Instead of traveling north-east to Nineveh, Jonah headed to
Joppa (beauty) which was about 30 miles north-west of Jerusalem. The modern
city Jaffa is located on the site of ancient Joppa. You may remember that Simon
Peter was staying with a tanner in Joppa when the Lord gave him the vision of
the unclean animals coming down on a sheet. Joppa was a seaport, and Jonah’s
intention was to take a ship and sail as far in the other direction from
Nineveh as he could. He boarded a ship for Tarshish which means “contemplation
or examination” or could refer to a precious stone, perhaps yellow jasper.
There are differing views on where Tarshish was located,
but all the possibilities have it being extremely far west from where the Lord
had commanded Jonah to preach. Many historians believe it was actually a
seaport on the southern tip of Spain. For an overview on its location see:
The map below supposes the location in Spain and shows it
in relation to both Joppa and Nineveh.
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