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Where did the whale spit out Jonah?


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"Jonah 2:10 And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land."


"Jonah 3:1-4 And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown."

I had always been under the impression that the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time immediately after the whale spit him out. BUT I was looking at it today and "three days journey" stood out to me. Nineveh is on the far side of the tigris river, a LONG way from the mediterranean sea, and over rough terrain. I wouldn't call it a three day journey from the coast back then... So I am thinking that perhaps he was already on the way to Nineveh when the word of the Lord came to him again. Any thoughts?

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Seth, if the whale spit Jonah at the upper end of the Sea, it's only about 200 miles from there to Ninevah. If you click the link and then click on the map to enlarge it, you will see a dotted line. If he was spit out up there...well, 200 miles/3 days is 66 miles a day.

oops, a link http://www.biblestudy.org/maps/assybaby.html

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"Jonah 2:10 And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land."


"Jonah 3:1-4 And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown."

I had always been under the impression that the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time immediately after the whale spit him out. BUT I was looking at it today and "three days journey" stood out to me. Nineveh is on the far side of the tigris river, a LONG way from the mediterranean sea, and over rough terrain. I wouldn't call it a three day journey from the coast back then... So I am thinking that perhaps he was already on the way to Nineveh when the word of the Lord came to him again. Any thoughts?


Hmmm... the phraseology here in the Hebrew admits of the likely possibility that this is referring to the immense size of Nineveh: to cover the entire city on foot, preaching as he went, would require three days. Thus it takes some time before the message reaches everyone in town and makes its way to the palace. :2cents

Love,
Madeline
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Hmmm... the phraseology here in the Hebrew admits of the likely possibility that this is referring to the immense size of Nineveh: to cover the entire city on foot, preaching as he went, would require three days. Thus it takes some time before the message reaches everyone in town and makes its way to the palace. :2cents

Love,
Madeline


I would have to agree with Madeline on this one. Verse 4 says
And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
He went one of the three days it took to cross the city and began preaching.
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BTW Jonah was not swallowed by a whale' date=' he was swallowed by a big fish. :saint[/quote']

Mat 12:40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
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Seth, if the whale spit Jonah at the upper end of the Sea, it's only about 200 miles from there to Ninevah. If you click the link and then click on the map to enlarge it, you will see a dotted line. If he was spit out up there...well, 200 miles/3 days is 66 miles a day.


I considered that... BUT when you look up "days journey" in scripture in no other place is it even CLOSE to being that far. Deuteronomy says:

"Deuteronomy 1:2 (There are eleven days journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadeshbarnea.)"

That is a MUCH shorter distance and yet it was called an 11 day journey.

Hmmm... the phraseology here in the Hebrew admits of the likely possibility that this is referring to the immense size of Nineveh: to cover the entire city on foot, preaching as he went, would require three days. Thus it takes some time before the message reaches everyone in town and makes its way to the palace.


That would sound ok, except that the verse says:

"Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey , and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown."


Unless this is read as Jonah going a days journey into the city before he said anything that way of reading it wouldn't seem to make sense. Jonah going a days journey into a city that took three days to cross before he called for them to repent would seem unlikely. One would think after what he had gone through he would have been preaching as soon as he got there. :wink
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It makes sense that if Nineveh was such a large sixty (60+ miles across - average miles covered in a day's travel was 20), that Jonah would wait until he was a day's walk into the city (ie. 1/3 of the way through it) if he was trying to get the attention of everyone in the city.

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That would sound ok, except that the verse says:

"Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey , and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown."


Unless this is read as Jonah going a days journey into the city before he said anything that way of reading it wouldn't seem to make sense. Jonah going a days journey into a city that took three days to cross before he called for them to repent would seem unlikely. One would think after what he had gone through he would have been preaching as soon as he got there. :wink


He was preaching as soon as he got there. Note how we are told that the city was so big, three days of walking around were required to see it all. That is why the (KJV) "exceeding great city" precedes the "three days journey", to specifically connect the two ideas. Thus the "journeying" is not from the coast but specifically keyed to the size of Nineveh (it might have taken Jonah a month or more to get there in the first place). The phrase in Jonah 3:4 which you highlight here I would translate "Now Jonah began to make his way through the city for one day's journey [out of the three]"; that is to say, while Nineveh was "three days journey" large, they began to respond after Jonah had made his way through only a third of the city.

Love,
Madeline
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The phrase in Jonah 3:4 which you highlight here I would translate "Now Jonah began to make his way through the city for one day's journey [out of the three]"; that is to say, while Nineveh was "three days journey" large, they began to respond after Jonah had made his way through only a third of the city.



I am glad you didn't. You "translated" it to fit your opinion of the passage, and added extra content which may or may not be correct. That is one of the areas where the translators of the MV's get into trouble. :wink Thanks anyway though... :Green

I haven't heard anything that sounds that convincing one way or another... I guess I will file it away in the "I don't know, still looking for a better answer" section of the brain(sometimes a large area :tum ).
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Why did I know that the the MV argument was going to be used? Can't win against that one.


If you can't win it is always good to know it. :frog Seriously, thanks for trying even though we don't see eye to eye.
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The great fish swallowed Jonah in the Arabian Sea near the Indian Ocean. The great fish went through the Persian and Tigris River all the way to Nineveh. It is just a 3 days journey from Tigris river bank.

How come it was Arabian Sea? Not Mediterranean Sea?

It is because Tarshish is on the East (not on the West as many scholars show). Please read your Bibles. 

The ship came from Mediterranean Sea then goes around Africa via Atlantic Ocean all the way to Indian Ocean which is the way to Tarshish.

 

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On 7/2/2019 at 6:15 AM, Dyeri said:

The great fish swallowed Jonah in the Arabian Sea near the Indian Ocean. The great fish went through the Persian and Tigris River all the way to Nineveh. It is just a 3 days journey from Tigris river bank.

How come it was Arabian Sea? Not Mediterranean Sea?

It is because Tarshish is on the East (not on the West as many scholars show). Please read your Bibles. 

The ship came from Mediterranean Sea then goes around Africa via Atlantic Ocean all the way to Indian Ocean which is the way to Tarshish.

 

I love how Jesus references Jonah in the book of Matthew.  Matthew 12:38-41   Jesus confirms that Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights.  How far can a great fish travel in three days and three nights?  The route suggested above is quite lengthy.                   

I have to admit when I saw where Nineveh was on a map I had to reconfigure the mental image I had in my mind from reading.  However, that happens often as we read and then see a visual of the places and regions we are learning about.   I'm completely comfortable with the possibility that wherever God had Jonah spit out, that he may have had to walk in obedience for some time to get to Nineveh, 3 days or more days.   Many interpret the three days mentioned to be in relation to the size of Nineveh, the amount of time it would take to canvas the entire city with the message the Lord sent him to share.  

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