Re: Jonah/Younus was eaten alive by fish
Reply #13 - September 25, 2010, 03:30 PM
"That's a really interesting question. I am dubious myself, however let's look at the facts.
Firstly, it's said that only a sperm whale has a wide enough throat to swallow a human. However, i didn't find any information on the size of a sperm whale's stomach.
Whales are related to ruminants. As a result, they have complex stomachs with several chambers. The capacity of a large whale's stomach is supposed to be around 760 litres. An average adult human is probably approximately that size. They would occupy all of that space, in other words. However, suppose they had 760 litres of air available to them. The tidal volume of the lungs in a human, i.e. the amount breathed in and out in normal respiration, is half a litre. Therefore, 760 litres is enough for 1520 normal breaths, assuming Jonah was both conscious and calm, maybe because he was at peace with God even though he'd been swallowed by a whale or maybe because of that - awareness of God's providence. The resting respiratory rate is around 14 breaths a minute. Therefore, there's potentially enough air in a whale's stomach for up to about two hours, and it would get pretty stuffy in there after a while!
There is another consideration though. Some time last year, someone fell off a mountain and went into a hibernatory state where they used up less oxygen and water than in normal sleep, a state previously unknown to science. There's also meditation, and that's particularly interesting because it calls to mind the image of a meditative Jonah at prayer, surviving longer because he was in that state. We also don't know how big he was - a smaller person would presumably live longer.
OK, so hydrochloric acid. Whale stomachs may contain the horny beaks of giant squid, and their intestines produce a protective amber-like secretion stimulated by an irritant. I would say Jonah could be an irritant, and he could be protected from the acid by horny armour or by getting covered in ambergris.
So, what have we got? Jonah, wearing armour made from horn, gets swallowed by a whale with a serious case of wind and goes into a hibernation-like meditative prayer state as a result of recognising God's providence, then gets covered in ambergris and vomited up on a beach somewhere. Hey, it could happen! Or maybe he was just some kind of giant lizard, i dunno."
thats off yahoo answers i found it intresting ..
Confucius:
"What you do not like done to yourself, do not unto others."
Topic: Jonah/Younus was eaten alive by fish