JONAH: NOW & THEN

The news has been awash in reports of a Chilean father Dell Simancas and his adult son Adrián kayaking together in the Straits of Magellan off the coast of Patagonia. The wild and beautiful region is on the southernmost part  of South America; it is shared by Argentina and Chile.

Suddenly, a humpback whale arose out of the depths behind the son. The whale took the man and his kayak completely into its mouth. His father was a short distance away and was filming his son. Fortunately, for both his son and the whale, it spit the son and his kayak out. His father captured all the action in a video that has gone viral. All major media outlets carried the story.  The video, the first one to record a large sea mammal or fish to take a human completely into its mouth, went viral.

Of course, those of us who believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God are not surprised. The first chapter of the Book of Jonah,  tells the story of how and why Jonah ended up in the belly of a great or large "fish" in the Mediterranean Sea. Verse 17 says, "Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." (NIV)

The Hebrew word translated "fish" is dag דג. Hebrew does not have a separate term for "whale." Perhaps a more accurate translation might be "sea creature." That would include whales, fishes, sea monsters, and dragons.

To view the video, use the first URL under Sources below. 

Sources:

https://people.com/kayaker-survives-getting-swallowed-by-whale-dad-captures-ordeal-on-camera-11679558

Viewed on February 13, 2025

https://apologeticspress.org/was-jonah-swallowed-by-a-fish-or-a-whale-2830/#:~:text=It%20may%20very%20well%20have,swallowed%20Jonah%E2%80%9D%20(2003).

Viewed on February 14, 2025