When we think of Jonah, we can't help but associate him with a great fish that swallowed him and the closest plausible sea creature we have sighted would be a whale.
God had an assignment for prophet Jonah. “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Jonah 1:2,3 (NKJV)"
As the ship set sail, the LORD sent a violent storm which threatened to shatter the ship. The crew cast lots to determine who may had caused this calamity and the lot fell on Jonah. Still, they rowed as hard as they could to bring the ship to shore, but the tempest worsened. They prayed for God's mercy to spare their lives and, as a last resort, threw Jonah into the sea, and then the storm ceased.
"Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Jonah 1:17 (NKJV)"
Fast forward to the New Testament, Jesus Christ was pressed for a sign of from heaven. "Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Matthew 12:39, 40 (NKJV)"
In 2010 a gray whale was spotted off Herzliya Marina, which is part of the Jaffa or Tel Aviv district as per the following report by BBC:-
Mediterranean gray whale appears 'back from the dead'
And, Joppa is modern day Jaffa or Tel Aviv and also known as Japho, Joppe, el-Qal'a, 'Yafa, Yafa el-'Atiqa, Yafo) as sourced from the following link:-
What do we make of all these?
I would say that we have already seen the sign of Jonah when Jesus was crucified, dead and buried for three days and three night just as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.
As for the sighting of the whale, scientists believe that it could be due to climatic changes and/or that the whales are retracing their ancient routes and returning to their former haunts across the Atlantic Ocean.
Still, it is exciting that the fish that swallowed Jonah has finally been transferred out of the pages of the Holy Bible and Sunday Schools onto newspapers, mass media and scientific journals, and into the public domain.
God is Almighty! He sent the storm, He sent the fish, and He sent His Son!!!
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