Abstract
The unique comparison between Jonah and the Son of Man in the First
Gospel has been notoriously difficult for several reasons. First,
“three days and three nights” cannot be fitted into the interval of
Jesus’ burial in the tomb from Friday evening to Sunday morning; second,
the resurrection of Jesus, which is understood by some as “the sign of
Jonah,” was not witnessed by “an evil and adulterous generation,” but
only by believers in Christ; third, an above sea-level tomb like the one
that contained Jesus hardly qualifies as “the heart of the earth” in
the sense of subterranean depth; and fourth, interpreting “the heart of
the earth” literally as Sheol still does not resolve the
chronological problem. However, the enigma of the Jonah saying unravels
with a shift in perspective. This article will recognize that shift and
propose a new understanding of this passage.