154 HAUPT— JONAH'S WHALE. [April 20, 



Some scholars imagined that Jonah merely dreamed that he had 

 been swallowed by a great fish. Others fancied that the prophet was 

 not swallowed, but clung to the belly of the fish.^ Certain expositors 

 suppose that The Whale was the name of a ship which picked up 

 Jonah, or the name of an inn on the seashore.^ The famous German 

 student's song (by Scheffel) begins : Ini schzvarzen Waliisch zu 

 Ask don da trank ein Mann drei Tag, and the last stanza is : Im 

 schzvarzen WaWsch zu Askalon zvird kein Prophet geehrt, iind 

 zver vergniigt dort leben zvill, zahlt bar was er verzehrt. 



Orthodox theologians who defend the historical character of 

 the Book of Jonah generally presume that the great fish which 

 swallowed Jonah was a shark.^ Professor Geo. E. Post, of the 

 American College, Beyrout, Syria, saw a shark at Beyrout 20 feet 

 long, and they sometimes attain a length of 30 feet.* Sharks may 

 swallow men, and even horses and other large animals whole. In 

 certain theological commentaries^ we find the remarkable statement 

 that, in 1758, a sailor fell overboard in the Mediterranean and was 

 swallowed by a shark (carcharias). The captain commanded to 

 train a gun upon the man-eater, and the monster was hit by a 

 cannon ball. The shark vomited out the sailor who was picked up 

 by a boat; he had hardly suffered any injury. This is reported to 

 have happened in 1758; I did not see it. 



Against the traditional rendering zchale the objection is often 

 raised that there are no whales in the Mediterranean,^ and that the 



^ See Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. II. (New York, 1899) 

 p. 749**, below. 



'^ See J. D. Michaelis' translation of the Old Testament, Part XI. 

 (Gottingen, 1782) p. 100. 



^ C/. C. F. Keil's Biblical commentary on the Minor Prophets (Leipzig, 

 1873) p. 285. 



*See Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. IV. (New York, 1902) 

 p. 9I4^ 



^ See Paul Kleinert in J. P. Lange's Bibekverk, part XIX. 

 (Bielefeld, 1868) p. 30"; Keil's commentary, p. 285, below. 



^The daily papers stated on March 24, 1907, that the Rev. A. C. Dixon, 

 of Chicago (who caused comment by his declaration that the Biblical story 

 of Jonah and the whale was perfectly true, and that the Deity could have 

 constructed the whale along the lines of a' modern submarine vessel with 

 electric lights and a cabin), when told that whales were never seen in 

 the Mediterranean, replied : There was one there in the early days. 



