The Hebrew term ( dahg) that underlies the English translation “fish” (1:17 2:1,10) is a broad term that “always has the collective meaning ‘fish’ ” (Botterweck, 1978, 3:135). The actual text of the book of Jonah states that “the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah” (Jonah 1:17). In addition to the evidence that may be deduced for (1) the credibility of a whale swallowing Jonah and (2) the miraculous preparation of the creature by God, a third clarification is in order that pertains to translation. Jonah’s survival after being inside a sea creature is no more remarkable than Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego surviving the “burning fiery furnace” (Daniel 3:27).
McClintock and Strong agree: “he transaction is plainly miraculous, and no longer within the sphere of zoological discussion” (1881, 10:972).
JONAH AND THE WHALE FULL
George Cansdale was correct in concluding: “here is no point in speculating about the full physical explanation of an incident that primarily is metaphysical, i.e., miraculous” (1975, 5:925, emp. He also prepared a plant (4:6), a worm (4:7), and a vehement wind (4:8). The same term is employed in the same book to refer to additional direct manipulations initiated by God. God specifically “ prepared” ( mahnah-appointed, constituted, made ready) a great fish (Gesenius, 1847, p. Yet this charge has been shown to be impotent for two reasons: (1) historical precedent exists for the possibility of just such an occurrence and (2) the text of Jonah insists that the sea creature in question was orchestrated supernaturally by God for the purpose intended (see Thompson, 1996, 16:86). They have insisted that the very idea that a person actually could be swallowed by such a creature and survive is preposterous. Skeptics frequently have railed against the allusion to a “whale” in Matthew 12:40 in the King James Version.
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