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First we need to be
aware there are at least two kinds of fish that could
and have swallowed animals such as dogs and men. Many
people try to discredit others when told that the story
is impossible about Jonah being consumed by a whale. So
many people use their own knowledge to draw conclusions
about any thing they want to expound on. I think that
the old saying is so true it is better to keep silent
when among your piers. Than to open your mouth and
remove all doubt. Information we gather some times is
not relievable and with out us being confident we should
keep it to our self. Unless of course we have looked at
more than one resource that we deem that it is reliable
on what research we have done. I do not always show my
source of research but in this case it is such a
controversial matter I felt compelled to list some of my
research sources so that if need be you may find these
truths your self. They are as follows the bible, many
commentaries, the Smithsonian Institute of Science.
By the way the word
Ketos pronounced Kay-tos is the word in Greek translated
means a huge an aquatic mammal of the order of the
Cetacea group, found in Matthew 12:40 it is translated a
great fish from the Eerdmans Bible dictionary. King
James translates Ketos Whale Also King James Revised
Standard Version translates it a sea monster.
Jonah 1:17 The King James Version reads whale at Job
7:12 - Ezekiel 29:3 - Ezekiel 32:2 - Nehemiah 13:16 they
are all in agreement that the sea creature was squirming
and moving with a vibratory action, rather it is a sea
monster or a fish.
History
abounds with facts about sea monsters. The shark may not
be a native of the Mediterranean Sea, now but at one
time, before the seas became colder in that area, some
were seen, in the same location, where Jonah was
sailing, and thrown overboard and swallowed by a great
fish. Bible translators many years ago had limited
knowledge regarding the mired of different kinds of
large fish that swam the seas. Today, thanks to the
Smithsonian Institute, and other agencies like them,
information has been gathered over the years that are
available to the public. In the time of Jonah’s life it
was not uncommon for a man not to travel very far from
his place of birth. With out venturing beyond the
boundaries of our local environment it would be
difficult to gain knowledge of things that were common
to other areas of the world. The most common large fish
known today is a whale, therefore the logical selection
would be the largest one commonly known about. So what
we have is a sea monster or? What we do know that a
shark was capable of the task of swallowing a man or
other large objects. Gilbert Whitley, before his demise
was the curator of fishes at the Australian Museum in
Sydney, Large teeth of the species where fond in the
depths of the oceans this indicated that enormous sharks
are still living or have become extinct recently.
The size of the sharks was quoted by sailors, because of
their expertise had gathered firsthand. They had
estimated the sharks, weight as high as 60 tons, length
to be a conservative to be 40 to 52 feet in lingth. This
then must demonstrate by the fact that it is possible
for a man to survive such an ordeal as spending this
time in the belly of a great fish. Therefore why
question the report of Jonah’s experience. So looking at
the book of Jonah we can see how God stresses the point
that His love is not just for His chosen people the
Israelites. It is for those who do not recognize His
deity and the Christians who are not non-Jewish. The
prophet Jonah was struggling against God’s calling him
to this service for Him. This could be that Jonah
thought that because the people of Nineveh strong
political enemies of the
Israelites they were also worshipers of false gods.
Jonah personally took a dislike to them and did not feel
the compassion for them that he should and their
salivation was not paramount in his mind.
The prophet
Jonah was called by God to go to Nineveh calling them to
repent from their sins. Jonah had to tell them that they
must turn to God or suffer the approaching doom that was
inevitable. In the book of Jonah we find
that it was not really an amazing event but an act of
God displaying to Jonah that when God speaks we had
better listen. It was Jonah’s decision to let the
Ninamites suffer from lack of knowledge to be condemned
to eternity in darkness void of the truth of God. Look
in 2nd
Petter 3: 9 there we find that God’s patients is be
beyond our understanding for God told him to go to the
Ninamites and tell them the truth about Him.
Yet we see he disobeyed God because of his own finite
mind that could not comprehend the love that God has for
everyone. God wants no one to be lost.
He wants us all to come to Him and find peace and life.
Those who try to disprove His existence will soon be
lost for they belong to the son of perdition not to our
Lord. With all this persuasion that God applied to Jonah
he finely went to Nineveh and preached to the
nativities, the results being that they now can except
the salvation offered or reject it. We all are going to
live forever. It is up to us where we spend eternity
rather it shall be in heaven or Hell.
In an article appearing
on the Smithsonian web site a Dr. Harry Rimmer speaks of
an interview he had with a man who was advertised as The
Jonah of the Twentieth Century by the a London museum.
At a cost of one shilling the public could see him. The
sailor had spent forty-eight hours in the belly of a
shark. The side effects was the loss of hair over all
his body, his skin had taken on a yellowish-brown
patches. If you want further information it can be found
on the web pages of the Smithsonian Institute of
Science.
No matter what sin we
have committed God’s grace is sufficient to cleanse us
from any sin that we have committed except the sin of
denying the Holy Spirit. The existence of the triune God
cannot be ignored. So then if we are truly regretful of
any sin(s) we have, then the God who created us will no
longer be able to see the sin for it is concealed by the
blood of Jesus. See Matthew 12:31-32
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Jim Brown |
