The Lord’s whale

One of the prophets mentioned in the Bible is Jonah. He is said to have had an attitude problem. In fact, he is referred to as “a runaway prophet.”

Jonah was chosen by God to share to the people of the ancient city of Nineveh the good news about God’s kingdom. But Jonah didn’t want to go there. It was not clear, however, whether he was afraid of the Ninevites, who were mostly God-less people.

Bible scholars guess that maybe Jonah didn’t want to be laughed at, or worst, scorned by people. And that in his mind, he could have entertained the idea that if God was so powerful indeed, then God Himself could surely just have touched the hearts of the Ninevites.

Jonah took a boat that sailed from Joppa to Tarshish, a place said to be already very far from Nineveh, which God had decided to destroy because of the sinful ways of its people. Jonah thought that if he could reach Tarshish, he wouldn’t be bugged anymore by God to preach the good news of salvation.

But you knew what happened to him, right? A storm buffeted the ship. In the process, Jonah was tossed to the sea and was swallowed whole by a whale. But he wasn’t crushed to death. He was scooped out of the raging sea and transported to the shore. The whale vomited him out.

Bible scholars explained that the whole incident was not really meant to punish him. It was designed to give him a second chance. So he would come to understand that no one can ever run away from God. And that obedience is a virtue God wants each one to develop. It is in obeying the Supreme that we know our limitations as human beings.

Now back to the whale. Some Bible scholars came up with studies referring the whale to be a sperm whale or a cachalot. It must have been as big as a sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) to be able to swallow a man whole. Sperm whales can grow to an average of 52 feet long. Jonah was supposed to be crushed inside the whale since the stomach has various chambers. Such chambers are similar to the stomach of hoofed-animals like cattle and sheep.

But the Sovereign God allowed the impossible. Jonah stayed alive inside the whale’s stomach for three days and three nights, until he was spit out and brought to shore.