Jonah and the Whale: More Than Another Big Fish Story

It's Not About What You May Think It's About

Jonah and the whale. Or big fish. Whatever. You know the story, right? A guy gets swallowed by some enormous sea creature and survives inside for three days. The lesson of the parable? Who the heck knows; something about God taking care of you even when things are at their darkest and most hopeless, I suppose.

For most people-including most churchgoers-the familiarity with the story of Jonah and the whale is about that all-encompassing. We're vaguely familiar with it through its retellings and allusions in other works of art. Many kids of a certain age tie the story of Jonah and the whale to a Veggie Tales cartoon. In addition to animated asparaguses and tomatoes, the story also makes a cameo appearance in Herman Melville's Moby Dick.

What is so odd is that though the story of Jonah and the whale is one of the most well known and beloved and oft-told stories from the Bible, it is also one of the least well-understood. It should come as no surprise that the part of this story that is most well-known is also the least important section. Actually, the fact that Jonah got swallowed by a whale or a fish or whatever really has almost nothing to do with the actual point of the story.

And it is a story. It is clearly meant to be a parable. In other words, fiction. (Just like The DaVinci Code, though where that novel is clearly defined as a work of fiction, the story of Jonah has been passed down from generation to generation as actual fact.) And it's not just a case of it having to be fiction because the possibility of someone surviving inside the belly of a water beast is, well, impossible. (Although it's downright amazing, not mention highly comical, how many web sites are devoted to proving that not only is it possible for a man to be swallowed by a fish or whale and then spit out, but actually give historical accounts. Interestingly, none of them provide any actual evidence to back up these historical accounts. Ah well, Opus Dei Priory Sion E Pluribus Unum.) There are also indications that this work isn't meant to be taken seriously as history because of some rather anachronistic elements to it.