Elijah Before God: 1 Kings 19:9-21

1 Kings 19:9‑21  •  6 min. read  •  grade level: 7
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Elijah comes to Horeb, the mountain of God, and goes into the cave, the same place, no doubt, where the Lord had hidden Moses (Ex. 33). The prophet did not know where God would bring him; he did not intend to betake himself to Horeb when he fled a day’s journey into the wilderness. But though he reaches the cave, it is not with the feelings of the heart of a Moses toward the guilty people — a heart which despite all their iniquity, beat for the people of God. “Blot me, I pray thee, out of Thy book that Thou hast written” (Ex. 32:3232Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. (Exodus 32:32)), ready to suffer being made a curse in order to save Israel. “Consider that this nation is Thy people!” (Ex. 33:1313Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people. (Exodus 33:13)), he said again, interceding for them. This same Moses who proclaimed the God of the law appealed to the mercies of the God of grace towards those who had offended Him.
But Elijah had not yet learned the lesson which God wanted to teach him. “The word of Jehovah came to him, and he said to him, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for Jehovah the God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, thrown down Thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I am left, I alone, and they seek my life, to take it away” (1 Kings 19:9-109And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? 10And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. (1 Kings 19:9‑10)). Then God teaches him what Moses had desired to know when he said, “Let me see thy glory.” First He makes various manifestations of His power and His judgments pass before the prophet. Elijah knew them well: he had been present when the stormy wind had preceded the rain (1 Kings 18:4545And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel. (1 Kings 18:45)); at his word fire had fallen from heaven in presence of all the people (1 Kings 18:3838Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. (1 Kings 18:38)); and these same phenomena had occurred of old upon this very mountain when God had given the law; the mountain had also quaked and there had been thunder and lightening and fire. But — what a lesson for Elijah — the Lord was not in the wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire. The whole life of this most powerful of the prophets might well have slipped away without him ever really knowing God!
Elijah hears “a soft gentle voice” (1 Kings 19:12-1312And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. 13And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? (1 Kings 19:12‑13)); then he understands that this is something new surpassing the scope of his experiences, and, his face wrapped in his prophet’s mantle, he stands at the entrance of the cave. This soft gentle voice was that of grace. It is in grace that God has revealed Himself in the fullness of His being to poor sinners like ourselves. The God who thus reveals Himself repeats His question to the prophet to probe him to the very depth: “What doest thou here, Elijah?” Elijah makes the same reply (1 Kings 19:1414And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. (1 Kings 19:14); cf. 1 Kings 19:1010And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. (1 Kings 19:10)). He had had time for reflection; he lays bare what is in his heart. Whom does he credit with good? Himself: “I have been very jealous for Jehovah... I am left, I alone... they seek my life.” Whom does he accuse? The people of God: “The children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets... they seek my life.” In a word it is an orderly accusation, a pleading against Israel, and a panegyric for Elijah.
“Know ye not,” says the apostle, “what the scripture says in the history of Elias, how he pleads with God against Israel? Lord, they have killed thy prophets, they have dug down thine altars; and I have been left alone, and they seek my life. But what says the divine answer to him? I have left to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed knee to Baal. Thus, then, in the present time also there has been a remnant according to election of grace.” “God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew” (Rom. 11:2-5; 11:22God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, 3Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. 4But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. 5Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. (Romans 11:2‑5)
2God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, (Romans 11:2)).
Elijah had come to intercede against Israel! In accusing the people and in justifying himself he was showing his ignorance of grace and of himself. How was this then? He was appearing before the God of grace to play the role of accuser and to plead for judgment! But what was the divine answer to him? First of all, that vengeance would be executed. To Elijah would fall the sad mission of preparing the instruments: Hazael and Jehu. Secondly, the prophetic administration is taken away from Elijah and he must anoint Elisha as prophet in his stead. He who was saying, “I am left, I alone,” must learn that God chooses, forms, or discharges His instruments as it suits Himself. How Elijah thus is judged to the very depths! No longer will he say, “Take my life; for I am not better than my fathers.” He will have to live on, all the while being witness to another ministry which he will have to acknowledge, being himself used of God in forming it.
Thirdly, and this is the great point of “the divine answer”: “Yet I have left myself seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth that hath not kissed him” (1 Kings 19:1818Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. (1 Kings 19:18)). There was therefore a remnant according to the election of grace, known by God, but unknown to Elijah. The soft gentle voice was still being heard in these days of apostasy, and it was in this feeble remnant that God found His pleasure.
Elijah accepts this humiliating lesson: he submits when for the fourth time God says to him: “Go!” (cf. 1 Kings 17:3, 9; 18:13Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. (1 Kings 17:3)
9Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. (1 Kings 17:9)
1And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth. (1 Kings 18:1)). He returns by the way by which he had come (1 Kings 19:1515And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: (1 Kings 19:15)). He finds Elisha the son of Shapat and casts his mantle on him — the mark of identification as a prophet. Had he stuck to the mere letter of God’s word, he would have had to begin by anointing Hazael and Jehu (1 Kings 19:15, 1615And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: 16And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. (1 Kings 19:15‑16)), but he makes haste to carry out the act which would reduce himself to nothing — himself, the great prophet — by handing over his authority to another. Thus he who had said, “I am left, I alone,” shows that from now on he is nothing in his own eyes. As for Hazael and Jehu, it would not be Elijah, but Elisha who would anoint them. He surrenders all claims to that which could have made him stand out and leaves that work to be carried out by someone other than himself.
Elisha leaves his oxen and runs after Elijah. “Go back again,” the prophet answers him, using the same words he had heard from the mouth of the Lord (1 Kings 19:1515And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: (1 Kings 19:15)). He was nothing in his own eyes from now on, and this was not the moment to induce Elisha to follow him. “What have I done to thee?” Elijah had not cast his mantle on him to draw him after himself, but that he might be prophet in his stead. What a beautiful example of humility, of self-judgment, of unselfishness, of obedience, of trust in the Word this man of God gives us here! How quickly chastening had produced its fruits in him! Can we not say that Elijah’s humiliation will glorify God more than all the prophet’s power? His career is apparently broken off, but a new career, beginning in chastening, is about to open before him; and if the first has not ended in glory, the second will end in nothing but glory! Let us all follow Elijah’s example in the breaking of self in order to glorify the Lord!