Greetings,
Of course I am being facetious with the title, but I obtained the following on another forum that I thought was worth posting here.
IS THE JONAH AND THE WHALE ACCOUNT SCIENTIFICALLY AND HISTORICALLY PLAUSIBLE?
A common approach used when examining the Book of Jonah is to view it as mere allegory. Many people have done this, however, because they were not aware of various information that is available in the disciplines of science and history that lends credence to the Jonah account. For example, this webpage offers expert testimony and other evidence that supports a sperm whales gullet is big enough to fit a man. Also, I do offer historical/archeological support for the Book of Jonah that readers will find interesting.
In summary, this webpage is devoted to clearing up some of the issues that some Christians and skeptics have regarding the Book of Jonah.
FIRST OF ALL, IT SHOULD BE SAID THAT THERE IS CLEARLY THE MIRACULOUS OCCURING ACCORDING TO THE BOOK OF JONAH
Here are some examples:
1. "But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken" - Jonah 1:4
2. "And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil [is] upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah." - Jonah 1:7
3. "Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life...So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging." Jonah 1: 14,15
4. "Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah." - Jonah 1:17
5. "And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry [land]." - Jonah 2:10
6. The revival of Ninevah Jonah 3: 5-9
7. "And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made [it] to come up over Jonah." - Jonah 4:6
8. "But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered." - Jonah 4:7
9. "But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered." - Jonah 4:8
I want to point these miracles out because we can not rule out supernatural interventions as far as Jonah being able to survive and Jonah clearly does pray for the intervention of God as can be seen here:
Jonah 2:1-3
Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly,
And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, [and] thou heardest my voice.
And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, [and] thou heardest my voice.
For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me."
see the King James Version at: www.blueletterbible.org
A KEY QUESTION IN REGARDS TO THE BIBLE VERSES IN REGARDS TO THE MIRACULOUS:
We do not know if the sea creature that swallowed Jonah was a whale and this will be clearly demonstrated later.
There seems to be differences of opinion regarding a man being able to survive in a sperm whale in terms of oxygen requirements and the acidity level in various portions of the digestive system. There also seems to be differences of opinions regarding the respiratory tract and this will be discussed later.
With these two issues in mind, I will address the possibilty of supernatural intervention by God in terms of Noah surviving.
What was Jonah being afflicted with (see above verse in Jonah 2:1-3, specifically: "And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD")? The general dire circumstance of being swallowed by a whale? Lack of air? Gastric Juices? We simply do not know. In the context of a God creating the unvierse out of nothing and doing many miracles and many people experiencing miracles today including myself I am led to believe that God could have overcome issues that would have made the whales or other sea creatures internal area inhospitable if necessary. It could have been as easy as having the whale open its mouth more often to provide more air. On the other hand, God could have supernaturally created more iar if it was needed. God saved the men from a fiery furnace for example. Some commentators even postulate that God resurrected Jonah in the whale since the Jonah account is associated with the resurrection of Christ (Jesus compared the duration of his death and resurrection to the time Jonah spent in the whale). I do not favor the resurrection account but again I certainly cannot rule it out since God clearly did intervene more than once in the Jonah/whale account.
THE SCIENCE ISSUES
WAS THE CREATURE THAT SWALLOWED JONAH NECESSARILY A WHALE?
Christian/Jewish scholars rightly point out that the creature in the book of Jonah is not necesarily a whale but should be translated "great fish". For commentary on the Hebrew and Greek please see the following websites:
http://www.tektonics.org/jonfish.html]http://www.tektonics.org/jonfish.html[/URL]
http://www.users.bigpond.com/rdoolan/jonah.html
http://www.apologeticspress.org/rr/rr2003/res0301a.htm
THE BEST SUSPECTS FOR THE SEA CREATURE THAT SWALLOWED JONAH
The Book of Jonah says that God prompted the great fish to vomit Jonah on dry land. Therefore, the sea creature that swallowed Jonah must have a large mouth (and esophagus in cases where the esophagus would be used) in order to accomplish this feat. I believe the best suspects for sea creatures are the sperm whale and the great white shark based on my investiagation (I discuss why the other suspects scholars cite are not as good: grouper fish, other whales and sharks, unknown or extinct species).
THE EVIDENCE FOR THE SPERM WHALE BEING THE GREAT FISH THAT SWALLOWED JONAH
1) THE SPERM WHALE HAS A LARGE ENOUGH MOUTH AND ESOPHAGUS
According to a very well done Jewish website that uses excellent sources the following is true in regards to the sperm whale:
"Robinson, a senior marine science instructor [at Seaworld], and Parham, a science writer,
methodically studied the few clues that the Bible offers for solving the
mystery.
Robinson said that large sperm whales have esophaguses that measure as large
as 50 centimeters, or roughly a foot and a half wide. They can be found in
the Mediterranean.....
However, men often measure more than a foot and a half across their
shoulders, so in order for his swallower to have been a sperm whale, Jonah
would have to have been of fairly slight build. "
taken from:
http://www.jewishsightseeing.com/usa/calif...13-02jonah.html
Another website concurs and says the following:
Pinney (1964) quoted the Director of a Museum of Natural history:
"Many people asked me if the Bible story of Jonah is true. Could a man be swallowed by a whale? So I pushed my body partly down the throat of a dead sixty foot sperm whale. I could just squeeze through. A fat man couldnt have made it."
2) SPERM WHALES ARE KNOWN TO VOMIT UP VERY LARGE PIECES OF FOOD WHEN DYING AND THE BOOK OF JONAH HAS JONAH BEING VOMITED UP ON DRY LAND
A website offers the following:
The largest of the toothed whales is the Sperm Whale. This grows to 25 metres. The diet of Sperm Whales includes large objects such as giant squids. Bullen (1923) wrote:
"and a shark fifteen feet in length has been found in the stomach of a cachelot [= Sperm Whale]." (p. 125)
Bullen wrote:
"when dying, the cachelot always ejected the contents of his stomach " (p.69)
On one occasion Bullen saw ejected material which included:
"a massive fragment of cuttle fish - tentacle or arm - as thick as a stout mans body " (p. 69)
Bullen continued:
"contrary to the usual notion of a whales being unable to swallow a herring, here was a kind of whale that could swallowwell , a block four or five feet square apparently; who lived upon creatures as large as himself, if one might judge of their bulk by the sample to hand; but being unable, from only possessing teeth in one jaw, to masticate his food, was compelled to tear it in sizeable pieces, bolt it whole, and leave his digestive apparatus to do the rest." (p. 70)
Bullen described how he himself came close to being swallowed when a whale smashed the whaleboat throwing the whalers into the sea. (pp. 101-102)
Extract from page 69 of The Cruise of the Cachelot (1923/1944 Frank T Bullen John Murray London):
He [the mate] told me that, when dying, the cachelot always ejected the contents of his stomach, which were invariably composed of such masses as we saw before us; that he believed the stuff to be portions of big cuttle-fish, bitten off by the whale for the purpose of swallowing, but he wasnt sure. Anyhow, I could haul this piece alongside now, if I liked, and see. Wondering at the indifference shown by this officer of forty years whaling experience to such a wonderful fact, I thanked him, and, sticking the boat-hook into the lump, drew it alongside. It was at once evident that it was a massive fragment of cuttle-fishtentacle or armas thick as a stout mans body "
From p. 105 of The Cruise of the Cachelot:
Indeed, not many tears ago a popular M.P., writing to one of the religious papers, allowed himself to say that "science will not hear of a whale with a gullet capable of admitting anything larger than a mans fist."a piece of crass ignorance, which is also perpetrated in the appendix to a very widely-distributed edition of the Authorized Version of the Bible. This opinion, strangely enough, is almost universally held
taken from: http://www.adam.com.au/bstett/BJonahDebate.htm
3) JONAH COULD HAVE EASILY BEEN SWALLOWED WHOLE BY A SPERM WHALE WHOLE AND INTACT
The Jewish site mentioned earlier has Mr. Robinson, a senior marine science instructor at Seaworld offering the following:
"He said sperm whales don't have to chew their food, they can move it into
their stomachs by peristaltic or muscle action -- so Jonah could have been
swallowed whole."
taken from: http://www.jewishsightseeing.com/usa/calif...13-02jonah.html
Another websites seems to concur:
Sperm whales, with their two stomachs, large throat, and biting jaw equipped with large teeth, have well documented appetites. Sharks ten to twelve feet long appear to be swallowed as easily as Jonah was! Three undigested, ten-foot sharks were found at one time in a large bull Sperm whales stomach at Naden Harbour. Squid measuring over thirty feet long, and several hundred pounds in weight, were also found, nearly intact, in a forty-five foot Sperm.....
A major discussion on Jonah occurred in the Princeton Theological Review October 1927 and October 1928. Ambrose John Wilson of Oxford, England, cited a whaling station manager that the skeleton of a shark sixteen feet long had been found in a whale."
taken from: http://www.adam.com.au/bstett/BJonahDebate.htm
4) SPERM WHALES INHABIT THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA:
http://whale.wheelock.edu/archives/whalenet96/0156.html
http://www.cetaces.org/Sperm%20whale%20genetic.html
Of course I am being facetious with the title, but I obtained the following on another forum that I thought was worth posting here.
IS THE JONAH AND THE WHALE ACCOUNT SCIENTIFICALLY AND HISTORICALLY PLAUSIBLE?
A common approach used when examining the Book of Jonah is to view it as mere allegory. Many people have done this, however, because they were not aware of various information that is available in the disciplines of science and history that lends credence to the Jonah account. For example, this webpage offers expert testimony and other evidence that supports a sperm whales gullet is big enough to fit a man. Also, I do offer historical/archeological support for the Book of Jonah that readers will find interesting.
In summary, this webpage is devoted to clearing up some of the issues that some Christians and skeptics have regarding the Book of Jonah.
FIRST OF ALL, IT SHOULD BE SAID THAT THERE IS CLEARLY THE MIRACULOUS OCCURING ACCORDING TO THE BOOK OF JONAH
Here are some examples:
1. "But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken" - Jonah 1:4
2. "And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil [is] upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah." - Jonah 1:7
3. "Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life...So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging." Jonah 1: 14,15
4. "Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah." - Jonah 1:17
5. "And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry [land]." - Jonah 2:10
6. The revival of Ninevah Jonah 3: 5-9
7. "And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made [it] to come up over Jonah." - Jonah 4:6
8. "But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered." - Jonah 4:7
9. "But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered." - Jonah 4:8
I want to point these miracles out because we can not rule out supernatural interventions as far as Jonah being able to survive and Jonah clearly does pray for the intervention of God as can be seen here:
Jonah 2:1-3
Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly,
And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, [and] thou heardest my voice.
And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, [and] thou heardest my voice.
For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me."
see the King James Version at: www.blueletterbible.org
A KEY QUESTION IN REGARDS TO THE BIBLE VERSES IN REGARDS TO THE MIRACULOUS:
We do not know if the sea creature that swallowed Jonah was a whale and this will be clearly demonstrated later.
There seems to be differences of opinion regarding a man being able to survive in a sperm whale in terms of oxygen requirements and the acidity level in various portions of the digestive system. There also seems to be differences of opinions regarding the respiratory tract and this will be discussed later.
With these two issues in mind, I will address the possibilty of supernatural intervention by God in terms of Noah surviving.
What was Jonah being afflicted with (see above verse in Jonah 2:1-3, specifically: "And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD")? The general dire circumstance of being swallowed by a whale? Lack of air? Gastric Juices? We simply do not know. In the context of a God creating the unvierse out of nothing and doing many miracles and many people experiencing miracles today including myself I am led to believe that God could have overcome issues that would have made the whales or other sea creatures internal area inhospitable if necessary. It could have been as easy as having the whale open its mouth more often to provide more air. On the other hand, God could have supernaturally created more iar if it was needed. God saved the men from a fiery furnace for example. Some commentators even postulate that God resurrected Jonah in the whale since the Jonah account is associated with the resurrection of Christ (Jesus compared the duration of his death and resurrection to the time Jonah spent in the whale). I do not favor the resurrection account but again I certainly cannot rule it out since God clearly did intervene more than once in the Jonah/whale account.
THE SCIENCE ISSUES
WAS THE CREATURE THAT SWALLOWED JONAH NECESSARILY A WHALE?
Christian/Jewish scholars rightly point out that the creature in the book of Jonah is not necesarily a whale but should be translated "great fish". For commentary on the Hebrew and Greek please see the following websites:
http://www.tektonics.org/jonfish.html]http://www.tektonics.org/jonfish.html[/URL]
http://www.users.bigpond.com/rdoolan/jonah.html
http://www.apologeticspress.org/rr/rr2003/res0301a.htm
THE BEST SUSPECTS FOR THE SEA CREATURE THAT SWALLOWED JONAH
The Book of Jonah says that God prompted the great fish to vomit Jonah on dry land. Therefore, the sea creature that swallowed Jonah must have a large mouth (and esophagus in cases where the esophagus would be used) in order to accomplish this feat. I believe the best suspects for sea creatures are the sperm whale and the great white shark based on my investiagation (I discuss why the other suspects scholars cite are not as good: grouper fish, other whales and sharks, unknown or extinct species).
THE EVIDENCE FOR THE SPERM WHALE BEING THE GREAT FISH THAT SWALLOWED JONAH
1) THE SPERM WHALE HAS A LARGE ENOUGH MOUTH AND ESOPHAGUS
According to a very well done Jewish website that uses excellent sources the following is true in regards to the sperm whale:
"Robinson, a senior marine science instructor [at Seaworld], and Parham, a science writer,
methodically studied the few clues that the Bible offers for solving the
mystery.
Robinson said that large sperm whales have esophaguses that measure as large
as 50 centimeters, or roughly a foot and a half wide. They can be found in
the Mediterranean.....
However, men often measure more than a foot and a half across their
shoulders, so in order for his swallower to have been a sperm whale, Jonah
would have to have been of fairly slight build. "
taken from:
http://www.jewishsightseeing.com/usa/calif...13-02jonah.html
Another website concurs and says the following:
Pinney (1964) quoted the Director of a Museum of Natural history:
"Many people asked me if the Bible story of Jonah is true. Could a man be swallowed by a whale? So I pushed my body partly down the throat of a dead sixty foot sperm whale. I could just squeeze through. A fat man couldnt have made it."
2) SPERM WHALES ARE KNOWN TO VOMIT UP VERY LARGE PIECES OF FOOD WHEN DYING AND THE BOOK OF JONAH HAS JONAH BEING VOMITED UP ON DRY LAND
A website offers the following:
The largest of the toothed whales is the Sperm Whale. This grows to 25 metres. The diet of Sperm Whales includes large objects such as giant squids. Bullen (1923) wrote:
"and a shark fifteen feet in length has been found in the stomach of a cachelot [= Sperm Whale]." (p. 125)
Bullen wrote:
"when dying, the cachelot always ejected the contents of his stomach " (p.69)
On one occasion Bullen saw ejected material which included:
"a massive fragment of cuttle fish - tentacle or arm - as thick as a stout mans body " (p. 69)
Bullen continued:
"contrary to the usual notion of a whales being unable to swallow a herring, here was a kind of whale that could swallowwell , a block four or five feet square apparently; who lived upon creatures as large as himself, if one might judge of their bulk by the sample to hand; but being unable, from only possessing teeth in one jaw, to masticate his food, was compelled to tear it in sizeable pieces, bolt it whole, and leave his digestive apparatus to do the rest." (p. 70)
Bullen described how he himself came close to being swallowed when a whale smashed the whaleboat throwing the whalers into the sea. (pp. 101-102)
Extract from page 69 of The Cruise of the Cachelot (1923/1944 Frank T Bullen John Murray London):
He [the mate] told me that, when dying, the cachelot always ejected the contents of his stomach, which were invariably composed of such masses as we saw before us; that he believed the stuff to be portions of big cuttle-fish, bitten off by the whale for the purpose of swallowing, but he wasnt sure. Anyhow, I could haul this piece alongside now, if I liked, and see. Wondering at the indifference shown by this officer of forty years whaling experience to such a wonderful fact, I thanked him, and, sticking the boat-hook into the lump, drew it alongside. It was at once evident that it was a massive fragment of cuttle-fishtentacle or armas thick as a stout mans body "
From p. 105 of The Cruise of the Cachelot:
Indeed, not many tears ago a popular M.P., writing to one of the religious papers, allowed himself to say that "science will not hear of a whale with a gullet capable of admitting anything larger than a mans fist."a piece of crass ignorance, which is also perpetrated in the appendix to a very widely-distributed edition of the Authorized Version of the Bible. This opinion, strangely enough, is almost universally held
taken from: http://www.adam.com.au/bstett/BJonahDebate.htm
3) JONAH COULD HAVE EASILY BEEN SWALLOWED WHOLE BY A SPERM WHALE WHOLE AND INTACT
The Jewish site mentioned earlier has Mr. Robinson, a senior marine science instructor at Seaworld offering the following:
"He said sperm whales don't have to chew their food, they can move it into
their stomachs by peristaltic or muscle action -- so Jonah could have been
swallowed whole."
taken from: http://www.jewishsightseeing.com/usa/calif...13-02jonah.html
Another websites seems to concur:
Sperm whales, with their two stomachs, large throat, and biting jaw equipped with large teeth, have well documented appetites. Sharks ten to twelve feet long appear to be swallowed as easily as Jonah was! Three undigested, ten-foot sharks were found at one time in a large bull Sperm whales stomach at Naden Harbour. Squid measuring over thirty feet long, and several hundred pounds in weight, were also found, nearly intact, in a forty-five foot Sperm.....
A major discussion on Jonah occurred in the Princeton Theological Review October 1927 and October 1928. Ambrose John Wilson of Oxford, England, cited a whaling station manager that the skeleton of a shark sixteen feet long had been found in a whale."
taken from: http://www.adam.com.au/bstett/BJonahDebate.htm
4) SPERM WHALES INHABIT THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA:
http://whale.wheelock.edu/archives/whalenet96/0156.html
http://www.cetaces.org/Sperm%20whale%20genetic.html
what?
