Scenarios on the biblical theme of Jonah and the whale. A conversation about the stay of the prophet Jonah in the belly of the whale. Let's deal with the whales
The plot of “the prophet Jonah in the belly of the whale” is described in the Book of the Prophet Jonah (Hebrew: יוֹנָה) - the nineteenth part of the Tanakh and the fifth part of the “minor prophets” of the Old Testament of the Bible (Jon. 1: 1-16, 2: 1-10)
In the Museum of Technogenic Magic, this story is placed as an example of a positive, recognizable description of travel in a wooden ship, very large compared to the dugout one-wood boats and mutiny ships knitted from reed and papyrus that were used at that time.
According to the Bible, Jonah sailed across the Mediterranean Sea on a ship to Tarshish. During a storm, he was allegedly thrown overboard by the ship's crew. Jonah describes the usual drowning as “he cast me into the depths,” “the waters overtook me,” “my head was entwined with sea grass.” Then the unusual rescue is narrated: “And the Lord commanded the great whale to swallow Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights.” And then he was released by a whale on the shore in Lebanon.
The most ancient evidence in favor of the historical nature of the book of Jonah is found in the books of Tobit and 3 Maccabees. They attest to the historical understanding of the two main facts of the book of Jonah that are most opposed, the prophet's stay in the belly of the whale (3 Macc. 6:6) and his preaching in Nineveh (Tov. 14:8). Then Josephus, conveying the contents of the book of Jonah in “Jewish Antiquities” (IX Book II Ch.), considers it to be true history.
The original name for Jonah's devourer, the "big fish", "dag gadol", was translated into Greek as "ketos megas", which was later shortened to simply whale. The term “whale” came into Slavic languages from Greek, in which Ketos, or Keto, first meant the ancient Greek goddess of the depths, and later any sea monster.
E.P. came closest to the solution. Blavatsky, who suggested that the expression "great whale" comes from the word Keto - the name of Dagon, the god of fish. Jonah, she believed, was actually placed in a chamber hollowed out inside a giant statue of Dagon.
Such ancient illustrations of the plot at first glance could be a hint at the trireme shown below, but the boat is too small to defeat the imagination and in general the “mouth of the whale” is located not at the bow, but at the stern, which will be shown Further . Again, the boards in the modern reconstruction are too perfect and do not overlap, and therefore do not resemble fish scales.
By the way, even in the 13th century AD. the whale was depicted like a fish; apparently there were no draftsmen among the whalers. But the process of rendering whale oil (blub) is shown quite realistically:
Whale. Picture from Harley's bestiary (England, 13th century)
As an educational program, we will give a few explanations about the general structuresea vessel, ship called Blavatsky"a giant statue of the fish god."
For purely technical reasons, feed initially became main part of the vessel, since there was a helmsman (helmsman) who controlled the helm (steering oar). On large sailing ships, it was at the stern that the “brain” was comfortably located - the captain and assistants, the steering wheel, compass, etc. From there, all the sails, the direction of the ship’s movement and, in general, the entire situation on the deck were clearly visible.
The aft superstructure of the ship or the aft part of the upper deck is called the “jut” (from the Dutch hut). A poop, partially recessed into the hull of a ship, is called a poop. At first, cabins were only on the quarterdeck, and only for the management. And all sorts of sailors crawled to sleep and eat like cockroaches in different crevices - wherever they needed to.
In contrast to the stern, the bow of the ship was the least honorable; it was there that the latrine (toilet) was located, and therefore the beautiful rostral, bow figures of the ship were also called latrine figures.
From this it is clear that even the physiology of the “big wooden fish” completely coincides with living organisms, only it moves “tail first”.
In the top image, the “face of a big fish” is quite expressive, especially if you imagine evening illumination with lanterns, and even somewhat similar to a fantasy engraving:
Now you can compare it with the first illustrations, where Jonah, without any panic, with a scroll in his hands, looks out of the mouth of a “huge fish” carrying him into the sea, and imagine what Jonah looked like on the balcony of Utah, where he not only took shelter, but comfortably settled down in the cabin:
The ancient name for the quarterdeck and quarterdeck located at the stern is achterseil-kastel (from jacht - yacht, zee - sea, kasteel - castle) - “castle of a sea vessel”. It really is a palace, somewhat intimidating from the outside, but very comfortable inside:
For the uninitiated, such faces will seem scary, especially the size
Now let's look at the internal structure of the Jonah whale without the "scales" of the outer skin:
"Jonah the Whale Skeleton" is called a ship set, "whale ribs" are called frames
Vintage ship set and modern toy model:
Saint prophet Jonah lived in the 8th century BC and was the successor of the prophet Elisha.
The book of the prophet Jonah is part of the Bible and contains prophecies about the fate of the Israeli people, the suffering of the Savior, the desolation of Jerusalem, and the end of the world. In addition to prophecies, the book of Jonah tells how he was sent by the Lord to the Ninevites preaching about repentance (Jonah 3, 3 - 10).
Our Lord Jesus Christ, in a conversation with the scribes and Pharisees, who demanded a sign from Him, said that they would not be given any other sign except the sign of the prophet Jonah: “ Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.”(Matthew 12:40).
From these words of the Lord, the transformative meaning of the Book of the Prophet Jonah becomes clear in relation to the Death on the Cross, the descent into hell and the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Denouncing the unrepentance and stubbornness of the Jews, the Lord said: “The Ninevites will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented from the preaching of Jonah; and behold, here is more than Jonah” (Matthew 12:41).
Was the prophet Jonah really in the belly of a whale?
Could a whale really swallow a man? “Superficial and unbelieving critics,” says the scholar, Arthur Hooke, “find that there are many obstacles to admit that Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, and that the prophet was in its belly for three days and three nights, and then was erupted onto land.
Firstly, no person who believes in Christ can doubt what happened to the prophet Jonah, for Christ Himself put a seal on this disputed subject. He said: “For as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights” (Matthew 12:40). Here Christ eliminates, at least as far as His disciples were concerned, the idea that the book of Jonah is an allegory, as critics like to suppose.
For if it is said that Jonah was in the belly of the whale only in an allegorical sense, then it should be assumed that Christ’s stay in the heart of the earth, for 3 days and 3 nights, also has the meaning of only some kind of allegory. Here again we have an example of how the denial of the Old Testament paves the way for the denial of Christ Himself and His words.”
To deny the story of the prophet Jonah is tantamount to denying the entire Holy Scripture, and this means abandoning faith. Are those numerous defeats, the so-called “scientific objections” against St., still not enough for a person? Bible? How many times have the “wise men of this age” made refutations and ridicule of St. The Bible was turned against them. After all, a simple acquaintance with the original text and some scientific knowledge already gives us the answer in many respects.
Everyone knows that the original St. The Bible is written in Hebrew. But in Hebrew the word for whale is “tannin.” In the Bible, the sea living creature that swallowed Jonah is called not the word “tannin”, but the word “dag”, and the word “dag” means “big fish” or “monster of the deep”.
The Holy Church has been testifying to this for more than 1,500 years, calling this creature that swallowed Jonah a “beast of the water.” So, for example, in the irmos of the 6th canon of the Friday canon at Matins, tone 8, it says: “a water beast in the womb, the hand of Jonah outstretched in the shape of a cross, foreshadowing the saving passion in reality.”
In the 6th canon of the morning canon, on Tuesday, tone 5, it is said: “As thou hast delivered the prophet from the beast, O Lord, and bring me up from the depths of uncontrollable passions, I pray.”
Let's deal with the whales
Science tells us that there are different breeds of whales. For example, there is a genus of whales that have 44 teeth in the lower jaw and reach 60-65 feet in length. But they have a very small throat. This probably gave rise to the claim that the prophet Jonah could not have been swallowed up by a whale.
There is another type of whale called the "bottle-nosed" or "beaked" whale. This is a small whale, up to 30 feet long. Although he is small, he has a rather large throat and could easily swallow a person, but the prophet could not be swallowed up by him because he chews food and has teeth.
There are whales that do not have teeth, but are equipped with “baleen”. Among this type of whale, there are whales called “Fin-Buck”. These whales can be up to 88 feet long. The stomach of such a whale has from 4 to 6 chambers or compartments, and a small group of people could easily fit in any of them. Whales of this genus breathe air and have an air reserve chamber in their heads, which is an extension of the nasal cavities.
Before swallowing an object that is too large, the Fin-Buck whale pushes it into this chamber. If an object is too large in the head of this whale, it swims to the nearest land, lies down in shallow waters and throws away the burden.
Scientist Dr. Ranson Harvey testifies that his 200-pound buddy crawled from the mouth of a dead whale into this air chamber. The same scientist points out that a dog that fell overboard a whaling vessel was found alive in the whale’s head 6 days later. From what has been said, it is clear that Jonah could have stayed in the “belly,” that is, in the air chamber of such a whale for 3 days and 3 nights and remained alive. The space in this chamber is 686 cubic feet. So from scientific data we can see that Jonah could have been swallowed up by a whale.
But the biblical word “dag” refers to “big fish.” From this we can conclude that Jonah was indeed swallowed up by a sea creature - a large fish. In this case, you should point out the fish called “whale shark” or “bone shark”.
The “whale shark” gets its name from the fact that it has no teeth. The whale shark reaches 70 feet in length and filters food through large plates (baleen) in its mouth. This shark has a stomach large enough to fit a human.
Regarding the fact that Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of a large sea creature and remained alive, one can first of all say: “With God all things are possible.” Then it is not without interest to recall the report in the Literary Digest that a sailor was swallowed up by a whale shark. After 48 hours (i.e., after two days), the shark was killed.
When they opened the whale shark, what a surprise it was when they found a sailor, swallowed up by this beast, alive, but only in an unconscious state. Moreover, the sailor did not have any consequences of his stay in the belly of the whale shark, except for the loss of hair and several blisters on the skin. Then the sailor said that only fear did not give him peace, living in the belly of a whale. As soon as he regained consciousness and realized where he was, he immediately lost consciousness again.
Recently, writes Fr. I.S., - Japanese fishermen killed a great white shark in the Hawaiian Islands. A complete human skeleton was found in her stomach. It turned out that he was, included in the list of deserters, a soldier in clothes of the North-Am type. Army.
Prophet Jonah does not contradict science
So, we see that the prophet Jonah could have been swallowed up by a large fish even without violating the natural laws of nature. All “absurdities” and “contradictions” disappear. The Word of God is true and immutable; it can never be in conflict with true science. This was established by the father of Russian science, Lomonosov.
But, nevertheless, it must be said that for believers it is quite obvious that in the event with the prophet Jonah the power of God was certainly at work. For the Lord, as the Creator of the very laws of nature, has the free will to control them, if He needs it, according to His omnipotent providential action.
The brilliant scientist Pascal said: “The last step of reason is to recognize the existence of many such things that go beyond the limits of our knowledge, and if reason does not come to this knowledge, then it is a very weak reason.”
Robert Mayer says: “If superficial minds flaunt the denial of the existence of anything higher, supermaterial and supersensibly perceived in the world, then such pathetic recognition of individual minds cannot be blamed on science.”
Compiled from the book. "The Reliability of Biblical Miracles"
A. Hook and Art. "Prophet" Jonah and the Small Throat of the Whale"
Protopr. Pavel Kalinovich
TO THE PROPHET JONAH, Troparion, tone 2
In memory of Your Prophet Jonah, O Lord, we celebrate, / thus we pray to You: / save our souls.
Kontakion, tone 2
The prophet appeared marvelously, / received God's command, / in the image of the three-day Resurrection, / was in a whale for three days, / came out unharmed from the beast, / and the bright preacher appeared to Nineveh, the great city. / For this reason we joyfully honor you, Jono, / as a herald of God’s love for mankind.
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As if to a shrine, unconditionally believing in her every word. And this is correct, however, let’s be honest, there are some events described in Holy Scripture, the actions of which do not fit into our minds. How could Lazarus, who had already begun to decompose, come to life? How was Jesus resurrected in a human body? What did the prophet Jonah breathe for three days in the belly of the whale?
It is the book of the prophet Jonah that causes the most controversy, whether it is a myth or truth that a man was swallowed by a fish, and he survived after that.
Jonah's Story
This happened in the eighth century BC. Nineveh was a city in the Assyrian state, the “glory” of whose dissolute, cruel people was known to everyone. The vile actions of the Ninevites angered God, but His love for the people was greater than His judgment.
The capital of Assyria is Nineveh
The Creator chose the prophet Jonah with a mission to send messages to the evil inhabitants of Nineveh that if they do not stop their outrages, God will destroy the city.
Fear took possession of the messenger of God, and he decided to flee to another country by boarding a ship. During the journey, a huge storm covered the ship, the sailors realized that this was the wrath of God and began to look for the culprit, Jonah admitted that it was he who was thrown overboard.
According to God, the prophet was swallowed by a whale, kept him there for 3 days and spat him out. (Matthew 12:40)
The whale threw Jonah onto the shore of Nineveh
Sounds like a fairy tale or a myth. Jonah prayed in the belly of the whale, of course, during this time he realized how dangerous it was not to carry out the orders of the Almighty.
How often do we, people, read the word of God, understand that we are going the wrong way, but stubbornly do things that are displeasing to God, and then, when we get into problems, we shout and cry out to the Creator.
Attention! The story of Jonah is intended to teach Christians to listen to the commands of the Lord from the first time, to follow His Providence.
The prophet reached Nineveh, fearfully conveyed God's message, expecting death for the bad news. His surprise knew no end when the whole city dressed in rags, a fast was declared for three days, when they did not even drink water, people sprinkled ashes on their hair and prayed to the Creator for mercy.
These days Jonah sat under the walls of the city, in the shade of a thick tree, and waited for God's punishment. The loving Lord saw the sincere repentance of the Ninevites and gave them life. Nineveh stood for another 100 years, after which it was destroyed.
The mercy of the Lord caused bewilderment among the prophet. He was also outraged by the fact that the tree that provided shade, according to the word of God, dried up in an instant, to which God gave an answer. The Creator told the prophet that he pitied the tree that he did not plant. The Lord created the people of the city, these are His creations, how could He destroy them, seeing repentance.
Important! A wonderful sign for everyone living on earth - God always answers sincere prayers and forgets sin after sincere repentance.
About spiritual life:
Reality or fairy tale
Position Orthodox Church in this matter is unambiguous, it places the emphasis not on a miracle, but on the mercy of God, who saved Jonah and Nineveh.
Prophet Jonah
For some reason, everyone believes that a huge tree that provided shade for an adult can dry up in one day, but it is impossible to survive in the belly of a whale. The world of scientists does not take anything for granted; it needs evidence and examples.
The Hebrew does not say anything about Jonah being swallowed by a whale, it says that it was a living monster. Ancient pictures began to depict the blue whale as a sea monster, perhaps due to the huge size of the whale.
Back then, people did not know that a whale’s throat was not capable of swallowing even a large orange. The blue whale feeds on small shrimp and krill, hence the mistrust of the message of the prophet Jonah. The sperm whale with its huge mouth, which thoroughly chews its food, could not swallow the prophet either, so in this case Jonah had no chance of life.
The fin whale was of particular interest to scientists. This giant sometimes reaches 25 meters in length, but the most interesting thing is that its stomach is divided into 6 chambers, and in its head there is a chamber with air through which the huge sea monster breathes. The catching process looks like this: first, the swallowed food enters the air chamber, and from there into the stomach.
Fin whale is a relative blue whale and the second largest animal on the planet
By the way, the size of the chamber is almost 200 cubic meters, so Jonah could easily stay there for three days.
The sailors finished off the sea animal, but at the same time discovered that two comrades were not among them. Everyone decided that they had drowned during the battle with the giant. All day and night the whalers cut up the whale carcass.
When the turn came to the stomach, which was constantly moving, no one was surprised, because half-dead squids and even sharks were often pulled out of the whale’s belly. Imagine the amazement of the entire crew when, after several blows of the knife, the mucus-covered body of James Bartley, who was unconscious, fell out at the sailors’ feet.
Three weeks later, the sailor regained full consciousness and described “his journey” through the stomach in pitch darkness and mucus.
Important! The modern Jonah-Bartley proved the veracity of the story of Jonah, further confirming the value of the messages of Holy Scripture.
Video about the prophet Jonah and the whale
The Holy Scriptures contain the story of the prophet Jonah and how he was swallowed by a “great whale”: “And the Lord commanded the great whale to swallow Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights. And Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the whale... And the Lord spoke to the whale, and it cast Jonah out onto dry land.”
Some people claim that a similar story- this is an outright fairy tale, since it is known that the whale’s throat is so narrow that it can only feed on small crustaceans and fish, and in this regard, the story of Jonah being swallowed sounds like a made-up story or fiction.
No one who believes in Christ can doubt what happened to the prophet Jonah, for Christ Himself put a seal on this disputed subject when He said: “For as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so also the Son of Man There will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:40).
Interesting facts: Everyone knows that the original St. The Bible is written in Hebrew. But in Hebrew the word for whale is "tannin." In the Bible, the sea living creature that swallowed Jonah is called not by the word “tannin”, but by the word “dag”, and the word “dag” means “big fish” or “monster of the deep”.
As an argument in favor of the reliability of the Bible, we present a message from the largest German zoologist Alfred Brehm regarding the biology of cetacean marine mammals, with the goal of finding among them the whale of the prophet Jonah. He determined what requirements this whale must satisfy: it must be an inhabitant of the Mediterranean Sea; swim close to the surface of the water; absorb prey entirely without damaging the teeth; he should have a very wide throat and a spacious stomach with normal air pressure, without digestive acids.
Research
E There are whales that have no teeth but equipped with "whalebone". Among this type of whale, there are whales called "Fin-Buck". These whales can be up to 88 feet long. The stomach of such a whale has from 4 to 6 chambers or compartments, and a small group of people could easily fit in any of them. Whales of this genus breathe air and have an air reserve chamber in their heads, which is an extension of the nasal cavities.
Before swallowing an object that is too large, the Fin-Buck whale pushes it into this chamber. If an object is too large in the head of this whale, it swims to the nearest land, lies down in shallow waters and throws away the burden.
Regarding the fact that Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of a large sea creature and remained alive, one can first of all say: “with God all things are possible.” Then it is not without interest to recall the report in the Literary Digest that a sailor was swallowed up by a whale shark. In 48 hours(i.e., two days later) the shark was killed. When the shark whale was opened, what was the surprise of all those present when they found a sailor, swallowed up by this beast, alive, but only in an unconscious state.
Moreover, the sailor had no consequences of his stay in the belly of a whale shark, except for the loss of hair and a few blisters on the skin. Then the sailor said that only fear did not give him peace, living in the belly of a whale. As soon as he regained consciousness and realized where he was, he immediately lost consciousness again.
So, we see that Jonah could have been swallowed up by a large fish even without violating the natural laws of nature. All “absurdities” and “contradictions” disappear. The Word of God is true and immutable; it can never be in conflict with true science. This was established by the father of Russian science, Lomonosov.
Jonah lived in the 8th century BC. He was born in the city of Gath-Hepher in Galilee. Tradition, not without reason, considers him a disciple of the prophet Elisha.
The Lord sends Jonah to preach to the pagan city of Nineveh, whose inhabitants lived wickedly. At the beginning of his ministry, Jonah shared the then generally accepted opinion among Jews that all pagans were enemies of God and deserved only His wrath and punishment. But the Lord, boundless in His mercy, at all times desires the salvation of everyone. The book of the prophet Jonah, which tells about his embassy to pagan Nineveh, is a revelation of God’s love, which addresses not only the chosen people, but also all people. This idea will become one of the main ones in the New Testament. Jonah had yet to understand that God, although he had chosen the Jewish people and made a covenant with them, did not abandon other nations. Therefore, the prophet, instead of fulfilling God’s command, went to Joppa (modern Jaffa), boarded a ship and sailed to the Phoenician colony in Spain - Tarshish. However, the Lord caused a strong wind to blow on the sea. A great storm arose. The ship was in danger of destruction. The sailors were afraid and began to cry out to their gods. Jonah completely submitted to the will of God. He went down into the interior of the ship, lay down and fell fast asleep.
The captain of the ship woke him up and said: arise, call upon your God; maybe God will remember us and we won’t perish(Jonah 1, 6). The sailors decided to cast lots to find out: who caused the storm? In ancient times, not only among Jews, but even among pagans, there was a widespread belief that disasters befall people because of some sins. The lot fell on Jonah. The sailors asked him: who is he and where is his country? The Prophet Jonah confessed the One God - the Lord of the Universe: I am a Jew, I honor the Lord God of heaven, who created the sea and dry land(Jonah 1, 9). Jonah then said that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord. The sailors were gripped by fear. They asked what they could do with him so that the storm would subside. Jonah asked to be thrown into the sea, assuring that the sea would calm down. This request contains both a deep consciousness of one’s guilt before God and a feat of sacrifice. The prophet rises to the heights of gospel love. He perceives his death as the only way to save his innocent companions. The Prophet Jonah is here a prototype of the Savior, Who suffered to death to save people.
The shipbuilders, before fulfilling Jonah's request, turned to God, Whom Jonah professes, in prayer. They threw Jonah into the sea, and the storm immediately subsided. The sailors were afraid and made vows to the Lord.
The Lord commanded the whale to swallow Jonah. The Hebrew text of the book speaks of a large fish ( Dag Gadol). Translators into Greek put the word ketos, which can mean not only a large fish, but also any large sea animal. Similarly, in Church Slavonic, a whale is a large sea creature (fish or animal).
Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days. The Savior Himself points to the event as a prototype of His three-day burial and resurrection (see: Matthew 12:40). Prophet Jonah offered a fervent prayer of repentance to God. By Divine command, the whale cast Jonah onto the shore.
After this, there was a second command from the Lord to Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach there. God established forty days for the inhabitants. If they do not repent and abandon wickedness, the city will perish.
The mission that lay ahead of the prophet Jonah could only be fulfilled with the help of God. The city was vast and crowded. This is confirmed by the works of ancient historians (Herodotus, Ctesias and others). It was possible to walk from one end to the other in three days.
The terrible word of the prophet about the approaching destruction of the city struck the hearts of the king and the people. They repented of their wickedness and imposed strict fasting on themselves and their cattle. The Lord spared the city and its inhabitants. Jonah suffered from human weakness: he was upset that his threats were not fulfilled, and he grieved. While waiting for the execution of the sentence, he left Nineveh, made himself a booth and hid in the shade from the sun. The Lord enlightened him by performing a miracle. By a special action of God, a shady plant grew over Jonah’s head in one night. Jonah was very happy. But God arranged it so that the next day, when dawn appeared, the worm undermined the plant. It has dried up. The sun beat down on Jonah's head. He was exhausted and asked for death. The Lord told him that he was sorry for the plant that he did not work on. Should I not feel sorry for Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than one hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot distinguish their right hand from their left?(Jonah 4, 11).
The book of the prophet Jonah is very edifying. The Savior sets the repentance of the inhabitants of Nineveh as an example to His contemporaries (see: Lk 11:32).
