Tuesday: In the Belly of the Big Fish
The three-day experience in the belly of the big fish became a type of the death and resurrection of Christ (Jon. 1:17-2:10; Matt. 12:40). God provided and directed the great fish. Although there are accounts of people who survived at sea after having been swallowed by a whale, we must remember that God provided this particular great fish, as well as the miraculous power that sustained His servant while inside.
Image © Kim Justinen from GoodSalt.com
That is, in the end, this was a miraculous event that could have occurred only through the supernatural intervention of the Lord, who is revealed all through the Bible as a personal God who does indeed intervene miraculously in people’s lives.
There is evidence that the phrase three days and three nights
was an ancient figure of speech expressing the time needed for the imaginary journey to Sheol, the Hebrew name for the realm of the dead. Considering what happened to him, Jonah indeed should have been as good as dead.
In the belly of the fish, Jonah began to pray. The captain had directed Jonah in vain to call on your God
(Jon. 1:6, NKJV). Now in a hopeless situation, Jonah starts to pray, and seriously, too. It took something this desperate to get him finally to do what he should have been doing all along. A summary of Jonah’s prayer has been preserved in the form of a psalm of thanksgiving. Such psalms typically include five parts:
- introduction;
- description of the distress;
- cry to God for help;
- report of God’s action; and
- promise to keep any vow made and to testify to God’s saving action.
That is, Lord, if You get me out of this, I promise to do such and such. Who hasn’t prayed like that before? The question is, Did you do what you covenanted to do?
Read Matthew 12:40. How does Jesus take the story of Jonah and apply it to Himself? See also John 2:19-22.
The chapter ends with the words: And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land
(Jon. 2:10 NIV). God’s command to the great fish brought about what well-meaning sailors failed to do for Jonah. In the same way, Christ commanded the disciples after His resurrection to go into all the world, so Jonah after his underwater adventure went to the Gentiles and became the most successful missionary in the Old Testament. Jonah’s rescue witnessed to God’s saving mercy. His seaweed-draped arrival on the beach testified to God’s determination to save even sinful Assyrians from death.
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Yes, I can beieve in this. When I was 15, I got grabbed off the street, hit on the head and left in a burning room full of news papers, but survived some how with just my shoulder burned. My Teacher said, that Angels saved me to come to SDA today.
sometimes we too need to be trapped in the belly of a fish to do Gods Will.the fish belly may be the troubles we face,trials and cares of this world
Jonah’s actual full length prayer from the belly of the fish is not recorded, although scripture presents a reported summary of its contents (Jonah 2). There is enough there to inform that it was a prayer of contrition. Still there is likely another prayer which was not given mention.
The Bible states that the mariners made futile requests of their gods to take action (Jonah 1:5). After the failed attempts to get through to their powerless gods, who did not send the storm and could do nothing about it the captain made a prayer request of Jonah (Jonah 1:4, 6). There is good reason to believe Jonah complied and prayed, even as he declared his loyalty to the God of Heaven, the Creator of sea and land (Jonah 1:9).
However there is no reported intervention as a result. Nothing changed. God does not simply yield to the wishes of those in trouble, but plots a course which produces the best effect in accordance with His will, and though not always agreeable often this is in the best interest of the individual praying.
Rather than bring immediate relief God cooperated with the lots casting arrangement of the heathen crew (Jonah 1:7). The divine plan for Jonah was to pass through the valley of the shadow of death, and emerge ready to walk with the Lord (Jonah 3:3).
Note too Jehovah stands ready to entertain the sincere prayer of penitence (Jonah 2:4-9). From such He does not turn away. To pray humbly, with God’s will primary or purely, and acknowledging one’s own poverty of spirit gets the Lord’s attention and action.
You do not want to be in the belly of the fish because that's not a good place to be. The environment there is unconducive, stinky and smell. Every day our actions and taught were making us away from presence of God leading us to the place were we should not be there. When God is calling us to take up His service we seems to give excuses and do things of our own as if playing hide and seek with God. You must remember that God is omnipotent and omnipresence. He present every where at same time. The point that I would like to raise here is that; Once you are called in Godly service be owe up before God takes another step like Johna.
Did Jonah immediately start praying? Or did he only start praying/repenting after 3 days?
Do we sometimes only call on God as a last resort?
Hey you Jonah,life is not all about speed but direction!
Many a times we have been trapped in our own decision
to be against God n have asked for forgiveness as Jona.we
Promise to do His will but when taken through we forget
what we promised I being one of them.let keep our promise
Some times you find your self in certain situations and you pray Jonah's prayer but after you have been delivered from the situation you turn to go your way. Mu question is how does that happen, is it always right to draw closer to God in times of trouble?
Hi Nathaniel, yes it is always right to draw near to God in times of trouble, we see through out the Bible the children of Israel called out to God in times of trouble. In fact in Lev 26 we find God telling them if you love and obey me these are the blessings you will receive however if you do not listen to me I will send these curses on you to wake you up and bring you back to me.
So, I believe, the lesson we need to learn is after we reach out to God in our times of trouble don't wander away again, it is always better on God's side. He has promised to be with us no matter what happens.
This indeed is a lesson to us. Whenever we find ourselves in the''belly'' of a whale, do not ever forget to pray.. God never leaves us alone thus He managed to keep Jonah alive for 3 days without food or water in the belly of a whale..
I love the comment above; walking through the shadows of death is not death itself but only to prepare us to be fully ready to walk with the Lord
There is much debate inside and outside of religious circles about Jesus being in the grave three days and three nights and theorising that He must have died on Wednesday and not Friday. My take is that Jesus the creator of the earth and ruler of time...He said three days and three nights and that's it. No argument needed. Too often people major on the minor. Let's just believe God's word.
John 2:19 Jesus said : Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up
3 days meanings: He Die on Friday,Saturday,Sunday, For nights and hrs no count.
Yvonne maybe this will shed some light on the question? https://ssnet.org/blog/sign-jonah-fuzzy-math/
...ooh! My Lord i am like Jonah. Save me ....save me now!
Indeed I was like this stubborn and always running from God when He beckoned me to come but through my life i had my fair share of wrong doing , God uses our situations to call us back to Him , having we ourselves to submit to Him and trust Him fully. I pray as I continue the Journey that we all keep our eyes on Jesus, trust me we have nothing to lose.
To obey and follow the commands of God will certainly be the best way to live our daily life. God has done everything to save us and He is doing everything daily to save us. We must obey and live.
Due to the facts related in this story, it seems it was imperative that Jonah give the warning to Nineveh for reasons only God knows. Knowing Jonah as only God could (Ps 139) the great fish had a vital part in bringing Jonah to his senses, much like the pigpen of the prodigal, and we can tell from his prayer that this took place once he realized God was preserving his wretched life for a great purpose. It seems he turned to God when realizing his safety was in obvious danger, and the resulting deliverance led to his "repentance & conversion", at least towards fulfilling this appointed duty from God. Of course Jonah praised God as the hours of confinement in the great fish passed while he remained fully conscious, while alone without distraction from his thoughts during this vivid reality he was experiencing. Whether God provided air, or if like Daniel, no breath was required, Jonah remained alive and now fully attentive to God's commandment to him. Yet how will the story end for Jonah himself...?
Prior to this it seemed Jonah had suffered a loss of faith in God (or why run?) and God was looking to save him too. Marvel how the wickedness of men brings out the gracious glory of God towards them, which will never stay His wrath from the finally unrepentant.
the 3 day and 3 night concept reminds me of when Jesus was at the tomb and when he rose o the 3rd day, victory over death was acquired, therefore when jonah was actually still in the belly, it was a time of wrestling in order to overcome, just like Jacob wrestled for his faith.
I have been a very stubborn and self justifying person until now, like Jonah I rationalized my behavior and actions to suit myself. I was in the captain's seat and liked it. Even after several crash landings and wrong destinations I considered myself competent and blamed everything on circumstances beyond my control. I was self assured and inflicted many trials on my long suffering passengers, but was I not a good captain?
Then one day I developed a severe belly ache and went to the ER of my local hospital where I was eventually diagnosed as having a cancer of the bowel. What followed was an operation to remove part of my bowel and reconnect the ends. It's been eighteen days since then and I am recovering well thanks to the doctors and the people who prayed earnestly for me. Praise the Lord I say!
Upon reflection, I believe that this was a result of a long indulged habit (although there might be other factors). I was a heavy wine drinker and my excuse was that consuming it was not against biblical principles and this was reinforced by certain other bible teachers of a different denomination. So this became my weak excuse and rationale until like Jonah I found myself in the belly of the beast of my own making.
I no longer occupy the captain's seat, I've relinquished it to the Lord who has graciously saved me throughout this ordeal. He is the Captain now! He has given me a second chance to be a true witness and like Jonah, I am now ready to obey Him and proclaim His life changing gospel to all who are willing to hear it.
To all brothers and sisters out there, Shalom! What a great Savior we have.
What do you mean by "three days and three nights" ... coz from the Point of View of the Church of God, they said Jesus did not die on Friday but Wednesday...how so we account three days and three nights?
Janine maybe this will help? https://ssnet.org/blog/sign-jonah-fuzzy-math/
temptations that will come on your way will prepare you to become more commited in doing the LORD'S work. But if not properly taken through with the help of the Lord an adverse result will be seen after the temptations.
"...and in 3 days I will raise it up" Did Jesus raise himself from the dead? Suggests ultimate power over death. Could it be that just as we rise from sleep after a couple of hours, Jesus had such power over death that after the 'night' of the death for man's sin he would raise himself up. Note too Genesis 49:33 "When Jacob finished charging his sons, he drew up his feet into bed, and breathed his last". I like how he finished his earthly business and then drew up his feet to die, suggests that yes we shall surely die, but the children of God can have some measure of control on when it happens.
I do believe the fish belly represents the time taken off from 'self' to be holy to able to draw power from the most high God to embark on his business.sometimes we need the belly of a fish to realize how sinful we are and how God is ready to save and use us.
God used Jonah for his power to move on the hearts of the people to repent. God uses our situation and problems to move us to repent as well and get our attention to where we are running to or from. This will lead to seeking God and getting back on the path of righteousness
Late Sunday afternoon the two men on the road to Emmaus said that it had been three
days since all these things happened. You can't get to Wednesday counting backwards from Sunday in three days. Just saying. See Luke 24:21