We all know the famous story about Jonah, the prophet who escaped from God. Jonah didn’t do the commandment of The Lord, he decided to run away, quickly, sure that the sea will be a shelter for him. But, the end is known for all of us, Jonah found himself at the belly of the big fish, the whale!

The Scriptures tell us what Jonah said in the fish, how he prayed, yet the reaction of God is only before and after the prayer and not inside of the fish as written:

“וַיְמַן יְהוָה דָּג גָּדוֹל, לִבְלֹעַ אֶת-יוֹנָה; וַיְהִי יוֹנָה בִּמְעֵי הַדָּג, שְׁלֹשָׁה יָמִים וּשְׁלֹשָׁה לֵילוֹת….. וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה, לַדָּג; וַיָּקֵא אֶת-יוֹנָה, אֶל-הַיַּבָּשָׁה”

“And the LORD prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights…And the LORD spoke unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land”

At this point we need to search in the midrash in order to clarify the question above, there wasn’t a monolog in the belly of the fish, there must be a dialog between Jonah and God, according to the midarsh.

One of the most interesting books of midrash is Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer, composed at the 9^Th century A.C.E at least!

This book is telling us that the big was a whale. Also the time of the escape was in Thursday

Next time we will see what happened there in the belly of the fish…..

Main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

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