The Lord Appointed A Great Fish
“And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”
Christians and non-Christians alike know the story of Jonah and the whale. Not every Christian, however, is aware that Jonah had a prophetic ministry to Israel recorded in 2 Kings 14:23–27. Jonah and the whale have become a great focal point in determining the veracity of the Bible. Critics of Scripture point out that such a situation happening is utterly impossible. There have been professing Christians who have attempted to explain away the swallowing of Jonah. It is either a myth or an allegorical teaching device to communicate certain truths.
But is this how Scripture portrays the event? First, the book of Jonah simply states that God prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. It is not the fish or even Jonah who is the focal point of that statement. Rather, it is God who is at the heart of the issue. It was God who appointed the fish. To discount the Scripture as we find it in this verse as myth is an attempt to deny the sovereignty of God and his supernatural acts. This is ultimately what the critics are aiming at. We know that if God is not sovereign and not capable of supernatural or divine intervention, then he is not God. The word “appointed” or “prepared” occurs in three other places in Jonah. In Jonah 4:6, God prepared or appointed a plant to provide shade for Jonah. In Jonah 4:7, God appointed a worm to attack the plant; and in Jonah 4:8, God appointed a scorching east wind to blast away at Jonah. The point of those three verses is that it was God who did all of those things, and he did them supernaturally and sovereignly. We do not know what species of fish swallowed Jonah. The Hebrew does not use the word for a whale here. The appointment, then, of this great fish was by divine sovereignty.
The book of Jonah is about the mercy of God extended to the wicked citizens of Nineveh through the preaching of Jonah. Every child knows that Jonah is the prophet who ran away from God. “You can run but you cannot hide” is the obvious lesson. Nineveh was founded by that great builder of cities; namely, Nimrod (Gen. 10:11). Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, a most wicked nation. The people of Nineveh were exceedingly wicked and God promises judgment upon them (see Nahum). They would ultimately fall to the Babylonians.
God sent Jonah to Nineveh in order to prompt a reaction from Israel. If Israel were God’s covenant people, then they ought to repent at the preaching of the prophets that God had sent to them, as the Ninevites would repent at the preaching of Jonah. This highlights the wickedness of Israel. If idolatrous and pagan Nineveh can respond, then Israel ought to.
We can confidently view the book of Jonah as historically viable and relevant since Jonah was a real prophet (2 Kings 14). The book of Jonah is narrative in form and should be believed for what it says. The most significant argument for its historical reliability comes from Jesus himself. Jesus accepts the facts of Jonah as historical (Matt. 12:38–41; 16:4; Luke 11:29–32). It is not parabolic or allegorical, but factual and historical. Jesus accepts the fact that Jonah was an actual prophet. Jesus calls him “the prophet Jonah” (Matt. 12:39). Jesus says that Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and nights (Matt. 12:40); and Jesus says that the Ninevites repented at Jonah’s preaching (Matt. 12:41). Jonah 1:17 also states that Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and nights, the very fact Jesus referred to.
The significance for Jesus was not merely that Jonah was historically valid, but that Jonah’s three days and three nights in the fish were a sign (Matt. 12:39, 40). Jesus points to the three days and nights as being a similar sign regarding himself. Just as Jonah spent three days and nights in the belly of the great fish, so too, would Jesus in the “heart of the earth.” This refers to the time that Jesus would be in the tomb. The three days and three nights is a term of time that simply can mean three days. Our Lord subsequently condemned the scribes and Pharisees for always demanding signs. Jesus said that only an “evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign” (Matt. 12:39; also Jer. 5:7, 8).
The people of Nineveh repented when Jonah preached to them. It took Jonah three days to go through the city. Perhaps his skin was discolored or his appearance was so startling from spending time in the belly of the fish that the Ninevites were drawn to listen to him. We don’t know why specifically except to note that the city (people and king) repented. We should take this as a genuine revival. God was merciful to them. Jonah 3:5 says that “the people of Nineveh believed God.” The king called upon his people to call upon God mightily and turn from their evil ways and from the violence of their hands (Jon. 3:8). How gracious of God to see and receive their repentance (vs. 10).
When the text says that God relented of the disaster that he said he would do and did not do it, this is couched in language we can understand. God does not change his mind. Whatever he has determined to do he will do. The language indicates that if the Ninevites fail to repent they will perish. They repent and, therefore, they live. The Lord’s change of mind is simply his sovereign purpose to make his actions depend on Nineveh’s response, and is in full accord with his immutability and sovereignty because God always ordains the means and the ends. The means and the ends include human responsibility, human freedom, and God’s immutable purpose—all in perfect balance and harmony.
Since the secret things belong to the Lord (Deut. 29:29), we will break our heads against a wall trying to understand the purposes of God. It is not necessary to be able to explain these things to our satisfaction. It is enough that God accommodates himself to our understanding, and what cannot or should not be understood is best left to his sovereign immutable character. Our proper response should be to always worship him.
So the first part of our text points to the sovereign ordination of God in preparing a great fish to swallow Jonah, thus bringing him to fulfill the purpose of God both for Jonah and the city of Nineveh. The second part of the verse points to the greater truth that our Lord Jesus would be in the heart of the earth for three days (his burial). I have often wondered what other reason there might be for the three days inside the fish. First, the shocking realization to find that you are still alive when you ought to be dead (Jon. 2:1–9). Second, the comprehensive shock that this might be your home for a while, meaning you have time to consider your rebellion (running away from God). Third, preparation to respond to God’s instructions with a subdued heart and mind. Such was Jonah’s unique experience. God appoints certain things to occur in our lives to bring us to himself.
None of us have been inside a fish, but when God deals with you, you will know it. It is his mercy to us that he deals with us in this way, for he would have us do his will. We are always better off and happy when we do his will, rather than our own, yet we so often do our own will. How stubborn we are! A lot like Jonah, right? It might not be a great fish, but God can get your attention if he so desires. Don’t run away like Jonah.