In this story we happen upon a man suffering severe depression.

Not the clinical depression of a chemical imbalance or bad childhood experience, but the depression of a man who lost amazement at God. A man who grew so confident in his own strength that when his own strength failed, he lost all hope and asked God to strike him dead. And yet this man has gone down into history as a man of God.

It was a sad time in Israel’s history. Thanks to Solomon’s unbridled lust for more women than days in a year, the nation split in half and the northern kingdom called “Israel” rejected God’s law and now paid homage to the Phoenician god named Baal. When the rain clouds played hide'n seek and the crops dried up, the people of Israel dragged their own children to the altar, and burned them alive to appease the wrath of this Baal god (2 Kin 16:3; 2 Kin 21:6).

We enter the scene with the man of God at his weakest moment...

19:1 Now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.

Guess who wear the pants in this home! Instead of going after Elijah himself, Ahab complains to his wife Jezebel, telling her that Elijah wiped out 450 prophets of Baal (1 Kin 18:22; 1 Kin 18:40). Two chapters later when Naboth refuses to sell Ahab his vineyard, Ahab will come whining to Jezebel again, who will take care of things by orchestrating Naboth's murder (1 Kin 21).

Slaughtering 450 heretics doesn't sound too Christian, but we must remember that Elijah's action was in direct obedience to God’s law. As a theocratic nation under the leadership of God Himself, Israel was required to execute false prophets without mercy:

If your brother, your mother's son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” (whom neither you nor your fathers have known, of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end), you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him. But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. So you shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce you from the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you (Deut 13:6-11).

19:2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.”

Jezebel swears by the gods she worships, that she will do to Elijah what he did to her 450 prophets. Here polytheistic religions comes out in her vow, and she gives Elijah a timeframe, “Twenty-four hours and you’re a dead man.”

19:3 And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

“And he was afraid.” No kidding. Jezebel was not the kind of woman you wanted on your trail. She was the one person as committed to Baal as Elijah was to Yahweh. She was the equivalent of an ancient witch and would sooner slit your throat than a butcher would hack a piece of meat.

Elijah literally “ran for his soul” from Jezreel to Beersheba (2 Kin 18:46), a 100 mile trip. Jezreel was the location of Ahab and Jezreel’s house and headquarters so this explains why he wanted to get out of this city as fast as his legs would carry him (2 Kin 9:15). Elijah was the ultimate Bible-times marathon runner. He outran Ahab’s horse in the end of chapter 18, running around 20 miles from Mt. Carmel to Jezreel, and now he’s on a 100 mile marathon.

Beersheba sat on the southern tip of Judah, way down in the beginning of nowhere. It was the same place where Hagar and her son Ishmael wandered and almost died of thirst after getting rejected by Abraham and Sarah (Gen 21:9-16).

19:4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, "It is enough; now, Lord, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers.”

Elijah leaves his servant in Beersheba and travels another day’s journey on foot into the wilderness. This is in the middle of nowhere. If you live in Michigan, it’s like taking a trip to the middle of the Upper Peninsula. Elijah is doing all he can to get lost.

Discouraged, tired, and afraid, God's mighty prophet sits under a Juniper tree and asks God to kill him.

Sorrow and discouragement were not Elijah’s failure. His mess up was looking to the wrong person for help. He looked to himself. And when the believer looks to himself, his perspective of reality goes haywire. He ceases to be amazed with God.

Elijah sits under a shrub called a Juniper tree, also known as the Spanish broom. Standing twelve feet with lots of twigs, sparse little leaves, slender branches, and fragrant white blossoms, it was the perfect shade provider. Traveling Arabs today try to camp near Junipers for the protection they provide from windstorms and shade from the sun and the branches that can be used as fuel for fire (Psa 120:4). In extreme cases starving people would eat the roots for food (Job 30:4).

Elijah ran from death by the hand of Jezebel only to seek death by the hand of God. Matthew Henry comments, “He wishes to die by the hand of the Lord, whose tender mercies are great, and not fall into the hands of man, whose tender mercies are cruel.”¹

Fifty years later, Jonah would make the same request (2 Kin 14:25; Jon 4:3). Depression and dejection appear to be a frequent companion of the prophets. At low points in their lives, Moses (Num 11:15) and Job (Job 6:8-9) would make the same charming request.

Elijah’s desperation comes out in one sentence, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers.” Apparently, many of Elijah’s ancestors tried to oust Baal worship and failed. Elijah thought: I’m no better than they. So why live?²

19:5 He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, there was an angel touching him, and he said to him, “Arise, eat.”

Sorrow turns to exhaustion and he falls asleep. Suddenly, he wakes up. Something touched him. His eyes widen as he sees a heavenly being standing before him.

19:6 Then he looked and behold, there was at his head a bread cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again.

The angel points at bread cake, oozing with the aroma of a fresh bakery. Next to it sits a jar of water. A simple meal but healthy. I wonder how good that unearthly bread tasted. It was probably the same food as the manna which God fed Israel with over five centuries before, since Psalm 78:25 calls the manna the “bread of angels.”³

19:7 The angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise, eat, because the journey is too great for you.”

God knows that Elijah must go on a great journey so He brings him seconds.

How gracious our God is! Elijah runs from his post, doubts God’s protection, and asks God to kill him. And what does God do? He brings him two meals straight from the kitchen of heaven.

19:8 So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.

Forty days and forty nights. It's impossible to read this passage and not think of two other men from Scripture! Elijah walks to Mt. Horeb and then climbs it. That’s 200 miles south of Beersheba. That’s equivalent to running from Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids and back and then doing it all again.

Elijah is not only a marathon runner but a mountain climber (see 2 Kin 18:42). Mt. Horeb is called “the mountain of God” because it is the same mountain where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments 600 years earlier. It is also known as Mt. Sinai. It is the same mountain where Moses fasted for forty days and forty nights (Ex 3:1; Ex 24:18; Ex 34:28; Deut 9:9; Deut 9:18). It is the same general area where Israel wandered for forty years because of their disobedience to God (Num 14:26-35). And here Elijah must learn to trust God’s sustenance for 40 days, just as Moses and the nation of Israel had to do before him (see Deut 8:3-5).

19:9 Then he came there to a cave and lodged there; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

Elijah becomes a temporary caveman. God’s question is a gentle rebuke. A prophet’s work was among the people, not hidden away in a dark cave. Elijah had left his post. Unlike the postage stamp, he was not sticking to his role.

19:10a He said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts...”

That was an understatement. Elijah just took out 450 prophets. That’s God-fueled zeal. But now comes Elijah’s excuse for running away.

19:10b “...for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword...”

The people of Israel had committed three horrid sins:

1) They betrayed God’s faithfulness - “...for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant...”
2) They desecrated God’s worship - “...torn down Your altars...”
3) They murdered God’s leaders - “...and killed Your prophets with the sword” (see 1 Kin 18:4).

Notice the emphasis on “your.” Elijah’s zeal for God bleeds off the page. He’s moved to rage and desperation because God’s name has been dragged through the mud while Baal’s has been praised. The Israelites not only silenced the prophets; they murdered them.

Yet even though his words are true, his excuse is lame. Elijah blames his shirking of duty on Israel’s sins. You cannot blame others for your own sins. We all stand accountable to God for our actions and no one else can take the blame for them. No one but Jesus Christ.

19:10c “...And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”

Elijah is the only prophet left (2 Kin 18:22). He’s very alone and very scared.

We absorb a large amount of confidence simply from knowing that there are other believers in this world. We go to church and Christians surround us. We go to class and discover that student sitting three people down is saved. We go to work and are delighted to find out that our manager goes to our church. But how would it feel to be the only believer on the face of the earth? (That’s something like what the first convert after the rapture is going to feel.) Add to that, the queen of the kingdom with an army of thousands is coming to kill you.

Elijah didn’t tell God anything new. God knew Elijah’s situation. And he’s about to give Elijah a major object lesson...

19:11a So He said, "Go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord." And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord...⁴

This was no Looney Tunes Tasmanian devil whirlwind. This was a mighty wind like a hurricane or tornado. This wind was so powerful it violently ripped apart mountains. Elijah ran from the mortal queen of Israel into the presence of the living Creator of the universe!

The author adds a surprising explanation about this wind:

19:11b But the Lord was not in the wind.

God caused the wind, but His presence was not in it.

It is one thing to marvel at creative architecture. It is another to talk to the architect.
It is one thing to read a moving novel. It is another to meet the novelist.
It is one thing to witness God’s power. It is another to encounter God Himself.

19:11c And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

God turns from the wind to the ground and brings another natural disaster: an earthquake. Knowing the impact of the wind, it is not presumptuous to assume that this earthquake was also immensely powerful, creating massive faults in the ground, probably dropping 600 year-old Tabor oaks and boulders into the earth.

“...but the Lord was not in the earthquake.” Again, another catastrophic force of nature caused by God but not in-dwelt by God.

19:12a After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire...

Moving from element to element, God now sends a fire. I doubt it was a smoldering twig. It probably took out a few hundred acres. Again the author tells us, “But the Lord was not in the fire.”

Elijah stands face to face with three natural disasters, but God was not in any of them. What point is God making? Why this terrifying exhibition of divine power? What is He trying to say? I can do whatever pleases Me, whether I am present or not!

Like a king before battle or a pastor before Sunday morning, Elijah was worried about numbers. “I’m just one guy! And they are many. Why should I even live? My next step into a city will mean certain death for me.” Elijah was looking at things through man’s eyes instead of God’s. God does not have to resort to earth-shaking forces to get His work done on earth. He delights in using small people who are outnumbered and out-weaponed to advance His kingdom.

At this point, you figure, “God is building the suspense. He’s not in the wind cause that’s just not big enough for Him. An earthquake? Nope, still to small. What about fire? Big, but not big enough.” And now you’re waiting for something really big, the grand finale, the ultimate natural disaster—maybe a combination of disasters all in one; the ultimate disas-thalon!”

19:12b ...and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing.

A gentle breeze. What? Is this God's climactic act? Like a cool summer evening at South Haven beach when the breeze ripples over the waters and past your face, God sends a gentle blowing so low and insignificant that had God not sent the three previous disasters, Elijah might have thought it was just the weather.

The writer doesn’t even tell us if there was actual wind. It could have only been the sound of a wind. The ASV calls it “a still small voice,” the NIV “a gentle whisper”, and the ESV “the sound of a low whisper.” Two commentators put it well, “Even God [does] not always operate in the realm of the spectacular!”⁵

Elijah thought he was the only man who hadn’t bent the knee to the wicked Baal god, yet God knew there were 7,000 in Israel who would stand behind Elijah and worship the one true God. It is interesting that God doesn’t tell him that until verse 18. Why? God didn’t want Elijah’s confidence coming from the 7,000 but from the God in the unimpressive breeze.

Elijah needed to trust God just as much in the gentle breeze as when He's sending fire from heaven (2 Kin 18:38).

19:13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

Did you notice that Elijah has changed places? In verse 11, he's commanded to "stand on the mountain before the Lord." This means outside of the cave. But now he's back inside! The natural disasters probably sent him retrieving into the cave for protection.

Why does he wrap his face? I don’t think he was worried about getting a sunburn. Elijah knew that God was in this breeze and he knew the Torah which records God telling Moses, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” (Ex 33:20).

Just the still, quiet presence of God is more dangerous and powerful than all the natural disasters of earth put together. To encounter God Himself is to encounter the most dangerous thing in the universe!

God again asks him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

19:14 Then he said, "I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”

Elijah gives the exact same response he did last time. There is a hint of pious accusation against the Lord, as if Elijah was more zealous for God’s name than God was.

19:15-17 The Lord said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you have arrived, you shall anoint Hazael king over Aram; and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. It shall come about, the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall put to death.”

God instructs Elijah to return down the mountain to the wilderness of Damascus which was far northeast of Israel. Another long journey. Three hundred miles. It would be a detour around Israel. When he arrives he is to anoint three men (verse 16):

1. Hazael as king of Aram. That’s an international move.
2. Jehu as king of Israel. That’s a national move.
3. And Elisha as his successor. That’s a ministry move.

These three men were appointed by God to vindicate His name which had been dragged through the mud by the house of Ahab. “Through these three men God would complete the purge of Baal worship that Elijah had begun.”⁶ Elijah was not the only one concerned for the glory of God’s name. God was too.

Of the three men, Elijah would personally only anoint Elisha (1 Kin 19:19), and the rest he would do by proxy. Elijah's successor, Elisha, would commission Hazael as king of Aram (2 Kin 8:7-13) and appoint Jehu as king of Israel (2 Kin 9:1-10). It seems to be accurate that “anointing is used synonymously with appointment (Judg 9:8)"⁷ in this passage. To anoint and commission for kingship was part of a prophet’s role, just as Samuel the prophet did for King Saul and David, so Elijah the prophet would do for the kings of Israel and Judah.

Elijah’s influence was so widespread that it crossed the borders of Israel. This explains why a foreign king would allow Elijah’s successor to commission him. The Arameans would some day seek Elisha’s help for healing from leprosy (2 Kin 5:1-14) and later on send their entire army to try to kill him (2 Kin 6:8-23). In 2 Kings 8:7-8, the predecessor of King Hazael would fall sick and ask Elisha if he was going to live or die, another indication of these prophets’ border-crossing reputations. Prophet Jeremiah’s life provides another example. When the Babylonians ransacked Judah, they already knew who Jeremiah was and treated him with great respect (Jer 40:1-5).

But what does God mean when He says in verse 17, "...the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall put to death"? This refers to the execution of every member of Ahab's house. King Hazael would war against Joram, Ahab’s son, and wound Joram (2 Kin 9:14-15; 2 Chro 22:5). He would then cut off pieces of Israel’s land for many years (2 Kin 10:32; 2 Kin 13:3; 2 Kin 13:22). Jehu, the king of Israel, whom God anointed for the purpose of destroying the house of Ahab (2 Chro 22:7) would put Joram to death along with Joram’s mother, Jezebel, and Ahab’s 70 other sons (2 Kin 10:1-11), and all the remaining prophets of Baal whom Ahab put into power (2 Kin 10:18-33). Elijah was indirectly anointing the executioner of one of the most wicked families of Israel.

19:18 “Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

Having taught Elijah through his 40 day fast and natural disasters encounter, and having sent him on a new mission, God puts to death the excuse Elijah was leaning on: “Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel.”

“I will leave” in the Hebrew is what is called a “hiphil” verb. That means the focus is on the actor’s force in causing something to happen. This word is better translated, “I will cause to remain.” For this reason I prefer the NIV, “Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel,” and the NKJV, “Yet I have reserved...” or even the NLT, “Yet I will preserve...”

That’s why in Romans 11:4 Paul quotes this same statement from the Septuagint saying, “yet I have kept for myself..” Paul uses this passage to prove that God is not done with Israel. He will keep a remnant for Himself! These 7,000 people are precious in the eyes of God and He’s not letting them go!

Had God not preserved a remnant of 7,000 people, Jesus would never have been born, and you and I would have no forgiveness of sins, but only judgment and damnation.

Perhaps Elijah started wondering if God was checking out. But God will not give up on His people. And he proved that when He sent His ultimate prophet, Jesus Christ.

Endnotes

1. Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume (Peabody: Hendrickson), 1 Kings 19:1.

2. The Scriptures frequently called him “Elijlah the Tishbite” (much like Ruth was labeled “Ruth the Moabitess.” The Bible tells us almost nothing about the tribe or people of the “Tishbites” (in fact, Elijah is the only personal Tishbite the Bible speaks of). He was of the Jewish settlers in Gilead from the tribe of Manasseh (1 Kings 17:1; Num 26:29).

3. This was not the first time God miraculously provided for Elijah’s sustenance (17:4, 6).

4. No Jew who knew his Scriptures could read this story and not be reminded of something very similar God did with Moses on the same mountain in Exodus 33:18-23.

5. Richard D Patterson and Hermann J. Austel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988), 150.

6. Quoted in Bible Knowledge Commentary.