Who survived in the belly of a whale. The story of “the prophet Jonah in the belly of the whale” - truth or parable

The story of Prophet Yunus is unique; he was thrown into the sea and swallowed by a giant fish. While in her womb, he prayed to Allah and asked Him for help. The Almighty saved him from death and preserved his life by ordering the fish to throw Yunus ashore.

The hadith we are going to look at contains information that complements the story of Yunus in the Qur'an and explains what caused Yunus to fall under the wrath of the Almighty and why he set off on a ship far from his family and his homeland.

Hadith text

Abdullah ibn Masud (may Allah be pleased with him) is reported to have said: “Yunus (peace be upon him) promised his people that punishment would fall on them and it would come in three days. Then they separated each child from his mother, went out, called on Allah and asked Him for forgiveness, and Allah withheld His punishment from them. Yunus, meanwhile, was awaiting punishment from Allah, but did not see anything.

At [that time] it was the case that if someone lied and did not have proof [of his words], then he was killed. Angry, Yunus walked away until he reached the people sailing on the ship, they recognized him and took him with them.

When he boarded the ship, it began to sail very slowly, while other ships were sailing to the right and left of them. Yunus said: “What’s wrong with your ship?”, the sailors replied: “We don’t know.” Yunus said: “For this I know. There is a slave on the ship who has run away from his master, and I swear by Allah, she will not sail until you throw him out.” The people said: “O Prophet of Allah, as for you, we swear by Allah, we will not abandon you.” Yunus (peace be upon him) said: “Throw lots; whoever it lands on will be cast.” They cast lots three times, and it always fell on Yunus (peace be upon him). He threw himself [into the sea], and a whale was sent after him, swallowing him after the fall. Then the whale headed towards the foundation of the earth, and Yunus (peace be upon him) heard the stones glorifying Allah. “He cried out from the darkness: “There is no true deity but You!” Glory to You! Verily, I was one of the unjust” (21.Al-Anbiya: 87). He was in the darkness of the whale's belly, in the darkness of the sea, and in the darkness of the night.

Allah Almighty said: “If the mercy of the Lord had not befallen him, he would have been thrown out into the open, ashamed” (68. Al-Kalam: 49).

Ibn Mas'ud said: ["After he was thrown ashore by the will of Allah], he resembled a plucked chicken that has no feathers. Allah raised a pumpkin tree over him, and Yunus took refuge in its shade and ate its fruits. The tree dried up, and he cried about the dried up tree, and Allah inspired him in Revelation: “Are you really crying about the dried up tree and not crying about the hundred thousand or more whom you wanted to destroy?!”

Then Yunus set off on a journey, [along the way] he met a young man tending sheep and asked him: “Where are you from, young man?”

He replied:

I am from the people of Yunus.

Yunus said:

Give them greetings and let them know that you have met Yunus.

The young man said:

If you are Yunus, then you know that if a person lies and he does not have proof [of his words], then he is killed. Who will be my witness?

Yunus said:

This tree and this piece of land will be your witnesses.

The young man said to Yunus:

- [Then] order them.

[Addressing a tree and a piece of land,] Yunus said: “If this young man comes to you, then be witnesses of his words,” they said: “Yes.”

The young man returned to his people. He had brothers who protected him. He came to the king and said: “I met Yunus, and he conveyed his greetings to you.” Then the king ordered his execution, but the brothers said: “He has proof.” The king sent people with him, and together they came to that tree and piece of land. The young man said: “I conjure you by Allah, did Yunus order you to testify for me?” They said: “Yes.” Amazed by this, the people returned with the words: “The trees and the earth bear witness for you.” They came to the king and told him about what they had seen. Then the king took the young man’s hand, seated him on his throne and said: “You are more worthy of this than I.” This young man ruled the people for forty years.”
Sources of hadith
This hadith was cited by Ibn Abu Shaybah in his collection “al-Musannaf” (11/541), hadith number 1195, in the book “On the Virtues of Yunus.” Al-Suyuty cited this hadith in the book “ad-Durru al-mansur” (7/123) with reference to “Musannaf” by ibn Abu Shayba and to “az-Zuhd” by Ahmad, and he also cited a reference to Abd ibn Humaid, ibn Jarira, ibn Munzira, ibn Abu Hatim. In all of the above-mentioned isnads, the hadith is transmitted from the words of ibn Masud (may Allah be pleased with him). Al-Hafiz ibn Hajar also cited a hadith from ibn Masud, but not completely, and he also indicated the authenticity of the narration that was transmitted by ibn Abu Hatim. (See Fath al-Bari, 6/452). Sheikh Ibrahim al-Ali called this hadith authentic in the book “al-Ahadith al-sahiha min akhbari wa qisas al-anbiya” (page 122, number 177).

Interpretation of the hadith

Yunus ibn Matta (peace be upon him) was a prophet and messenger. Just like other prophets, Allah gave him Revelation.

“Yunus (Jonah) was also one of the messengers” (10.Yunus: 139).

“Verily, We have inspired revelation in you, just as We inspired it with Nuh (Noah) and the prophets after him. We gave revelation to Ibrahim (Abraham), Ishmael (Ishmael), Ishak (Isaac), Yaqub (Jacob) and the tribes (the twelve sons of Yaqub), Isa (Jesus), Ayub (Job), Yunus (Jonah), Harun (Aaron), To Suleiman (Solomon) and to Davud (David) We gave the Zabur (Psalter)” (4. An-Nisa: 163).

Yunus was a beneficent and righteous man whom Allah chose among other people of this world. The Almighty said: “And also Ishmael (Ishmael), Al-Yacaa (Elisha), Yunus (Jonah) and Lut (Lot). We have exalted them all above the worlds.” (6.Al-An`am: 86)

Allah (Great and Glorified is He) informed us that Yunus left his people in anger. “Remember also the man in the fish, who left in anger...” (21. Al-Anbiya: 87) On the way, he boarded a loaded ship: “Yunus (Jonah) was also one of the messengers. He escaped onto a crowded ship." (37.As-Saffat: 139-140)

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) told us why Allah called Yunus a “runaway” and why he left in anger. The reason was that he promised his people that God's punishment would fall on them. This was after they had remained in disbelief regarding the mission of Prophet Yunus for a long time. He predicted to them that punishment would come to them after three days. When they realized that punishment would certainly fall upon them, they offered sincere repentance, turned to their Lord and returned to submission to Him. They regretted that they did not believe the prophet of Allah and acted as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) told us in this hadith. They separated mothers and children, both among people and among animals, then they came out of their homes, called out to Allah with loud voices, and their voices mingled in prayer to the Lord of the worlds. In this way they sought to complete their prayer and receive an answer. Mothers wept, both among women and among animals. Their children also cried, calling for their mothers. And Allah withheld His punishment from this people.

Ibn Katheer said: “Ibn Masud, as well as Mujahid, Saeed ibn Jubeir and many other early and late scholars said that when Yunus left the village of his people, they were convinced that punishment would indeed come. Then Allah put repentance and regret in their hearts for the way they behaved with their prophet, they dressed in sackcloth, separated each animal from the baby and hastened to appear before Allah, raised their voices and prayed to Him, showing their need and helplessness before Him. . Men cried, women sobbed, sons and daughters sobbed, goats, camels and their offspring cried, cows and calves mooed, sheep bleated along with their lambs. It was an hour of great repentance. With His strength and power, Allah stopped the punishment, showing His kindness and mercy to this people. He withheld the punishment that was due to their unbelief, and was already hovering over their heads, like a piece of dark night, ready to fall on their heads at the command of their Lord. Therefore, Allah Almighty said: “Were there any villages whose inhabitants believed after they saw the punishment, and faith helped them, except for the people of Yunus (Jonah)? When they believed, We delivered them from the shameful torments of this worldly life and allowed them to enjoy worldly blessings until a certain time.” (10.Yunus: 98)

The Lord informed us that Iman (Faith) helped the people of Yunus even after the punishment had descended and was about to strike them. Allah restrained him after they changed their position.

After the three days that Yunus had warned his people about, he came to see how Allah had dealt with them. Apparently, he moved away from them and did not know about the repentance that his people brought to Allah. When he looked at the city, he saw that everything was fine with its inhabitants, and this angered him. The law of this people stated that a liar must be executed, so he left this area, running away from his people and fearing the death penalty.

He walked until he came to the seashore. When considering the verse, we can conclude that Yunus left his people without the permission of Allah, and therefore the Almighty described him with the word “abik,” which means “fugitive slave.” “Yunus (Jonah) was also one of the messengers. He fled (abaka) to a crowded ship" (37. As-Saffat: 139-140)

Yunus had to be satisfied with the decree of Allah (Great and Glorified is He) and completely resign himself to His decision. A servant of Allah has no right to be angry at the deeds of his Lord. Yunus also did not have the right to leave his people without the permission of Allah, so the Almighty forbade our prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) to do the same as the “man in the fish” did in his time. “Be patient until the decision of your Lord and do not become like the man in the fish” (68. Al-Kalam: 48). “The man in the fish” (Sahib al-khut) was the prophet Yunus. Allah named him this because Yunus was swallowed by a fish.

When Yunus arrived at the seashore, he met people there sailing on a ship. People recognized him and, at his request, took him with them. When the ship entered the open sea, it suddenly stopped and stopped sailing. Even more surprising was the fact that other ships sailed unhindered on the right and left sides, while this ship hardly moved. Yunus (peace be upon him) realized that the reason for the stop lay in him. He informed those present on the ship that the reason the ship was stopped was that there was a runaway slave on it who had run away from his master. By these words, Yunus meant himself. He informed them that this slave must be thrown overboard so that the ship could continue its movement like other ships. However, people refused to throw the prophet overboard because they knew what an honorable place he occupied with Allah Almighty and that he was one of God’s prophets.

Then Yunus told them to cast lots; whoever it falls on will be thrown into the sea. They cast lots, and it fell on Yunus, but the people did not want to throw it, and they cast lots again, and again it fell on Yunus, they repeated the third time, but the result was the same. This is what Allah says about this lot: “He cast lots along with others and ended up a loser.” (37.As-Saffat: 141)

When Yunus saw this, he himself rushed from the ship into the water. As soon as Yunus fell into the sea water, he was immediately swallowed by a huge fish that suddenly appeared. Probably, the people on the ship saw how the fish swallowed Yunus, and were convinced of his death, because no one had ever heard of anyone surviving after being swallowed by a fish. “He cast lots with others and found himself a loser. He was swallowed by a fish when he was worthy of blame.” (37.As-Saffat: 141-142)

He was worthy of blame for being angry at the lack of punishment that should have befallen sinners, and for leaving his people without the permission of Allah.

Almighty Allah ordered the fish not to destroy the righteous slave Yunus. The fish sank to the bottom of the sea, and Yunus was enveloped in a triple darkness: the darkness of the sea, the darkness of the belly of the fish and the darkness of the dark night. “He called out from the darkness...” (21.Al-Anbiya: 87)

From the belly of a huge fish, Yunus was able to hear that the underwater rocks and animals that inhabit the depths of the sea glorify Allah. Then he too cried out to his Lord, glorified Him, admitted his sin and expressed his sincere regret for what he had done. “He cried out from the darkness: “There is no true deity but You!” Glory to You! Verily, I was one of the wrongdoers!” (21.Al-Anbiya: 87)

And the One who knows the obvious and the hidden, the One who is able to protect from any evil and eliminate any difficulty, heard his prayer. He hears any voice, even if others do not hear it, he knows everything secret, no matter how small it may be. He answers people's prayers, no matter how big they are. Allah said: “We answered his prayer and saved him from sorrow. This is how We save the believers.” (21.Al-Anbiya: 88)

If he had not brought his repentance to Allah, if he had not glorified the Almighty and sanctified his name, he would have found death in the belly of a fish and would have remained there until the Day of Judgment. “If he had not been one of those who glorify Allah, he would certainly have remained in her womb until the day when they were resurrected.” (37.As-Saffat: 143-144)

After Yunus said his prayer, Allah ordered the fish to throw him out on the seashore, and the fish carried out Allah's order. Yunus was sick, his skin was damaged, and there was no strength left in his body. Allah said: “We threw him out into the open and he was sick.” (37.As-Saffat: 145) Yunus's skin was damaged because it was exposed to the digestive system of the fish. Therefore, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) compared him to a plucked chicken with no feathers left.

In the place where Yunus was thrown out, Allah Almighty grew a pumpkin tree. He said, “We raised a pumpkin tree over it.” (37.As-Saffat: 146)

Here I would like to draw the reader’s attention to what doctors and healers say about the nutritional value of pumpkin, it is suitable for people with weak digestion, removes heat from the body, and pumpkin juice quenches thirst well and helps with headaches. Modern medicine has confirmed that pumpkin promotes good digestion, has sedative properties, acts as a diuretic and has a positive effect on the urinary system. Pumpkin also has a beneficial effect on the respiratory system, cleanses the lungs and is used to treat many diseases.

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) told us that Yunus took refuge in the shade of this tree and ate its fruit, but after some time the tree dried up. The Prophet of Allah mourned the dried-up tree, and the Almighty sent down a Revelation to him, in which he said with reproach: “You are crying about the dried-up tree, and not crying about the hundred thousand or more whom you wanted to destroy?!”

When Yunus recovered enough to be able to walk and move, he set off on his journey. On the way, he met a young man tending sheep and asked him what tribe he was from. The young man replied that he was from the people of Yunus, then the prophet asked him to convey greetings to the residents of this city and tell them that he had met Yunus.

The young man was smart and cautious, and also knew very well the laws and customs of his people regarding false witnesses. He told Yunus: “If you are Yunus, then you know that if a person lies and does not have evidence for his words, then he is killed. Who will be my witness? Yunus said: “This tree and this piece of land will be your witnesses.” The young man asked the prophet to demonstrate how they would testify to his truthfulness. Then Yunus turned to the tree and the earth and said: “If this young man comes to you, then be witnesses of his words,” they said: “Yes.”

All this happened by the will and predestination of Almighty Allah.

The young man returned to his people. He had brothers who had authority and weight among their people, and the young man was under their protection from anyone who wanted to offend him. The young man came to the king, told him about the meeting with Yunus and conveyed greetings from the prophet to him. Apparently, the residents of the city were convinced of the death of Yunus, especially since the people who were on the ship would certainly talk about how he drowned in the sea, and was also swallowed by a giant fish. The residents had no doubt at all that the young man was lying, and therefore the king immediately gave the order to execute the young man.

The young man stated that he had evidence indicating that his words were not true. Then the king sent his people with him. When they arrived at that land and at that tree, which Yunus ordered to testify about the youth’s truthfulness, the young man turned to them with the words: “I adjure you by Allah, did Yunus command you to testify for me?” They said: "Yes."

The people, amazed and frightened by what had happened, returned to the king and reported what they had heard. The king came down from his throne, took the young man by the hand and sat him down in his place, so that from now on he would be king and rule over the people and said: “You are more worthy of this than I.”

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) informed us that this man ruled the people for the next forty years, and the condition of the people improved under his rule.

The Prophet of Allah Yunus (peace be upon him) ordered the young man to convey greetings to his people, to inform them that he was alive, and also ordered the earth and the tree to testify to this in order to prove to people his honesty and show them that the threat of punishment was truthful and he did not lie to them . Everything that happened happened at the behest of Allah (Holy and Great is He), and the testimony of the earth and the tree about the truthfulness of the young man was, first of all, a testimony to the truth of the prophecy of Yunus, for the prophets of Allah always speak only the truth, conveying to people the Revelation from the Almighty.

Collecting together all the texts from the Koran and Sunnah, we can conclude that subsequently, after they believed, Yunus returned to his people. At the end of the story of Yunus, Allah Almighty said: “We raised a pumpkin tree over him, and sent him to a hundred thousand or even more.” (37. As-Saffat: 146-147). This verse talks about the people because of whom the prophet was reprimanded by Allah, because Yunus, overwhelmed with anger, did not grieve over their death, while their number exceeded one hundred thousand souls.

The Story of Prophet Yunus in the Bible

This story also takes place in the Tanakh (Old Testament), an entire book is dedicated to it, called “The Book of Jonah the son of Amathiah” (Yunan ibn Amitai). In the writings of the Jews he is mentioned as one of the Jewish prophets.

There is no doubt that this biblical book is about the prophet Yunus ibn Matta. The names mentioned in this book are similar in sound to the name of Yunus, and the biblical story itself narrates some of the events mentioned in the Qur'an and Hadith. But along with coincidences, there are also contradictions that are caused by distortions and errors in the Bible.

Some authentic hadiths report that this prophet's name was Yunus ibn Matta.

The Hebrew name "Yunan" originates from the name "Yunasan", which means "gift of God", or, as the interpreters of the Tanakh (Old Testament) say, "Yahweh bestows", the name "Yahweh" they call Allah.

The Tanakh says that he was from the Palestinian city of JitHafera (Gafhefera). This city is located near the city of Nasir (Nazareth), at a distance of three miles from it.

One of the Jewish tribes lived in this city, which were called the sons of Zablun (Zebulun), therefore, interpreters of the Torah believe that Yunan belonged to this tribe. However, this information is not confirmed by reliable sources, and Allah knows best how true it is.

The writers of the Tanakh (Old Testament) claim that the prophet Yunus was sent from his city in Palestine to the inhabitants of the city of Nineveh (Neneveh), when evil and debauchery had spread among them, to warn them that Allah was angry with them and threatened them with terrible punishment . Nainovo (Neneveya) is a large city in Iraq, which is located near Mosul. Yunus allegedly refused to travel to this city, fearing its inhabitants. He fled from Allah, boarding a ship in the city of Jaffa (Joppa) and going to the distant city of Tarshish (Tarshish). Interpreters of the Tanakh (Old Testament) claim that this city was located in the far west in Spain. But it is completely incomprehensible how a prophet can think that he is able to escape from Allah.

When the ship entered the open sea, it became agitated and stormy. There was a danger that the ship was about to crash, and passengers began to throw out all their luggage in order to save the ship from sinking. Yunus was allegedly sleeping in the hold at that time; the captain of the ship came down to him, woke him up and demanded that he pray to his Lord and ask Him to save the people on the ship from the disaster that befell them.

One of those present suggested casting lots, not in order to lighten the weight of the ship, but in order to find out who was the cause of their disaster. The lot fell on Yunus, after which people began to ask about him, who he was and where he was from. This indicates that they did not know Yunus before he boarded their ship. When they found out that he was fleeing from the face of the Lord, they were greatly frightened, then he ordered them to throw him into the sea so that they could be saved from God’s wrath, since Yunus knew that the storm occurred because of him. The people carried out his words and threw him overboard, after which he was swallowed by a whale. The prophet was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights. The Bible contains the words of the prayer that Yunus addressed to the Lord, but it does not contain the prayer mentioned in the text of the Koran. Then God ordered the whale to throw out Yunus, and ordered Yunus himself to go to the city of Nineveh (Nineveh) to warn its inhabitants and inform them that in forty days their city would be destroyed.

When the residents of Ninawa learned about the impending punishment, they repented and believed, turned to Allah with prayers, He accepted their repentance and had mercy on them. But this upset and irritated Yunus, because Allah had mercy on them. On this occasion, Yunus even made his claims to his Lord for forgiving them. Yunus then left the city and sat down on the east side of it in the shade of a tent that he had built for himself. He sat there and waited to see what would happen to the city. Allah raised a pumpkin over him, which covered him with its shadow to dispel his sadness. Yunus was very happy about this pumpkin, but the next day after dawn the pumpkin dried up because Allah sent a worm that gnawed through its trunk. The Prophet was upset, and the Lord reproached him for grieving over the dried up pumpkin and not grieving over the death of a large number of the inhabitants of Nineveh.

The Bible says in the Book of Jonah:

1 And the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amathite: 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach in it, for its wickedness has come before Me. 3 And Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and came to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish, paid the fare and entered it to sail with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. 4 But the Lord stirred up a strong wind on the sea, and there arose a great storm on the sea, and the ship was about to be broken. 5 And the shipmen were afraid, and each one cried out to his god, and began to throw the cargo from the ship into the sea, in order to lighten it from it; Jonah went down into the interior of the ship, lay down and fell fast asleep. 6 And the captain of the ship came to him and said to him, “Why are you sleeping? arise, call upon your God; maybe God will remember us and we will not perish. 7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots to find out for whom this calamity befalls us.” And they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Tell us, for whose sake has this trouble befallen us?” What is your occupation and where are you coming from? Where is your country and what people are you from? 9 And he said to them, “I am a Jew, and I honor the Lord God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” 10 And the people were afraid with great fear and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For these people knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, as he himself had declared to them. 11 And they said to him, “What should we do with you, so that the sea may calm down for us?” For the sea did not cease to worry. 12 Then he said to them, “Take me and throw me into the sea, and the sea will be calm for you, for I know that for my sake this great storm has come upon you.” 13 But these people began to row hard to land, but they could not, because the sea continued to rage against them. 14 Then they cried to the Lord and said: We pray to You, Lord, that we may not perish for the soul of this man, and that You will not count innocent blood against us; for You, Lord, have done whatever pleased You! 15 And they took Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its fury. 16 And these people feared the Lord with great fear, and offered sacrifice to the Lord, and made vows.

1 And the Lord commanded the great whale to swallow Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights. 2 And Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the whale, 3 and said, “I cried to the Lord in my affliction, and He heard me; from the belly of hell I cried, and You heard my voice. 4 You cast me into the depths, into the heart of the sea, and the streams surrounded me, all Your waters and Your waves passed over me. 5 And I said, I am cut off from Your eyes, yet I will see Your holy temple again. 6 The waters have embraced me even to my soul; the deep has shut me up; My head was entwined with sea grass. 7 I went down to the foundations of the mountains; the earth with its bars blocked me forever; but You, Lord my God, will bring my soul out of hell. 8 When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to You, to Your holy temple. 9 Those who honor vain and false [gods] have forsaken their Merciful, 10 and with the voice of praise I will sacrifice to You; I will fulfill what I promised: salvation belongs to the Lord! 11 And the Lord spoke to the whale, and it cast Jonah out onto dry land.

1 And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach in it what I have commanded you. 3 And Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord; Nineveh was a great city of God, three days' walk away. 4 And Jonah began to walk around the city, as far as he could go in one day, and preached, saying: Another forty days and Nineveh will be destroyed! 5 And the Ninevites believed God, and declared a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. 6 This word reached the king of Nineveh, and he rose from his throne, and took off his royal vestments, and put on sackcloth, and sat on ashes, 7 and commanded that it be proclaimed and said in Nineveh in the name of the king and his nobles: “So that neither people, nor cattle, nor oxen, nor sheep ate anything, did not go to pasture and did not drink water, 8 and that people and cattle were covered in sackcloth and cried out loudly to God, and that everyone turned from his evil way and from violence their hands. 9 Who knows, maybe God will have mercy and turn away His burning anger from us, and we will not perish.” 10 And God saw their deeds, that they turned from their evil way, and God regretted the calamity which He had said He would bring upon them, but did not bring it.

1 Jonah was greatly distressed and irritated at this. 2 And he prayed to the Lord and said: O Lord! Isn’t this what I said when I was still in my country? That’s why I ran to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a good and merciful God, long-suffering and abounding in mercy, and You are sorry for the calamity. 3 And now, Lord, take my soul from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. 4 And the Lord said, Has this grieved you so much? 5 And Jonah went out of the city, and sat down on the east side of the city, and made himself a booth there, and sat under it in the shade, to see what would happen to the city. 6 And the Lord God caused a plant to grow, and it came up over Jonah, that there might be a shadow over his head, and that he might deliver him from his grief; Jonah was very happy about this plant. 7 And God arranged it so that the next day, at dawn, a worm gnawed at the plant, and it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God brought in a hot east wind, and the sun began to scorch Jonah’s head, so that he was exhausted and asked for death, and said: “It is better for me to die than to live.” 9 And God said to Jonah, Are you really so upset about the plant? He said: he was very upset, even to the point of death. 10 Then the Lord said, “You have pity on the plant, which you did not work on and did not grow, which grew in one night and disappeared in one night: 11 Should I not have pity on Nineveh, a great city in which there are more than one hundred and twenty thousand people?” who cannot distinguish their right hand from their left, and a multitude of cattle?

Note on the Bible version

Anyone who reads this story in the Bible after having learned about it from the Koran and reliable hadith will immediately notice that the biblical version has undergone significant distortions. There is little of the Truth left in him. The biblical story is like the ruins of a city destroyed to the ground, and even a person who previously knew this city very well can recognize it only with great difficulty.

There is no doubt that the story of Yunus is reliable, took place in reality and is not just a moral tale or parable, as the Bible interpreters say. We do not know if it is true that Yunus was from Palestine and was then sent to the city of Nineveh (Nineveh), located in Iraq, but it seems to me that this is a mistake. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) told us that after Lut (peace be upon him), Allah did not send prophets who were not from the people to whom they were sent. How could Yunus be sent to the people of Nineveh if he was not one of its inhabitants? At the same time, the Koran clearly and clearly tells us that the inhabitants of this city were the people of Yunus:

“Were there villages whose inhabitants believed after they saw the punishment, and faith helped them, except for the people of Yunus (Jonah)?” (10. Yunus: 98)

How could they call themselves his people if he were so far from them in origin?!

The statement of the Bible writers that Yunus refused to obey Allah's command and go to Ninawa is unreliable. Yunus, being the messenger of Allah, could not disobey the commands of his Lord. The statement that he boarded the ship before he came to Nineveh is also incorrect. The hadith clearly states that the incident on the ship occurred only after Yunus left his people.

The hadith says that the people on the ship knew Yunus, this contradicts biblical sources. Also from the hadith we see that it was he who ordered them to cast lots, and not they themselves decided to do so, as the Bible says. And the lot itself, according to the hadith, they cast three times, and not once. The hadith also says that Yunus himself threw himself into the sea, and the sailors did not abandon him, as stated in the Bible.

The Bible says that Yunus slept deeply while a terrible storm was raging at sea. This is also wrong, moreover, there is even a certain mockery of the prophet of Allah, because deep sleep under such circumstances is a rare occurrence even among ordinary people, not to mention such exceptional and outstanding people as the messengers of Allah.

The Koran confirms the words of the Bible that a large fish swallowed Yunus, but there is not a word in the Bible that Yunus heard the sea stones exalting and glorifying Allah. The prayer of Yunus, which is mentioned in the Bible, does not contain words from his real prayer, which the Holy Quran told us about. The Qur'anic prayer of Yunus is appropriate and appropriate to the situation, but the biblical version completely lacks the fact of repentance and recognition of one's own wrong.

The Qur'an and authentic hadiths say that Yunus called his people (the inhabitants of Nineveh), but they refused to believe. Then Yunus warned that punishment would fall on them and they would die. This is the case with the nations to whom the prophets were sent - they are not punished until there is a clear argument against them. As for the biblical information that Yunus allegedly came to warn them about the approaching punishment of Allah, which would fall on them in forty days, without any preliminary instructions on the true path, without prophetic and preaching activities, then everything this is contrary to the natural and proper relationship of God's prophets with their people.

The Koran confirms the words of the Bible that the people of Ninewa repented and returned to Allah. Regarding how the inhabitants treated the animals during repentance, the Bible contains some details that may well be true. This is indirectly confirmed by the hadith we are considering, which says that animals were separated from their young. However, the expression that is used in the Bible, that God “sorries” or “regrets” the disaster that he was going to do to people, is an unworthy, erroneous and completely wrong expression. Regret about one’s deeds is a human destiny, and as for Allah (Great and Glorified is He), then it would be correct to use the following expressions about Him: “accepted repentance,” “had mercy,” “forgave.”

The Bible says that Yunus was angry because Allah had mercy on the people of Nineveh and that he allegedly reproached his Lord for this. This is not true, in fact he was angry because he feared that he was now in danger of death, since God's punishment, which he predicted for his people, never fell on them, and their punishment for lying was the death penalty.

It is also a mistake that the punishment should have fallen on people forty days after the warning. From the hadith we see that in fact they were only given three days.

The Bible says that Allah grew a pumpkin tree over Yunus, which dried up, after which the prophet became sad. Thus, Allah gave a parable to Yunus, who was sad because of a dried up plant and was not sad because of the death of a large community, the number of which exceeded one hundred thousand souls. All of the above is true, only the sequence is broken in this event. In fact, it is clear from the Qur'an and Hadith that the pumpkin grew over Yunus immediately after he was in the belly of a giant fish when it washed him ashore.

The Bible also lacks many details that are found in the Qur'an and Sunnah. For example, the Bible does not indicate why Yunus left Nineveh. This reason was the fear of the death penalty for the fact that the promised prediction did not come true. The Bible does not talk about Yunus' illness after emerging from the belly of the giant fish and what he looked like after that. Also, the Bible does not say anything about the young man who met Yunus.

AND SHE

Action 1

Characters: Jonah (young man 25-30 years old), Messenger (young man or girl of the same age).

Narrator: This story is about one man. His name is Jonah. Jonah, son of Amathi; was a famous prophet. He lived in Jerusalem. At the beginning of our story, we find Jonah sitting at the table and painstakingly writing a prophecy. Gradually he becomes sleepy and falls asleep on the table. And at this time there is a knock on the door...

(The music fades, there is a knock on the door. Jonah doesn’t wake up. The knocking gets louder. Jonah wakes up and grabs the phone.)

Jonah: Hello, hello! (hangs up) Well, look! Someone's playing around again!

(knock again, Jonah looks around, timidly gets up and opens the door; the Messenger is standing on the threshold)

Jonah: Hello, how can I help you?

Messenger: Good morning! Are you Jonah Amafiin?

Jonah: Me, what?

Messenger: May I come in?

Jonah: Of course, unless you sell cosmetics.

Messenger: I don’t sell anything at all. (Enters) I am God's messenger.

Jonah: (coughing in surprise) What?!

Messenger: I am God's messenger.

Jonah: (chuckling) Oh, of course! And I am an astronaut! Haha!...God's messenger you say? Good joke. The guys from the synagogue at the beginning of the block put you in this position?

Messenger: (sternly) No, Jonah, I am God's messenger.

Jonah: (sitting down) Well, okay. So be it. So you are God's messenger? Fabulous. Well, tell me what your message is.

Messenger: (so loud and majestic that Jonah jumps up from his chair) Arise, Jonah, son of Amathite, and go to the city of Nineveh and preach in it, for his wickedness has reached the very throne of God.

Jonah: (briefly, humbly) Is this it?

Messenger: Yes.

Jonah: Just go to Nineveh and preach about the judgments of God there?

Messenger: Yes.

Jonah: That simple? Boy, you must be crazy! You took my name from the phone book and now you want to make fun of me? Will not work! Do you even understand what will happen to me if I go to Nineveh and preach there? The monsters living there won’t let me say a word, but will nail me to the wall! It would be much safer to spend the night in a prison with twenty people on death row. So find yourself another Jonah... Seriously, do you want me to believe that God can send me to certain death?

Messenger: Yes, God commands you to go to Nineveh.

Jonah: Well, of course! Okay, smart guy, prove it to me. Show me your ID that you belong to the Union of God's Messengers. Just prove to me that God himself sent you, and I will take the next train to Nineveh. But, remember, if you cannot prove this to me, then forget this idea with Nineveh and that’s it. Let's consider this a funny joke.

Messenger: (sighing) God foresaw your refusal. I could tell you something that only God knows.

Jonah: (skeptical) So what? (The Messenger leans over and whispers something in Jonah’s ear)

Jonah: Well, you give... (better) Well, listen. Let this remain only between us and God. Why should anyone else know about this? Let this be our little secret. Is it coming?

Messenger: Of course it will be so. It's time for me to go. See you in Nineveh.

Jonah: (shooing him out) Oh, yes, of course, just packing my things. (Jonah closes the door behind the Messenger) Nineveh!!! I would never go there if my life didn't depend on it. (the light fades)

Act 2

Characters: Jonah (nervous, trying to be unnoticed), Cashier (female), Flight Attendant 1 (young girl), Flight Attendant 2 (young girl), Manager (male).

Time: 1.5 minutes

Suits: Jonah – coat and sunglasses, others – clothes according to his occupation.

Items: suitcase, “Air Israel” poster, sign, microphone, confetti, horns.

(music is playing, there is an “Air Israel” sign in the middle of the stage. The cashier stands behind the counter and looks at the notice board. Jonah enters cautiously, with a suitcase, wearing glasses. A distant voice from a loudspeaker is heard, calling Jonah’s name.

Cashier: (smiling) Can I help you with anything?

Jonah: (nervously) Yes. I need a first class ticket on the next flight to Rome.

Cashier: Please, 25 shekels. (Jonah pays for the ticket, picks it up)

Cashier: Have a nice trip!

(suddenly there is a loud fanfare sound, flight attendants blow into trumpets and throw confetti, the Manager comes out with a microphone)

Manager: Congratulations! You are the millionth Air Israel customer and receive a huge prize!

Jonah: (stunned) I... Really?! Class! I've never won anything in my life! I can not believe this. Luck has always betrayed me. So what did I win? A car? House on the coast? Journey? What?!! (fanfare, and with the next words they turn into din)

Manager: You've won an all-expenses-paid trip to Nineveh!

Jonah: I knew it was better to go by bus.

Act 3

Characters: Woman (very nervous), Jonah (as before).

Time: 1.5 minutes

Things: newspaper, pistol, two chairs.

(introductory music, light falls on Jonah, sitting in an airplane seat; a woman enters, restlessly looking for something)

Woman: (pointing to the second seat) Excuse me, can I sit here?

Jonah: Of course, please. (the woman sits down, fidgeting restlessly in her seat and crumpling the newspaper in her hands) You're okay.

Woman: Yes, why do you ask?

Jonah: I thought you were a little excited.

Woman: Why is it so noticeable?

Jonah: Very much.

Woman: (ashamedly) You know, I've never done this before.

Jonah: Seriously? All the same, you have nothing to fear, nothing to worry about. It's completely safe.

Woman: Do you think so?

Jonah: Everything on this plane is very reliable.

Woman: And I was afraid that it would be dangerous.

Jonah: Relax.

Woman: Are you sure?

Jonah: Absolutely!

Woman: Well, if you say so... (she gets up, grabs Jonah, and puts the gun to his head, screams) Everything is in order, no one is out of place! The plane flies to Nineveh.

Jonah: (whining) I knew it was better to take the bus.

(darkness)

Act 4

Characters: Woman, Jonah

Time: 1.5 min

Things: Ship.

(music plays. The light falls on Jonah and the Woman. They hold on to the railing of the ship and sway)

Woman: Isn't it a terrible storm?

Jonah: (lifeless) Yes.

Woman: It seems like the water is angry. (Laughs at his own joke)

Jonah: (sighing) Yes.

Woman: You know, when we were near the pier, it was beautiful, not a single cloud in the sky! But look what's happening now.

Jonah: (shortly) Yes.

Woman: The captain says he's never seen anything like it.

Jonah: (languidly) Yes.

Woman: Did you know that the wind is blowing us a mile off course?

Jonah: (questioningly) Yes?

Woman: But you can see the city there!

Jonah: (with joy) Yes!

Woman: (mysteriously) They say it's called the city of sin.

Jonah: (horrified) Nineveh!

Woman: Yes.

(the light goes out, there is a strong splash of water)

Woman: (shouting) Help! Man overboard!

Action 5

Characters: Messenger, Jonah.

Time: 3 min.

(Jonah in a tattered shirt and rolled up pants. Music is playing. The messenger walks back and forth, looking at his watch. Jonah comes out staggering)

Messenger: Hello, Jonah! Welcome to Nineveh. I'm very glad that you finally came. How did you get there?

Jonah: (irritated) Everything was just wonderful! When I jumped off the ship, I remembered that I couldn't swim. (gets up and brushes himself off) I thought I was lost. And then this fish swallowed me. I sat for three days and three nights with a fish in my stomach and prayed to God for salvation. And now she just spat me out onto the shore! Just think, what a humiliation - they spit on you so unceremoniously.

Messenger: Okay, are you ready to carry the message to the people of Nineveh?

Jonah: Of course! I hope they can't swallow me! What should I tell them?

Messenger: Tell these people that in 40 days God will destroy their city if they do not repent.

Jonah: What?! Will God destroy Nineveh? Do you think I'm suicidal? They'll tear me to pieces if I tell them that.

Messenger: You probably want to swim some more? Yes?

Jonah: (giving up) Okay, I'm on my way. (Comes forward and speaks into the hall) Excuse me! Listen, please! (Stepping back he tells the Messenger) I don't think anyone is interested in this.

Messenger: How long can you stay on the water?

Jonah: Got it. (comes forward again) Sorry. Can I say something? Hey, listen up! Quiet!!! Thank you. Let me introduce myself. I am Jonah, the prophet of God, recently lived in Jerusalem. I came here to tell you God's message. But don't be angry, okay? So, (his voice changed dramatically) Repent, for “forty more days, and Nineveh will be destroyed!” (after these words, Jonah quickly hides behind the Messenger, then tells him) Look, I told you so! So they descend to the ground and collect stones. Mom, they want to kill me!

Messenger: I doubt it. Take a closer look. (Jonah looks out from behind the Messenger)

Jonah: This is incredible! They are on their knees... They cry and ask God for forgiveness... (he leaves) Well, well! It worked!

Messenger: They repent.

Jonah: Yeah, I see. I would never have believed it.

Messenger: Well, have you learned anything?

Jonah: Of course, I learned three things: to trust God in everything and to always act according to His will.

Messenger: And the third?

Jonah: Ah... Next time I'll take the bus!

As if to a shrine, unconditionally believing in her every word. And this is correct, however, let’s be honest, there are some events described in Holy Scripture, the actions of which do not fit into our minds. How could Lazarus, who had already begun to decompose, come to life? How was Jesus resurrected in a human body? What did the prophet Jonah breathe for three days in the belly of the whale?

It is the book of the prophet Jonah that causes the most controversy, whether it is a myth or truth that a man was swallowed by a fish, and he survived after that.

Jonah's Story

This happened in the eighth century BC. Nineveh was a city in the Assyrian state, the “glory” of whose dissolute, cruel people was known to everyone. The vile actions of the Ninevites angered God, but His love for the people was greater than His judgment.

The capital of Assyria is Nineveh

The Creator chose the prophet Jonah with a mission to send messages to the evil inhabitants of Nineveh that if they do not stop their outrages, God will destroy the city.

Fear took possession of the messenger of God, and he decided to flee to another country by boarding a ship. During the journey, a huge storm covered the ship, the sailors realized that this was the wrath of God and began to look for the culprit, Jonah admitted that it was he who was thrown overboard.

According to God, the prophet was swallowed by a whale, kept him there for 3 days and spat him out. (Matthew 12:40)

The whale threw Jonah onto the shore of Nineveh

Sounds like a fairy tale or a myth. Jonah prayed in the belly of the whale, of course, during this time he realized how dangerous it was not to carry out the orders of the Almighty.

How often do we, people, read the word of God, understand that we are going the wrong way, but stubbornly do things that are displeasing to God, and then, when we get into problems, we shout and cry out to the Creator.

Attention! The story of Jonah is intended to teach Christians to listen to the commands of the Lord from the first time, to follow His Providence.

The prophet reached Nineveh, fearfully conveyed God's message, expecting death for the bad news. His surprise knew no end when the whole city dressed in rags, a fast was declared for three days, when they did not even drink water, people sprinkled ashes on their hair and prayed to the Creator for mercy.

These days Jonah sat under the walls of the city, in the shade of a thick tree, and waited for God's punishment. The loving Lord saw the sincere repentance of the Ninevites and gave them life. Nineveh stood for another 100 years, after which it was destroyed.

The mercy of the Lord caused bewilderment among the prophet. He was also outraged by the fact that the tree that provided shade, according to the word of God, dried up in an instant, to which God gave an answer. The Creator told the prophet that he pitied the tree that he did not plant. The Lord created the people of the city, these are His creations, how could He destroy them, seeing repentance.

Important! A wonderful sign for everyone living on earth - God always answers sincere prayers and forgets sin after sincere repentance.

About spiritual life:

Reality or fairy tale

The position of the Orthodox Church on this issue is clear; it places the emphasis not on a miracle, but on the mercy of God, who saved Jonah and Nineveh.

Prophet Jonah

For some reason, everyone believes that a huge tree that provided shade for an adult can dry up in one day, but it is impossible to survive in the belly of a whale. The world of scientists does not take anything for granted; it needs evidence and examples.

The Hebrew does not say anything about Jonah being swallowed by a whale, it says that it was a living monster. Ancient pictures began to depict the blue whale as a sea monster, perhaps due to the huge size of the whale.

Back then, people did not know that a whale’s throat was not capable of swallowing even a large orange. The blue whale feeds on small shrimp and krill, hence the mistrust of the message of the prophet Jonah. The sperm whale with its huge mouth, which thoroughly chews its food, could not swallow the prophet either, so in this case Jonah had no chance of life.

The fin whale was of particular interest to scientists. This giant sometimes reaches 25 meters in length, but the most interesting thing is that its stomach is divided into 6 chambers, and in its head there is a chamber with air through which the huge sea monster breathes. The catching process looks like this: first, the swallowed food enters the air chamber, and from there into the stomach.

The fin whale is a relative of the blue whale and the second largest animal on the planet.

By the way, the size of the chamber is almost 200 cubic meters, so Jonah could easily stay there for three days.

The sailors finished off the sea animal, but at the same time discovered that two comrades were not among them. Everyone decided that they had drowned during the battle with the giant. All day and night the whalers cut up the whale carcass.

When the turn came to the stomach, which was constantly moving, no one was surprised, because half-dead squids and even sharks were often pulled out of the whale’s belly. Imagine the amazement of the entire crew when, after several blows of the knife, the mucus-covered body of James Bartley, who was unconscious, fell out at the sailors’ feet.

Three weeks later, the sailor regained full consciousness and described “his journey” through the stomach in pitch darkness and mucus.

Important! The modern Jonah-Bartley proved the veracity of the story of Jonah, further confirming the value of the messages of Holy Scripture.

Video about the prophet Jonah and the whale

Today we, brothers and sisters, will talk about one event that confirms biblical stories, seemingly fantastic. Once, Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov), meeting with a well-known, it seems, Anglican figure who was involved in the unity of the Churches, listened to the following phrase: “I doubt that the whale could have swallowed Jonah, and that Jonah could have been in the belly of the whale and then could have been thrown out, and alive." To which Filaret told him: “If the Bible had written that Jonah swallowed a whale, I would believe that too.”

Jonah swallowing a whale - this, of course, will be crueler than the whale swallowing Jonah, but nevertheless there is evidence that these are not fairy tales. In the 19th century, the function of fuel in houses without gas heating was performed by peat, firewood, and coal, and the function of lighting, that is, the material for a burning lamp, was performed by either kerosene or whale oil.

In New England, in America - in the northeastern states, in Illinois, in Connecticut and so on, there were whaling operations there from ancient times, books were written about it like "Moby Dick", and they caught the whale, they killed the sperm whale for many purposes. For the sake of whale oil, which was used to illuminate the room and was used in medicine, for the sake of its spermaceti sac - such specific glands that are used very well to this day in the perfume industry - for the sake of many things that this whale is useful for - there is meat, skin, etc. .

In general, they walked along the Atlantic, they also walked along the Pacific Ocean, and in 1891, it seems, near the Falkland, or Malvinas, as the Argentines call them, islands, one of the whaling ships - it seems, the Blue Star - was attacked by a huge sperm whale.

The sperm whale is generally huge, and the history of the destruction of ships by sperm whales is very long. They can ram a whaling ship with its nose, they can break a boat with their tail, they can generally do who knows what. People are dying en masse from attacks by angry sperm whales. Especially harpooned, but not finished.

And then a certain ship harpooned a sperm whale, which they then began to finish off from the boats, so to speak, and drag it onto the ship, and the boat was broken by a blow from the tail. And the sperm whale swallowed the man. Then he went into the depths wounded, then more than 24 hours later he was finished off and pulled out. And he eats large shellfish, all kinds of shrimp, squid, whatever you want in his belly. And they cut it open right there, and then cut it up, so that then only the skeleton is thrown into the sea. They immediately roll the fat and everything else into barrels. When they cut it open, there are a lot of small fish, there are big fish, small sharks. Some giant squids, he swallows them.

And there they found... a sleeping man! Sleeping with fear: he was slightly moved by this man, this sailor, who was swallowed. His name is known, his surname is known, it is not difficult to check. He said that he didn’t understand anything, he only understood when he flew, like on a water slide, down some kind of pipe, slippery and rather foul-smelling. And he rested his hands against some elastic mucous walls. In general, it was quite scary. He ducked somewhere and ended up in some kind of container, where it was absolutely dark and stinking, but there was air. The sperm whale is not a fish, it does not breathe with gills, it breathes with lungs. And he has so much air inside that he can dive to enormous depths, hundreds or more meters, for hours at a time. Such a strange mammal, such an interesting animal.

And there he found himself in this darkness, in which there was something to breathe, and it was terribly scary, he fell asleep. God gave him a saving dream. From the acid of the stomach juice and everything that was there, the sailor completely faded - he became an albino. All the hair on his body turned white and he became covered in spots. Plus a little, as we already said, he moved - and who wouldn’t move if he got into the belly of a sperm whale?

In general, when he was ripped open and taken out, he, of course, went ashore and no longer went on ships to catch whales, but he traveled all over the world and talked about how the story of Jonah was personally repeated and duplicated on him, that a person can live in the belly of a huge mammal that dives to great depths.

Another thing is that Jonah prayed in the belly of the whale, but this man didn’t pray, and we wouldn’t have prayed either, we would have also clinked glasses there with him if we had gotten there, but the fact that you can live there, and that this happens , it is a fact. Thus, the story of Jonah was actually confirmed at the end of the 19th century in the Falkland-Malvinas Islands during whaling. This tells us that the Bible is not the sum of fairy tales, but the sum of life stories, orders and prohibitions, by fulfilling which we will either enter life or be thrown out of it. May the Lord give us the first, and may He deliver us from the second. Goodbye, see you in the future.

The plot of “the prophet Jonah in the belly of the whale” is described in the Book of the Prophet Jonah (Hebrew: יוֹנָה‎) - the nineteenth part of the Tanakh and the fifth part of the “minor prophets” of the Old Testament of the Bible (Jon. 1: 1-16, 2: 1-10)

In the Museum of Technogenic Magic, this story is placed as an example of a positive, recognizable description of travel in a wooden ship, very large compared to the dugout one-wood boats and mutiny ships knitted from reed and papyrus that were used at that time.

According to the Bible, Jonah sailed across the Mediterranean Sea on a ship to Tarshish. During a storm, he was allegedly thrown overboard by the ship's crew. Jonah describes the usual drowning as “he cast me into the depths,” “the waters overtook me,” “my head was entwined with sea grass.” Then the unusual rescue is narrated: “And the Lord commanded the great whale to swallow Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights.” And then he was released by a whale on the shore in Lebanon.

The most ancient evidence in favor of the historical nature of the book of Jonah is found in the books of Tobit and 3 Maccabees. They attest to the historical understanding of the two main facts of the book of Jonah that are most opposed, the prophet's stay in the belly of the whale (3 Macc. 6:6) and his preaching in Nineveh (Tov. 14:8). Then Josephus, conveying the contents of the book of Jonah in “Jewish Antiquities” (IX Book II Ch.), considers it to be true history.

The original name for Jonah's devourer, the "big fish", "dag gadol", was translated into Greek as "ketos megas", which was later shortened to simply whale. The term “whale” came into Slavic languages ​​from Greek, in which Ketos, or Keto, first meant the ancient Greek goddess of the depths, and later any sea monster.

E.P. came closest to the solution. Blavatsky, who suggested that the expression "great whale" comes from the word Keto - the name of Dagon, the god of fish. Jonah, she believed, was actually placed in a chamber hollowed out inside a giant statue of Dagon.

Such ancient illustrations of the plot at first glance could be a hint at the trireme shown below, but the boat is too small to defeat the imagination and in general the “mouth of the whale” is located not at the bow, but at the stern, which will be shown Further . Again, the boards in the modern reconstruction are too perfect and do not overlap, and therefore do not resemble fish scales.

By the way, even in the 13th century AD. the whale was depicted like a fish; apparently there were no draftsmen among the whalers. But the process of rendering whale oil (blub) is shown quite realistically:

Whale. Picture from Harley's bestiary (England, 13th century)

As an educational program, we will give a few explanations about the general structuresea ​​vessel, ship called Blavatsky"a giant statue of the fish god."

For purely technical reasons, the stern initially became the main part of the ship, since the helmsman (helmsman) was located there, who controlled the helm (steering oar). On large sailing ships, it was at the stern that the “brain” was comfortably located - the captain and assistants, the steering wheel, compass, etc. From there, all the sails, the direction of the ship’s movement and, in general, the entire situation on the deck were clearly visible.

The aft superstructure of the ship or the aft part of the upper deck is called the “jut” (from the Dutch hut). A poop, partially recessed into the hull of a ship, is called a poop. At first, cabins were only on the quarterdeck, and only for the management. And all sorts of sailors crawled to sleep and eat like cockroaches in different crevices - wherever they needed to.

In contrast to the stern, the bow of the ship was the least honorable; it was there that the latrine (toilet) was located, and therefore the beautiful rostral, bow figures of the ship were also called latrine figures.

From this it is clear that even the physiology of the “big wooden fish” completely coincides with living organisms, only it moves “tail first”.

In the top image, the “face of a big fish” is quite expressive, especially if you imagine evening illumination with lanterns, and even somewhat similar to a fantasy engraving:

Now you can compare it with the first illustrations, where Jonah, without any panic, with a scroll in his hands, looks out of the mouth of a “huge fish” carrying him into the sea, and imagine what Jonah looked like on the balcony of Utah, where he not only took shelter, but comfortably settled down in the cabin:

The ancient name for the quarterdeck and quarterdeck located at the stern is achterseil-kastel (from jacht - yacht, zee - sea, kasteel - castle) - “castle of a sea vessel”. It really is a palace, somewhat intimidating from the outside, but very comfortable inside:

For the uninitiated, such faces will seem scary, especially the size

Now let's look at the internal structure of the Jonah whale without the "scales" of the outer skin:

"Jonah the Whale Skeleton" is called a ship set, "whale ribs" are called frames

Vintage ship set and modern toy model: