Jonah: A Prophet on the Run

The prophet Jonah received a divine call akin to other prophets: Jehovah authoritatively commanded him to proclaim a message of repentance to the city of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria (Jonah 1:1-2). If the occupants of the great city did not repent or change their way of life, they would undergo divine retribution within forty days (Jonah 3:4). However, instead of heeding the call from Jehovah, Jonah proceeded to run away from the presence of God to Tarshish. The NET Bible suggests that Jonah started to obey but then thought better of it. While probably knowing that he could not truly get away from God by fleeing, the prophet likely hoped for respite in Tarshish. But just where exactly was Tarshish, especially in relation to Nineveh?

Professor Elizabeth Achtemeier relates that the "exact location of Tarshish has never been definitely settled, but most scholars are inclined to identify it with Tartessus, a Phoenician colony on the southwestern coast of Spain" (Achtemeier 261).

Leslie C. Allen likewise writes (The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah in the NICOT Series): "It is usually identified with Tartessos in southwest Spain near the mouth of the Guadalquivir. In Jer. 10:9 Tarshish is a source of silver and in Ezek. 27:12 of tin, iron, and lead. This information accords with Pausanias’ reference to Tartessos as a source of metal and to Pliny’s description of Spain as rich in lead, iron, bronze, silver, and gold."

See the NET Bible for more possibilities concerning Tarshish.

If Tarshish should be identified with Tartessus (Tartessos), then it would have been 2,200 miles West of Nineveh. As Allen reports, "at the other end of the world from Nineveh." But why did Jonah take such drastic measures to flee from the divine initiative? Why was the prophet so resistant to the commission that would permanently affect him and others?

There is no one accepted reason among scholars as to why Jonah initially refused his commission. Flavius Josephus writes that Jonah was afraid of the Ninevites and their brutal nature (Ant. 9.208). This view is plausible in the light of what history tells us about the eighth century BCE city of Nineveh. According to some records, the Ninevites as a whole were cruel, polemical, and bellicose. The prophet Nahum refers to Nineveh as "the city of bloodshed" (Nahum 3:1) and the annals of history support this description of the Assyrian capital. Based on archaeological evidence, it is safe to posit that the Ninevites generally were barbarous and inhumane to their enemies (Luckenbill 145-162). It is possible that Jonah felt he would be the next casualty by heeding the call of God.

Yet despite the seeming plausibility of Josephus' theory, the first chapter of Jonah does not give an exact reason for why Jonah fled. Nevertheless, some scholars point to Jonah 4:2-3 as a possible reason for his flight: "And he prayed unto Jehovah, and said, I pray thee, O Jehovah, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I hasted to flee unto Tarshish; for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and repentest thee of the evil" (ASV).

A number of commentators think this is Jonah's real reason for fleeing:

"But Jonah rose up to flee.—The motive of the prophet's flight is given by himself (Jonah 4:2). He foresaw the repentance of the city, and the mercy which would be displayed towards it, and was either jealous of his prophetic reputation, or had a patriotic dislike of becoming a messenger of good to a heathen foe so formidable to his own country" (Ellicott's Commentary).

"He refused God's service, because, as he himself tells God afterward Jonah 4:2, he knew what it would end in, and he misliked it" (Barnes' Notes on the Bible).

Compare the notes for Jonah 4:2 in Robert Alter's translation of the Hebrew Bible that offer a similar explanation. On the other hand, if Jonah's intentions were so "benign," why did he receive the kind of discipline that Jehovah meted out to him? Whatever his motives, Jonah eventually stopped running, and I'm inclined to believe like others before me that the prophet finally learned his lesson.

Select Sources Used:

Achtemeier, Elizabeth. Minor Prophets I. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1996.

Allen, Leslie C. The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah and Micah. NICOT. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976.

Luckenbill, D.D. Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia. 1926.

See https://www.usu.edu/markdamen/ane/lectures/8.1.pdf