Whale

תן and תנין , Gen 1:21; Job 7:12; Eze 32:2; κητος, Mat 12:40; the largest of all the inhabitants of the water. A late author, in a dissertation expressly for the purpose, has proved that the crocodile, and not the whale, is spoken of in Gen 1:21. The word in Job 7:12, must also be taken for the crocodile. It must mean some terrible animal, which, but for the watchful care of Divine Providence, would be very destructive. Our translators render it by dragon in Isa 27:1, where the prophet gives this name to the king of Egypt: “He shall slay the dragon, that is in the sea.” “The sea there is the river Nile, and the dragon the crocodile, Eze 32:2. On this passage Bochart remarks, “The תנין is not a whale, as people imagine; for a whale has neither feet nor scales, neither is it to be found in the rivers of Egypt; neither does it ascend therefrom upon the land; neither is it taken in the meshes of a net; all of which properties are ascribed by Ezekiel to the תנין of Egypt. Whence it is plain that it is not a whale that is here spoken of, but the crocodile. Merrick supposes David, in Psa 74:13, to speak of the tunnie, a kind of whale, with which he was probably acquainted; and Bochart thinks it has its Greek name thannos from the Hebrew thanot. The last mentioned fish is undoubtedly that spoken of in Psa 104:26. We are told, that, in order to preserve the Prophet Jonah when he was thrown overboard by the mariners, “the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow him up.” What kind of fish it was, is not specified; but the Greek translators take the liberty to give us the word κητος, whale; and though St.

Mat 12:40, makes use of the same word, we may probably conclude that he did so in a general sense; and that we are not to understand it as an appropriated term, to point out the particular species of fish. It is notorious that sharks are common in the Mediterranean.

Whale occurs in several places of the Old Testament, and once in the New Testament. In the passages where scales and feet are mentioned as belonging to the animals so designated, commentators have shown that the crocodile is intended, which then is synonymous with the leviathan; and they have endeavored also to demonstrate, where they draw the dugs to suckle their young, that seals are meant, although cetacea nourish theirs in a similar manner. It may be doubted whether, in most of the cases, the poetical diction points absolutely to any specific animal, particularly as there is more force and grandeur in a generalized and collective image of the huge monsters of the deep, not inappropriately so called, than in the restriction to anyone species, since all are in Gen 1:26 made collectively subservient to the supremacy of man. But criticism is still more inappropriate when, not contented with pointing to some assumed species, it attempts to rationalize miraculous events by such arguments; as in the case of Jonah, where the fact of whales having a small gullet, and not being found in the Mediterranean, is adduced to prove that the huge fish was not a cetacean, but a shark! It may be observed, besides, of cetaceous animals, that though less frequent in the Mediterranean than in the ocean, they are far from being unknown there.

The largest known inhabitant of the sea, Job 7:12, put by our translators for a Hebrew word including all the huge marine monsters, as in Gen 1:21 . In Eze 32:2, referring to Egypt and the Nile, it doubtless means the crocodile; as also in Psa 74:13 ; Isa 27:1 ; 51:9; Eze 29:3, where it is translated "dragon." The "great fish" that swallowed Jonah cannot be named with certainty. The Greek word in Mat 12:40 being also indeterminate. Whales, however, were anciently found in the Mediterranean, and sharks of the largest size.\par

Whale. As to the signification of the Hebrew terms tan and tannin, variously rendered, in the Authorized Version, by "dragon," "whale," "serpent," "sea-monster." See Dragon. It remains for us in this article to consider the transaction recorded in the book of Jonah, of that prophet having been swallowed up by "some great fish" which in Mat 12:40 is called cetos (ketos), rendered in our version by "whale."

In the first glace, it is necessary to observe that the Greek word cetos, used by St. Matthew is not restricted in its meaning to "a whale," or any Cetacean; like the Latin cete or cetus, it may denote any sea-monster, either "a whale," or "a shark," or "a seal," or "a tunny of enormous size."

Although two or three species of whale are found in the Mediterranean Sea, yet the "great fish" that swallowed the prophet cannot properly be identified with any Cetacean, for, although the sperm whale has a gullet sufficiently large to admit the body of a man, yet, it can hardly be the fish intended, as the natural food of Cetaceans consists of small animals,such as medusae and crustacea.

The only fish, then, capable of swallowing a man would be a large specimen of the white shark (Carcharias vulgaris), that dreaded enemy of sailors, and the most voracious of the family of Squalidae. This shark, which sometimes attains the length of thirty feet, is quite able to swallow a man whole.

The whole body of a man in armor has been found in the stomach of a white shark: and Captain King, in his survey of Australia, says he had caught one which could have swallowed a man with the greatest ease. Blumenbach mentions that a whole horse has been found in a shark, and Captain Basil Hall reports the taking of one in which, besides other things, he found the whole skin of a buffalo which a short time before had been thrown overboard from his ship (p. 27). The white shark is not uncommon in the Mediterranean.

Hebrew tannin, Greek keetos. Gen 1:21, translated "sea monsters." The crocodile in Eze 29:3; Eze 32:2; the "dragon" in Isa 27:1; tan means the crocodile; also Job 7:12. Jonah on the whale or sea monster in which he was miraculously preserved, type of Him over whose head for our sakes went all the waves and billows of God’s wrath: Psa 42:7; Psa 69:2; Gal 3:13). (See JONAH.)

Whale. The Greek word translated "whale" in Mat 12:40, A. V., means a large fish, or a sea monster. So, also, in Gen 1:21 the word is generic. The original word representing "whale" is often translated "dragon" or "leviathan," and according to the derivation of the Hebrew, the word denotes a creature of great length, without being restricted to marine animals. Neither the Old Testament nor the New Testament, when correctly rendered, affirms that it was a whale which swallowed Jonah, but "a great fish." Jon 1:17; Mat 12:40. The R. V. reads the same as the A. V., but in the margin reads, "Greek, sea monster." The creature referred to is very likely to have been the white shark, which is abundantly capable of such a feat. The whale is, however, occasionally found in the Mediterranean Sea. See Jonah.

The word tannin, Gen 1:21; Job 7:12; Eze 32:2; and κῆτος Mat 12:40; refer to any sea monsters, without defining any particular one. In the case of Jonah the Hebrew word is dag, or dagah, a fish; it may not have been a whale: sharks have been known to swallow men entire, and whatever fish it was that swallowed him, it was a miracle that preserved him alive, and caused him to be safely landed on shore again. It is only by denying the miracle that any difficulty arises. The Hebrew word tannin is also translated in the A.V. ’dragon,’ ’sea monster,’ and ’serpent.’

WHALE.—See Jonah, Ninevites, Sign.

By: Emil G. Hirsch, I. M. Casanowicz

A cetaceous mammal. Several species of cetacea are found in the Mediterranean as well as in the Red Sea. In the Authorized Version of the Bible the Hebrew "tannin" is often rendered "whale"; while the Revised Version has "sea-monster" (Gen. i. 21; Job vii. 12), "dragon" (Ezek. xxxii. 12), and "jackal" (Lam. iv. 3).

The name "leviathan," which usually designates the fabulously great fish preserved for the future world, seems in certain passages of the Talmud to refer to some kind of whale; so, for instance, in Ḥul. 67b, where leviathan is said to be a clean fish, having fins and scales, and in B. B. 73b, where a fabulous description of its enormous size is given. In Shab. 7b the (meaning perhaps the porcupine) is said to be the vexer of the leviathan. See also Leviathan and Behemoth.

Bibliography:

Tristram, Natural History of the Bible, p. 151;

Lewysohn, Zoologie des Talmuds, pp. 155, 324.

WHALE.—1. tannîn. See Dragon (4). 2. dâg gâdôl, the ‘great fish’ of Jon 1:17, is in the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] and in Mat 12:40 rendered in Gr. by kçtos and tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘whale,’ though the Gr. word has a much wider significance. It is impossible to say what kind of fish is intended in the narrative. See, further, art. Jonah.

E. W. G. Masterman.

hwāl: (1) κῆτος, kḗtos (Sirach 43:25 (the Revised Version (British and American) “sea-monster”); The Song of Three Children verse 57 (the Revised Version (British and American) “whale”); Mat 12:40 (the Revised Version (British and American) “whale,” margin “sea-monster”; the King James Version “whale” throughout)). (2) תּנּין, tannı̄n (Gen 1:21; Job 7:12), “sea-monster,” the King James Version “whale.” (3) תּנּים, tannı̄m (Eze 32:2), “monster,” the English Revised Version “dragon” the King James Version “whale” the King James Version margin “dragon.”

It will be seen from the above references that the word “whale” does not occur in the Revised Version (British and American) except in The Song of Three Children verse 57 and Mat 12:40. Kētos, the original word in these passages, is, according to Liddell and Scott, used by Aristotle for “whale,” Aristotle using also the adjective κητώδης, kētṓdēs, “cetacean”; Homer and Herodotus used kētos for any large fish or sea-monster or for a seal. It is used in Euripides of the monster to which Andromeda was exposed. In the Hebrew, in the Book of Jonah, we find dāgh or dāghāh, the ordinary word for “fish”: “And Yahweh prepared great fish to swallow up Jonah” (Jon 1:17). Whales are found in the Mediterranean and are sometimes cast up on the shore of Palestine, but it is not likely that the ancient Greeks or Hebrews were very familiar with them, and it is by no means certain that whale is referred to, either in the original Jonah story or in the New Testament reference to it. If any particular animal is meant, it is more likely a shark. Sharks are much more familiar objects in the Mediterranean than whales, and some of them are of large size. See FISH.

In Gen 1:21, “And God created the great seamonsters” (the King James Version, “whales”), and Job 7:12,

“Am I a sea, or a sea-monster (the King James Version “whale”),

That thou settest a watch over me?”

The Hebrew has tannı̄n, which word occurs 14 times in the Old Testament and in the American Standard Revised Version is translated “monster,” “sea-monster,” or “serpent,” and, exceptionally, in Lam 4:3, “jackals.” the King James Version renders in several passages “dragon” (compare Eze 29:3 the English Revised Version).

Tannı̄m in Eze 29:3 and Eze 32:2 is believed to stand for tannı̄n. the American Standard Revised Version has “monster,” the English Revised Version “dragon,” the King James Version “whale,” the King James Version margin “dragon,” in Eze 32:2, and “dragon” in Eze 29:3. Tannı̄m occurs in 11 other passages, where it is considered to be the plural of tann, and in the Revised Version (British and American) is translated “jackals,” in the King James Version “dragons” (Job 30:29; Psa 44:19; Isa 13:22; Isa 34:13; Isa 35:7; Isa 43:20; Jer 9:11; Jer 10:22; Jer 14:6; Jer 49:33; Jer 51:37). In Mal 1:3 we find the feminine plural tannōth. See DRAGON; JACKAL.

Eze 32:2 (b) This great fish is a type of the nations that swallowed Israel, will keep them suffering in bondage, and afterwards expel them out of the many countries back into their own land. This type is seen more graphically illustrated in the book of Jonah. Egypt was one of those nations that endeavored to swallow up Israel.

Mat 12:40 (b) This again is a type of the nations of the world who have swallowed up Israel, but have not been able to digest her, nor absorb her. One day all the nations will expel the Jewish people, and send them back into their own land.

See Crocodile; Sea Monster