Mat. 12:40 and Jonah 1
Grady Henley
June 2003
Jonah Saw Something Out There or The Beached Whale Incident
I. The Wisdom of the Lord on the Translators.
There is a word in Mat. 12:40 that supposedly the King James Translators mis-translated. According to Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionary the word fish in Jonah 1:17 means: 1709. dag, dawg; or (fully) ` da’g (Neh. 13 : 16) dawg; from H1711; a fish (as prolific), or perh. rather from H1672 (as timid); but still better from H1672 (in the sense of squirming, i.e. moving by the vibratory action of the tail); a fish (often used collect.):--fish. Whereas the word translated whale in Mat 12:40 means: 2785. ketos, kay’-tos; prob. from the base of G5490; a huge fish (as gaping for prey):--whale. 5490. chasma, khas’-mah; from a form of an obsol. prim. chao (to "gape" or "yawn"); a "chasm" or vacancy (impassable interval):--gulf.
By simply referring to a Hebrew and Greek dictionary, it is plain to read that the King James translators really missed this one. Right? No, such is not correct. If we go a bit deeper, we find that the King James Translators were right on course when they rendered the Greek word ketos as whale. Why, then, accuse the King James Translators of making such a blunder? The answer is someone did not believe God had a hand in overseeing the preservation of His words back about 1611.
The emphasis of the context of Mat. 12:38-45 is the scribes and Pharisee coming to Jesus and asking a sign from Him so that He could prove to them whom He was. Note that they already did not believe Him to be the Messiah. How many signs had He already given to them? What would a miracle do for the unbelieving? Nothing! No amount of proof will suffice nor convince someone who does not believe.
Jesus revealed three direct things to those two bands of unbelievers that day:
(1) I am the Messiah.
(2) Jonah was swallowed by a whale.
(3) The sign they sought was already recorded in scripture.
Jesus told the Jews, John 5:10, 39 to search the scriptures for they testified of Him. The message is plain. Someone does not want you to believe the scriptures. If you believe the scriptures, you will believe what they say about Jesus. If that some one can not convince you to not believe all the scriptures, they will settle for you doubting some of what the scriptures professes, Luke 24:25.
To the man that believes, God will reveal deeper things; things that must be prayed about and studied over before the truth settles the questions in the heart and mind of the believer. To those that do not believe the scriptures, one day their thoughts of death will become reality and what they thought was an error in scripture will be eternal reality.
Therefore, Mat. 12:40 is best left as it stands in the King James Version.
There are valid reasons why the translators translated the Greek word ketos as whale, none of which that I am aware was recorded by the translators. After all, who has the right to ask God, "What doest thou, Dan 4:35. Such is reason enough to accept what they translated. Regardless, I do have reasons for believing the truth of the translation. Reasons such as:
• If someone does not believe Jonah was three days and nights in a whale and is then resurrected, this same someone will not believe Jesus knew what He was talking about when He spoke as the final authority on marine or eternal life. Neither will they believe the purity of the King James Bible.
• Anyone who can not accept Jonah’s resurrection will not accept the Lord’s either, Luke 16:31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
• If the King James translators had translated the word as big fish or sea monster, as the Hebrew Greek Dictionary presented the definition, man would spend his time wondering what kind of fish it was. (Mankind has debated for 6,000 years what was the forbidden fruit, Gen. 3, and the question has never been answered the satisfaction of everyone. When God gave man a direct answer to the type of marine life that swallowed Jonah, man is not satisfied with the answer, and thereby accuses the noble translators of error.)
II. What Is Out There?
What is revealed by comparing scripture with scripture, is something much more profound that the superficial answer to the question: whale or big fish. One seeking to know the truth must permit their thinking to go much deeper than assuming the translators erred.
Once we allow the Holy Spirit to enlighten us, Luke 24:27-32, instead of a dictionary, God will reveal the hidden and secret things that belong to Him to those who are interested in learning, Gen 40:8 And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you, Dan 2:20-23. If interpretations belong to God, then either God interpreted Mat. 12:40 or man did. I can not speak for you, but I want a bible that was interpreted by God and not by man. I want a bible wherein God is able to use it to teach me. God will use His words, but not man’s. If your translation was interpreted by man…
Going below the surface of these passages and allowing the Lord to show us His revelations reveals "Jonah Saw What Is Out There." What Jonah saw defies description and that was why God interpreted Mat. 12:40, not man.
The bible belongs to the Lord. It is His book and therefore, He knows what is written there. He is the Creator and He is well aware of what He created. If we cannot understand Him, His power, and have problems with the simple command of living an obedient life, we will never grasp what is present in the story of Jonah as verified by the Lord.
It is the office of the Holy Spirit working through the word to teach us, John 14:26. Therefore, accept the fact that the King James Translators were correct when they translated the word ketos as whale. Once a soul can do that, God will reveal there is something out there that Jonah saw. What Jonah saw is something no man would want to face.
The story of Jonah presents to the reader a man of types, other than that of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Jonah paid his fare, Jonah 1:3, he is a type of the man trying to work his way to heaven. His efforts are futile as revealed when he was cast into the sea for his works of righteousness are not meet payment for his sins.
A. God’s Plan.
Observe the spiritual message found here, for a type is an Old Testament picture of a New Testament truth.
1. The boat is a picture of death.
2. Once a person dies, they find that there is a great sea that must be traversed before reaching the shores of heaven. Unless they prepared for the journey, this great sea, pictured as the raging sea in this biblical account of Jonah, is void of any help. (Often the passing from life unto death is called "Crossing Chilly Jordan." This is not exactly correct, for when Israel crossed Jordan they entered the Promised Land, and fought to obtain their inheritance. These battles are found in the books of Joshua and Judges. A Christian does not fight to obtain heaven.)
3. The sailors rowing the boat, Jonah 1:13, is a picture of the life we lived on earth and how useless it is to carry us across the sea.
4. The storm on the sea is a picture of judgment, for our works must be judged and payment must be made to meet the Laws demands. (Our efforts [good deeds] will not carry us across into the presence of God. The only One that could enter the Most Holy Place once and for all as an atonement for sin was the Lord, Heb 9:12. Furthermore, at the judgment our life will be weighed in the balances and without Christ we will be found wanting and will subsequently sink into the depths of the lake of fire, our life determing the degrees of punishment, Mat 23:14.)
5. The next great truth found in this passage is we find that once we die, there is no way back to physical life on earth. We see this as the sailors were trying to get to land, Jonah 1:13. (Once the spirit leaves this physical body, something or Someone must carry it acoss the sea. Just because some people have been revived from the point of death, does not mean they escape death forever.) The point is once we set sail into death, nothing can get us out of that state save the One that created it and rose again from its depths, Psa 98:1 A Psalm. O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory, 1 Cor 15:54-57.
6. Not only is there a great sea that must be conquered, Jonah Saw There Is Something Out There. That something is a great monster in that sea that must be dealt with, either on our own or by allowing Someone else to handle him. This monster is referred to in scripture in type to give us an overall picture of him. Here he is pictured as the great big whale that the Lord prepared, Jonah 1:17. (Recall that all things were created by the Lord, including Lucifer, Ezek 28:15.)
7. This monster travells by squirming and moving his tail with vibratory action. His mouth gaps open to taken in prey, and to look into his mouth would be like looking into a wide chasm, wherein is nothing but a vacancy or an impassable gulf. (Scientist have found what they describe as black holes in space. They know very little definite details, but they all seem to agree that once you get in, getting out is impossible, Job described this monster and said: Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth, Job 40:23.
8. This monster called Lucifer, inhabits the Deep, (the sea) Job 41. The Deep Sea, Jonah 2:3, is a body of water that is far beyond any known solar system. References are made about this body of water in Gen 1:2, 8:2, Job 38:30, 41:31-33, Psa 69:15, 104:6, Prov 8:28, Ezek 31:15, Luke 8:31. Just because we have not seen it does not mean it is not there.
Have you ever seen pictures of the planets with what appears to be dried river bed on these vast void wastelands? Have you ever wondered whether it was water that made the apparent dry stream beds and if so, where the water went? Have you considered: Gen 1:7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. Just suppose that when God gathered the waters into one place, the gathering caused erosion on the planets and the results were hidden until the telescope was invented.
9. Jonah said he was cast into the midst of the seas, (plural) Jonah 2:3. However, the mariners cast him into one sea. Once Jonah is cast into the sea, he was in a great chasm, wherein lives that literal monster known as Satan. This event of Jonah being cast into the sea and swallowed by a whale is used by God to reveal what happens to the lost man dying without God. The reason God used a whale was to bring forth a vivid picture; one of which man could relate. God did not use a big fish or a sea monster, nor did He want such an interpretation present in the context of Mat. 12:40. A big fish could be any big fish. (Just ask any fisherman how big was the biggest fish he ever caught and see how big the fish grows with each telling of the tale.) Instead of using something wherewith a man would have a difficult time relating, the Lord used something that a man could visualize and know that There Is Something Out There that defies human words to describe.
10. This Deep Sea is no secret, for the demons asked the Lord to let them go out into the deep, Luke 8:31. The bible is explicit about this Deep Sea, for we are plainly told in Rev 21:1 that there will be a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth are gone. Furthermore, there was no more sea. That John was not referring to the seas (plural) on earth is evident for he referred to one sea being gone, not seven seas. Consider as well that John saw that the present heaven and earth were gone, so it stands to reason that the known seven seas left with the earth. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea (singular). (One thought to consider is as Satan was cast into the lake of fire, Rev. 20:10, and the sea gave up its dead, Rev. 20:13, there is now no need for the Deep Sea.)
11. This monster living in The Deep is also called leviathan, Job 4:1-341, behemoth, Job 40:15, the great dragon, Isa 27:1..in the sea. (The context of Isa. 27:1 is present tense.) Ezek 29:3, and the serpent, Amos 9:3.
12. Jonah tried to make it across the sea and failed. Why? Because he tried crossing without the Lord. If the Lord does not lead you through this great sea, as He did the children of Israel when they fled from Pharaoh, you will not make it to the other side, Exo 14:21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided, Psa 66:5. 6. The sea that Jonah was in and the sea that the children of Israel walked through are both types of the Deep that lies between earth and heaven.
B. Beached Whale, Jonah 2:17.
What the scripture reveals with Jonah being vomited upon dry land is something that happens today and when it does, it makes the major news outlets. That spectacular event is called ’A whale on the beach!
Speaking for myself I long held the view that the whale continued to swim for 72 hours and then it vomited Jonah out on dry land and went on its way. I had not considered exactly how a whale in the ocean vomited (cannon-balled) a man to dry land from 150 yards out, give or take a few yards, so that the man lands on dry soil without the landing killing him.
After pondering this subject for a few days I realized the bible did not say that Jonah and the whale remained in the sea for three days. The bible and the Lord said that Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days. I have, therefore, considered the topic and come to the conclusion that evidently:
a. The whale rode the tide in.
b. Beached itself as whales do.
c. The tide receded leaving the beached whale there with old Jonah in its belly.
d. The whale delivered its cargo (Jonah) and died. When that whale hit the beach, it was for the set purpose of delivering Jonah to dry land, for we were plainly told he was vomited out on dry land not into the ocean. Other than a dolphin or porpoise what other marine life hits the beach for the set purpose of dying?
e. In the heat of the day the gases inside the whale expanded and the end results was Jonah was vomited out on dry land some 72 hours after entering the whale when the gas was released.
The above scenario could have happened and not violated one scriptural point. I must admit such thinking varies from what I have been taught and previously thought. Those thoughts of Jonah in such a predicament are distasteful and less than pleasant.
When the Hebrew children came out of the fiery furnace, there was no smell of smoke upon them and their hair was not singed, Dan 3:27. To think that Jonah came out of the belly as clean as they, are two separate situations. The Hebrew children were in the will of God and under His protective care. Jonah was under His protective care, but his state of fellowship was not as wholesome.
Today when a whale hits the beach, an all out effort is made to get it back into its habitat. Would it be too far fetched in our thinking to say that each time we hear of beached whale(s), God may be sending us a message? Instead of trying to get the whale back into the ocean, perhaps mankind ought to consider the spiritual aspect of the beaching?
1. The resurrection.
Very soon the earth is going to vomit all those that are in the graves out as the whale did Jonah. Note that the writer made certain that we are told that it was God that prepared the whale that swallowed Jonah, and it is the Lord that spoke to the whale and told him to vomit him forth, Jonah 1:17, 2:10.
Twice plainly we are told that when the trump shall sound, 1 Cor 15:52, 1 Th 4:16, the earth will give up the dead in her graves. I sincerely believe the earth will rumble, as if an earthquake is happening, Mat 27:51. That belly of the whale rumbled and when it did, it vomited Jonah on dry land. Has your belly ever rumbled? What were the after affects?
One of these days when God speaks, the bowels of the earth will rumble and the earth will spew forth the dead that she has held captives for ages. These dead in Christ will step forth not on to the sea or the Deep. Instead, they step forth on to the dry shores of Heaven, 1 Cor 15:55-57. Israel walked across the dried sea bed.
2. That God may be all in all.
That whale served the purpose wherein God created it. Jesus knew what kind of marine life swallowed Jonah, for He was the one that prepared it. Once its purpose was served, that whale died.
Once the resurrection takes place, death is swallowed up in the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ over death, hell, and the grave, Ps. 98. At the time appointed, death and hell will be cast into the lake of fire, as they have served the purpose for which they were created, Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Their purpose: They were part of the redemption plan for God’s crown of creation: man.
CONCLUSION:
If the above is not enough to convince you that the KJV translators used the right word, consider how many times you heard someone say: “We had a whale of a time!” When you heard someone say such, did you really think they actually had a whale? No. You knew they meant they had a big time!
I firmly believe the bible teaches us Jonah was swallowed by a whale. Even though the whale is classified as a mammal, it is often called a big fish. To simplify matters, remember that a big fish is not always a big fish that lives in the water. ’A big fish’ can also mean a very important person. (In the English language context determines definition, pronunciation, and interpretation.) Only a ‘little fish out of the water’ would try to undermine the hand of God as He works to preserve His Words.
Now once we consider all these great truths, we find it is much easier to start believing what the Lord says with the new birth. After our conversion, we then commence growing and understanding so that these great hidden truths can be thought about on a rational level, Isa 45:3, 48:6, 1 Cor 2:7, Deu 29:29, Dan 2:22 He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.
John saw some things that defies description. What he saw is revealed in the Revelation. Paul said he knew of a man transported into heaven that heard some things that were not lawful for him to repeat, 2 Cor 12:4. Jonah Saw Something Out There in the stormy Deep that defies description as well. It frightened him so much that he repented and did what God wanted. How about you?
