Comments on 1 Kings 19 v1-8 When Ahab gets home he tells Jezebel everything that has transpired with Elijah (v. 1). Despite the overthrow of her prophets and religion, Jezebel remains in political power and swears an oath to have Elijah killed within the day just as he killed her prophets (v. 2). Elijah fears being executed, so he flees in haste and separates from his servant, presumably for the safety of the servant (v. 3). He ends up going alone into the wilderness, and becomes so depressed he ends up suicidal (v. 4). Repeated angelic intervention stems Elijah's depression (v. 5-7). The angel then instructs Elijah to go to Mt. Horeb (v. 7), and Elijah travels 40 days journey there on the strength provided him by the angelic food (v. 8). We have here the opposite case of 18:1. There, Elijah is confidant and brave. He sees an imminent glorious revolution in Israel where they will return to the Lord and cast off the shackles of Jezebel. He goes off to confidently confront Ahab and even mock him and the prophets of Baal. However, after all is said and done Israel doesn't revolt against Ahab and Jezebel at all. So, Elijah runs away fearing for his life. He becomes terribly depressed over the seeming failure of Israel to depose Jezebel, and ends up alone, considering himself a failure, wishing the Lord would end his life. v4-8 Here, Elijah feels he has failed in accomplishing the task the Lord set out for him to accomplish. He blames himself, and considers himself no better than his fathers, an imprecation indicating he is carnal and weak as they were (cp. 2 Chron. 29:6. 2 Chron. 30:7). He gets so depressed he even wishes the Lord would end his mortal probation by taking away his life. Note the descriptors applied to him at this time "sat down...he lay, and slept...laid him down again". This kind of behavior is very common for a person suffering from depression, they lay around, sleep a lot, loaf, and are generally listless because they feel powerless in their condition. The psychological depression results in physical weakness. The text here, the JPS translation is used below, can be arranged chiastically as follows: A - 4 he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush and sat down under it, and prayed that he might die. "Enough!" he cried. "Now, O Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers." B - 5 He lay down and fell asleep under a broom bush. C - Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, "Arise and eat." 6 He looked about; and there, beside his head, was a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water! D - He ate and drank, and lay down again. C - 7 The angel of the Lord came a second time and touched him and said, "Arise and eat, or the journey will be too much for you." B - 8 He arose and ate and drank; A - and with the strength from that meal he walked forty days and forty nights as far as the mountain of God at Horeb. With the summary being: A - Elijah alone, in wilderness, depressed, suicidal B - He lays down, sleeps, empty C - Angel tells him to "Arise and eat", food given D - He eats food, but returns to depression C - Angel tells him to "Arise and eat", food given B - He rises up, eats and drinks A - Elijah alone, travels up to Mt. Horeb, purpose in life The chiasm is clearly intended to emphasize the interaction between Elijah and the angel. Elijah was suicidally depressed, a means of escape was provided, but not forced upon him. At first, he chose to eat the food provided, but also chose to remain depressed. The second time, he chose to eat the food provided, and chose to no longer be depressed. Elijah could have rejected the food and died in his depression, nobody forced him to eat it and live, or even to eat it and change his attitude. The means of delivery was provided, but it was up to him to take advantage of it. v8 The quality of this angelically provided divine food is such that it lifts Elijah from his depression and gives him strength to make a long journey as well as climb a mountain. As physical food is commonly equated with spiritual food in the OT (cf. Deut. 8:3), the implications are obviously that you need both to sustain the life of your whole soul. And, food from God is sufficient to sustain a person entirely. v9-18 Elijah's interview with God at Mt. Horeb. The interview is designed to instruct Elijah on the ways of the Lord. Elijah had expected to accomplish more than he did, thus he feels he was a failure. But, the Lord points out to him that His ways are subtle, and not overt and flashy. The text is again highly structured, this time a synthetical parallelism, as follows (JPS): A - 9 There he went into a cave, and there he spent the night. B - Then the word of the Lord came to him. He said to him, "Why are you here, Elijah?" C - 10 He replied, "I am moved by zeal for the Lord, the God of Hosts, for the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and put Your prophets to the sword. I alone am left, and they are out to take my life." D - 11 "Come out," He called, "and stand on the mountain before the Lord." And lo, the Lord passed by. There was a great and mighty wind, splitting mountains and shattering rocks by the power of the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake fire; but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire a soft murmuring sound. A - 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his mantle about his face and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. B - Then a voice addressed him: "Why are you here, Elijah?" C - 14 He answered, "I am moved by zeal for the Lord, the God of Hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and have put Your prophets to the sword. I alone am left, and they are out to take my life." D - 15 The Lord said to him, "Go back by the way you came, [and] on to the wilderness of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael as king of Aram. 16 Also anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king of Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Whoever escapes the sword of Hazael shall be slain by Jehu, and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu shall be slain by Elisha. 18 I will leave in Israel only seven thousand every knee that has not knelt to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him." In both A's Elijah is in darkness, the first is at night inside the cave. The second time Elijah comes out of the cave, but uses his mantle to cover his face lest he see God's face. In the first instance Elijah is not really understanding what is going on, so he is the dark. In the second case, he is better understanding what is happening so he humbles himself and acknowledges that he is not worthy to see God's face. Also note that in the first case he is inside the cave, where in the second case he is out of the cave. Both the B's and the C's remain identical, but their meaning changes based upon the A's and D's. In the first Q & A, the Lord asks and Elijah answers out of his fear that he is the only one left and they are all out to kill him. In the second one, Elijah answers realizing that he is the one called upon to do the Lord's bidding because they have killed the others and there isn't anyone else better to do the job at present. In both questions in the B's there is definitely an element of gentle reproof. Had Elijah not needed some instruction, he would not have been summoned to Mt. Horeb. Perhaps Elijah saw his going to Horeb as fleeing into the bosom of God while escaping his enemies, but this is not how it turns out. Elijah ends up being censured, educated, and sent back out. Then the D's emphasize that the Lord does not do things in big flashy ways, but rather He uses quiet, subtle ways. In Elijah's massive overt spectacle wherein he humiliated the prophets of Baal, Israel was overwhelmed by the experience and subsequently rejected Baal. But, there wasn't any enduring, substantive change in Israel as they didn't rebel against Ahab and Jezebel, the ones who imposed Baal upon them. Overt miracles can persuade people to action temporarily, but the Scriptures show time and again that miracles do not spiritually convict people. The only thing that spiritually convicts people is their own repentance and humility and the subtle whisperings of the Spirit. The second D then informs Elijah what the Lord's plan is regarding Israel's political future, which differs considerably from what Elijah's plan was. The Lord shows he is a subtle social engineer who works behind the scenes to accomplish his goals. To conclude the interview, the Lord points out to Elijah that he in fact isn't the only one left who is zealous for the Lord as there is Elisha and 7000 people among Israel who have remained faithful to Him. v12 "fire...not in the fire", cp. 18:38. v19 Elisha is summoned by Elijah to follow him. Note here that Elisha has 12 yoke of oxen in the field, and he is plowing behind the twelfth. What does this imply? Elisha is a wealthy farmer who has a lot of oxen plowing a lot of land and can afford servants. Not only that, but to have 12 yoke of oxen, or 12 pair, in the field at any one time would require him to have at least another 12 to 24 yoke in reserve as oxen were rotated throughout the day after a few hours work. Since oxen were doing all of the hard work of plowing, it was necessary to rotate them depending on how difficult the plowing was. Thus, in order to keep 12 plows operating, Elisha must have had more than 12 yoke of oxen. Copyright © 2002 by S. Kurt Neumiller . All rights reserved. No part of this text may be reproduced in any form or by any means for commercial gain without the express written consent of the author. Digital or printed copies may be freely made and distributed for personal and public non-commercial use.