Charles Ellicott Commentary Jonah 1:3

"But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of Jehovah; and he went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of Jehovah." — Jonah 1:3 (ASV)

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 that would be displayed toward 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.

Tarshish.— This can hardly be any other than Tartessus, an ancient Phoenician colony on the river Guadalquivir, in the southwest of Spain. (1 Chronicles 1:7.)

A profound moral lesson lies in the choice of this refuge by Jonah. A man who tries to escape from a clearly recognized duty—especially if he can at the time supply conscience with a plausible excuse—is in danger of falling all the lower, in proportion as his position was high. Jonah, commanded to go to Nineveh, in the far northeast, instantly tries to flee to the then farthest west. Often between the saintly height and an abyss of sin there is no middle resting-point. The man with the highest ideal, when unfaithful to it, is apt to sink lower than the ordinary mortal.

From the presence of the Lord.— Rather, from before the face of Jehovah. The words may imply:

1. The belief in a possibility of hiding from the sight of God , a belief that, as we gather from the insistence on its opposite in Psalm 139:0, lingered late in the popular conception.
2. A renunciation of the prophetic office (1 Kings 17:1).
3. Flight from the Holy Land, where the Divine presence was understood to be especially manifested.

Commentators have generally rejected the first of these as implying ignorance unworthy of a prophet. However, on embarking, Jonah went below, as if to hide even more securely, and used the same expression to the mariners, who would certainly take it in its literal and popular sense.

Joppa. —Hebrew, Yâpho; now Jaffa, the port of Jerusalem. (2 Chronicles 2:16.)

He found a ship. —Probably a Phoenician vessel trading between Egypt and Spain, and accustomed to touch at Joppa.