Matthew 12:40 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

For as Jonas was three days and three nights— See the note on Jonah 1:17. Instead of the whale's, we should read the fish's belly. It is no where in the Old Testament said that it was a whale, and κητος signifies any large fish in general. See Mintert on the word. The heart of the earth is a Hebraism for the earth. See what Ezekiel says of the city of Tyre, which was situated on the seashore, ch. Matthew 27:4 Matthew 28:2. Our Saviour, in the expression here used, alludes to Jonah 2:2. The miraculous preservation of Jonah for three days in the belly of a fish, was to the Ninevites a certain proof of his mission from God, being credibly attested to them, either by the mariners, who threw him overboard at a great distance from land; or by some other persons, who happening to see the fish vomit him alive upon the shore might inquire his history of him; and who, in the course of their business, met him afterwards at Nineveh, where they confirmed his preaching by relating what they had seen. In like manner Christ's resurrection from the dead, after having been three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, being credibly attested to the Jews, should clearly demonstrate that he came from God.