The Sufferings of Disobedience (Ch. 1). 

        The wickedness of Nineveh needs no elaboration. The Assyrians seem to have been the only nation of antiquity in the Near East that gloried in cruelty, which they frequently depicted on their bas-reliefs (There are some interesting examples in the British Museum). A vivid impression of the hatred they caused will be gained from Nahum’s fierce exultation over the coming fall of Nineveh. It is easy to understand why Jonah had no wish to save them from judgment.

        In order to escape Jehovah’s compulsion Jonah sailed for some port at the western end of the Mediterranean, the end of the world for him. (Ships of Tarshish were probably originally the ships that brought the metal ores for smelting; then the places called Tarshish would have got their name as main ports for the ore trade).

        There seems little point in stressing that neither the Hebrew nor the Greek (Matt. 12:40) says that it was a whale that swallowed Jonah, for there are varieties that would have not the least difficulty in so doing. In actual fact we are left entirely in the dark as to what kind of marine monster it was.