The relationship between the LORD’s command and the action of the large fish may be expressed as “the Lord commanded a large fish to swallow Jonah.” There is, however, a problem of temporal sequence at this point, since the swallowing of Jonah took place immediately upon his being cast into the sea, and the sacrifice performed by the sailors no doubt took place somewhat later. It may therefore be important to introduce verse 17 by an appropriate temporal transition; for example, “When Jonah was cast into the sea.”
From the point of view of the narrator, the problem with which he is faced is that of getting Jonah to his destination, now that the sea has been calmed by his being thrown into it.
So a miracle takes place to renew Jonah’s call to the Lord’s service. The verb used here with the LORD as subject occurs three more times in this book (4.6, 7, 8). It occurs in this form only in the later writings of the Old Testament. Apart from “command” as in Good News Translation, several other translations have been suggested; for example, “provided” (New Jerusalem Bible), “sent for” (Luther 1984), “appointed” (Revised Standard Version). The use of “prepared” by King James Version, following the tradition of the Vulgate, suggests that God produced one particular fish for this special occasion (compare Goldman, “had ready”). In much the same way Jerusalem Bible has “Yahweh had arranged that a great fish should be there to swallow Jonah.” So this is the first of several occasions in the book where this verb is used to suggest that God arranged events in the course of Jonah’s mission to fit in with the divine purpose, whether the events were favorable as here and in 4.6, or unfavorable as in 4.7, 8. God had already been in control of the sea and the storm, and now he is shown to be in control of the large fish.
No indication is given for the kind of fish that swallows Jonah, apart from its size. It was not a whale, which is not a fish in the first place. The word used in Matt 12.40 is the same as is used in the Septuagint here. It is usually translated “whale,” though it has a wider range of meaning, since it is also applied to sea monsters (so New English Bible) or large fish. Knox here uses the expression “sea-beast.”
Whatever the nature of this creature, it is represented as being more obedient to the Lord, both here and in 2.10, than Jonah was. The same contrast between the disobedience of man and the submission of animals is found in Isa 1.3 and Jer 8.7.
The reference to three days and nights is taken up in Matt 12.40 as a foreshadowing of the period during which Jesus remained in the tomb. Here, however, it is simply one of the ingredients of the story introduced to make the period more specific. “Three” is sometimes an indefinite low number in the Old Testament (for example, Hos 6.2). The same period of time is found in 1 Sam 30.12 and Est 4.16; in both of these passages the implication is that three days was a long period to do without food.
There is no need to see in this incident an allegory of the exile based on Jer 51.34. Nor is anything to be gained by trying to rationalize this account of an unusual incident by suggesting, as has been done, that on reaching dry land Jonah was accommodated at an inn named “The Fish.” Neither should any significance, for translational purposes, be attached to the variation between the masculine form of “fish” here and the feminine form in the next verse.
Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. et al. A Handbook on the Book of Jonah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1982, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .