Unit 19: Jonah
Jonah
The story of the adventures of the wooden puppet, Pinocchio, concludes with his being cast into the sea supposedly to drown, but instead he is swallowed by a gigantic whale.
Thereafter, he lives in the belly of the great fish until he escapes to the sea again.
One wonders just how much of the account of the concluding phases of Pinocchio's life is modelled on the adventures of Jonah when he felt constrained to go to Nineveh.
One can only guess, but it is an appealing possibility.
The fact is that although the account of Jonah forms a relatively insignificant part of the Scriptures, it has struck a cord in the hearts of many readers.
It contains an element of the fanciful as well as the awe inspiring that has made it better known than the general message of the book.