W E have frequently pondered upon the interesting fact that after these centuries of higher crit icism and study, the enemy of the Bible is restricted to not more than five or six pseudo-scientific arguments against its integrity. We frequently hear the critics say that there are scores of scientific errors in the Bible. When chal lenged to enumerate a few of these scores, they invariably name, at the most, five or six possible errors. Upon investigation, even these fade away and leave the Bible utterly unchallenged in its claim to inspiration. Among these few available arguments that are offered against the doctrine of the scientific accuracy of the Bible, the one most frequently advanced by the superficial critic is the modern objection to the story of Jonah and the whale. Cheap witticism has labeled this account “ the greatest fish story in history.” Many men who have never studied the narrative claim that it is the most out standing weakness of the entire Bible. Infidelity has long laughed at this strange record, has derided its accuracy and questioned its probability, but has never disproved the historicity of the affair. Undaunted by the light laughter of empty objections, the man of intelli gence proceeds to investigate and find the truth of the matter by research. The book of Jonah consists of four chapters, with a total number of only forty-eight verses. It can be read easily in less than five minutes by the average reader. Yet in many parts of America we have asked audiences how many of them have read this short book through at one sitting. One never finds that more than ten per cent of any crowd has ever done so! The most widely-discussed book in the Bible, and not ten per cent of the Christian populace ever invested five minutes to see what the argument was about! The entire book of Jonah would be accepted even by the modern critics, if we would expurgate two verses from its contents. The rest of the book is admit tedly a valuable historic document, were it not “ ruined” by the introduction of these two verses. The first of these dis puted passages is the last verse of the first chapter, and the other one is the last verse of the second chapter. The reader will recall how the first chapter of the book of Jonah recounts *Reproduced by permission from the book T he H armony of S cience and S cripture . Copyright by Research Sci ence Bureau, Inc. Page Tw elve
the fact that God’s wrath was kindled against Nineveh, because of its out standing sin. God, who is ever gracious and slow to anger, sent a message to the prophet Jonah, instructing him to proceed to Nineveh. He was to bear the message of a coming destruction of the city with all of its inhabitants, unless they repented and turned from their sin. Instead of going to Nineveh, however, Jonah found a ship that was going to Tarshish, and fled from the direction of Nineveh as fast as he could travel. The residence of the prophet was in Gath- hepher, and when he started for Tar shish, it was directly opposite to the direction of Nineveh. But as Jonah was seeking to flee from God’s appointed task, a mighty storm arose, threatening the very safety of the ship in which the prophet sailed. When the men of the ship learned that this storm came upon them because of Jonah, at his own behest they threw him overboard. To save their own lives, they jeopardized his. This resumé brings us to the first dis puted verse, which is given in these simple words: “ Now the Lord had pre pared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” The second disputed verse is in the second chapter. The first verse of this chapter is certainly admissible: “ Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly.” We are quite sure no intelligent person would find fault with that statement. The amazing thing is that the obstinate prophet waited three days to begin. Had one of us been swallowed by that fish, in less than three minutes the Lord would have heard our cry, “ Let me out; I want to go to Nineveh!” So even the most rabid critic does not question the statement that Jonah prayed from the depths of this sea monster. Any man in Jonah’s case would have cried out to God. The first nine verses of the chapter, then, deal with the prayer of Jonah, and the tenth and final verse is the disputed record. This statement is made in these simple words, “And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it cast out Jonah upon the dry land.” Without any attempt at text ual comment, we have simply quoted these verses from the authorized edition of the English Bible, as this edition is familiar to more people than any other. This, then, is the story at which infidel ity has laughed for centuries. We re peat, however, that this is an account which infidelity has never disproved. The prophet Jonah is an interesting
character. The school of higher crit icism, denying all miraculous elements in God’s dealings with men, has refused to accept the tale of the fish. I f we would delete these two verses containing the record of the miracle, they would find the book acceptable to their fancy. However, it has never been profitable in any generation for men to alter the written records of God’s Word to har monize with the demands of the so-called scholarship of that generation. We are under the necessity of accepting the Book just as God wrote it, and our knowledge must be brought into har mony with His revelation. Not willing to bow before the higher wisdom of the Holy Spirit, the critics have sought to deny the historical exis tence of an actual Jonah. They have said that he was a legendary hero of Jewish folk-lore and fable, as was Hercules among the Greeks. The contrary, how ever, is the truth. Jonah is as historical a character as was Napoleon Bona parte or Rameses the Second. They may readily be established by an appeal to a reliable book of pure history. In all the historical records of any people, there are none that are superior to the books of the Kings, which records were kept by the Hebrew people under the direction of God’s Spirit. The recent advancement of archaeological learning, if it has done nothing else, has estab lished the credibility of these Scriptures. In Second Kings, the fourteenth chap ter, there is a historical reference to the prophet Jonah that authenticates this character and gives him an estab lished background. In this passage of Scripture, the father of Jonah is named, thus giving his genealogy. The place of his residence is told. We also learn the name of the king who ruled when Jonah was alive. History further attests that some of his prophecies were fulfilled in the reign of that king. So from this historical reference we see that Jonah was a real person. To complete the case and make the evidence perfect, there is one other source of testimony to the reality of Jonah that cannot be set aside. We refer to the conclusive testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Son of God speaks upon any subject, that testimony is and should be conclusive. In the days of His flesh He was betrayed in the house of His friends by one of His fol lowers. Today He has many so-called friends who by their infidelity and un belief re-enact the drama of Judas. But believing friend and disbelieving enemy alike are united in their praise of His T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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