Yes, these Scriptures you quote are very interesting.
I think that if a shark of some kind could swallow a man whole and undamaged, in the Biblical sense, they would still have to contend with stomach acid that can dissolve metal. So it's an exciting story for small children, but adults know that this is literally impossible. Might it not have a symbolic meaning instead?
Jesus said, "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth". Jesus teachings were His resurrection and Jonas came to his senses after a time and was resurrected. Jesus is obviously making a direct comparison so it must be symbolic in both cases.
Jonas was chosen by God to go to Nineveh and cry against that wicked city. He disobeyed G.d and hid from the face of G.d, in-so-doing his spirit died within and he was cast into the sea of materialism. He was swallowed up by the great fishy creature of earthly desires and disobedience to God. Jonas said that he cried out to God from hell, the hell of self. The belly of the whale was the grave, 'sheol' of his disobedience to G.d. Eventually Jonas came to his senses and removed himself from the whale and the sea of spiritual death and disobedience. He was resurrected after three days and performed the duties he had been tasked to perform.
Or he could have been swallowed by a really, really big fish with no stomach acid that knew exactly where to swim to vomit back up unharmed.
So what do you think is correct, the literally impossible, or the symbolically reasonable explanation?
