So Pastor Bill, What About That Big Fish in Jonah?

I've mentioned from the pulpit in our current Harderwyk Sermon Series on the Prophet Jonah that while the "Great Fish" in Jonah is presented as real and a character, it at best is a minor character in the narrative.  Don't miss the main point: God's Grace for Everyone!  CLICK HERE for YouTube recording of that portion of my sermon.

I'm not spending much time on the Great Fish that swallowed Jonah from the pulpit, but I am very glad to engage the question for those who are interested.  Always feel free to make personal contact after a service or through the office and we can find a time to talk more.  But on this question, I'll give you some material from a commentary that I found helpful and succinctly engages the question:

So Pastor Bill, What About That Big Fish in Jonah?

My answer: There is good reason to take the story just as presented, without missing the main point of the book.  The LORD rescued Jonah from the storm by sending a Great Fish to swallow the prophet for three days of prayer.  Here is some thoughts on WHY that seems reasonable to me.

From Minor Prophets: Hosea thru Jonah by James Montgomery Boice (Baker Book House, 2006) pp 282-284 - CLICK HERE for Amazon Link 

It should be interesting to many skeptics that the Library Research Service of the Encyclopedia Britannica regularly distributes information supportive of the biblical narrative. This service is available to anyone who purchases a set of the Encyclopedia. Anyone researching a subject and not finding that the Encyclopedia has covered it adequately, may write and ask for information on his subject, and a mimeographed report (generally pre-prepared) will be sent to him.

If a person requests information on the possibility of a whale having swallowed Jonah, a four-page report will be mailed, the bulk of which consists of information taken from an article on the “Sign of the Prophet Jonah and Its Modern Confirmations,” which was published in the Princeton Theological Review in 1927. .  .  The article itself concludes: “The story of Jonah occurs in Hebrew literature and tradition as an historical record. It can hardly be disputed that the tests applied to it are in fairness bound to be the most careful, accurate, and dispassionate that science and history can supply. Physiological tests entirely disprove the alleged impossibility of the story. It is shown by study of the structure of the sperm whale and its habits that it is perfectly possible for man to be swallowed alive and after an interval vomited up again, also for him to remain alive for two or three days within the whale. Historical tests show that a similar event has happened in later times in at least one case, and that it is quite possible for an authentic record to have survived over even a much longer period than 700 years.”

The article leading up to this conclusion is in two parts. The first part distinguishes, as all honest writing on the subject has done, between those whales or other great fish that could conceivably swallow a man and those that could not. A generation ago one heard that a whale could not swallow Jonah simply because the throat of the whale is too small. “A whale has difficulty swallowing an orange,” was the viewpoint. This objection arose from a failure to distinguish between the Greenland whale, which does have a very small throat and which was the whale best known to seamen of an earlier generation, and the sperm whale or cachalot, which has an enormous mouth, throat, and stomach. An average specimen of the sperm whale might have a mouth 20 feet long, 15 feet high, and 9 feet wide; that is, the mouth would be larger than most rooms in an average-sized house.

It is known that the sperm whale feeds largely on squid, which are often much larger than a man. Whalers have sometimes found whole squid of this size in a dead whale’s stomach.

As to whether a man could survive in a whale’s stomach, the Britannica article maintains that he certainly could, though in circumstances of very great discomfort. There would be air to breathe, of a sort. It is needed to keep the animal afloat. But there would be great heat, about 104–108°F. Unpleasant contact with the animal’s gastric juices might easily affect the skin, but the juices would not digest living matter; otherwise they would digest the walls of the creature’s own stomach.

But has there ever been a case of a man actually having been swallowed by a whale and then regurgitated or saved by some means? This is the matter dealt with in the second half of the journal article, and apparently there are such cases. One case concerns a voyage of the whaling ship Star of the East, which in February 1891, spotted a large sperm whale in the vicinity of the Falkland Islands. Two boats were launched, and in a short while one of the harpooners was able to spear the whale. Those in the second boat attempted to attach a second harpoon, but the boat capsized in the process and one man was drowned. A second sailor, James Bartley, disappeared and could not be found. In time the whale was killed and drawn to the side of the ship where it was made fast and the blubber removed. The next day the stomach was hoisted on deck. When it was opened, the missing sailor was found inside. He was unconscious but alive. Eventually he was revived by sea water and after a time resumed his duties on board the whaling vessel.

It is also possible, as the article shows, that the fish in Jonah’s case may not even have been a whale. The Hebrew text merely says dag, which may be any kind of great fish. It may have been a species of shark, a Rhineodon or “Sea Dog,” for instance; if this is so, then there are other accounts of men being swallowed that are also relevant. The Sea Dog, while a member of the shark family, does not have the terrible teeth generally associated with sharks and grows to a size comparable to that of many whales. In his widely read book, Kon-Tiki, Thor Heyerdahl describes such a shark that followed his raft for a time in the mid-Pacific.

I also have access to the Princeton Theological Review with the article that Boice refers to.  It is too long for me to post due to copyright issues, but make contact with me and I can get a copy for you.  I'd be happy to deliver it over coffee sometime!