John Trapp on Jonah 1:17

Verſe 17. Now the Lord had prepared a great fiſh] A whale Mat. 12.40. which is a great fiſh indeed. Pliny tells of one taken that was ſix hundred foot in length and 360. in bredth,Plin. lib. 32. cap. 1. when they ſwim and ſhew themſelves above water annare inſulas putes, ſaith the ſame Authour, you would think them to be ſo many Iſlands: ſo many mountaines, ſaith Another; who alſo addeth,Lib. 9. cap. 2. that when they grow old, they grow to that bigneſſe and fatneſſe, that they keep long in a place. Inſomuch as ex collectis & condenſatis pulveribus frutices erumpere cernantur, Sphinx Phili[illegible: 1 letter]. the duſt and filth gathered upon their backs ſeemes to be an Iſland, which whiles ſhipmen miſtake, and think to land at, they incurr a great deale of danger.

Such a great fiſh God prepared Either at firſt, when in creating of whales, creavit vaſtitates & ſtupores, as One ſaith: Or He now commanded this great fiſh to be ready to ſhip Jonas to the ſhore: and to afford him an Oratory in themeane while.

and Jonah was in the belly of the fiſh] where Interpreters note a concurrence of theſe foure miracles. 1. That he was not there conſumed, but that the concoctive faculty of the fiſhes maw was ſo long time kept from doing its office. 2. That he could in ſuch a cloſe priſon breath and live; without the common uſe of aire and light. 3. That he was not killed up with intolerable ſtench in ſo lothſome a jakes. 4. That he could there frame ſuch an excellent prayer, or rather ſong of thankſgiving: For Jonah was the true Arion whom the Poets faine to have been a minſtrell caſt into the ſea by the mariners, and ſaved by a dolphin.

three dayes and three nights] Part of them at leaſt: as Chriſt was in the grave Mat. 12.40. where, in the hiſtory of Jonas, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. he deſcrieth the myſtery of his own death, buriall and reſurrection: teaching us thereby to ſearch the ſcriptures, to ſearch them to the bottome: as thoſe that dig for gold, content not themſelves with the firſt or ſecond oare that offers it ſelf, but ſearch on till they have all. The Rabbines have a ſaying,Epiſt. 3. ad Voluſian. that there is a mountaine of ſenſe hangs upon every Apex of the word of God. And ſo great is the depth of the holy ſcriptures, ſaith Auguſtine, that I could profit daily in the knowledge thereof, though I ſhould ſet my ſelf to ſearch them from my childhood to decrepit old age, at beſt leiſure, with utmoſt ſtudy and a farr better wit &c.