Jonah eaten by a shark?

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I heard recently–on a non-Catholic radio program–that Jonah the prophet was eaten and killed by a shark (not a whale) and that he was resurrected after three days as a precurser (or type) of Christ.

Which was it? Shark or Whale?

Which was it? Did Jonah die or did he live in the belly of the animal?
 
Matthew 12:40 “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale . . .”
 
actually the word is “great fish” not whale or shark. so if we think about it, a whale is actually not a fish but a mammal while a shark is a “great fish”. not that it is a great argument against a whale just a bit of conjecture. Jesus definitely compared jonah’s experience with what he was going to experience with his death and ressurection so it could be that jonah died and was ressurected. i think it would be wise to see what jewish people have been taught about jonah.
 
I may have heard the same program. The idea was expressed in the program that Jonah may have been consumed by a whale-shark. Which is technically a fish in the shark family. It is the largest of sharks.
 
Considering the miraculous nature of the whole ordeal, it is also possible to conclude that it was neither a whale or a shark, but that the Great Fish that was perhaps unique, made by God (or sent by God) in order to fulfill His will. Or perhaps it was an Angel which took the form of a fish.
 
Shellac said:
🙂 I tell you what. We will both ask him whin we get to heaven.
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Reminds me of a story about Fulton Sheen. Once, when he was giving a talk about Jonah, a heckler kept giving him grief about the details.
**Heckler: ** “How is it possible that Jonah could stay alive three days in the belly of a whale?”
Sheen: “When I get to heaven, I’ll just have to ask him about that.”
“What if he isn’t in heaven?”
“Well then, YOU can ask him!” 🙂
 
Or, perhaps, it is a story to teach a point, or several points; and is a precursor to the Resurrection.

And no, I didn’t use the word “myth”, because too many people who use that word do so in the layman’s use of the word, and not in its technical sense.
 
I think Jonah was swollowed by a whale, not eaten by a shark…Or maybe the Loch Ness monster got him!
 
Am I a bad person if I don’t necessarily take this story literally?

Don’t get me wrong, I can accept that God can do anything, and I won’t deny the possiblilty.

My inclination, though is that there really was a Jonah who was sent to Ninevah, but the details are embellished a bit to teach a lesson about doing God’s will.
 
gomer tree:
Am I a bad person if I don’t necessarily take this story literally?

Don’t get me wrong, I can accept that God can do anything, and I won’t deny the possiblilty.

My inclination, though is that there really was a Jonah who was sent to Ninevah, but the details are embellished a bit to teach a lesson about doing God’s will.
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Can you really accept that God can do anything if you think He needs to embellish his Holy Scripture to get a small point across to us? Surely if He can create all things out of nothing, cause a virgin to conceive by the Holy Spirit, and raise triumphant from the grave that we should have eternal life in His name–I think keeping Jonah alive in the belly of a fish for three days isn’t too hard. After all, Jesus believed the whole thing and warned the scribes and Pharisees that they should, too. . . read Matthew 12.38-41.
 
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Gertrude:
Can you really accept that God can do anything if you think He needs to embellish his Holy Scripture to get a small point across to us? Surely if He can create all things out of nothing, cause a virgin to conceive by the Holy Spirit, and raise triumphant from the grave that we should have eternal life in His name–I think keeping Jonah alive in the belly of a fish for three days isn’t too hard. After all, Jesus believed the whole thing and warned the scribes and Pharisees that they should, too. . . read Matthew 12.38-41.
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Um, yes.

I am not suggesting He “embellished” Holy Scripture. I am suggesting that it is possible that the story of Jonah is a story with an inspired lesson. I may add that the Church doesn’t demand that I believe this story is literal, just as I don’t have to believe that the Creation account is literal.

And, yes, I can believe that this could happen literally. I guess I’m open to believing whatever the truth actually is - it’s either literal or it’s not.

And Christ used the Scripture account as an example. His reference to it doesn’t necessarily imply the literalness of the story. The three days in the belly of the whale to be released can also be considered a prefiguring of Christ’s death and resurrection.
 
Before VII Scripture was read both by the what and why. Now only the why. Small wonder so much doubt and confusion.
 
Tom of Assisi:
I heard recently–on a non-Catholic radio program–that Jonah the prophet was eaten and killed by a shark (not a whale) and that he was resurrected after three days as a precurser (or type) of Christ.

Which was it? Shark or Whale?

Which was it? Did Jonah die or did he live in the belly of the animal?
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You could look at bible-truth.org/Jonah.html and I am cutting and paste from there as:
Sir Francis Fox, was told by a captain and crew of a whaling ship, that a sailor fell overboard and was swallowed by a sperm whale. The sailor was rescued alive, some twenty four hours later when the whale was captured and cut open. After being mental deranged for two weeks the sailor recovered. (Tenney, pg45)

Also I remember I read some article from 1800’s when they had whaling ships and they captured a whale and cut it open… they found a man inside still alive. After he recovered, and said that his skin were permanently discolored due to gastric acid in its stomach. Interesting…
 
Someone earlier said that maybe we should look at what the Jews wrote about Jonah. Well, for what it’s worth, the Jewish Encyclopedia summarizes Chapter ii of Jonah like this: Ch. ii.: Yhwh prepares a great fish to swallow Jonah, who remains for three days and three nights in the monster’s belly; after **having there praised Yhwh, ** Jonah is cast up by the fish upon the dry land.

The highlighted portion kinda makes ME think that Jonah lived in the belly as opposed to was eaten and died. Comments?
 
What I cannot understand is that people will spend hours arguing that the book of Jonah be taken literally and then call John 6 allegory!
 
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JimO:
What I cannot understand is that people will spend hours arguing that the book of Jonah be taken literally and then call John 6 allegory!
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If people believes that Jonah is really an allegory then they call Jesus a big liar, period.
 
From a very pedantic standpoint a whale makes more sense because whales swallow whole huge amounts of seawater and plankton, then filter out the seawater. A shark would chew and swallow pieces.

Anyway, that is hardly the most farfetched story in the Bible! 🙂
 
Jonah 2:2 says “I called to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of **Sheol **I cried, and thou didst hear my voice.”

Would the use of the word Sheol suggest that he had in fact died? The earler links were interesting and suggest it could have been a whale and he could have lived in the belly of a sperm whale for three days.

I’ll read the Jewish Enc. article next and see what it says.
 
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