Jonah's Sheol experience and Jesus' heart of the earth experience

[tonychanyt]

Jonah spoke of his near-death experience in 2:

2 “I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.

Jonah used the term Sheol metaphorically. He did not actually die.

Jesus used this event as a type for his own death experience. He said in Matthew 12:

40 "For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth".

There are several parts to this typology:

1. Jonah didn't die and go to Sheol. Jesus did die and spent time in the heart of the earth.
2. Both spent three days.
3. Jonah prayed to the LORD for his deliverance (Jonah 2:7) in the belly of the fish. Jesus preached to the dead.
4. God delivered Jonah and saved him from death. Jesus conquered death through his resurrection, providing deliverance and salvation for humanity.

Jonah's near-death experience foreshadowed Jesus' death experience.

 

[Grip Docility]

Jonah spoke of his near-death experience in 2:


Jonah used the term Sheol metaphorically. He did not actually die.

Jesus used this event as a type for his own death experience. He said in Matthew 12:


There are several parts to this typology:

1. Jonah didn't die and go to Sheol. Jesus did die and spent time in the heart of the earth.
2. Both spent three days.
3. Jonah prayed to the LORD for his deliverance (Jonah 2:7) in the belly of the fish. Jesus preached to the dead.
4. God delivered Jonah and saved him from death. Jesus conquered death through his resurrection, providing deliverance and salvation for humanity.

Jonah's near-death experience foreshadowed Jesus' death experience.

I have a problem with the idea that "Jonah didn't die". Jesus gave the sign of Jonah. If you take the literal out of "Jonah cried out from Sheol"... it erases a very important theological rhythm, within Jesus' words, which He used as a symbolic poetry of sorts. He combined Jonah's death, with His. Jonah was encased in the fish, while Jesus was in the earth.

Jonah was "Vomited up" to a place that was "Damned". In my opinion, that has relevance to the discussion. What I mean is, Jonah was dead, and inbound to Nineveh. In my opinion. I find more grace in the idea that Jonah was dead and reborn and witnessed to a Dead People (Nineveh was Spiritually Dead) Jonah even broke out the hotdogs and was ready to watch Nineveh burn, due to it's evil.

Is there one logical spot in that verse that says that Jonah, didn't die? The reference to "The Realm of the Dead" is a pretty strong indicator that Jonah died.

That said, I love your exegesis and recognize that this is a matter of opinion.

I apologize for my extra dialogue and respect that your perspective could easily be the correct one.

 

[tonychanyt]

I have a problem with the idea that "Jonah didn't die".

See Out of the belly of SHEOL Jonah cried and follow up there.

 

[BobRyan]

Jonah spoke of his near-death experience in 2:


Jonah used the term Sheol metaphorically. He did not actually die.

Jesus used this event as a type for his own death experience. He said in Matthew 12:


There are several parts to this typology:

1. Jonah didn't die and go to Sheol. Jesus did die and spent time in the heart of the earth.
2. Both spent three days.
3. Jonah prayed to the LORD for his deliverance (Jonah 2:7) in the belly of the fish. Jesus preached to the dead.
4. God delivered Jonah and saved him from death. Jesus conquered death through his resurrection, providing deliverance and salvation for humanity.

Jonah's near-death experience foreshadowed Jesus' death experience.

1 Peter 3 does not say Jesus preached to dead people. 1 Peter 1 says that the Spirit of Christ was preaching in the OT to OT saints- not while they were in the grave.

1 Peter 3 says that Jesus preached to the wicked world at the time of Noah "While Noah was building the ark"

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, 19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits now in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient, when the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. (NKJV)

It is very specifically speaking of the wicked - alive at the time of the building of the ark.
spirits now in prison - but not in prison at the time of the preaching while the ark was being built

 

[BobRyan]

I have a problem with the idea that "Jonah didn't die". Jesus gave the sign of Jonah.

Indeed it was a "sign" not "the death of Jonah". Yet in Christ's case His death and resurrection are the real deal so the text describing that history points out it. The Jonah text describing the history of Jonah's event - clearly does not tell the reader about his being dead or his being resurrected.

The book of Jonah does not describe either death or resurrection in the case of Jonah and while Christ says in John 11 "Lazarus is dead" , He does not say of Jonah "Jonah died and then was resurrected"

 

[Grip Docility]

Indeed it was a "sign" not "the death of Jonah". Yet in Christ's case His death and resurrection are the real deal so the text describing that history points out it. The Jonah text describing the history of Jonah's event - clearly does not tell the reader about his being dead or his being resurrected.

The book of Jonah does not describe either death or resurrection in the case of Jonah and while Christ says in John 11 "Lazarus is dead" , He does not say of Jonah "Jonah died and then was resurrected"

I understand this teaching well. I will be specific. Jonah cried out from "Sheol". That holds weight, by the very Hebrew it is correctly rendered in. I can't deviate from what that insinuates.