What kind of great fish do you believe swallowed Jonah? How many fish today could choke him down?

Question

"But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights." - Jonah 1:17

Answer 1

THE Bible tells us that Jonah, a prophet of God in the ninth century B.C.E., fleeing an assignment, boarded a ship. During the stormy voyage in the Mediterranean, the crew hurled him overboard. “Jehovah appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, so that Jonah came to be in the inward parts of the fish three days and three nights.”

Some say, ‘Impossible! No creature in the sea could swallow a man.’ But either a sperm whale or a great white shark could. National Geographic offered another possibility, the whale shark. The largest known shark, it can grow to 70 feet in length and weigh 70 tons.

“The whale shark’s unusual digestive anatomy lends itself to Jonah stories. It is easy to imagine yourself being inadvertently sucked into a whale shark’s mouth, which is huge, The cavernous mouth of even a small adult whale shark could easily accommodate a pair of Jonahs.”

The whale shark feeds on tiny plankton and krill, which “wash down through the esophagus into the immense and elastic banquet hall that is the cardiac stomach.” Yet, how could anyone get out? National Geographic says: “Sharks have a nonviolent way of getting rid of large objects of dubious digestibility they swallow, A shark can slowly empty its cardiac stomach by turning it inside out and pushing it through the mouth, So, you could come gliding out on a mucus-covered carpet, slimier but perhaps wiser for the experience.”

Today whale sharks are not found in the Mediterranean, though they have been found as far north as New York City. Were they present in the Mediterranean in Jonah’s time? Who can say? The Bible does not specify what kind of sea creature Jehovah used, but Jesus himself confirmed that the account of Jonah is true.

The sperm whale, having a mammoth square-shaped head that constitutes about one third of its length, is fully capable of swallowing a man whole.

On the other hand, it is possible that the great white shark was the fish that swallowed Jonah. One of these that was caught in 1939 contained two whole (6 ft) sharks in its stomach, each about the size of a man. And the great white sharks have roamed all the seas, including the Mediterranean.

So it cannot be determined just what “fish” might have been involved. In fact, man’s knowledge of the creatures inhabiting the seas and oceans is rather incomplete.

Answer 2

"Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." -Jonah 1:17 (King James Version)
Later it says:

"And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land." -Jonah 2:10 (King James Version)

God was certainly able to accomplish this if He wished; to deny the possibility of miracles is atheism. The actual occurrence of this particular miracle is adequately attested by the very fact of its record in the Holy Scriptures, and is doubly confirmed by the testimony of Christ.

Whole animals as large or larger than a man have been found in the stomachs of the sperm whale, the whale shark and the white shark.

WHAT WAS THE "GREAT FISH"?

The "great fish" may have been either a whale or a shark or even a fish specially prepared by the Lord for this purpose. (The Hebrew and Greek words that are used merely mean "a great aquatic animal.") Some species of whales and some species of sharks are quite capable of swallowing a man whole. Among these are the sperm whale, the white shark, and the whale shark, all of which have been found with whole animals as large or larger than a man in their stomachs.

HOW DID JONAH SURVIVE?

As to whether a man could survive "three days and three nights" under such conditions, there are three possible answers that could be suggested in defense of the Biblical narrative.


NATURAL. In the first place, it has been well established that the phrase "three days and three nights" in ancient Hebrew usage was an idiomatic expression meaning simply "three days," and was applicable even if the beginning and ending days of the period were only partial days. Thus it could refer to a period as short as about 38 hours. There is always some air in the whale's stomach, and, as long as the animal it has swallowed is still alive, digestive activity will not begin. Thus, Jonah's experience could possibly have happened entirely with the framework of natural law.

MIRACLE. It is much more likely, however, that the event involved a divine miracle, as the Scripture strongly implies. The "great fish" was prepared and sent by God, as was the intense storm that threatened the ship on which Jonah was traveling. The storm ceased as soon as Jonah was cast overboard (Jonah 1:4, 15). In like manner, it was quite probable that God preserved Jonah's life miraculously all through the horrifying experience.

RESURRECTION. A third possibility is that Jonah actually suffocated and died in the great fish and then God later brought him back from the dead. There are at least eight other such "resurrections" recorded in the Bible, as well as the glorious bodily resurrection of Christ -- of which Jonah's experience in particular was said by Christ to be a prophetic sign.

This is also implied by Jonah's prayer, when he said: "…out of the belly of hell (i.e. "sheol," the place of departed spirits) cried I, and thou heardest my voice" (Jonah 2:2). In any case, it was a mighty experience, evidently well known and certified in his day, probably contributing in significant degree to the fact that all people of Ninevah repented and turned to God (Jonah 3:5) when Jonah returned "from the dead," as it were, to preach to them.
Even in Jesus' day, it was so well known that He could use it as a "sign" of His own impending death and resurrection, which were to constitute God's crowning proof of the deity of His Son and the great work of salvation which He would accomplish on the cross for all who would receive Him.

"God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead." -Acts 17:30, 31 (King James Version)

Answer 3

Great White Shark or a Whale Shark.

Answer 4

Right off I cant think of where I read it...but in one of the gospels, Jesus specifically said Jonah was swallowd by a WHALE.

Answer 5

Matthew 12:40 KJV .....whale's belly

Answer 6

Probably a type of whale, it seems the most logical choice.

I mean I know goldfish can get big, but....

Answer 7

You gotta love it when the faithful try to give logical answers to absurd questions?

Answer 8

it was a whale