Rebbetzin Chava Kuperman
In discussing Jonah, we touched on certain aspects of receiving prophecy. And it seems that we should now make some additions and clarifications in this connection.
We must understand that prophets were not prophets from birth. A person received the gift of prophecy through merit before the Almighty. (Incidentally, since the time of the prophet Samuel, there had also been schools that trained aspiring prophets.) In other words, a person was not initially a prophet but became one at some point.
An established prophet could receive prophecy anywhere in the world.
But a beginner—that is, someone receiving prophecy for the first time—could do so only in Israel. Furthermore, only in Israel could a prophet receive a prophecy concerning any other country and any people living there, while a prophecy about Israel could be received anywhere in the world. That is why Jonah flees Israel, knowing that the prophecy he is about to receive will concern Nineveh rather than Israel. He does not want this prophecy! Outside Israel, he will not receive it—because he simply will not be able to.
Let us recall: Jonah was given the gift of prophecy in the merit of the joy he felt each time he came to the Temple with his wife, three times a year, despite the danger and the ruler's prohibition against crossing the border between the northern and southern kingdoms.
(By law, women were not obligated to come to the Temple three times a year. We find no such accounts about any other woman, but we know for certain that Jonah's wife always came to the Temple with her husband.)