Jonah 1 Q&A

Happy Wednesday everyone! Two questions were submitted last Sunday, on Jonah chapter 1, and I wanted to offer some responses here.....

If the text says fish, why do we all assume it's a whale?

This was a fun question to research! It's true that the most accurate translation of the ancient Hebrew word (the language in which Jonah was originally written) found in Jonah 1:17 is the general English word "fish," and it's also true that in the popular imagination, many of us assume the creature was a "whale." One major reason for this is that the King James Version of the Bible, which was one of the most influential and earliest widely available English translations, uses the English word "whale" in Matthew 12:40. This is when Jesus famously refers to the story of Jonah, and he says, "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." This was a translation decision, and because of the massive and enduring impact of the KJV, many of us picture a "whale."

The Hebrew word in Jonah is dahg, and the Greek word Jesus used in the above verse is ketos. Neither of these words is very restrictive in their meaning. Both simply mean something like "great sea creature." The KJV translators decided to use the English word "whale," while many other English translations say things like "huge fish" (NET). Personally, I don't find the specific biological classification of the creature that important to the story of Jonah, and I actually like the fact that the two original words could refer to a "fish" or a "whale." There's some semantic flexibility here, and I want to re-emphasize the narrative importance of the role of the fish/whale/etc - it was sent by God to thwart Jonah's attempt to continue to run from him!

Does Jonah take place before or after Elijah and the persecution of God's prophets by Israel's kings?

The short answer to this question is that Jonah's life and ministry took place after the life and work of Elijah the prophet. Because of the split kingdom of Israel/Judah after Solomon's reign, and because of the myriad of different prophets that ministered under different Kings and different Kingdoms, it gets very head-spinning to keep track of! But Elijah ministered under King Ahab (see 1 Kings 17 and onward for the stories of Elijah and Ahab) and Jonah ministered under Jeroboam II, who reigned several Kings after Ahab. The only reference to Jonah outside of the book of Jonah itself is in 2 Kings 14:25, which places Jonah in the timeline of Israel's history. I will likely talk a bit more about the significance of this reference for the historical background of Jonah over the next few weeks.

Thanks, as always, for the questions!