Jonah in the Belly of the Whale

Today we continue our meditations on the story of the prophet Jonah, and let us place before us the second chapter of the book, where Jonah was in the belly of the whale, amid the many waters and the depths and currents, a symbol of the trials, tribulations, and spiritual wars that the believer faces in his relationship with God.

Jonah in the Belly of the Whale

Jonah was cast into the sea, into the many waters, which in Scripture symbolize trials, tribulations, and the attacks of the enemy.

Therefore the Scripture says: “Many waters cannot quench love” (Song 8:7). Yet they may press upon a person so that he raises his voice to God: “The floods have lifted up their voice… more than the noise of many waters… mighty are the waves of the sea” (Ps 93).

Wondrous are the terrors of the sea into which Jonah was thrown. This prophet was confident in his opinion and in his strength. He was determined on the destruction of Nineveh.

So the Lord, by bringing him into the terrors of the sea, wanted him to feel his weakness, so that he might have compassion on that sinful city, while he himself was also a sinner like it, though with a difference!

Indeed you are a prophet, but you are “a man subject to suffering,” like this sinful city: you refused to obey the word of the Lord and to carry out His mission, you fled from His presence, insisted on your own word, were angry at what was right, and your will was not in agreement with the will of the Father… and thus the waters entered into your soul.

David spoke about these many waters that fight against the soul, saying: “Then the waters had overwhelmed us… Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth” (Ps 124).

These waters covered the earth from the beginning of creation: “And darkness was upon the face of the deep.” Then God delivered the earth from the dominion of the waters (Gen 1:2, 9).

The many waters may come from within the soul, or they may come from people, and God may allow them for a special wisdom…

As for Jonah, the waters came to him from within his own soul, from his sin that stirred up the sea and the waves and required the intervention of God to correct his path.

There were waters within his soul before he fell into the waters of the sea. The waters covered his soul, his self, his dignity, and his sense of himself; all this submerged the commandment and covered his love for people and their salvation.

He himself felt this and said to the sailors: “Take me and throw me into the sea, and the sea will become calm for you, for I know that because of me this great tempest is upon you” (Jonah 1:12).

His sin was what cast him into the sea and brought him into the many waters. Yet we see him blaming the Lord, saying: “For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas… all Your billows and Your waves passed over me” (Jonah 2:3).

By disobeying the Lord, he harmed himself, harmed the people of the ship, and caused their belongings to be thrown into the sea. Yet he did not feel his sin, but reproached the Lord: “You cast me… Your billows and waves passed over me.” He is like the student who fails and says, “Why, O Lord…?” Like Adam who sinned and said to the Lord, “The woman whom You gave to be with me,” and did not say, my weakness and my surrender!

Sometimes the Lord allows the currents and the depths to cover a person so that he may feel his weakness and be certain that he is not stronger than others…

So that he may understand that he is a human being subject to suffering like us (James 5:17)… so that he may remember the prisoners as if chained with them, and those who are mistreated as though he himself were also in the body (Heb 13:3). Thus he has compassion on those who fall.

God allows the depths so that the believer may feel the power of the battles, the weakness of human nature, the cruelty of the enemy, and the ease of falling…

And when a person feels his weakness, he becomes watchful, cautious, and attentive…

He places his sword upon his thigh because of the fear of the night (Song 3:8).

He remembers from where he has fallen and repents, and knows that no one is great before sin, because it “has cast down many wounded; and all who were slain by her were strong.” The currents and the depths can cover the great prophet, for he is not stronger than those who drowned. All are in weakness… and Satan is watchful.

God allows the currents and the depths so that we may be humble and learn prayer…

And that we may no longer rely on ourselves, nor on our strength and experience.

The currents and many waters may also come from people…

From evil companionships that corrupt good morals, as happened to Lot in Sodom, where the righteous soul was tormented day after day by the deeds of the wicked.

The currents and the depths may come so that a person may feel that sin is exceedingly sinful, and become weary, and benefit from the severity of the trial and the harshness of its consequences. Jonah benefited from the trial. He prayed, then he obeyed…

The Scripture says: “Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, and said: ‘I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction… I cried out from the belly of Sheol’” (Jonah 2:1).

During the first period of humiliation, when he was fleeing, he did not pray…

All the passengers of the ship were praying to their gods, except Jonah. He had gone down into the inner part of the ship and lay down and was fast asleep, until the captain awakened him and rebuked him, saying: “Arise, call on your God.”

But now he prays in the belly of the whale and cries out to the Lord.

In times of ease and peace we sometimes do not pray, thinking there is no need. But when the sea rages against us and the whales swallow us, then we say: “In my distress I cried to the Lord.”

Blessed then is the tribulation that brings us nearer to God… Blessed are the illnesses and pains that bring us nearer to God.

There are people who do not pray on dry land, but pray when the currents and the depths close in upon them and they feel their weakness and poverty.

Yet we notice that God, in the trial, was compassionate toward Jonah.

He did not deliver him to the waters of the great sea, but the waters surrounded him in the belly of a whale according to his endurance of the currents and the depths… If you, Jonah, cried out from these few waters, how would you have acted in the depths of the great sea?! If you have run with the footmen and they have wearied you, how then will you contend with horses?!

He says: “I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with its bars closed behind me.”

This is far better. As long as you are on the top of the mountain, you speak to people from above. Who can reach you? It is good that you come down…

I will show you your weaknesses, so that you will not be harsh toward Nineveh, but will seek forgiveness for it. Have compassion on sinners, lest you be condemned like them… As one of the saints said: Do not blame the tax collector lest you be condemned with the Pharisee.

Jonah entered into the bars of the earth, where no escape appears. Perhaps the open raging sea would have been more merciful. “Refuge has perished from me, and no one cares for my soul.” Here he began to turn to God… none but Him.

Many have descended from the tops of mountains, from the spiritual heights in which they were living. And the earth closed its doors upon them.

Here they received contrition of heart and humility of conscience, the contrition they did not have while they were on the mountain top…

For the sake of Jonah’s good, God brought him down from the heights of the mountain to the belly of the whale: “Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah.”

In the whale there are two aspects that seem as though they are contradictory: it represents the painful trial, and it also represents preservation.

Jonah’s whale represents the preserving trial, not the harmful one.

It represents discipline, not death, as the prophet David said: “The Lord has chastened me severely, but He has not given me over to death” (Ps 118).

In it the hand of the Lord was extended to Jonah, His hand and not His rod…

Jonah lived in the belly of the whale for three days and it did not harm him, but the whale preserved him from all the currents of the sea and all its depths. Finally it delivered him to the Lord safe, having received a spiritual lesson.

The three days that Jonah spent in the belly of the whale teach us that every trial has a time span, like the trial of Job…

It was not a short time… every hour in it, even every minute of the 4,320 minutes, was an age, measured by its pain rather than its length…

It was a terrifying and dreadful atmosphere in which the disobedient prophet lived… and the Lord was patient with him and did not deliver him except in the fullness of time, like Job…

At the beginning of the trial Jonah protested and complained. He said to the Lord: “You cast me… Your billows and waves.” This shows that he had not yet reached contrition and had not known his error. So he was left in the trial to benefit.

The same situation happened with Job: he complained and protested. He said to the Lord: “Make me understand why You contend with me. Does it seem good to You to oppress…?” The Lord was patient with him because his heart had not yet been contrite. When he reached contrition (Job 42:6), the Lord lifted the trial from him.

So it is with every trial that you pass through. Complaint, protest, rebellion against God’s judgments, and feeling that you are wronged will not benefit you. Rather be contrite, feel your error, and benefit from the trial. Then the trial will end because it will have fulfilled its mission, and there will be no need for it to remain.

Thus Jonah fell into a sea he could not overcome, and into the belly of a whale he could not overcome. Complaint and protest did not help him. The only way out was prayer and asking for the mercy of God.

God commanded the whale to swallow Jonah, and God commanded it to cast him out. Therefore the matter is resolved with God first and last. By pleasing Him the trial ends.

Your salvation is from the Lord… “He has become my salvation”… “Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth.”

Thus the whale delivered its deposit, bringing him down safe to the shore.

The whale did not harm Jonah. Rather, it gave him prayer, contrition, and obedience.

Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Keraza Magazine – Year Eight (Issue Six) – 11-2-1977.

For better translation support, please contact the center.