John Calvin Commentary Jonah 2:10

"And Jehovah spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land." — Jonah 2:10 (ASV)

The deliverance of Jonah is described here in few words; but how attentively should we consider the event? It was an incredible miracle that Jonah should have continued alive and safe in the belly of the fish for three days. For how was it that he was not a thousand times smothered or drowned by water? We know that fish continually draw in water: Jonah certainly could not breathe while in the fish, and human life without breathing can hardly continue for a minute. Jonah, then, must have been preserved beyond the power of nature.

Then how could it have been that the fish should cast out Jonah on the shore, unless God by his unsearchable power had drawn the fish there? Again, who could have supernaturally opened its belly and its mouth? His coming out, then, was in every way miraculous; indeed, it was attended with many miracles.

But Jonah, to more fully extol the infinite power of God, adopted the word said. Thus we learn that nothing is hard for God, for he could by a mere nod accomplish such a great thing that surpasses all our conceptions. If Jonah had said that he was delivered by God’s kindness and favor, it would have been much less emphatic than when he adopts a word that expresses a command, And Jehovah spake, or said, to the fish.

But as this deliverance of Jonah is an image of the resurrection, this is an extraordinary passage, and especially noteworthy; for the Holy Spirit leads our minds to that power by which the world was formed and is still wonderfully preserved. So that we may then, without hesitation and doubt, be convinced of the restoration which God promises to us, let us remember that the world was created by him out of nothing by his word and command, and is still sustained in this way.

But if this general truth is not sufficient, let this history of Jonah come to our minds—that God commanded a fish to cast out Jonah. For how was it that Jonah escaped safe and was delivered? It was because it so pleased God, because the Lord commanded; and this word even today retains the same efficacy. By that power, then, by which he works all things, we also will one day be raised up from the dead.