FISH TALES
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF JONAH
Introduction: Is Jonah a real story or is it a “fish tale?” This question has made this book one of the most questioned and debated in the Bible. While being an important question and one we will deal with, it really misses the point of the book. The main character of the story is not the fish and really it is not even Jonah, but it is God. God is mentioned by name 39 times in the 48 verses of this book. Even Jonah is only mentioned by name 18 times.
Jonah was a prophet. God called him to go and proclaim a message of judgment to the wicked city of Nineveh. Jonah knew that if he did this and they repented that God would be merciful and spare them. Being an ardent Hebrew nationalist and patriot, he wanted to see Nineveh destroyed so he disobeyed God and got on a ship heading in the opposite direction. In essence, he tried to run from God, but the reality of the matter is that we run into God when we try to run from Him so God sent a great storm to get Jonah’s attention. Even after Jonah was identified as the cause of the storm, he still did not want to do God’s will so he had the sailors throw him overboard to get the storm to cease. God had prepared a great fish (possibly a whale) to swallow him, and the fish did. This was God’s means of both preserving and chastising Jonah. However, while in the fish, Jonah repented and cried out to God in prayer. God had the fish vomit him out on the shore, and Jonah finally decided to obey God and go to Nineveh to proclaim the message that God had given him. The Ninevites heard the message, believed God, and repented so God was merciful and spared them from His judgment. However, Jonah was not happy about this, but he spends chapter 4 in an angry pout questioning God.
Themes:
- the sovereignty of God
- God’s mercy to the Gentiles
- Israel’s (and all true believers) responsibility to spread the Word of God
- God’s will for His children’s lives and our responsibility to follow His plan (in my
estimation, this is the primary theme)
Author: I believe that Jonah, the prophet, was writing this story in a 3rd person fashion as sort of a spiritual autobiography. This is the traditional view, and there seems to me to be no logical alternative.
Date: Jonah’s ministry was during the reign of King Jeroboam so the date would probably have to be between 800 and 750 B.C.
Literary Style: What type of literature is the book of Jonah? This is an important question because it affects a deeper question which is, “Is the story of Jonah literal and historical or is it a fable?”. Those who regard it to be not literally true usually classify it as either:
(1) Myth-One of my college textbooks called Jonah a “made-up story.” Those who hold this view claim that the book is not historical and the only purpose is to teach moral truth.
(2) Allegory-The Believers Study Bible notes summarize the view like this: “This view was quite attractive at the height of the era dominated by older liberal theology. It sees the book as a challenge to extreme Jewish nationalism during the 5th century as the Jews returned to Judea and Jerusalem under the ministries of Ezra and Nehemiah after the Babylonian captivity. The book’s characters are understood symbolically: Jonah represents the Hebrew people; the sea, possibly Gentile nations; the great fish, the Babylonian Empire; the three days/nights in the great fish, the seventy years of captivity; and Ninevah represents the Gentiles needing a Hebrew witness. This view is inadequate, however, for it fails to account sufficiently for all the characters and it is contrary to a natural reading of the text.”
(3) Parable-This view is really very similar to the two listed above. However, Jonah does not fit the mold of parabolic literature that is included in the Bible.
(4) History/Biography-This is the flip side of the coin. It is the view hold by those who affirm Jonah to be literally true. It is the traditional view of the church. It is the conservative view held by almost all who espouse the doctrine of biblical innerancy. This view interprets Jonah in a straightforward manner and take the events at face value. The question before us is which is the proper way to interpret Jonah and why? Is Jonah only a “fish tale?” I believe that it is real history/biography and here are the 5 basic reasons why:
(A) The Bible elsewhere affirms that Jonah was a real historical figure. He truly was a prophet at this time. 2 Kings 14:25 says, “He restored the territory of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which He had spoken through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath Hepher.”
(B) I accept that all of Scripture is inspired by God and therefore true (2 Timothy 3:16). I don’t believe we have to explain it away to accommodate an unbelieving world. I stand on Romans 3:4, which says, “Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar.”
(C) I reject the presuppositions of the critics who deny Jonah. They are biased against miracles in the first place. It is circular reasoning to say that we know a miracle didn’t happen because we know that it is impossible for miracles to take place. They affirm a philosophy called naturalism which asserts that God is not involved in the affairs of the world and that whatever man becomes is what he makes himself. However, Christianity is a supernatural faith that affirms the hand of God at work in time and space. It affirms that this world belongs to God. There are at least ten miracles recorded in Jonah as this chart taken from the MacArthur Study Bible illustrates:
- “the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea” (1:4)
- “the lot fell on Jonah” (1:7)
- “the sea ceased from its raging” (1:15)
- “the Lord had prepared a great fish” (1:17)
- “to swallow Jonah (alive)” (1:17)
- “the Lord spoke to the fish…it vomited Jonah onto dry land” (2:10)
- “God saw their works…they turned from their evil way” (3:10)
- “the Lord God prepared a plant” (4:6)
- ‘God prepared a worm” (4:7)
10. “God prepared a vehement east wind” (4:8)
Furthermore, there is evidence that a similar event took place later in our modern world. Now, I do not think that another event of this type taking place is necessary to make us believe Jonah. Miracles are often unique. However, let me share the account to demonstrate the plausibility of something like this happening. This account is noted in several publications. I am sharing the one from Gleason Archer’s book, A Survey of Old Testament Introduction: “One of the most striking instances comes from Francis Fox, Sixty-three Years of Engineering (London: J. Murray, 1924), pp. 298-300, who reports that this incident was carefully investigated by two scientists (one of whom was M. de Parville, the scientific editor of the Journal des Debats in Paris). In February 1891, the whaling ship Star of the East was in the vicinity of the Falkland Islands, and the lookout sighted a large sperm whale three miles away. Two boats were lowered and in a short time one of the harpooners was enabled to spear the creature. The second boat also attacked the whale, but was then upset by a lash of its tail, so that its crew fell into the sea. One of them was drowned, but the other, James Bartley, simply disappeared without trace. After the whale was killed, the crew set to work with axes and spades, removing the blubber. ‘They worked all day and part of the night. The next day they attached some tackle to the stomach, which was hoisted on deck. The sailors were startled by something in it which gave spasmodic signs of life, and inside was found the missing sailor, doubled up and unconscious. He was laid on the deck and treated to a bath of sea water which soon revived him. At the end of the 3rd
week he had entirely recovered from the shock and resumed his duties….His face, neck and hands were bleached to a deadly whiteness and took on the appearance of parchment. Bartley affirms that he would probably have lived inside his house of flesh until he starved, for he lost his sense through fright and not through lack of air’.”
(D) Jesus believed in the historicity of Jonah-This is the final and most important piece of evidence. In fact, this should settle it for all who affirm the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I believe that a failure to believe in Jonah is a failure to believe in Jesus. It is a denial of Christ’s deity, perfection, and authority. Let me share the following long excerpt from Gleason Archer’s book, The Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, in order to demonstrate what I am saying.
Dr. Archer writes, “There are several serious weaknesses to this fashionable modern theory [that Jonah is a myth], the most significant of which is that, according to Matthew 12:40, Jesus, the Son of God, believed that Jonah was completely historical. He showed this by stating, ‘For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (NIV). This puts the issue on a very clear footing. Jesus here affirms that Jonah’s experience in the belly of the whale was a type of the death, burial, and resurrection that awaited Him between Good Friday and Easter morning. The coming experience of Christ, which certainly was historical, would serve as an antitype to the experience of the prophet Jonah. If the antitype was historical, then the type must also have been historical. No fictional past episode can serve as a prophetic type of a future literal fulfillment. Only fiction can correspond to fiction; only fact can correspond to fact. All other types of Christ in the Old testament were historical (Isaac’s near sacrifice on Mount Moriah, the priest-king
Melchizedek, Moses, David, Solomon as types of Christ), as were the Exodus events referred to in 1 Corinthians 10 in a series of types and examples for believers in Paul’s day.
The amazing response of Nineveh to the preaching of Jonah, unlikely though it may seem, was confirmed historically by Jesus when He said, ‘The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here’ (v. 41). If in point of fact the Ninevites never did repent (as rationalist higher critics would have us believe), then any eschatological judgment on Jesus’unbelieving contemporaries would be quite unfair. Jesus claimed that the men of Nineveh really did repent and set an example for the Israelites of His time to follow. But if the Ninevites did not repent and Jonah was only a folk tale, their example could not shame Jesus’ contemporaries because of their unbelief. Jesus, however, was sure that everything actually did happen as the Book of Jonah relates. Therefore, His true followers must believe it, too.
Bibliography: This is at least a partial list of works I have consulted and books that you may want to examine for your personal study. It is presented in a very informal way.
Archer, Gleason. A Survey of Old Testament Introduction. pp. 341-350.
Archer, Gleason. The Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties. pp. 300-302.
Boice, James Montgomery. The Minor Prophets, Volume 1. pp. 209-250.
Ellison, H.L. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 7. pp. 359-391.
Hannah, John. The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Old Testament. 1460-1473. MacDonald, William. The Believer’s Bible Commentary, Old Testament. pp. 1125-1130. Phillips, John. Exploring The Minor Prophets. pp. 135-155.
Wiersbe, Warren. Be Amazed. pp. 69-94. The Believer’s Study Bible.
The MacArthur Study Bible.
Pastor Jimmy Inman True Life Church
