13: Fish
The story of Jonah and the fish must have resonated with the Israelites. Nineveh was in Assyria, Israel’s nasty enemies. It is no wonder Jonah wanted to flee. But the story takes a strange twist and the Assyrians are more open to God than the Israelites, much to Jonah’s disgust.
Getting into arguments about whether it actually happened or not misses the really big point.
“it’s easy for the debate about the fish part to provide a distraction from the tensions of the story that actually have the capacity and potential to confront us and disrupt us with the kind of love that can actually transform us into more mature and courageous people, people who love even our enemies. (Nod to Jesus there.)
Now, let’s take it further. It’s possible in defending the literal “facts” of the story to be missing the point of the story that can actually change your heart and in the process can be turning people off from engaging the Bible.
You can argue endlessly about fish, thinking you’re defending the truth or pointing out the ridiculous outmoded nature of the man-in-fish miracle, only to discover that everybody in the discussion has conveniently found a way to avoid the very real, personal, convicting questions that story raises about what really lurks deep in our hearts.”
Quote from: Rob Bell. “What Is the Bible?.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/what-is-the-bible/id1146440401?mt=11