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THE SUNNY SOUTH.
Could the Whale Have Swallowed Jonah?
The Bible narrative of Jonah and the whale
- is often cited by unbelievers as an instance
of a perfectly absurd, an incredible Scriptural
tale. Even those who are convinced of the
inerrancy of the Scriptures usually regard t
event that it relates as a pure miracle, and
others often think it incumbent upon them to
explain it away. That these well-meant efforts
are by no means necessary, is asserted by M.
P. Courbet in “Cosmos” (Paris, March 7).
He calls our attention to the facts that the
monster that swallowed Jonah is not called a
whale in the Bible narrative, and that it has
recently been shown that the sperm-whale
(which in the French language is not called
a whale) is capable of swallowing animals
even larger than a man. As additional con
firmation, he adds a whaling narrative from
the English papers, which, without pro
nouncing judgment on the question of its
probability, is certainly interesting. And if
for no other reason, M. Courbet’s article
should attract attention as typical of the
recent efforts of a school of devout French
Catholics to reconcile the literal biblical
narrative with facts disclosed by modern
science. We translate the greater part of the
article below:
“During the scientific expedition made by
the Prince of Monaco on the Princess Alice,
in 1895, there was captured, near the Azores,
a gigantic sperm-whale 13.7 meters (44 feet)
long. Just before dying, the animal cast up
several large cephalopods, of which three,
belonging to a new species, were more than a
meter (3 34 feet) long. These creatures were
in a perfect state of preservation.
“When, a little later, the stomach of the
whale was opened, it was found filled with
the remains of cephalopods whose total
weight amounted to not less than 100 kilo
grams (23134 pounds).
“Amid this debris, says M. Joubin, was
noticed a female, whose visceral sac, after a
prolonged preservation in formol and alcohol,
still measured 90 centimeters( 2% feet)
long; it is likely, judging from this, that
the entire creature exceeded in length 2
meters (6)£ feet.) The surface of the body
was covered with big rhomboidal imbricated
scales, making it look like a gigantic pine
apple.
“We will not dwell here on the interest
to students of natural history of such a
strange discovery of specimens that inhabit
only the great depths of the ocean, and have
never been seen by man until our day. . .
“We shall direct the attention of the reader
only to the instruction that we may obtain
from the discovery from the point of view of
biblical exegesis.
“Everybody, while reading the above, must
have thought instinctively ol the story of the
prophet Jonah, swallowed by a whale and
cast up after remaining three days in his
belly.
“We shall proceed to quote a few passages
from the story itself, as told in the Bible:
Jonah I. 15: So they took up Jonah, and
cast him forth into the sea: and the sea
ceased from her raging . . .
17* Now the Lord had prepared a great
fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in
the belly of the fish three days nd three
nights.
II. 1 : Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord
his God out of the fish’s belly. . . .
10. And the Lord spake unto the fish,
and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.’
“We do not pretend that this tale has in it
nothing of the supernatural or miraculous.
Jesus himself took care to remind the Jews,
on a memorable occasion, that the story of
the prophet Jonah prefigured his own death
and resurrection.
“But we do assert that the miracle has in
it nothing impossible, absurd, or, in a word,
contrary to the special teachings of science
on this subject.
“Until the present time, science has re
mained silent on the subject; the story of
a man swallowed by a sea-monster and cast
up alive seemed at least an odd one, and
certain commentators were of the opinion
that we have here, as in certain other differ
ent biblical passages, nothing but an allego
ry.”
M. Courbet remarks here, in a footnote,
that the church has never condemned this
manner of interpretation which was that of
many commentators of the early church,
Thus some have thought that the whale’s
belly is a figure of speech for the depths of
the ocean, while others regarded the name
“fish” as being that of a peculiar kind of
boat, used, perhaps, in the whale-fishery.
But, according to our author, we have^ no
longer to resort to hypotheses of this kind.
A new feature in the risks of electricity is
found in the tragic fate of a retail dealer who
disliked the position of one of the lights in
front of his store and therefore pushed it with
a small stick. It so happened that the latter
was part of a gilt frame, and as he stood on
an iron plate in the sidewalk, the gilding
formed a connection and sent a current
through his body, causing instant death.—
New York Letter. “
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