hwāl: (1) κῆτος, kḗtos (Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 43:25 (the Revised Version “sea-monster”); The Song of Three Children verse 57 (the Revised Version “whale”); Matthew 12:40 (the Revised Version “whale,” margin “sea-monster”; the King James Version “whale” throughout)). (2) תּנּין, tannīn (Genesis 1:21; Job 7:12), “sea-monster,” KJV “whale.” (3) תּנּים, tannīm (Ezekiel 32:2), “monster,” the English RV “dragon” the KJV “whale” the King James Version margin “dragon.”
It will be seen from the above references that the word “whale” does not occur in the RV except in The Song of Three Children verse 57 and Matthew 12:40. Kētos, the original word in these passages, is, according to Liddell and Scott, used by Aristotle for “whale,” Aristotle using also the adjective κητώδης, kētṓdēs, “cetacean”; Homer and Herodotus used kētos for any large fish or sea-monster or for a seal. It is used in Euripides of the monster to which Andromeda was exposed. In the Hebrew, in the Book of Jonah, we find dāgh or dāghāh, the ordinary word for “fish”: “And Yahweh prepared great fish to swallow up Jonah” (Jonah 1:17). Whales are found in the Mediterranean and are sometimes cast up on the shore of Palestine, but it is not likely that the ancient Greeks or Hebrews were very familiar with them, and it is by no means certain that whale is referred to, either in the original Jonah story or in the New Testament reference to it. If any particular animal is meant, it is more likely a shark. Sharks are much more familiar objects in the Mediterranean than whales, and some of them are of large size. See FISH.
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Author: International Std. Bible Encyclopedia
Keywords: Whale, Sea monster, Dragon, Great fish
Bible reference(s): Ezekiel 32:2, Genesis 1:21, Job 7:12, Matthew 12:40, Jon 1:17, Eze 29:3
Source: James Orr (editor), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 5 volume set.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.