The Sign of Jonah - 2
In my last post, I posted a review of N.T. Wright’s commentary on Matthew 12:40 in his book, Matthew for Everyone. I want to expound a little more to demonstrate how Wright misapprehends Jesus’s statement.
Romans 15 is fascinating for the fact that Paul ascribes several Psalm passages as the very words of Jesus. For instance, in Romans 15:3, it is written, “For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.” This quotation is from Psalm 69:9. Also, in Romans 15:9, Paul writes, “And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.” This is a quotation from Psalm 18:49, but, again, Paul ascribes the words to be those of Jesus, Himself, and not of the psalmist.
In the story of Jonah, Jonah’s prayer while he is in the belly of the fish (sea monster), what he calls the “belly of hell,” is recorded in the second chapter. In Jonah 2:5, Jonah quotes Psalm 69:1 and in Jonah 2:2 he quotes Psalm 18:4-6. As we see in Romans 15, portions of both of those very Psalms are cited as the actual words of Jesus.
It is not difficult to see that Jesus’s reference to Jonah meant much more than just a three-day burial. It meant that Jonah is actually a type of Christ for the period between His death on the Cross and His resurrection in John 20.
