The Sign of Jonah and the April 8th Eclipse

There are a number of videos on YouTube talking about the “Sign of Jonah” and how it is related to the April 8th total solar eclipse. In these videos, the eclipse is seen as a warning of impending judgment on America, and a sign that the rapture is once again just around the corner.

So, let’s take a quick look at whether the idea that the April 8^th eclipse is the Sign of Jonah makes any sense. And I’ll try and keep this short as it doesn’t really require a deep-dive into Bible prophecy to understand.

The Sign of Jonah is spoken of by Jesus in Matthew 12, and reads:

“An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas 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 men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.”

The backstory is that God had commanded Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh to prophesy against it for their great wickedness. But instead of obeying God, Jonah decided to flee – but fleeing from God is never a good idea.

A bit later, Jonah was at sea when a great storm raged. Jonah convinced his fellow crew members to throw him overboard, as the storm was his fault for fleeing from God. Eventually the other men on the boat did indeed toss him into the sea.

Jonah ends up getting swallowed by a huge fish, and after 3 days and 3 nights inside the belly of the fish, he is vomited out and onto the shores of – you guessed it – Nineveh. There’s a lot more to that story, of course, but for the purposes of this video I’ll move on.

So what does the “Sign of Jonah” that Jesus spoke of, and God’s command to Jonah to prophesy against Nineveh for their great wickedness, have to do with the April 8^th eclipse? Well, it seems as if the eclipse will pass over Jonah, Texas, and then 8 different towns named Nineveh.

It also happens that the eclipse to happen in a couple of weeks is 7 years after the 2017 eclipse. These two eclipses also pass over North America at different angles, effectively producing a giant X over America’s heartland.

In addition, there are videos which claim that it’s actually 6 years, 6 months, and 6 weeks between the two eclipses, which is interpreted as another sign of God’s impending judgment.

Now, that’s quite a lot of information there, so let’s break this down and see if indeed this is all true.

Are there 7 years between the 2017 eclipse and the 2024 eclipse?

Well, not exactly 7 years. The previous eclipse happened on August 21 of 2017, and the upcoming eclipse is on April 8^th of 2024. While at first glance it might appear to be 7 years, it is really just over 6 ½ years between the two eclipses, not 7 years.

Are there 6 years, 6 months and 6 weeks between the 2017 eclipse and the 2024 eclipse?

This one is closer, as there are actually 6 years, 6 months, 6 weeks, and 5 days between the two eclipses, counting April 8^th. If you ignore the 5 days on the end, then, yes, it is correct to say that there are 6 years, 6 months and 6 weeks between the two eclipses.

The problem is that’s not how we typically count time. No one normally says that something will happen in “6 months and 6 weeks.” Instead, we talk about it in terms of “7 and ½ months.” And, as I just mentioned, you also have to ignore the additional 5 days, which is almost another week.

Therefor, the correct way to phrase the amount of time between the two eclipses is 6 years, 7 months and 2 weeks, and in actuality it’s closer to 6 years, 7 months and 3 weeks.

So, those two things are kind of in the ballpark of being correct, if you’re a bit flexible on how you count time passing. But let’s get to the heart of the matter.

Does the total solar eclipse pass over 8 towns named Nineveh?

First, here are where the towns are located:

Nineveh, Texas

Nineveh, Missouri

Nineveh, Indiana

Nineveh, Ohio

Nineveh, Pennsylvania

Nineveh, Virginia

Nineveh, New York

Nineveh, Nova Scotia

Of these 8 towns, only 2 of them are actually within the area of totality, which means they fall under the total solar eclipse. They are Nineveh, Indiana, and Nineveh, Ohio. Let’s take a closer look at all of these towns in Google Earth.

This is Nineveh, Indiana, which is 100% in the line of totality. As you can see, it’s a pretty small town, and the population is approximately 4,400.

This is Nineveh, Ohio, which is also 100% in the line of totality. As you can see, Nineveh, Ohio is VERY rural and sparsely populated, and in fact there are no specific population stats available at all.

This is because it’s less of a town, than what’s called an MCD, or minor civil division, a term used by the US Census Bureau. MCDs are used for statistical purposes by the Census Bureau, and do not necessarily mean that this area even has a local government within its boundaries.

Those are the only two towns named Nineveh completely under the total solar eclipse, and one of them is less of a town than it is a geographical area used for the US Census Bureau. Here are the other towns.

We have Nineveh, Texas, which is just outside the total solar eclipse path. The reported population is just over 100 people.

This is Nineveh, Pennsylvania, also outside the total solar eclipse path. This is a VERY sparsely populated area of western Pennsylvania, with a population of about 130 people.

This is Nineveh, New York, a little further outside the total eclipse path. According to Wikipedia, “Nineveh is a hamlet with approximately fifty homes on the banks of the Susquehanna River in Broome County, New York.”

This is Nineveh, Kentucky, also getting further outside the total eclipse path. This town is VERY rural, and I could find no specific population figures online.

This is Nineveh, Nova Scotia. This Canadian province in Nova Scotia is outside the path of the total eclipse, is very sparsely populated, and I was unable to confirm any specific population figures online.

Finally, this is Nineveh, Virginia. This small community apparently had its only post office close about 70 years ago. It is so far outside the total eclipse path that the it’s possible that the townspeople might mistake the eclipse for a cloud passing by overhead. So, let’s get to the bottom line.

Is the April 8^th eclipse the Sign of Jonah?

There are 3 reasons that the April 8^th eclipse has nothing to do with the Sign of Jonah, and is not a sign of impending judgment on America.

First, of the 8 towns named Nineveh, only two of them are actually in the path of the total eclipse. The other 6 towns will NOT experience the total solar eclipse, but are only included to make the theory seem more convincing.

Second, a couple of these towns name Nineveh are little more than a sparsely populated – or unpopulated – area of the country, and do not even have a local government. In some instances, the towns are little more than a crossroad in the middle of nowhere, or a designation used by the US Census Bureau.

Third, there are tens of thousands of towns throughout America and Canada, and considering the wide path of the total eclipse, we should expect that there will be multiple towns with the same name falling under of the eclipse.

This is mysticism.

It’s all about the hidden secrets of the Bible – a secret knowledge that only a few can figure out, akin to the Bible codes nonsense. Even the zodiac is mentioned to somehow make this idea more plausible, as Christians continue to poison their faith with New Age ideas.

The worse thing is that if some terrible tragedy happens in the next few months, say a devastating storm that kills many people, there will be those who immediately proclaim that the April 8^th eclipse was definitely a sign from God.

It isn’t. God doesn’t give secret signs and codes, requiring us to use zodiacs and our imaginations to figure out. Christians need to stop this mystical thinking about the Bible, and get back to what it actually says.

Thanks for watching and I’ll talk to you guys soon. ♦