What Does Jonah 1:17 Mean?

(17) **Now the Lord.**—In the Hebrew, Jonah 2 commences with this verse. **Had prepared.—**The pluperfect is misleading. Render *appointed,* and comp. Jonah 4:6-8, where the same word is used of the *gourd,* the *worm,* and the *east wind.* The Authorised version renders the word accurately in Job 7:3; Daniel 1:5-10. Previous special *preparation* is not implied, still less *creation* for the particular purpose. God employs existing agents to do His bidding. **A great fish.**—The Hebrew *dag* is derived from the prolific character of fish, and *a great fish* might stand for any one of the sea monsters. The notion that it was a *whale* rests on the LXX. and Matthew 12:40. But κῆτος was a term for any large fish, such as dolphins, sharks, &c. (See Hom. *Od.* xii. 97.) And unless we have previously determined the question, whether the Book of Jonah is intended by the sacred writer to be a literal history, or an apologue founded on a history or a parable pure and simple, *tota hœc de pisce Jonœ disquisitio,* as an old commentator observes, *vana videtur atque inutilis.* The explanations given by commentators divide themselves into those of a strictly præternatural kind, as that a fish was created for the occasion; or into the natural or semi-natural, as that it was a ship, or an inn bearing the sign of the whale; or that it was a white shark. (For the last hypothesis see all that can be collected in Dr. Pusey’s commentary on Jonah.) In early Christian paintings the monster appears as a huge dragon. **Three days and** ***three*** **nights.**—See Matthew 12:40, *New Testament Commentary.* **Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission. **Bible Hub