The account of Jonah and the great fish, often called a whale, is found in the book of Jonah. God commanded Jonah, a prophet, to go to Nineveh and cry out against it, for their wickedness had come before Him (Jonah 1:1–2). Instead, Jonah fled in the opposite direction, boarding a ship to Tarshish (Jonah 1:3).
The Lord sent a great storm upon the sea, endangering the ship. The sailors, fearing for their lives, cried to their gods and cast lots to discover the cause of the storm. The lot fell on Jonah, who confessed that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord (Jonah 1:7–10). At Jonah’s request, they threw him into the sea, and the storm ceased (Jonah 1:11–15).
The Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. He was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights (Jonah 1:17). From within, Jonah prayed to the Lord, acknowledging his distress, God’s mercy, and his commitment to obey. He said, “Salvation is of the Lord” (Jonah 2:9). God spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land (Jonah 2:10).
God again commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh. This time he obeyed. He preached that in forty days Nineveh would be overthrown. The people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and repented in sackcloth, from the king to the least (Jonah 3:1–6). Seeing their repentance, God relented from the disaster He had threatened (Jonah 3:10).
Jonah, however, was displeased and angry that God spared the city. He went outside the city and waited to see what would happen. The Lord caused a plant to grow over Jonah for shade, but then sent a worm to destroy it. God used this to teach Jonah a lesson in compassion, saying, “Should I not pity Nineveh… in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons?” (Jonah 4:11).
Jonah’s account reveals God’s mercy, not only to Israel but to the Gentiles. His time in the fish’s belly is a type of Christ’s burial and resurrection. 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” (Matthew 12:40).
