To do otherwise is to strip the Bible of its presumed authority and to acknowledge reason as the higher standard. Their Bible is supposedly above man-made standards. We thus arrive at an important point. Furthermore, he may not invoke such a defense merely because the passage is doctrinally embarrassing. To do so, once again, is to undercut the very pillars of biblical authority.
Biblical authority is reduced to a matter of human consensus.
They fill in those odd gaps not amenable to normal repair. On that point alone rests every claim of hyperbolic or allegorical usage. Archer's Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties affirms the historicity of Jonah, as do apologetic works in general. By reason of what Jesus allegedly said in this passage, biblicists dare not find evidence of allegorical or hyperbolic usage throughout the book of Jonah. Clarke's commentary on the Bible treated the passage factually.