'All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men,another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.' ( I Corinthians 15:39).Įvidently any living thing other than the creeping things ( Psalm 104:25) in the seas is placed in the category of 'fishes'. Our modern taxonomic system places whales among the mammals, sharks, among the fish and plesiosaurs among the reptiles, but, the Bible uses a different system.

In the passage in Jonah (1:17 2:1,10), the Hebrew word was the normal word for 'fish,' but here the word is modified by the word great. What kind of animal swallowed Jonah? In the passage above, the Greek word translated 'whale' actually means a huge fish or sea monster. 'For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth ( Matthew 12:40). Believing it is not an option, for Jesus Christ Himself believed it and made it a model for the doctrine of His resurrection. How could a whale or fish swallow a man whole? How could a man survive in such an environment for any length of time? As always, there are answers to the questions if we are willing to study and believe.įirst, let me say that the historicity of this account is vital to the Christian. Certainly one that has received a major dose of such ridicule deals with Jonah and the whale (or great fish). Skeptics ridicule many portions of Scripture and let's face it-some of them are difficult to believe.

Swallowed by whale