What About Jonah?

6. What About Jonah? When Jonah died, did he stay in the fish's belly? In Jonah 2:1-2 we read, "Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord out of the fish's belly" (Hebrew, "m-e-ah" and literally means “abdomen”). "...I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me: out of the belly of hell ("sheol") cried I, and thou heardest my voice." The word "belly" as we have shown, comes from two different Greek words. In other words, when Jonah went into the fish's stomach, he was alive and prayed, then died. His soul and spirit went to Sheol where he again talked to the Lord. After three days and nights he was restored to life, just as Lazarus was in John 11:1-57. In Matthew 12:40, Jonah becomes a type of Christ. Jonah was resurrected back to life after three days in the fish's stomach where his body had died. This was not his resurrected body, only his physical body brought back to life.