Fish and Whales and Sea Monsters, oh my.

What swallowed Jonah? A fish says the book of Jonah. But is there a fish that can swallow a human, only to regurgitate them? The common image is that this was a whale. A whale with an extended stomach area in which Jonah would find driftwood and other bits and pieces to survive the three days. Sorry, that is more the story of Monstro, the whale in Pinocchio.

Now, in Matthew 12, the wording for the "maritime biological specimen" of Jonah is translated as “sea monster”, at least in the NRSV. Does that imply something out of Job? The Leviathan or the Behemoth? Or something else? Like the Kraken that ate Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise? Or is it something else? Something ‘prehistoric’ that lasted into the Biblical era? A Mediterranean version of Nessie?

Does it matter? To read some of the debates in some of the more nerdy biblical discussion groups, one would think it carried the weight of debating the actuality of Jesus’ resurrection.

 When I asked the idol of knowledge, the Google, most of the links leaned into the Hebrew translation. What swallowed Jonah? In Hebrew, a “big fish”. One article, citing the Greek that the gospels use as well as the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament, transliterate the word as ‘ketos’, sea serpent. The implication is that, whatever it was, this sea serpent Jesus mentioned was known to his audience.

But seriously, does it matter? Perhaps some clarity to that question. Does our understanding of the Bible and its authority rest on this question? Is it a sea serpent? Really? is there no such thing? Therefore the Bible has doubts to be considered. Extinct? Undiscovered? Still out there?

Now, Jesus did not elaborate on the sea serpent. His focus was very different. The Leaders were demanding a sign. Jesus gave them the sign of Jonah, all but dead for three days in the belly of the "maritime biological specimen", the sign that hearkened another three days spent in the tomb, underground, in Jesus’ own death, before His resurrection. There should be our focus, especially in this Easter Season. That is the exegesis that matters.

And I agree with that. But what if it was a sea serpent? That could be really cool, right?

Peace,

Pastor Peter