The wondrous grace of God is displayed in the Lord commissioning Jonah to go to the wicked city of Nineveh with the message of His mercy and grace. The response of Jonah reminds us that the best of men remain men at the best! This is a response unique in the record of the Bible. It is true that there are many occasions of unfaithfulness amongst God's servants recorded but no act of disobedience was committed with such directness and defiance. Jonah did not reluctantly undertake his duty or half-heartedly comply. No! he utterly refused! When we read of Jonah rising up "to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD", we should not suppose that he expected to escape from God's presence. I believe that Jonah sought to withdraw from that place with which the Lord's presence was associated. That is what Adam and Eve sought to do. "And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden," Genesis 3:8. The same truth is seen in Job 1:12. Jonah was seeking to flee from that place, his native land, where the presence of the Lord was still known. That was an act of folly.