Jonah and the fish (2) - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2025

Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah 1:17

Jonah and the fish (2)
It’s an impressive photo – a large whale has just surfaced, and dangling from its mouth are the legs of a diver. This diver had gone out to sea off the coast of South Africa in the spring of 2019 to photograph whales hunting sardines. Suddenly, a whale surfaced right next to him. As everything around him went black, he thought, “Okay, he can’t swallow me. His gullet just isn’t big enough.” Then the whale spat him out again.

Perhaps someone reading this report thought, “Then the story of Jonah and the whale is a fairy tale!” In fact, when we read the Bible text more carefully, we notice that it speaks of a “great fish” and not of a whale. Interestingly, when Jesus speaks of Jonah, He also speaks only of a large fish (Matthew 12:39–40). So the Bible leaves open what kind of animal it was that God used to save Jonah.

In addition, it was anything but comfortable for Jonah inside the beast. This is clear from the poetic language of his prayer to God. Jonah speaks there of “distress”, of the “belly of Sheol”, of the “deep”, and of the “weeds” that wrapped themselves around his head. He was in mortal fear and had apparently given up on his life. But God brought him “up from the pit” (ch. 2:1–10).

But the most important reason we can trust the account of Jonah is this: Jesus Christ refers to Jonah as a “prophet” and confirms that Jonah was in the belly of the fish (Matthew 12:39–40). He even compares Jonah’s stay in the fish with His own stay in the grave.

We can trust the Bible, the Word of God, in every detail!

Today’s reading: Isaiah 30:1-33 · Hebrews 2:1-4