In 2021, a man was diving for lobsters when a humpback whale swallowed him whole. After 30–40 seconds, it spit him out without breaking a single bone.(a) If you had been swallowed by a whale and survived, would you ever swim in the ocean again? Why or why not?
The Brewery Ministries Paraphrase
One day God tells Jonah to head to everyone's least favorite city—Nineveh—to tell them to stop skinning people alive and building pyramids with the heads of their enemies.(b) Jonah, who hates Nineveh and wants to see all 300,000 inhabitants burn, decides to ghost God instead. He buys a one-way ticket to Tarshish, which was basically the "end of the world" at the time.
However, you can't outrun the Creator of the ocean. A massive storm hits, the ship starts falling apart, and the terrified sailors realize Jonah is the reason for the chaos. After trying everything else, they reluctantly toss him overboard to save themselves, and Jonah sinks into the dark, certain he's dead.
But instead of drowning, Jonah gets swallowed by a "great fish"—the world's slimiest underwater Uber. He spends three days marinating in gastric acid and seaweed, finally hitting rock bottom and praying a "fine, I'll do it" prayer. The fish eventually has enough of him and projectile vomits Jonah onto a beach. Smelling like Aquaman's wet socks but still alive, Jonah finally trudges to Nineveh. He gives the most half-hearted one-sentence sermon in history, secretly hoping everyone ignores him so God will destroy the city: "In forty days Nineveh will be overthrown."
To Jonah's absolute fury, the entire city had a change of heart. The king orders an end to the violence and appeals to God, who sees their change of heart and cancels the apocalypse of Nineveh.
Instead of celebrating, Jonah has a total meltdown. He storms outside the city and demands God destroy the city. "It's either me or them! I'm not moving from this spot until either I die or they die!" In a small act of sympathy, God causes a large plant to grow and shade Jonah from the burning sun. "Is this anger helpful for you?" God asks. Jonah just scoffs, "Yeah. It's real helpful." The stalemate continues. The next morning a bug kills the plant over Jonah's head and he dies of heat exhaustion. The end.
God saved a city of 300,000. Jonah was furious about a plant.
Work Through the Evidence
What do you find the most surprising about this story?
The common interpretation of this story tells of a "large fish" that swallowed Jonah. But another possibility exists! Early Christian art depicts the fish that swallowed Jonah as a sea dragon or serpent monster commonly understood as Leviathan.(c) This type of creature was an ancient metaphor for the chaotic sea and death. The Bible even hints at this metaphor, saying Jonah cried out to God from the womb of the underworld in Jonah 2:4. If the fish is meant to be symbolic, what does it mean?
The people of Nineveh believed in world peace, but their plan for peace was to take over the world by force. They piled the skins removed from their enemies on the city walls and impaled people publicly to intimidate visiting diplomats. Which is more surprising: that God still cared about the people who live there, or that Jonah hates them so much he'd rather die than see them live?
When Jonah was expressing his hatred of Nineveh, God had compassion on them because they "don't know their left hand from their right" (Jonah 4:11). What do you think this means? If we were to try to view our enemies more like how God views them, what would that look like?
Try to think of a modern day "Nineveh" — a city or country often thought of as a dangerous enemy. How would you respond if God asked you to go there and give them a message that would prevent their annihilation?
Why It Matters
Many people wonder if Jonah could have survived inside a big fish for 3 days. Could God have protected Jonah from death? Sure, absolutely. Or maybe Jonah was just lost at sea, floating on some driftwood in chaotic waves that ancient people poetically described as a "sea monster." The real point of the story doesn't change either way: God still cares about all people, even people we might perceive as "too far gone" to be saved.
Many people view the God of the Old Testament as angry and judgmental, but this story flips that popular narrative on its head. Here it's Jonah who is angry and judgmental while God is compassionate and slow to anger. In the end, Jonah's hatred poisons him resulting in death.
There's much more to wrestle with here than the science of surviving inside of a fish. This is a story about what happens to a person when they refuse to forgive others and how our story can change for the better because God doesn't give up on us.
(a) "I was completely inside…" — Cape Cod Times, June 2021. A lobster diver was swallowed by a humpback whale off Provincetown, MA and survived uninjured.
(b) A Short History of the Skin by Ernst G. Jung — documents the practices of the Assyrian empire including Nineveh.
(c) Dr. Michael Heiser, Naked Bible Podcast ep. 347: "Jonah and the Chaos Dragon" — explores the Leviathan interpretation of the great fish in ancient Near Eastern context.
What Did You Find?
My Overall Conclusions
I Learned This About God
I Learned This About Myself
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