Elijah’s depression and flight to Sinai
19
📚And Ahab told Jezebel 📖 all that Elijah had done, and the whole account of how he had killed 📖 all the prophets with the sword. 2 📚Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do harm to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time”.3 📚And when he saw that, he arose and went for his life 📖, and came to Beersheba, which belonged to Judah, and left his servant there. 4 📚But he himself went a day’s journey into the desert, and came to a juniper tree and sat down under it, and requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is enough. Now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am not better 📖 than my fathers”.
5 📚And as he lay down and slept under the juniper tree, suddenly an angel 📖 touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat”.
6 📚And he looked, and there appeared a cake baked on the coals, and a jar of water at his head. And he ate and drank and lay down again.
7 📚And the angel of the LORD 📖 came again a second time and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey 📖 is too great for you”.
8 📚And he arose and ate and drank, and in the strength of that food travelled forty days and forty nights to Horeb 📖, the mountain of God. 9 📚And he came there to a cave, and spent the night there. And suddenly the word of the LORD came to him and said to him, “What are you doing here 📖, Elijah?”
The Lord’s encouragement and instruction to Elijah
10 📚And he said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. And I, I alone 📖, am left; and they seek to take my life”.
19:10 Elijah is still in the pit of depression. He feels his ministry has come to nothing, and that only death awaits him.⚜
11 📚And he said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD”. And suddenly the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind split the mountains, and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD. But the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake came, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 📚And after the earthquake a fire appeared, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a still small voice.
19:11-12 Sometimes God did come to His people in spectacular ways, in windstorm, earthquake and fire (1 Kings 18:38; Ex 19:16-19; Job 38:1; Ps 18:6-15; Isa 29:6). But Elijah had already seen enough of the spectacular. He needed to find calm and peace. Perhaps he needed to understand better that God can accomplish His purposes in quiet and gentle ways also. Compare Isa 42:1-4. God does not need to speak to people in a voice of thunder, with the power of miraculous activity.⚜
13 📚And it came about, when Elijah heard it, that he covered his face in his cloak and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And then a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
14 📚And he said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. And I, I alone, am left; and they seek to take my life”.
19:14 Apparently Elijah did not understand what God was trying to teach him. Do we?⚜
15 📚And the LORD said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you arrive, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. 16 📚And you shall anoint Jehu, the son of Nimshi, to be king over Israel, and you shall anoint Elisha, the son of Shaphat, of Abel-Meholah to be prophet in your place.
19:15-16 Elijah did not carry out these commands as far as we know. Elisha went to Hazael (2 Kings 8:8-15), and sent another to anoint Jehu (2 Kings 9:1-10). Elijah did seek out Elisha but did not, it seems, literally anoint him. The mention of Elisha here indicates that Elijah’s ministry was coming to an end. He had been given his work and had almost finished it. Now he must appoint his successor. Compare Moses and Joshua (Deut 31:1-2, 7, 8).⚜
17 📚And it will come about that the one who escapes the sword of Hazael Jehu will kill, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu Elisha will kill.
19:17 God was going to send judgment on Israel.⚜
18 📚Yet I have left seven thousand 📖 for myself in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him”.
Elijah goes to Elisha
19 📚So he left there and found Elisha, the son of Shaphat, who was plowing 📖 with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he with the twelfth; and Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle 📖 on him. 20 📚And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you”. And he said to him, “Go back 📖 again, for what have I done to you?”
21 📚And he went back from him, and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them, and boiled their flesh with the implements of the oxen, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah, and ministered to him.
19:21 Elisha was eager for God’s service, even lowly service (2 Kings 3:11). He burned his bridges behind him – destroyed his means of livelihood, and went forth for God. Compare Mark 1:16-20.⚜