Jonah and the Whale

I thought of how often I hear people speak of Jonah and the whale as a myth.  The reason?  They claim a man cannot fit down the throat of a whale and still live.

Well, I'd like to provide a bit of REALITY of Jonah being taken down LITERALLY into the belly of the whale.

Those who speak of Jonah and the whale as a myth have NOT understood what actually happened, nor have they understood what Christ said in reference to Jonah.

Christ literally said He would be in the belly of the earth just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale.  (Just a note: In Jewish time any part of a day was considered a full day.)

Furthermore, Christ literally spoke of His death and resurrection when He spoke of Jonah.  Why would Christ speak of his death and resurrection and then compare it to a myth?  Would not some people argue that His resurrection is also a myth?

Well, the FACT is, Jesus Christ did not compare His death and resurrection to a "myth."

Most people think of Jonah being swallowed by a whale and somehow he stays alive by waiting for the whale to surface to replenish the air so he could breath.  Some people, in a more childish way, picture Jonah like they do Pinocchio sitting around in the belly of the whale with a candle to read by while he was waiting to be expelled on the ocean's shore.

Well, here is the fact.  Scripture tells us that Jonah was LITERALLY calling out as he was taken down into the belly of the whale.  But then, and this is what most people miss, Jonah cried out from the BELLY OF SHEOL.  SHEOL is the PLACE OF THE DEAD.

So, here is the fact.  Jonah is calling out BEFORE he dies as he is taking down into the jaws of death.  And then, Jonah is chomped to death by the whale and goes down into the BELLY of the whale.  He LITERALLY died, just as Christ LITERALLY died as HE underwent the jaws of death.  Jonah went to the place of the DEAD (SHEOL) just like Christ went to the place of the DEAD (SHEOL) to preach the Good News to the dead as stated in the Apostles Creed.

In Jonah 2:2 we read:

2: "And he said, "I called out of my distress to the Lord, and he answered me.  I cried for help from THE BELLY OF SHEOL.  You heard my voice."

Some translations render it as "The belly of Hell," and other terms of the afterlife, but it was always rendered as the place of the dead (not the place of the damned).

The reason why many people fail to see the context of what REALLY happened is because they see the word "BELLY."  Christ said "Just as Jonah was in the BELLY of the whale so too the Son of Man shall be in the BELLY of the earth."  People see the word "Belly" and do not finish the sentence.   A whale has as Belly, but Jonah was in its BELLY, DEAD, and he called out from SHEOL.

After you see that Jonah was dead in the belly of the whale, and that his soul departed his body and went to the place of the dead, the whale went up to the beach and upchucked Jonah onto the beach.  A LITERAL resurrection of Jonah took place.

Nor does it matter if some version of Scriptures render the whale as a "Big Fish," or some sea creature.  Jonah was dead as a doornail.

Roger L.