THE FISH THAT SWALLOWED JONAH.
"Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights."—Jonah i. 17.
Upon the question as to what was the fish that swallowed Jonah, Dr. Raleigh remarks ("The Story of Jonah," p. 148):—
"The Bible does not say that a whale was the prophet's jailer. The infidel has said that, and then has enjoyed the easy triumph of proving the natural impossibility of it. Jonah says 'a great fish' swallowed him. Our Lord uses a phrase exactly similar. He uses a generic term, which includes the whale, but is never applied to the whale particularly. The dolphin, the seal, the whale, the shark, are all included in the term that is used, and there is strong probability in the supposition that the white shark is the creature designated as the 'great fish.' Sharks abounded in the Mediterranean at that time. They have been found there ever since, and are found there still. In length some of them have attained to thirty feet and upwards, of capacity in other ways sufficient to incarcerate Samson of Zorah, or Goliath of Gath, as well as the probably attenuated prophet of Gath-hepher.
"It is related that a horse was found in the stomach of a shark, and there are many instances of men being swallowed alive—not fabulous and doubtful stories, but instances well authenticated. One, of a soldier in full armour. One, of a sailor who fell overboard, and, was swallowed in the very sight of his comrades. The captain seized a gun, shot the fish in a sensitive part, which then cast out the sailor into the sea, who was taken up, amazed and terrified, but little hurt.
"Every one knows that the shark is a most voracious creature. Its teeth are only incisive. It has no power of holding. It can snap and sever limbs, or trunk, or head, sheer and certainly as though its jaws were a guillotine. But in that case it secures only what is within the jaws. The rest is apt to be lost. Its habit, therefore, is to swallow the prey alive, that it may lose nothing. Thus God made the voracity of the fish the means of protection and safety to His servant."
Heart-work must be God's work. Only the great Heart-maker can be the great Heart-breaker. If I love Him, my heart will be filled with His spirit, and obedient to His commands.—Baxter.
The great design, both in judgments and mercies, is to convince us that there is none like the Lord our God; none so wise, so mighty, so good; no enemy so formidable, no friend so desirable, so valuable.—Matthew Henry.