Faith in God Meets the Belly of the Fish

In our modern world, we have certain ideals about how we think about the world. We should be rational. We should rely on what is scientifically credible. We should distinguish between what is fact and what is myth.

In the Old Testament, there is a short book about the prophet Jonah. Jonah is sent out by God to preach to the inhabitants of the wicked city of Nineveh, but he does not want to obey and instead flees by boat in the opposite direction. During a storm, he is thrown overboard by the crew and swallowed by a large fish, where he spends three days before being spat out onto land. Jonah finally goes to Nineveh, and the Assyrians accept his message, repent – and God shows them mercy. This makes Jonah angry: he wanted to see the city punished. God then lets a tree grow to give him shade, but when the tree withers, Jonah becomes desperate, and God uses it as an image to show him the value of mercy.

How can modern person relate to such a story?

In the Catholic Church, the Bible reading ends with the words: “The Word of the Lord”. In the Church of Sweden, they often say: “Thus says the Bible.” These words imply something great: that what we are hearing right now is the word of God. And if God is exalted and perfect – must not the text also be so? Must we then think that the story of Jonah is a scientifically credible and rational account of what really happened?

But the book of Jonah was not written with our modern ideals of historical or scientific credibility. The first mention of Jonah is in the Book of Kings (probably written down around 700 BC). The book of Jonah was written several hundred years later, perhaps during the exile in Babylonia. The author has probably captured oral traditions in writing. The purpose of the text does not seem to be to give an accurate account of Jonah’s life, but to create a moral story that teaches us truths about God. It teaches us about God’s grace, patience, mercy, and the often reluctant heart of man. Jonah being swallowed and saved by a fish is a dramatic device that makes the story interesting and illustrates God’s enormous power over nature.

The story of Jonah in the belly of the fish is difficult to take literally, but I think that is not the point. If one understands that the story was formed in oral tradition, it becomes clear that the drama – like the fish – may have been added to reinforce the message, not as a factual statement. That does not make the story any less true. Perhaps quite the opposite. In the Gospels, Jesus tells several stories – parables – that are intended to teach us truths that lie deeper than the surface of the story. I believe that the book of Jonah should be understood in a similar way, even though it is not clear from the text that it is intended to be a moral story.

I think that not every detail in the Bible has to be historically verifiable to contain truth. If faith rests on the fact that everything in the Bible is literally true according to today’s ideals, then faith becomes fragile. But we must also understand that what we perceive today as fantastic and unrealistic was taken very seriously at the time when it was written. The Bible is thus a historically reliable source of the beliefs that prevailed at the time when it was written.

To me, calling the Bible ”the word of God” means that people of faith have experienced that God spoke through the texts – and therefore preserved them with reverence. As in a story where the characters act freely but the author controls the whole, God works through the writing of people. That is where the text becomes sacred.

Some may say that God is not needed to explain the world. I agree that it is possible. But for me, it is not enough. The beauty of the world, its built-in order and my own inner longing point to something more. There God becomes the most reasonable explanation.

I don’t think my view is the only one that is right. But it is sincere and honest. And I believe it has room for God.

(Written 2025)