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Response
The message of the Lord came to Jonah instructing him to denounce the evil in Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Kingdom (Jonah 1:1-2). However, Jonah decided to escape from the presence of the Lord instead “Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, ‘Why have you done this?’ For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD because he had told them.”, (Jonah 1:10). During his escape, Jonah left his hometown of Gath-hepher, near Nazareth in Israel “He restored the territory of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which He had spoken through His servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath-hepher.”, (2 Kings 14:25), and journeyed to Joppa “But Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for Tarshish. After paying the fare, he went aboard to sail with them to Tarshish away from the presence of the LORD.”, (Jonah 1:3), a coastal city. There, he embarked on a ship heading to Tarshish, a city near Gibraltar in the southern part of Spain.
The difference between Nineveh and Tarshish was significant. Nineveh was situated east of the Tigris River in present-day Iraq, over 500 miles east of Jonah’s birthplace. In contrast, Tarshish was west of Gath-hepher, more than 2,500 miles away from Israel in the opposite direction of Nineveh. It represented the farthest possible point Jonah could reach. Jonah sought to create as much distance as possible between himself and the Assyrian capital.
Ians. Whatever happened to Nineveh, Jonah would not be there to see it.
Jonah’s reason for running was that, quite simply, he did not like the Assyrians. Assyria was an idolatrous, proud, and ruthless nation bent on world conquest and had long been a threat to Israel. When God sent Jonah as a missionary to the capital, Nineveh, the prophet balked. At the end of his story, Jonah specifies his reason for resistance: “That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity” «And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. », (Jonah 4:2). In other words, Jonah wanted Nineveh to be destroyed. He felt they deserved God’s judgment. Jonah didn’t want to see God’s mercy extended to his enemies, and he knew in his heart that God’s intention was to show mercy. Jonah discovered that God’s salvation is available to all who repent, not just to the people of Jonah’s choosing.
Jonah also discovered that no one can run from God. “‘Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him?’ declares the LORD. ‘Do I not fill heaven and earth?’ declares the LORD” «Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD. », (Jeremiah 23:24). Jonah’s ill-advised attempt to escape from God was doomed to fail. He soon realized God was with him everywhere he went. Even in the stomach of the great fish, God knew where Jonah was and could hear his prayer «and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, And
He heard me; Out of the belly of hell I cried, And you heard my voice.” , (Jonah 2:2).
We are not to run from God but to Him. As Proverbs 18:10 says, “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.”
