Jonah’s Whale, Monster, or Fish?

© 23 Colin Melbourne

Settled Once and For All

Q: In the bible book of Jonah there’s no mention of a whale, only a fish, yet in Matthew, Jesus calls it a whale, so which is right?

A: Well spotted, this finding prompts unbelievers to claim it’s a contradiction, because whales are now classified as Mammals, in a unique zoological order (Cetaceans), separate from the creatures we call fish.

Incidentally, even today there’s no scientific grouping corresponding to “fish” in Linnaean zoological taxonomy.

Fish are so varied, Neo-Darwinians have to spread them over many taxonomic groups in order to uphold their evolutionary mythology.

<< Read The First Jaws. Chick tract: For God so loved Nineveh He sent the Prophet Jonah to warn the sinful city, and He loved us enough to send someone greater than Jonah to save us:..The LORD Jesus Christ.

Tract image © Chick Publns. Used by permission.

Are Humans Fish?

In the evolutionists’ wayward taxonomy, the closest vertebrate collection (Ostracoderms) that approximates to what are universally known as fish, has such broad scope that it includes all Tetrapods (four-limbed creatures), which contains not only Whales, but also Humans!

Late Cambridge University Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology, Jenny Clack, goes so far as to declare (without apparent shame), humans are not only descended from fish… they are fish:

“Although humans do not usually think of themselves as fishes, they nonetheless share several fundamental characters that unite them inextricably with their relatives among the fishes … Tetrapods did not evolve from sarcopterygians [lobe-finned fishes]; they are sarcopterygians, just as one would not say that humans evolved from mammals; they are mammals.” Ref: Clack, J.A., “Gaining Ground: The Origin and Evolution of Tetrapods” pp. 17, 18, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 2002

According to this feted fish palaeontologist, humans are fish, just as they are mammals.

Which illustrates how far from the truth perverted modern pseudo “science” has fallen. Holy Bible, 1 Timothy 6:20-21 KJV;

O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.

 

Of further note is the fact that Carl Linnaeus, the Swedish “Father of Taxonomy”, in his 1735 Regnum Animale, classified Whales and Dolphins (Plagiuri) in the same group as fishes, which he termed Pisces (Latin for Fishes).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holy Bible Inerrancy

So hopefully you can now see that the term fish is perfectly valid to use in describing a Whale as a great fish in Jonah’s account.

There’s no contradiction, or mistake, in the Holy Bible: None, and both accounts are perfectly accurate in the KJV, Father’s inerrant words to us in English.

Until you have that fact established in your heart you’ll be tossed around by subtle serpents and demonic doctrines.

So the short answer to your question is; both are right, the great fish was indeed a whale.

It’s a pedantic error to criticise the LORD’s use of the term fish in Matthew 12 when He narrated the prophetic sign of Jonah and the whale.

Modern “bibles” chop and change the nature of the creature that swallowed Jonah whole, and after three days vomited him onto the shores of Nineveh.

Only the KJV gets it right every time.

Here’s the Living Word of God manifested in The Flesh telling us what the creature was, Mtt. 12:38-41 KJV;

Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.

But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

Here’s the other scripture you cite, Jonah 1:17-2:1 KJV;

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. Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly…

Suitably humbled, the recalcitrant Prophet prayed in repentance, Jonah 2:10 KJV;

And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

Infidel Sir David Attenborough would leap on that claiming it an obvious contradiction, and mock the Creator of all things “because He doesn’t know the difference between fishes and whales.”

Such is the hubris of unbelievers.

I know, because I was the same before the LORD opened my spiritual eyes. My Zoology tutor, John Krebs, was Richard Dawkins’ “lieutenant of unbelief”.

The answer to this apparent conundrum is simple.

It is perfectly legitimate to use the term fish for any aquatic creature that spends it entire life in water.

That’s been the case for a millennium, only since the birth of modern science in the 16-1700’s has any conflicting opinion arisen.

How To Find Solutions

To get the true answer to any problem, we must first ask the correct question.

When unbelievers read great fish in Jonah and whale in Matthew they ask themselves, was it a whale or a fish?

Wrong questions lead to wrong conclusions, through a time-wasting search for the truth in the darkness of their sinful hearts and minds.

Doubters fall into intellectual quagmires, becoming further perplexed and unbelieving.

On the other hand, when Bible-believers read of Jonah’s great fish, knowing the LORD Himself told us it was a whale, they simply ponder why the Holy Ghost called the creature both a great fish and a whale.

That question is rapidly resolved.

The Creator says the Prophet was swallowed whole by a Whale, thus confirming the account in Jonah is accurate, proving the great fish was a whale, because, Jn. 1:1-3 KJV;

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The same was in the beginning with God.

All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

The Living Word of God made everything that has been made.

Therefore He knows His business far better than any mere human does.

If you think you’re wiser, more modern and knowledgable than God, prepare to be humbled, as Job and Jonah were, because you’ll surely be abased. Jonah 1:17 KJV;

Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.

The Greek Pagan polymath, Aristotle (384–322 BC) was the first person to attempt classifying living creatures on Earth.

He did such a solid job, that his basic arrangement remained in place for thirteen centuries.

Only as the modern art of plant and animal classification, the pseudo-science of Taxonomy began, following the Reformation, was Aristotle’s nomenclature displaced.

Aristotle realised that whales were distinct aquatic creatures, and coined the name Cetaceans for them.

He noted they breathed air, didn’t have gills, and bore live young like land animals today that we call Mammals. He even observed whales have hair-like bristles, as opposed to the scales of many fish.

Not bad for a Pagan philosopher living on the Aegean island of Lesbos.

Notwithstanding, Aristotle frequently used the term fish to describe whales, because they are fish in the plainest sense of the word.

That is why the Jonah account mentions a great fish, a huge aquatic creature, and also why Christ let us know the detail that it was a specially prepared whale.

The Holy Ghost in the Book of Jonah emphasised the physical size of the creature, The LORD in Matthew specified what it was.

We can take His word for it.

There’s no error, contradiction, or conflict in God’s written word, once the Truth sets you free from unbelief.

What Christ says: Is so!

That’s also why it’s inapposite to ask, can a whale swallow a human, and the person survive in it’s belly?

No Bible believer would ask such a futile question: Only doubters.

God said it, wrote it for us to believe, and know as fact.

Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) live by consuming whole squid, which are themselves often massive creatures, so swallowing an entire man would be no problem.

But notice what God has written for us, Jonah 1:17 KJV;

Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.

It was a specially prepared whale in order to accomplish this biblical messianic sign, fulfilled in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection.

People baulk over the thought of Jonah being able to breathe inside the whale’s belly instead of suffocating: Believers don’t.

How did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego breathe in the fiery furnace? Dan. 3:23-25 KJV;

And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellers, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.

He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.

God The Son was in the furnace with them, He shielded them from the heat, and miraculously supplied sufficient air to breathe.

We serve a miracle working LORD, able to prepare a whale to swallow a man, enable him to survive, and cause the giant fish to vomit Jonah on that Nineveh beach.

Believe God’s words, not your doubts and limited perception.

Men Lie: God Doesn’t

Proverbs 3:5-8 KJV;

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

Born Once: Die Twice

You were born once of a woman, physically.

Separated from God, by the sinful nature we inherited from our first parents.

That’s why Christ said to a very religious Jew, Holy Bible John 3:3 KJV;

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

We are all born in sin, growing up with our spirits dead to God, condemned to die, and face eternal Hell because no sin is permitted in Heaven.

Hell and The Lake of Fire are The Second Death, Revelation 20:12-15 KJV;

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

God loves you so much He gave His Only Begotten Son, that when you trust in Him, and what He’s done for you, all your sins will be gone, wiped from the records of Heaven, and Christ’s life will come into your heart making you a righteous new creature in Him.

Then you’ll know that you have been born twice, born of the flesh, and born of God’s Spirit… and will only die once.

Receive Christ as your LORD and exchange your burden of guilt and sin for divine righteousness and peace.

© 23 Colin Melbourne

Image of Sir David Attenborough By John Cairns – The Bodleian Libraries, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72687485 (cropped)

The top image is of a Whaleshark, the largest non-whale vertebrate at 50-60 feet long. They are harmless, feeding on plankton, and live over 80 years. Females are larger than males, and are ovoviviparous. Fertilised eggs develop inside the female and “pups” are born live about 2 feet long.

Led to Support This Ministry?

You may also be interested in reading:

Why We Believe Genesis is Fact

How We Know Genesis Is History

Eating of The Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil

Answering Sir David Attenborough

Richard Dawkins’ Lieutenant was my Tutor

Did Dinosaurs and Humans Coexist?

More on Infidels

Do Christians Believe in Unicorns?

How Old Is The Earth Really?

Three Wise Monkeys