ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף יחזקאל 1:3

The Questions — Why did Jonah flee to Tarshish? If [he fled] so that the word of Hashem would not reach him, then, behold, Hashem had already commanded him [to go to Nineveh] and he refused to go on the mission. What difference does it make if he refuses once or if he refuses twice? And why did he flee to the sea and not to the desert and from there to chutz la’aretz [‘outside the Holy Land’]? For, behold, the sea is suitable for prophecy, as it is written that God appeared to Ezekiel in chutz la’aretz because he was in a place of water (Ezekiel 1:3). And the phrase ‘ba’ah Tarshish,’ ‘arriving Tarshish,’ [appears] incorrect, for it should have said, 'holechet Tarshish,' ‘going [to] Tarshish.’

"And Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish" — because he was afraid lest He send him again and place a word of prophecy in his mouth that he go as a prophet, and then he would be compelled to go. Therefore he hurried to flee from before the LORD. And already R.I”A. observed that there is a difference between ‘from the LORD’ and ‘from before the LORD’: ‘from the LORD’ is said about His knowledge and providence — and how could one flee from the providence of the LORD and where from His presence could he flee? — but ‘before the LORD’ comes about closeness and the resting of the Shechinah, when he is standing and walking before the LORD and cleaving to Him. And he wanted to flee to outside the Land, where the Shechinah does not dwell, and from there He would not send him to prophesy. And behold, he chose to go down by sea and not to flee to outside the Land by way of the wilderness, because prophecy sometimes rests also in outside the Land when the spirit had already once rested on him in the Land of Israel, as it is said about what is said in Ezekiel ‘the word of the LORD was indeed’ — that he prophesied in outside the Land because he had already prophesied in the Land; and Elijah, when fleeing the wilderness from Jezebel, saw visions of God at Mount Horeb. Therefore he went up to the ship, thinking that while he would be on the ship the spirit of the LORD would not rest on him, whether because seafarers’ minds are unsettled from the suffering of the sea until their coming to dry land, as our Sages said, or because then he would not be in seclusion, since there were on the ship idol-worshippers — all this would prevent the Shechinah from resting upon him — and thus it says:

IF THERE BE ‘NEVI’ACHEM’ [literally “your prophet”] - if there be a prophet “among you,” as Onkelos rendered it [“if there be prophets among you”]. And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented that the meaning thereof is: “if there be among you a prophet, a prophet of the Eternal,²⁸³The Hebrew text reads: Im yih’yeh nevi’achem Hashem. Ibn Ezra explains it by adding the word navi (prophet), which is in construct with Hashem — “the prophet of the Eternal.” The reason why Ibn Ezra is forced to do so is because when a noun is in construct it cannot have a pronoun as a suffix, and here it says nevi’achem Hashem, the word nevi’achem having such a pronoun as a suffix. Hence Ibn Ezra adds the word navi (the prophet of), to be in construct with the noun Hashem. The sense of the verse is thus: Im yih’yeh nevi’achem ‘nevi’ Hashem. as in [the expression] and the prophecy of Oded the prophet.”²⁸⁴II Chronicles 15:8. The meaning thereof is: “and the prophecy, a prophecy of Oded the prophet.” The point here is that a noun which is in the construct cannot have the prefix hei, which indicates the definite article. Here it is stated: v’hanevua Oded. Hence Ibn Ezra explains it by adding the word nevuath (a prophecy of), making the sense of the phrase: “and the prophecy, a prophecy of Oded the prophet.” He has explained it well. Thus the meaning of the verse is that “even if there is a prophet among you who is a [true] prophet of the Eternal, he can only prophesy by My Great Name through a vision or in riddles.” He mentions this [“if he be a true prophet of the Eternal”] because many prophets did not attain even this [stage], but were prophets by virtue of the Holy Spirit, as it is said, The spirit of the Eternal spoke by me,²⁸⁵II Samuel 23:2. this being the “hand” mentioned in connection with Ezekiel,²⁸⁶Ezekiel 1:3. [and the hand of the Eternal was there upon him] etc. as is explained in the words of Zechariah.²⁸⁷“Most of his messages were in riddles and parables and through an angel; but he was nonetheless a prophet as he attained to Divine vision” (Abusaula).