God called to Jonah one day and told him to go preach to Nineveh because the people were very wicked. Jonah hated this idea because Nineveh was one of Israel's greatest enemies and Jonah wanted nothing to do with preaching to them!
Jonah tried to run away from God in the opposite direction of Nineveh and headed by boat to Tarshish. God sent a great storm upon the ship and the men decided Jonah was to blame so they threw him overboard. As soon as they tossed Jonah in the water, the storm stopped.
Jonah 1:17 Now the LORD provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Could a man survive in a fish’s belly? The Hebrew idiom "three days and three nights" has been clearly shown both from Scripture and other sources to mean a period of time beginning on one day and ending on the day after the one following. It doesn't necessarily mean three full days and nights.
God sent a big fish, some call it a whale, to swallow Jonah and to save him from drowning. While in the belly of the big fish (whale), Jonah prayed to God for help, repented, and praised God. For three days Jonah sat in the belly of the fish. Then, God had the big fish throw up Jonah onto the shores of Nineveh.
Jonah preached to Nineveh and warned them to repent before the city is destroyed in 40 days. The people believed Jonah, turned from their wickedness, and God had mercy on them. Jonah now became angry and bitter because God did not destroy the Ninevites who were Israel's enemy! When Jonah sat to rest God provided a vine to give him shade. The next day, God sent a worm to eat the vine. Jonah now sat in the hot sun complaining and wanting to die. God called out to Jonah and scolded him for being so concerned and worried about just a plant while God was concerned with the heart condition and lives of 120,000 people who lived in the city of Nineveh.
Jesus and Jonah
Matthew 12:40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth
The “sign of Jonah” is mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 12:38–42 and Luke 11:29–32. The scribes and Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign to which he replies he will not give any additional signs to this evil generation besides the one already given in Jonah. There are three elements to this sign: (1) both Jonah and Jesus spent three days inside something (fish, earth), (2) Nineveh repented but Jesus’ generation will not, and (3) Jesus is the greater Jonah.
Jesus spent three days in the belly of the earth; dead with our sins on his innocent head. God commanded Sheol to spit him out into glorious, resurrection life. Even the message is still the same, though a little more fleshed out: Repent and believe in Jesus for judgment is at hand. All you who are weary laden by your sin; come to Jesus. For his yoke is easy and his burden is light (Matt 11:28–30).
Jonah in the whale's belly