T H E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
363
whale. The well-known author, F rank Bullen, In his book “The Cruise of the Cachalot” says th a t “ a shark fifteen feet in length has been found in the stomach of a Cachalot.” He tells us fu rth e r th a t “when dying, the sperm whale always ejected th e contents of its stomach!” He tells us of one whale th a t was caught and killed, “ th e ejected food from whose stomach was in masses of enormous size, some of them being estim ated to be the size of our hatch- house, viz., 8 feet by 6 feet by 6 feet.” Of course such a whale would have no difficulty in swallowing a man, so th e whole objection to th e Bible n arrativ e from th e standpoint th a t a whale could not swallow a man is not founded upon superior knowledge, but upon igno rance.' “B ut,” someone may say, “ th e action of the gastric juices would kill a man w ithin a whale, or other sea m onster.” B u t th is leaves God out of th e tra n s action, whereas in the Bible story God is very prom inent in the whole tra n s action. The God who made both the monster and the man and the gastric juices could quite easily control th e gas-, trie juices and preserve th e man alive. We are no t trying to m ake out th a t the transaction was not m iraculous in any event, but those who really believe in God and have had any large experience w ith God have no trouble w ith the miraculous. It ought to be added, moreover, th a t the Bible does not tell us th a t Jonah remained alive during th e period th a t he was in the belly of th e g reat fish. There are things in the n arrativ e as recorded in th e Book of Jonah th a t make it appear as if he did not remain alive (Jonah 2:2, 5, 6, R. V. See m ar gin.) There seems to be a strong probar bility th a t Jonah actually did die and was raised from th e dead. If Jonah actually did die, th is only adds one
more to th e resurrections recorded in the Bible and makes Jonah a still more rem arkable type of Christ. To those ,who believe in God there is no difficulty in believing in the resurrection, if suffi ciently well attested. “Why should it be thought a thing incredible th a t God should raise th e dead?” There are nu merous instances on record a t ldast of resuscitation of men and women who from appearances had been for some days dead. The historicity of this event is endorsed by Jesus Christ Himself (Mt. 12 :40 ). To th ink of it as being merely allegory or parable is to dis credit th e words of Jesus. So, on careful exam ination of what th e Scripture says,, and of the facts of history, all th e difficulties supposed to exist in th e story of Jonah and “the whale” are found to disappear. m m EGGS AND RABBITS The following question is quite ap t to be heard a t th is season— “W hat is th e meaning and origin of eggs and rabbits a t E aster tim e?” E aster eggs are sym bolical of the germs of life and re-crea tion of spring. The practice of pre senting eggs to our friends at E aster is of Magian or P ersian origin and bears allusion to the mundane eggs for which Ormuzd and Ahriman were to contend till th e consumption of all things. It prevailed not only w ith th e P ersians bu t also among the Jews, Egyptians and H indus. Christians adopted th e custom to symbolize the resurrection, and the eggs are colored red in allusion to the blood of the redemption. O ther colors were la ter introduced bu t have no spe cial significance except to make variety. The Romans recognized th e egg as a symbol of th e re-creation ©f life, and th e rabbit, th a t of fertility and rep ro duction.
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online