What does it mean to have the fear of cod?

According to tradition, Jonah's encounter with the belly of a sea creature gave him severe icthyophobia: an irrational panic over fish, also known as the "fear of cod." After stubbornly refusing to preach in Nineveh, Jonah was thrown overboard and swallowed by some kind of enormous fish. The experience of being swallowed, held for three days, and being barfed out onto a beach made him understandably nervous around anything with fins or scales.

Jonah's fear of cod is ironic for several reasons. His resistance to preaching in Nineveh was based in prejudice and hatred—emotions he apparently never overcame (Jonah 3:10—4:3). As much as he was "afraid" the hated Assyrians would repent, he seemed to lack a corresponding level of fear of God, in response to which God added on an even more awkward emotion. Suffering from fear of cod, in a culture heavily dependent on seafood, was probably a major burden for Jonah.

The salvation Jonah reluctantly preached was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ. In a twist considered hilarious to everyone but Jonah, that faith would be symbolized by early followers using—you guessed it—the icon of a fish, known as an Icthys. Subtly mocking Jonah's fish-fear isn't something God necessarily did explicitly: He's not "trolling," just trawling.

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