Contrary to popular opinion: Jonah was dead… that’s right… Jonah was dead in the belly of that huge fish. Jonah was fish food… plain and simple. There is absolutely not one verse of scripture to indicate otherwise. Oh, I know that Jonah 2:1 says that Jonah prayed from inside the fish. I have no doubt that this is true. The last verse of chapter two provides for us the end of that ugly, nasty, repulsive chapter of Jo
nah’s experience. That fish puked Jonah out of his gullet onto the waiting sands of a nearby beach.
However, there is not one word between the conclusion of Jonah’s prayer and the gastric convulsions that conclude chapter two to suggest that Jonah remained alive. As a matter of fact there are three and only three possible truths related to this matter, and none of them are that Jonah remained alive while in the stomach of that fish. Either Jonah was dead, or Jesus was a liar, or Jesus was alive for three days and nights in the grave. Since we know that the last two options are unacceptable, only the first option remains. Jesus himself tells us that Jonah was dead. So why are we so willing to believe he was alive?
I know what you’re thinking: Here I go again, the Unrepentant Antagonist is at it again… picking an unnecessary fight. But you’re wrong. I’m not picking a fight. And my concern is not driven by some carnal joy in antagonizing the innocent. This truth, that Jonah was dead, is absolutely essential.
Several years ago I was doing a study on the death of Jesus. I would spend over two years reading, researching, talking with Physicians and conferring with Professors. Hours and hours were spent following every path of inquiry that presented itself. My initial goal was to try to understand the sequence and timing of the events surrounding the crucifixion. Many tangential truths would come to light during this research. The fact that Jonah died and was resurrected is one of those truths.
The most convincing pieces of evidence in the matter are the very words of Jesus. While speaking to the Pharisees, Jesus said, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 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.” As Jonah was… so the Son of Man will be. Now, I can obviously see that Jesus was emphasizing the issue of “three days and night”; however, we should not conclude that the comparison is limited only to that. Logic would demand that if “For as Jonah was… so the Son of Man will be” is true, then “As the Son of Man was… so was Jonah”. If A=B, then B=A. Jesus was dead for three days and three nights. Jonah likewise was dead for three days and three nights.
Why is this important? Please let me continue.
During my research, I one day happened to be at my Physician, Dr. Myron’s office for a routine medical matter. Before Dr. Myron left the room, I asked if he had an extra moment for a question. He gladly obliged me. “Consider a dead body, embalmed by the normal procedures utilized by Middle Eastern cultures 2000 years ago. What would that body look like 72 hours after internment in an above ground tomb?” He gave me an odd look, and asked if he could have time to think about it. Of course, I agreed.
Several months later, very late one evening, my phone at home rang. It was the switchboard of the Jay County Memorial Hospital. The operator asked if I could hold for Dr. Myron. My first thoughts were that someone from our Church had some urgent need. However, I thought it odd that Dr. Myron would contact me by phone, if that was the case. When he came on the line, he asked, “You probably thought that I forgot your question, didn’t you? But, I didn’t. You were referring to Jesus, weren’t you?” He was right. I had concluded that he was probably too busy to mess with my question about the medical details of ancient burials. He then went on to tell me in graphic detail what the body of Jesus should have looked like after three days and three nights in a dark, dank above ground tomb. It would not have been a pretty sight. Bloated beyond recognition… the stench of rotting flesh… it would have been very nasty indeed.
Immediately upon death, the body begins to release chemicals throughout the flesh and tissues that are intended to do one thing: digest that body. In order that we can avoid watching the repulsive ugliness associated with a decaying human body, we put it someplace secluded. Sometimes we bury it below ground, sometimes behind granite walls. Sometimes we hasten the process by fire. Other times with the body weighted and shrouded we send it to the ocean depths. No matter what process we use to put that dead body out of sight… it shall decay.
Immediately upon food entering the mouth, a complex chemical process begins which is intended to do one thing: digest that food. Just the mere mention of food causes our saliva glands to get excited. My guess is that just reading the last two sentences about food has caused your very own saliva glands to begin to secrete those digestive juices.
What happens to food that your body refuses to digest? Why do you think that we feed the sick food that is easy to digest? What happens if we give a sick person a big steak dinner with all the trimmings? We finish it off with a generous helping of a rich dessert. What’s going to happen? What the stomach can’t digest, it regurgitates. Yes?
That poor fish had no idea what a terrible case of indigestion Jonah was going to cause. For three days and three nights the gastric juices and muscular machinations of that great fish tried its best to digest the body of Jonah. Yet, the forces of biology worked their chemical magic in vain. The body of that dead would be preacher just wouldn’t submit. After the worst 72 hour belly ache that fish had ever known, enough was enough; a dead body, undamaged and unaffected by the powers and the laws of death, was expelled from its gastric tomb.
The Bible doesn’t tell us when Jonah was imbued with resurrection power, but I kind of like to imagine that it was sometime just after all of those nasty acids and fish spit were being washed off. Just as Lazarus was covered with grave clothes so too was Jonah covered with grave spit. A clean but still drenched Jonah breaths again for the first time in 72 hours, sets up on the beach and looks around wondering, “How did I get here?!”
For three days and three nights the grave tried to digest the body of Jesus… but it could not. This is a fact that was prophesied by David in Psalm 16 - Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. Likewise it was an important part of the preaching of the Apostles - Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay; Acts 2:24-31. Also: For when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed. But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay; Acts 13:36
Just as the grave vomited a once dead but now living Jesus out through its solid stone mouth, so too did that providential fish rid itself of a meal that it could not digest, and a once dead but now living Jonah was awakened to life on the shores of the sea. God is in the resurrection business. Why do we find it necessary to diminish the miracle of a resurrected Jonah by suggesting that through some odd fluke of nature Jonah was able to survive alive inside of the digestive tract of a fish? To do so would be the same as to suggest that Jesus never died but was rather trapped alive inside a cavern tomb.
Jonah was dead….
nah’s experience. That fish puked Jonah out of his gullet onto the waiting sands of a nearby beach.However, there is not one word between the conclusion of Jonah’s prayer and the gastric convulsions that conclude chapter two to suggest that Jonah remained alive. As a matter of fact there are three and only three possible truths related to this matter, and none of them are that Jonah remained alive while in the stomach of that fish. Either Jonah was dead, or Jesus was a liar, or Jesus was alive for three days and nights in the grave. Since we know that the last two options are unacceptable, only the first option remains. Jesus himself tells us that Jonah was dead. So why are we so willing to believe he was alive?
I know what you’re thinking: Here I go again, the Unrepentant Antagonist is at it again… picking an unnecessary fight. But you’re wrong. I’m not picking a fight. And my concern is not driven by some carnal joy in antagonizing the innocent. This truth, that Jonah was dead, is absolutely essential.
Several years ago I was doing a study on the death of Jesus. I would spend over two years reading, researching, talking with Physicians and conferring with Professors. Hours and hours were spent following every path of inquiry that presented itself. My initial goal was to try to understand the sequence and timing of the events surrounding the crucifixion. Many tangential truths would come to light during this research. The fact that Jonah died and was resurrected is one of those truths.
The most convincing pieces of evidence in the matter are the very words of Jesus. While speaking to the Pharisees, Jesus said, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 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.” As Jonah was… so the Son of Man will be. Now, I can obviously see that Jesus was emphasizing the issue of “three days and night”; however, we should not conclude that the comparison is limited only to that. Logic would demand that if “For as Jonah was… so the Son of Man will be” is true, then “As the Son of Man was… so was Jonah”. If A=B, then B=A. Jesus was dead for three days and three nights. Jonah likewise was dead for three days and three nights.
Why is this important? Please let me continue.
During my research, I one day happened to be at my Physician, Dr. Myron’s office for a routine medical matter. Before Dr. Myron left the room, I asked if he had an extra moment for a question. He gladly obliged me. “Consider a dead body, embalmed by the normal procedures utilized by Middle Eastern cultures 2000 years ago. What would that body look like 72 hours after internment in an above ground tomb?” He gave me an odd look, and asked if he could have time to think about it. Of course, I agreed.
Several months later, very late one evening, my phone at home rang. It was the switchboard of the Jay County Memorial Hospital. The operator asked if I could hold for Dr. Myron. My first thoughts were that someone from our Church had some urgent need. However, I thought it odd that Dr. Myron would contact me by phone, if that was the case. When he came on the line, he asked, “You probably thought that I forgot your question, didn’t you? But, I didn’t. You were referring to Jesus, weren’t you?” He was right. I had concluded that he was probably too busy to mess with my question about the medical details of ancient burials. He then went on to tell me in graphic detail what the body of Jesus should have looked like after three days and three nights in a dark, dank above ground tomb. It would not have been a pretty sight. Bloated beyond recognition… the stench of rotting flesh… it would have been very nasty indeed.
Immediately upon death, the body begins to release chemicals throughout the flesh and tissues that are intended to do one thing: digest that body. In order that we can avoid watching the repulsive ugliness associated with a decaying human body, we put it someplace secluded. Sometimes we bury it below ground, sometimes behind granite walls. Sometimes we hasten the process by fire. Other times with the body weighted and shrouded we send it to the ocean depths. No matter what process we use to put that dead body out of sight… it shall decay.
Immediately upon food entering the mouth, a complex chemical process begins which is intended to do one thing: digest that food. Just the mere mention of food causes our saliva glands to get excited. My guess is that just reading the last two sentences about food has caused your very own saliva glands to begin to secrete those digestive juices.
What happens to food that your body refuses to digest? Why do you think that we feed the sick food that is easy to digest? What happens if we give a sick person a big steak dinner with all the trimmings? We finish it off with a generous helping of a rich dessert. What’s going to happen? What the stomach can’t digest, it regurgitates. Yes?
That poor fish had no idea what a terrible case of indigestion Jonah was going to cause. For three days and three nights the gastric juices and muscular machinations of that great fish tried its best to digest the body of Jonah. Yet, the forces of biology worked their chemical magic in vain. The body of that dead would be preacher just wouldn’t submit. After the worst 72 hour belly ache that fish had ever known, enough was enough; a dead body, undamaged and unaffected by the powers and the laws of death, was expelled from its gastric tomb.
The Bible doesn’t tell us when Jonah was imbued with resurrection power, but I kind of like to imagine that it was sometime just after all of those nasty acids and fish spit were being washed off. Just as Lazarus was covered with grave clothes so too was Jonah covered with grave spit. A clean but still drenched Jonah breaths again for the first time in 72 hours, sets up on the beach and looks around wondering, “How did I get here?!”
For three days and three nights the grave tried to digest the body of Jesus… but it could not. This is a fact that was prophesied by David in Psalm 16 - Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. Likewise it was an important part of the preaching of the Apostles - Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay; Acts 2:24-31. Also: For when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed. But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay; Acts 13:36
Just as the grave vomited a once dead but now living Jesus out through its solid stone mouth, so too did that providential fish rid itself of a meal that it could not digest, and a once dead but now living Jonah was awakened to life on the shores of the sea. God is in the resurrection business. Why do we find it necessary to diminish the miracle of a resurrected Jonah by suggesting that through some odd fluke of nature Jonah was able to survive alive inside of the digestive tract of a fish? To do so would be the same as to suggest that Jesus never died but was rather trapped alive inside a cavern tomb.
Jonah was dead….
I agree. I just read Jonah last night. I believe he was dead, and lived again.
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