This example is told in
PARABLE FORM from the prophet, 'Jonah' as detailed in Jonah 1:1 (KJV).
PARABLE: "A short '
story' or '
lesson' used to deliver a moral or religious teaching."
Jonah's fear and pride causes him to run from God. He does not wish to go to Nineveh to preach repentance to the people, as God has commanded, because he feels they are his enemy and he is convinced that God will not carry out his threat to destroy the city. Instead he boards a ship for Tarshish, which is in the opposite direction. Soon a raging storm causes the crew to cast lots to determine that Jonah is the problem. They throw him overboard, and he is swallowed by a great fish. In its belly for 3 days and 3 nights, Jonah repents of his sin to God, and the fish vomits him up on dry land (* please refer to 'add-on' below). Jonah then makes the 500 mile trip to Nineveh and leads the city in a great revival. But the prophet is displeased instead of thankful when Nineveh repents. Jonah learns his
lesson, however, when God uses a wind, a gourd and a worm to teach him that God is merciful.
We cannot hide from God. Regardless of our patriotism, we must never put our country or city ahead of God. Regardless of our reputation, nationality or race, God loves us. Rejoicing in the salvation of others is an experience God wants us to share with Him; not be resentful, jealous or thinking it is not "real".
Your statement that
'many things in the Bible are unbelievable' is truly troubling to a number of us here, because you do not seem to understand that a significant number of teachings in BOTH the Old and New Testaments, in the Original Manuscript Languages of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, were done in
PARABLE FORM to offer a teaching in a manner that the uneducated persons of the day could relate to from experiences and observations in their own lives. You are nearly calling God a liar and THAT is unacceptable. Leave your logic and physics outside when you study God's Word. You don't need it because He is
THE scientist - he created YOU, afterall, didn't he?
Study the Bible in the forms that it was written in, because your literal interpretation will get you nowhere in understanding the original meanings. Think in parable form, not literal form, when you run across teachings such as this. Put yourself in the place of a farmer or peasant who is listening to a prophet or disiple teaching in story form so YOU, in the year 134 BC OR 59 AD, can understand what is being taught.
Add-On: The Number "3" in Biblical Numerics means "Divine Completeness or Perfection". It is not only used in the Book of Jonah, but also in the first Books of the New Testament regarding the Three Days Christ spent in the tomb before resurrection.
In the case of Jonah, he spent Three days swallowed up before he recognized his sins and repented. As he repented, his 'divine completeness or perfection' was restored, as his sins were washed away by God. He then returned to Nineveh and proceded to mess up once again... and God corrected him using several examples. If anyone wishes to examine a good listing of Biblical Numerics and what the numbers in the KJV stand for, use this link if you wish:
http://asis.com/~stag/godcount.html#numbertable