Jonah dates from my study of their reasons for rejecting it.
We all know the old woman who was ready to believe that Jonah swallowed the whale, if only the Bible said so; but we are not all equal to faith feats of that kind. From standard books of great authority I learned that it would be as impossible for a whale to swallow a man as for a man to swallow a whale; the shark was said to be the only fish in the sea that could accom- plish it; and my faith became somewhat knock- kneed in presence of the shark. 1
But I was reminded of the words, "Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah." Yes, there is no doubt that Almighty God could extemporise a sea monster for the purpose. And such a miracle would not involve a greater display of power than many others; but it would be a miracle of a kind that has no pre- cedent or analogy in Scripture. We have learned to re-define "supernatural power"; for "nature" is merely a way of expressing one sphere of God's working. And as already noticed, Divine miracles are wholly free from any merely dramatic display
I am not justifying my scepticism. For the word translated "whale" in our New Testament may mean any large fish. But our minds easily become enslaved not only to ideas but to words.
-143-
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Publication Information: Book Title: The Bible and Modern Criticism. Contributors: Robert Anderson - author. Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton. Place of Publication: London. Publication Year: 1902. Page Number: 143.
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