Elijah Flees from Jezebel
1Now Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods deal with me, and ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I have not made your life like the lives of those you killed!”
- 1KI 19:2[DEMONIC]Jezebel swears by her gods to kill Elijah
3And Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Yahweh,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
5Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep.
Suddenly an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.”
- 1KI 19:5[MIRACLE]An angel feeds Elijah twice, and that food gives him strength for forty days and nights
- 1KI 19:5[NOTE]THE ANGEL. 19:7 calls him the angel of Yahweh, so his words print red, like the angel of Yahweh in Judges. Some think he was an angel God sent, and others think it was God Himself appearing.
6And he looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again.
7A second time the angel of Yahweh returned and touched him, saying, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.”
8So he got up and ate and drank. And strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
Yahweh Speaks to Elijah at Horeb
9There Elijah entered a cave and spent the night. And the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
10“I have been very zealous for Yahweh, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well.”
- 1KI 19:10[QUOTED]Quoted in the New Testament → ROM 11:3
11Then Yahweh said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before Yahweh. Behold, Yahweh is about to pass by.”
And a great and mighty wind tore into the mountains and shattered the rocks before Yahweh, but Yahweh was not in the wind.
After the wind there was an earthquake, but Yahweh was not in the earthquake.
- 1KI 19:11[MIRACLE]Wind, earthquake, fire, then the still small voice
12After the earthquake there was a fire, but Yahweh was not in the fire.
And after the fire came a still, small voice. 13When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
- 1KI 19:12[NOTABLE]God was not in the wind, the earthquake or the fire. He came to a tired, scared prophet in a whisper. Big shows are not the only way God speaks.
- 1KI 19:12[NOTE]A STILL, SMALL VOICE. The Hebrew can also mean a gentle whisper or a sound of thin silence. See the Big Question pages The Still Small Voice.
14“I have been very zealous for Yahweh, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well.”
- 1KI 19:14[QUOTED]Quoted in the New Testament → ROM 11:3
15Then Yahweh said to him, “Go back by the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you arrive, you are to anoint Hazael as king over Aram. 16You are also to anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah to succeed you as prophet.
- 1KI 19:15[PROPHECY]Elijah was told to anoint Hazael, Jehu, and Elisha, and judgment would come through them → 1KI 19:19; 2KI 8:13; 2KI 9:6
- 1KI 19:15[ARCHAEOLOGY]Hazael king of Aram is named in Shalmaneser III's records and on ivory and bronze pieces carried off from Damascus
- 1KI 19:15[FIELD NOTES]See the Hazael Field Notes page in 2 Chronicles.
- 1KI 19:16[ARCHAEOLOGY]King Jehu is named, and likely pictured, on the Black Obelisk, see the Jehu on the Black Obelisk Field Notes page in 2 Kings
17Then Jehu will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Jehu.
18Nevertheless, I have reserved seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”
- 1KI 19:18[DEMONIC]Seven thousand have not bowed to Baal
- 1KI 19:18[QUOTED]Quoted in the New Testament → ROM 11:4
- 1KI 19:18[NOTABLE]Elijah thought he was the only one left. God said there were seven thousand more. You are never as alone as you feel. Paul uses this verse in Romans 11:4.
The Call of Elisha
19So Elijah departed and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve teams of oxen, and he was with the twelfth team. Elijah passed by him and threw his cloak around him.
- 1KI 19:19[FULFILLS]Elijah was told to anoint Hazael, Jehu, and Elisha, and judgment would come through them ← 1KI 19:15-17
- 1KI 19:19[NOTE]HIS CLOAK. Throwing his prophet's cloak on Elisha was Elijah's way of calling him to take his place, 2 Kings 2:13 to 14.
20So Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and mother goodbye, and then I will follow you.”
“Go on back,” Elijah replied, “for what have I done to you?”
21So Elisha turned back from him, took his pair of oxen, and slaughtered them. Using the oxen’s equipment for fuel, he cooked the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow and serve Elijah.