1 Kings 19:1 - Meaning and Application

After such a public and clear display of God’s glory, one would have expected everyone to honor Elijah. The whole dispute between God and Baal had been decided before the people’s eyes. Fire had come down from heaven at Elijah’s prayer, showing that God accepted the sacrifice, and water had come down too, refreshing the land that had been dry and weary. It would have seemed natural for Israel to return at once to the worship of the God of Israel and to follow Elijah as their guide. Instead, the man God had honored was ignored, and Israel became too hot a place for him.

Ahab stirred up Jezebel against him. Jezebel, Ahab’s wife, acted like a queen who ruled in his place, and she was a proud and commanding woman who controlled both king and nation as she pleased. Ahab’s conscience would not let him persecute Elijah, for there were still some remaining traces in him of an Israelite spirit. So he told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, not to soften her, but to anger her more. He did not mention what God had done, only what Elijah had done, as if Elijah had brought fire from heaven by some magic, and God had no part in it. He especially pointed out that Elijah had killed the prophets of Baal, whom he spoke of as if they were the only real prophets. He loved them deeply, and he blamed Elijah for killing them, while ignoring the fact that this was a just response to Jezebel’s earlier murder of God’s prophets (1 Kings 18:4). People who cannot bring themselves to do harm openly, but stir others up to do it, will be counted as guilty as though they had done it themselves.

Jezebel then sent Elijah a threatening message (1 Kings 19:2). She swore that she would kill him within twenty-four hours. Something kept her from doing it at once, but she was determined not to leave it undone for long. Sinful hearts often become more hard and angry against God by the very things that should have convinced them and brought them low. She swore by her gods and, in her rage, called down destruction on herself if she did not kill Elijah, without any thought of whether God would permit it. Cruelty and bold confidence often go together in persecutors. Yet why did she send him word of her plan and give him a chance to escape? Perhaps she thought he was so bold that he would not run, or that she was so feared that he could not get away. Or perhaps God’s providence was at work, allowing her to be blinded by her own anger. More likely, she wanted his blood, but for the moment she did not dare touch him because the people all regarded him as a prophet, even a great prophet. So she sent the message to frighten him and clear him out of the way for now, before he could continue what he had begun. The oath and curse she added do not prove she truly meant to kill him immediately. They only show that she wanted him to believe she would. The gods she swore by could not help or harm her.

At this, Elijah was deeply afraid and fled for his life, probably by night, to Beersheba (1 Kings 19:3). We cannot praise him for this. Where was the courage that had just stood before Ahab and all the prophets of Baal? Where was the boldness that held its ground while fire from God fell on his sacrifice? The same man who stood firm amid the terrors of heaven and earth now trembled before the empty threats of a proud and angry woman. How frail human strength is. Great faith is not always equally strong. Elijah surely knew that he could be very useful to Israel at that moment, and he had every reason to trust God’s protection while he was doing God’s work. Yet he fled. In his earlier danger God had told him to hide himself (1 Kings 17:3), so he may have thought he could do the same now.

From Beersheba he went on into the wilderness, that wide and desolate desert where Israel once wandered. Beersheba was far enough from Jezreel, and it lay under the rule of good King Jehoshaphat, so Elijah would have been safe there. Yet, as if fear still followed him even out of danger’s reach, he could not rest there and went a day’s journey farther into the desert. Perhaps he went there not only for safety, but also to be fully withdrawn from the world so he could have freer and closer fellowship with God. He left his servant at Beersheba, either so he could be alone in the wilderness, like Abraham leaving his servants below the hill when he went up to worship, or because he did not want to expose a young and tender servant to the hardships of the desert. We should think carefully about the weakness of those under our care, because God is considerate of our weakness too.

Weary from the journey, Elijah became discouraged and wished that he might die, as if tired children do when they are sleepy (1 Kings 19:4). The margin says he asked for his life, that he might die, for death is life to a good man, since the body’s death means the soul’s life. But that was not the true reason he wanted to die. This was not the calm desire of grace, like Paul’s wish to depart and be with Christ, but the angry wish of human weakness, like Job’s. People who are eager to die in this way are not in the best condition to face death. Jezebel had sworn to kill him, and in his upset he prayed for death, fleeing from death toward death. Even so, there was a difference. He wanted to die by the hand of the Lord, whose tender mercies are great, and not by the hand of man, whose mercies are cruel. He would rather die in the wilderness than die like Baal’s prophet under Jezebel’s threat (1 Kings 19:2), lest Baal’s worshipers boast and insult the God of Israel, as though they had proved stronger than his defender. He said, “It is enough. I have done enough and suffered enough. I am tired of living.” Those who have already secured happiness in the next world will soon find they have had enough of this one.

Elijah says, “I am no better than my fathers. I can bear no more than they could, so why should I keep carrying this burden longer?” Yet it is surprising to hear such words from this great and brave man. God left him to himself here to show that when he had been bold and strong, it was because of the Lord’s power, not his own. By himself, Elijah was no better than his fathers or his fellow prophets.

God then fed him through an angel in the wilderness, the place into which he had carelessly thrown himself. If God had not kindly helped him, he would have died there. This shows how much better God treats his stubborn children than they deserve. Elijah, in a fit of discouragement, wanted to die. God did not need him, yet he still planned to use and honor him, so he sent an angel to keep him alive. Our condition would often be very sad if God always gave us what we foolishly and emotionally ask for.

After praying that he might die, Elijah lay down and slept (1 Kings 19:5), perhaps hoping to die in his sleep and never wake again. But instead of dying, he was awakened and found bread and water ready for him (1 Kings 19:6). Even more, an angel had watched over him while he slept and twice called him to eat when the food was ready, (1 Kings 19:5, 1 Kings 19:7). He had no reason to complain about men’s harshness when angels were sent to care for him. In this way, he was better provided for than the prophets of the groves who ate at Jezebel’s table.

Wherever God’s children are, they remain on their Father’s ground and under their Father’s eye and care. They may lose their way in a wilderness, but God does not lose sight of them. There, they may think of him who lives and sees them, as Hagar did (Genesis 16:13).

Elijah was then carried, strengthened by this food, to Horeb, the mountain of God (1 Kings 19:8). The Spirit of the Lord likely led him there, even beyond what he had planned, so he could meet with God in the same place where Moses had met with him. There the law given through Moses would be freshly brought to mind through Elijah’s ministry. The angel told him to eat a second time because the journey ahead was so great (1 Kings 19:7).

God knows what he has planned for us, even when we do not. He knows what work, what trials, and what needs lie ahead, and he will provide for us when we cannot provide for ourselves. He gives us enough grace for what he calls us to do. The one who appoints the journey will also supply the food for the trip.

See how many different ways God used to keep Elijah alive. First he fed him by ravens with repeated meals, then by an angel, and now, to show that man does not live by bread alone, he kept him alive for forty days without food. Elijah was not resting and sleeping so much that he simply needed less food. He was continually traveling through the desert, as Israel had wandered for a year of days. Yet he neither needed food nor longed for it. The place likely reminded him of the manna, and it encouraged him to hope that God would sustain him there too, and in time bring him out, as he had brought Israel out, even though they were, like Elijah, restless and distrustful.