Did Jonah Resurrect?

[Corey Powell]

A video came out today (below) in which a reformed brother argues that Jonah died and then was resurrected.
He argues that this is necessary because of the "sign of Jonah" and the parallels between him and Christ (seaweed wrapped about his head, etc).

Chapter 2 does open with saying that he prayed this in the fish, but then the wording sounds like a future reflection on what happened.

It doesn't seem necessary to me that he actually died, but it is sufficient to say that he was in a "watery grave" for 3 days symbolically and then "resurrected" by being vomited back up. Which is the view I've always heard assumed.

Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish:

2 I called to the Lord in my distress,
and he answered me.
I cried out for help from deep inside Sheol;
you heard my voice.
3 When you threw me into the depths,
into the heart of the seas,
the current overcame me.
All your breakers and your billows swept over me.
4 And I said, “I have been banished
from your sight,
yet I will look once more
toward your holy temple.”
5 The water engulfed me up to the neck;
the watery depths overcame me;
seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6 I sank to the foundations of the mountains,
the earth’s gates shut behind me forever!
Then you raised my life from the Pit, Lord my God!
7 As my life was fading away,
I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer came to you,
to your holy temple.
8 Those who cherish worthless idols
abandon their faithful love,
9 but as for me, I will sacrifice to you
with a voice of thanksgiving.
I will fulfill what I have vowed.
Salvation belongs to the Lord.

also... if it was 3 days and 3 nights, does that mean Jesus died on Thursday?

 

[Contra_Mundum]

No matter what, his psalm represents his future self actually writing down what happened, and is the memory of his prayer. It is speculative to try to decide if his death is physical or metaphorical. He certainly doesn’t die spiritually. There is no declaration in or by Jonah himself that removes all doubts. Jesus' testimony also does not decide, as if the type of his death and burial in Jonah's case must be "this much" correlate.

Jesus died on the day we call (good) Friday.

 

[Stargazer65]

I've heard both views expressed (miraculously preserved in the fish, died and resurrected). I've never heard anyone claim a dogmatic position on that. I don't believe the scripture demands either view. I agree with what CM said above, it is speculative.

As I understand the Jewish calendar thinking is that 3 days in the grave is Friday-Saturday-Sunday. Not a 72 hour period. So he died on Friday, and on the third day he rose again.

 

[No Other Name]

Only time I had this conversation was with an atheist who pulled the old tired classic: "The Bible says a man can live in a whale for 3 days". Out of curiosity, I began to say "the Bible doesn't say -" and he cut me off: "Right, here it comes, the Bible doesn't say it was a whale it was a fish" with all the scoffing in the world.

Out of pride, I said "No I am saying the Bible doesn't say he LIVED in the fish for 3 days. If Jonah died and rose again, is that more or less believable that him living in a fish for 3 days? What does that say about your reticence to talk about Christ's resurrection?"

I am not saying this was a slam-dunk "W" for me. I recall it with self-directed cringe at how arrogant I was inside and how angered I was at his scoffing. Not a good memory and a poor reflection of my younger self.

 

[Jack K]

Either he died, or he spent three days alive in the realm of death. Whichever way it happened, it was a miracle prefiguring Christ's resurrection (and, by extension, ours). When I teach the account to kids, I present both possibilities and tell how they're equally miraculous and encouraging. Most church kids are surprised to hear that he might have died. They've been taught he was kept alive.

 

[greenbaggins]

Literal life, literary death.

 

[paranymph]

Who is this guy?

 

[Venator Veritatis]

For just 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. (Matthew 12:40, ESV)

Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day) (John 19:31, ESV)

I worked it out with my Pastor one Lord's day and based on these passages among others I personally think Christ died on a Thursday. The sabbath of the feast of unleavened bread being right before the weekly sabbath, hence the "high sabbath" mentioned in John. That would have given Him

Thursday, Friday, Saturday night - 3
Friday, Saturday, Sunday day - 3

But I'm open to the possibility of Christ not being literal in his 3 days and 3 nights statement. It was just a fun exercise to pour over all the details at lunch after our worship service.