For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:40)

Jonah is considered a minor prophet because he does not get a lot of ink in the Old Testament, but his calling and witness made a major impact.

The story is simple:

• Yahweh told Jonah to go to Nineveh and witness to the Assyrians.
• Jonah did not want to, so he boarded a ship sailing in the other direction.
• Yahweh assaulted the ship with a terrible storm and to save themselves, the sailors threw Jonah overboard.
• A giant fish swallowed Jonah.
• The fish vomited him up at Nineveh three days later.
• Jonah witnessed to Nineveh and all of Assyria repented.
• Jonah sat on a hillside and argued with Yahweh for saving Israel’s enemy.

Great story, but what is fascinating is what is not said.  Let’s review the story and add some details.

• Yahweh told Jonah to go to Nineveh and witness to the Assyrians.

The Assyrians were an especially brutal people, who relished in their brutality.  They had murals and reliefs made to depict their atrocities – many were discovered during archeological excavations.

Jonah was a prophet of Yahweh to the King of Israel (2Kings 14:25).  Yahweh may have told Jonah that the Assyrians would defeat Israel and carry them away to Assyria.

• Jonah did not want to, so he boarded a ship sailing in the other direction.

Jonah found a ship heading to Tarshish – a city in Spain at the tip of Gibraltar, the farthest place away from Assyria that Jonah could fathom.

• Yahweh assaulted the ship with a terrible storm and to save themselves, the sailors threw Jonah overboard.

The storm was so severe that the sailors were throwing the cargo over the side to try to save the ship – meanwhile, Jonah was sleeping through the whole thing (think Christ on the Sea of Galilee – Luke 8:23).  The crew realized the storm was supernatural and cast lots to determine who the storm was sent against.  Even after determining that Jonah was the one responsible for the storm, the crew still tried to save the ship and everyone on it.  When this failed, they prayed for absolution because they still do not want to throw Jonah off the boat.  They threw Jonah into the water and the seas become calm (think Christ on the Sea of Galilee – Luke 8:23).

• A giant fish swallowed Jonah.

The sailors may have tried to pull Jonah back onto the ship when the storm abated (they didn’t want to throw him overboard in the first place), but a giant fish appeared and swallowed Jonah.

In 1892, James Bartley was a crewman on a whaling ship and was pulled overboard when he harpooned a sperm whale.  The fish then came back around and swallowed James before his crew members could pull him back onto the boat.  The whale’s digestive system immediately began to try to digest the sailor.

The crew caught the whale on the next day and discovered James, still alive, when they cut the fish open.  He was in a coma and his skin was bleached from the whale’s gastic acids (https://min.news/en/nature/c0f84a088eb0e6463cf07f2e5b6e85f4.html).

It is believed the story is a hoax (fisherman tell great fish stories) because once inside, the fish’s stomach acids and lack of air would kill a man very quickly (https://animals.howstuffworks.com/animal-facts/whale-swallowed-someone-alive.htm).

The tale of Jonah is not the tale of Pinocchio, it is a foreshadowing of the death of Christ, who would be dead in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights (Matthew 12:40).

• The fish vomited him up at Nineveh three days later

There is no direct water route between the Mediterranean Sea and the Tigris River (location of Nineveh).  The whale would have had to transverse the entire continent of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, then swim up the Tigris River – approximately 15,000 miles.  A whale can cruise at about 15 miles an hour, so the journey would take 1000 hours or 42 days.

The trip up the Tigris would take approximately three days, therefore we can assume that Yahweh supernaturally transported the fish to the Persian Gulf (why not?  He supernaturally caused and calmed the storm, and He brought forth the fish where Jonah was thrown overboard).

The great fish traveling up the Tigris River would have been extremely unusual and therefore attracted much attention.  When it finally reached Nineveh, it vomited out a dead and decomposing man. 

• Jonah witnessed to Nineveh and all of Assyria repented.

Yahweh restored Jonah and he went into Nineveh and preached unto the enemies of Israel and warned them that Yahweh was going to destroy the Capital of Assyria in 40 days.

Amazingly, everyone believed Jonah (including the king) and began to repent.

Why would they stop their evil ways and repent at the words of a stranger?  Let’s examine all the circumstances in context:

• A dead man of Canaan was brought back to life (no doubt this was witnessed by numerous Assyrians who came to marvel at the great fish in the river) after being vomited up by a huge fish (the size of which had probably never been seen in the Tigris).
• Dagon was a Canaanite god worshiped by the Philistines, but known throughout the Middle East.  He was depicted as a Mer-man and the priest of his cult wore mitred-hats similar to the crown the Pope and his bishops wear today.

The Assyrians would have believed that the god of the Canaanites miraculously sent one of his prophets to warn them of imminent peril.  After exhorting the Assyrians to repent, Jonah must have taught them about Elohim since the king decreed that all the people should fast and “cry mightily unto Elohim” (Jonah 3:8). Polytheists can believe in Dagon, Elohim, and any number of other gods and goddesses.

Yahweh was moved by their repentance and had compassion on the Assyrians – deciding not to overthrow the kingdom at that time.

• Jonah sat on a hillside and argued with Yahweh for saving Israel’s enemy.

Jonah asked to die rather than live to witness what Assyria would do to Israel.  He climbed up a hill that overlooked Nineveh and built a small shelter so he could observe the city (no doubt hoping the Assyrians would not keep their word and he could then witness Nineveh’s destruction).

Jonah must have been beside a vine (maybe used the vine to help secure part of his booth) and Yahweh caused the vine to sprout a gourd that provided shade for Jonah’s head from the scorching sun.  This gave Jonah some comfort.

That night, Yahweh caused a worm to attack the gourd and it withered.

The following day, the sun on Jonah’s unprotected head caused him to pass out.  When he came to, he was miserable again and wanted to die.

Yahweh mocked Jonah for allowing the presence of a gourd to determine his mood – He scolded him for caring more about a gourd than the 120,000 people in Nineveh.

Jonah’s witness has much more of an impact than the temporary reprieve of the Assyrians.  Yahweh stated the seed of Abraham would bless all the peoples of the world:

And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. (Genesis 22:18)

This obviously refers to the promised Messiah, but it also meant the progeny of Abraham should teach obedience of the Father and His Word, which would bless the other nations.

⁵ Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: ⁶ And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. ⁷ And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him. ⁸ And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD. (Exodus 19:5-8)

What good is it to have priests if there is no congregation?  The Israelites answered Moses and Yahweh and proclaimed they would do all that Yahweh asked – but they didn’t.

The Israelites began to isolate themselves from the other nations and their cultures – Israel repeatedly paid a price for adopting evil aspects of pagan culture so they separated themselves and passed decrees forbidding the people to interact with foreigners to protect themselves from their inability to avoid temptation (the Jewish oral law is full of thousands of frivolous edicts to protect the Jews from themselves. Yeshua condemned the Pharisees for teaching Talmud in place of Moses).  This was not what Yahweh wanted them to do.  He wanted them to speak to others about Him and His Law and ignore the gentiles’ evil practices.  Maybe they could cause recognition and repentance among the heathens.

The Apostle Peter was given a vision from Yeshua, because a Roman centurion wanted and needed to hear the words of Christ, but Peter (like nearly everyone in Israel) had the Hebrew isolation mentality (Acts 10).  Without the vision, Peter admitted he never would have witnessed to Cornelius and his family.

In Acts 15, the Apostles made all-encompassing rules for how to bring the gentiles into the body of Christ.

Jonah’s witness saved 120,000 unbelievers (at least for a while) – imagine how the world could have been if all of Israel witnessed to the nations.

Imagine how our world could be if we witnessed the Truth of Yahweh’s Word.