God did not allow Jonah to go to a faraway city

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III

Jonah
It might have been a Divine disposition that Jonah took that particular ship both for his and its sake. God did not allow Jonah to go to a faraway city for his own good and for the good of the mariners. It is amazing that God prepared for him the place where he would flee to from the presence of the Lord, the place which suited him, where he heard a beneficial word, the place where he stood once more in the presence of God in order to be corrected, . God prepared for him the holy environment which reproached him for his escape, . He found himself among people better than himself in all respects in order to save the gift of prophesying.