of Jonah to be true.

IMPLICATIONS FOR TODAY

We know that Jesus is God (John 1:1–3; John 8:58), and God does not lie. There is no indication from the text of Jonah's book nor from the words of Jesus, that the story of Jonah was a fairy-tale or fable. Clearly, Jonah's survival in the belly of the fish and the repentance of the Ninevites were miracles. Anyone who believes the story of Jesus's resurrection and has experienced personal repentance and redemption will acknowledge that these, too, are miracles. As such, we should have no problem admitting that, indeed, Jonah was swallowed by a whale (or great marine animal of some kind).

UNDERSTAND

• Jonah fled from God's command to Nineveh and was miraculously swallowed by a great fish.
• Jonah was swallowed by a giant fish and stayed there for three days and nights, changing his outcome.
• Jonah being swallowed by a great fish was used as an allusion in the New Testament.

REFLECT

• How does the story of Jonah being swallowed by a great fish challenge your understanding of God's intervention and miracles?
• Have you ever experienced a situation where you felt "swallowed up" by difficulties or circumstances? How did you find hope or deliverance in that situation?
• What lessons does Jonah’s time in the great fish teach us about obedience, repentance, and second chances?

ENGAGE

• The story of Jonah in the Bible is viewed skeptically by many people because of its miraculous content. How can we uphold the story of Jonah and reveal its importance to a world that disregards the supernatural?
• An ancient historian by the name of Berosus adds even more validity to Jonah's story. He tells the tale of Oannes, a mythical fish-man who came from the sea and gave the people wisdom. Scholars relate this story to the Babylonian water-god Ea, or Enki, but Berosus used the name "Oannes," the Assyrian/Ninevite translation of the Greek name "Ioannes," which the Hebrews translated as "Jonah." What significance does the similarity of biblical truths in other ancient texts have on our faith?
• Considering Jonah's experience of being swallowed by a great fish, what does this part of the story teach us about God's ability to rescue us from desperate situations?