T H E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S read in th e m argin of th e Revised Ver sion th a t th e Greek of the word ren dered “whale” is “ sea monster.” One cannot help wondering if th e Greek word means sea monster, and it cer tainly does, why th e tran slato rs should continue to pu t “whale” in th e text. In th e Septuagint tran slation of th e book of Jonah, “ a g reat fish” is rendered by a Greek adjective meaning “g rea t” and th e same word th a t is used in Mt. 12:40 and tran slated “whale.” The word “whale” was in th e m ind of th e tra n s lators and not in the word' spoken by Jesus, so in n either th e Old Testament nor th e New Testament account is it said th a t Jonah was swallowed by a “whale” , bu t by a g reat fish, or sea monster. So we see th a t, these very “ scholarly critics” have spent much labor in proving the absurdity of some th ing th e Bible did not say and which they would have known it did n o t say if they had been as “scholarly” as they supposed. As to w hat the g reat fish was, we are no t told; b u t it is a well- known fact th a t th e re exist, or have existed un til recent times, in th e Medi terran ean Sea, where th e recorded event seems to have taken place, sea monsters— th a t is, dog sharks— large enough to swallow a man or horse whole. In fact, it is recorded th a t a man fell overboard in th e M editerran ean and was swallowed by one of these sea monsters, th e monster was killed and the man rescued alive. A whole horse was taken out of the belly of another. F u rth erm o re, even if th e Bible had said th a t th e great fish was a whale, there would be no such difficulty w ith the n arrativ e as has been supposed by unbelievers and the uninformed. While it is tru e th a t th ere are some kinds of whales whose mouths and th ro ats are of such a form ation th a t it would be impossible for a full-grown man to pass through, it Is not tru e of all kinds of
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MniiHiHiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiinjiinMniiiiiiiiiNiinniuniiiimiimimfiiiiiiRiiiuiiliiiiimiHmiiiimiiiiriimmiiri^, 1 Perplexing Passages | f HE JONAH STORY I Bj) Dr. R. A.Torrey jj aiiiiMi!^ .... The story of Jonah and “ th e whale” has for many years been th e favorite b u tt of ridicule w ith unbelievers, and th e cause of not a little perplexity w ith those who “ are unlearned and un stable.” The sto ry is quite generally discredited by th e destructive Critics as to its being actually historical. They attem p t to explain it as allegory or parable. Those who desire to discredit th e full inspiration and absolute verac ity of the Bible have again and again assured us, w ith a g reat show of scien tific knowledge, th a t such is th e struc tu re of a whale’s mouth and th e con figuration of his th ro a t th a t it would be impossible for a full-grown man, eith er to pass th rough the sieve in its mouth or th e narrow orifice of its th ro at, to say nothing of his coming out again alive and whole. W hat sh ill we say to all th is? F irs t of all let us notice the fact th a t the Bible nowhere tells us th a t Jonah was swallowed by a whale. In Jonah 1:17 we are told th a t Jehovah "p re pared a g reat fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in th e belly of th e fish th ree days and th ree nights.’:’ There is no mention h ere whatever of this g reat fish being “ a whale,” w ith its peculiarly constructed mouth and th ro at. It may have been either a fish altog eth er prepared for th e occasion, or a fish already existing providentially sen t around for th e purpose God had in view. In Jesu s’ reference to th is his torical event in Mt. 12:40, it is tru e th a t in our Authorized Version, and in the text of th e R. V., we read th a t He said th a t Jonah was th ree days and th ree n igh ts in “th e whale’s belly” ; bu t we
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