The Unfaithful Prophet
R. A. Bedford, M. A. Jonah 1:3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish… In those days the prophet was the organ of a Divine revelation. He was the representative of that Holy Spirit who had been speaking through many ages to the fathers. If a word came to him which went beyond the ordinary scope of prophetic ministry it would be all the more solemn; it would be very clearly not the prophet's own, but "the Word of Jehovah" which had "come to him." To disobey that Word, to hide it within his own thoughts, to take from it, or add to it would be a grievous sin, to be conspicuously punished. It was "disobedience to the heavenly vision." It was renouncing the position and vocation of the Divine messenger. It was doing "despite unto the Spirit of grace." The whole book is a commentary on the expression, "Presence of the Lord." By the "presence of the Lord" is manifestly intended the organic centre of Divine revelation. The radical conception of Judaism is the foundation on which such an expression must rest; — it was that of a ministry gathered about Jehovah, who is seated on a throne of majesty and grace in the midst of His people. "The presence of the Lord," regarded as a place, is the chamber where the ministering priest, or prophet, is face to face with God. Forth from that chamber he goes to fulfil his mission, whatever it be, whether as a priest to bless, or as a prophet to speak the message, to proclaim the " Word of the Lord." Jonah rose up to flee from that centre of his spiritual responsibility, to turn his back upon One who was telling him what to say and what to do. At that special crisis in the history of His people such unfaithfulness was specially sinful. (R. A. Bedford, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he 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 the LORD. WEB: But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh.