Jesus said, “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” (Matt. 12:40). We have always taken this as a true, actual event (Jonah 1:17). However, with the enlightenment of the age, should we rethink our understanding of the Scripture?
We ask this, because we are told that the days of Genesis 1 are not literal, but figurative. The days of creation were actually long ages, so they say. If that is true, then what about the days of Jonah? Many have considered the account of him being swallowed by a fish as figurative. So, why not look at the days and nights in the fish’s belly as figurative? Boy! that would be a long time for a fellow to be in the belly of a fish — 3,000 years or more!
Of course, we do not take such an anti-biblical position, neither on the days of Jonah or the days of creation. May none of us fall prey to the “profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge” (1 Tim. 6:20).
Steven F. Deaton
