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Thank you Bill, this is great stuff.
This was something that really resonated with me. Even as a child I had a hard time believing these stories. I remember always seeking the logical explanation and came upon an interesting one for Jonah. The constellation Cetus was prominent then and that if someone was lost at sea, they were said to be in the belly of Cetus or something like that. Through translation and embellishments, the story became a literal account of a man inside a fish. I think it’s fascinating!
Also, for anyone whose heard a fisherman tell a story about how big a fish is, isn’t it reasonable to believe Jonahs story was exaggerated (that is if it happened at all)? My personal experience is fisherman tend to exaggerate their stories (sorry to generalize).
Thanks again Bill. Keep it up.
Thanks for a great podcast. If you look at the story of Moses and the Exodus, there is no archeological evidence of 40 years in the desert. Also, the Egyptians kept very good records and there are no Egyptian records of Hebrew slaves or their miraculous departure. After the Jews were captives in Babylon, their language changed. Jesus did not speak Hebrew in every day conversation, but Aramaic (which incorporated Babylonian elements influenced from the captivity). If the Jews were in Egypt, wouldn’t their language have changed the same way? All signs seem to point to this being a story that synthesized oral traditions and myths and was written later to show that Israel was a major player and had overcome a superpower and how God had blessed and guided them through their history.
Good “Fruit.”