Here we are gazing upon the prophet Jonah moments after he was "vomited out" by that "great fish" seen, in the above image, swimming away in the background. It's a fabulous painting. Only, if I had painted it, I would have depicted Jonah much differently: I mean, he just spent three days and nights inside the belly of a huge fish--literally! There on that nameless beach where he lay--utterly exhausted, no doubt, Jonah must have appeared in much worse condition than how he is portrayed, above. His skin, from head to toe, as I suppose, must have been very pale-looking; his hair and beard matted with mucous; and his clothes were not merely wet with ocean water, but they were covered with the fish's own stomach contents. In a word, Jonah must have looked horrible: like someone who just emerged from the grave. Truly, he was such a man, as we see him lying there.
Yet, what no painting can show--but only words can reveal, is that the man we see prostrated on the beach, above, was a profoundly changed man.
