I've often wondered about Jonah. In popular culture, he spent three days and three nights doing something in that big fish. I don't imagine it was very comfortable. But it raises a number of questions. How did he breath? How did he not get at least partially digested in the fishes belly? Of course, there is something supernatural going on here.
Then there is Jesus' comment that just like Jonah spent that time in the fish, so He would spend three days and nights in the belly of the earth. I wonder if in reality, Jonah was dead for those three days. It would make sense in relation to what Jesus endured, because He was dead for those three days.
I read through Jonah. It doesn't really say one way or the other if Jonah was alive. There is his prayer in Jonah 2, but that wouldn't have taken more than a minute to fire off. In some ways, it would have made more sense for Jonah to have died, and then for God to resurrect him once the fish spit him out. That would solve the breathing thing (but not the digestion, obviously).
Another thing I notice, is how much Jonah actually resembles the Pharisees. He's pretty ticked off when He sees the mercy God extends to Nineveh, just like the Pharisees are when they see how Jesus treats the sinners, lame, blind, tax collectors, etc. And possible there is another parallel. God scolds Jonah for his reaction to withering of the plant, that he cared more for that than the people of Nineveh. The plant is somewhat like the law. It was a shelter for the people, but now that God was sort of causing it to whither, the Pharisees cared more about that than the blessings the people were receiving. I know the analogy may be a bit of a stretch, but I pretty much think of these things as I write them down.
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