WHALE OF AN EVENING

Last night at midweek study we studied at length about if Jonah was swallowed by a whale or a shark. One commentator sums it up with:

The “great fish” was possibly a mammal, a sperm whale (Catodon Macrocephalus). Sperm whales are known to have swallowed unusually large objects including even a 15-foot shark (Frank T. Bullen, Cruise of the Cachalot Round the World after Sperm Whales. London: Smith, 1898). Others have written that whale sharks (the Rhineodon Typicus) have swallowed men who later were found alive in the sharks’ stomachs.

Well, whatever it was it was "prepared by God" to be there at the right place at the right time. He was hungry and he had a prophet for breakfast! Truly it was supernatural. "If the presence of the supernatural be once admitted, the form of a miracle is a mere matter of detail."

Jesus even validated the Old Testament story: Matthew 12:40 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.

Well, we ended by telling Jonah and the whale jokes. The best was:

A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales.

The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though they were a very large mammal their throat was very small.

The little girl stated Jonah was swallowed by a whale.

The teacher reiterated a whale could not
swallow a human; it was impossible.

The little girl said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah."

The teacher asked, "What if Jonah went to hell?"

The little girl replied, "Then you ask him."

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And you want to know what? When I got home there was a PBS program on about whales! It truly was a "whale of an evening!"