The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Panorama City, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from the tape, GC 70-5, titled "Bible Questions and Answers."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE.  Copyright John MacArthur Jr., All Rights Reserved.

Question

What does it mean when in the Book of Jonah it says, "My spirit went into Sheol?"

Answer

The Old Testament uses that word in a very general sense for the grave, for the darkness of death, and I don't think it can be used literally to refer to the grave.  It can be used literally to refer to death or it can be used metaphorically or symbolically of deep despair.  It could also be used to speak of (and we could probably dig up some illustrations of each of these) being very near to death--"My soul went into Sheol," in the sense of right at the edge of the grave.  I don't think you can push the point there that he was dead.  I really do believe and maybe the best argument of all would be, that if, indeed, that was a resurrection, the Holy Spirit is not in the business of minimizing resurrections, so if Jonah had literally died and been raised from the dead, it would seem to me that that would have been significant enough for the text to have made that clear, since the Lord does not minimize resurrections.