1 Kings 19:9 - Meaning and Application

Elijah was staying in a cave at Mount Horeb, also called the mountain of God, because God had once shown his glory there. It may have been the same cave, or rock cleft, where Moses was hidden when the Lord passed by and proclaimed his name (Exodus 33:22). We can only guess why Elijah came to stay there. Perhaps he was giving in to sadness, or perhaps he wanted to see that famous place, where the law was given and many great things had happened, hoping to meet God there as Moses had.

It may also have been a sign that Elijah felt God was leaving Israel, since the people hated correction. In that case, it fits Jeremiah’s wish, “Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go away from them, for they are all adulterers” (Jeremiah 9:2). If so, his coming there was a bad sign for Israel, showing that God was about to withdraw from them. Or perhaps Elijah went there because he thought he was not safe anywhere else. The apostle points to this kind of hardship when he says that God’s people “wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground” (Hebrews 11:38).

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah there. No place can hide us from God’s eye, his power, or his word. “Where can I go from your Spirit?” asks the psalmist (Psalm 139:7). God cares for those who are cast out, and those driven away for his sake he will find, honor, and gather back with everlasting love. John also saw visions of God while he was exiled on the island of Patmos (Revelation 1:9).

God asked Elijah, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” and asked it again later (1 Kings 19:9, 13). This was a rebuke. First, it rebuked him for fleeing there. What brought him so far from home? Was he running from Jezebel, Ahab’s queen, who wanted him dead? Could he not trust God’s all-powerful protection? The word “you” carries the rebuke strongly. What, you, such a great man, such a great prophet, known for courage, running from your country and giving up your post? That kind of fear would be less shameful in someone else, but it was a poor example in him. “Should such a man as I flee?” asks Nehemiah (Nehemiah 6:11).

Second, God’s question rebuked him for settling there. What was he doing in that cave? Was that a proper place for a prophet of the Lord to live? Was this the time for a public servant to withdraw, when the people had such need of him? When God had sent Elijah into retirement before, he had been a blessing to the poor widow at Zarephath. But here he had no way to do good. We should often ask whether we are in our right place, walking in our duty, where God calls us, where our work is, and where we can be useful.

Elijah answered the Lord, and the same answer is repeated later (1 Kings 19:10, 14). He tried to excuse his retreat, wanting it not to be blamed on a lack of zeal for reform, but on despair about success. God knew, and Elijah’s own conscience knew, that as long as there was any hope of doing good, he had been deeply devoted to the Lord God of hosts. But now that he had labored in vain, and everything seemed useless, he thought it was time to stop and mourn over what he could not fix. As the old saying goes, “Go to your cell and cry, ‘Have mercy on me.’”

He also complained about the people and their stubborn sin, and how far they had gone in evil. “The children of Israel have abandoned your covenant,” he said, “and that is why I have abandoned them.” Who could stay among such people and watch everything sacred be torn down? Paul speaks of this as making intercession against Israel (Romans 11:2-3). Elijah had often gladly pleaded for them, but now he was forced to speak against them before God. Jesus says something similar when he says, “There is one who accuses you, Moses, on whom you have set your hope” (John 5:45). Truly miserable are those against whom God’s prophets bring testimony and prayer.

Elijah accused them, first, of abandoning God’s covenant. They still had circumcision, the sign and seal of the covenant, but they had given up God’s worship and service, which was the heart of it. Anyone who neglects God’s ordinances and lets their fellowship with him fade away is really turning from his covenant and breaking faith with him. He also said they had torn down God’s altars. They had not only neglected them and let them fall into ruin, but had also destroyed them on purpose because of their zeal for Baal’s worship.

This refers to the private altars the prophets of the Lord had, which godly people used when they could not go up to Jerusalem and would not worship the golden calves or Baal. These separate altars did harm the church’s outward unity, yet since they were set up and used by people who sincerely meant to honor God and served him faithfully, the seeming division was excused. God accepted them as his altars, along with the one at Jerusalem, so Israel’s tearing them down was a serious sin. But that was not all. They had also killed God’s prophets with the sword, likely men who served at those altars. Jezebel, a foreign woman, had done the killing (1 Kings 18:4), but the guilt is charged to the whole people because most of them agreed with it and were pleased by it.

Elijah then explained why he had gone into the wilderness and made his home in that cave. First, he said he could not do any real good. “I am the only one left,” he said, “and I have no one to support me in any good work.” The people had once said, “The Lord, he is God,” but no one stood with him or offered shelter. What had seemed won was quickly lost again, and Jezebel could turn them from God more easily than Elijah could turn them back. What can one man do against thousands? Many good plans fail because people despair of success. No one wants to stand alone, though those are never alone who have God with them.

Second, he said he could not stay with any safety. “They are trying to kill me,” he said, “and I would rather spend my life in useless solitude than lose my life trying in vain to reform people who hate to be reformed.”

Did Elijah come there hoping to meet God? Then he would find that God did not fail to meet him. Moses had been placed in the cave while God’s glory passed by, but Elijah was called out of it: “Stand on the mountain before the Lord” (1 Kings 19:11). He saw no visible form, just as Israel saw none when God spoke to them at Horeb. But he did hear a strong wind, and he saw how powerful it was, because it split mountains and shattered rocks. In that way, the trumpet sounded before the Judge of heaven and earth, through his angels, whom he makes like winds, or spirits (Psalm 104:4), sounding so loudly that the earth not only echoed, but seemed to split again. Then Elijah felt the shock of an earthquake. He also saw fire burst out (1 Kings 19:12).

These signs were meant to prepare for a display of God’s glory. Angels were involved in them, and God makes his angels flames of fire. As his servants, they go before him to clear the way in the wilderness for our God.

At last Elijah sensed a still, small voice, and the Lord was in it, meaning God spoke through it, not through the wind, earthquake, or fire. Those fearsome signs had filled him with awe, got his attention, and humbled him. But God chose to make his message known in a quiet whisper, not in those terrifying sounds.

When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak, as a man afraid to look at God’s glory and as one who feared its brightness would overwhelm him. The angels cover their faces before God as a sign of reverence (Isaiah 6:2). Elijah may also have hidden his face in shame, because he had been so fearful as to run from his duty when such a mighty God was with him. The wind, earthquake, and fire did not make him hide his face, but the still voice did. A gracious heart is often moved more by the Lord’s gentle mercy than by his threats.

Then Elijah stood at the cave’s entrance, ready to hear what God would say next. God’s way of showing himself at Mount Horeb seems meant to recall what he had once shown Moses there. Then there was a storm, an earthquake, and fire (Hebrews 12:18), but when God showed Moses his glory, he also proclaimed his goodness. So here, God spoke in the still, small voice. Then the law was given to Israel with fearful signs and then a voice speaking words, and Elijah, now called to restore that law, especially its first two commandments, is taught how to handle his work. He must not only awaken and warn the people with signs like earthquake and fire, but also persuade them with a still, small voice, and not turn away when he should be speaking to them. Faith comes by hearing God’s word, while miracles only prepare the way for it.

God then gave him the work he was to do. He repeated the question he had asked before, “What are you doing here?” In other words, this was no place for Elijah to stay. Elijah gave the same answer later (1 Kings 19:14), again complaining that Israel had turned from God and that true religion had fallen into ruin among them. God answered him according to that complaint.

When Elijah wished to die (1 Kings 19:4), God did not answer him according to his foolishness. Instead, God did the opposite. He kept Elijah alive then, and in time would make sure he never died at all, but was taken up. But when Elijah complained of his discouragement, and where else should God’s prophets bring such complaints except to their Master, God did answer him. He sent Elijah back with instructions to appoint Hazael king of Syria (1 Kings 19:15), Jehu king of Israel, and Elisha as his successor in the prophetic office (1 Kings 19:16). Through them, God would punish the people who had grown corrupt, defend his own cause among them, and avenge the breaking of his covenant (1 Kings 19:17).

Elijah had complained that Israel’s sin went unpunished. The famine had been too mild to turn them back, and it had ended before they repented. He had said, in effect, “I have been zealous for God’s honor, but God himself has not seemed zealous for it.” God’s answer was, “Be patient. It is all happening in its right time. Judgment is already prepared for those scorners, though it has not yet fallen. The men who will carry it out are already in place, though they have not yet been named.”

When Hazael became king of Syria, he would do bloody work among the people (2 Kings 8:12) and correct them for their idolatry. When Jehu became king of Israel, he would bring bloody judgment on the royal family and wipe out the house of Ahab, which had established and supported idolatry. Elisha, while Elijah was still alive, would strengthen his hands, and after Elijah was gone, would continue his work and stand as a lasting witness against Israel’s rebellion. Even he would strike down the children of Bethel, that idolatrous city.

The point is this: the wicked are kept for judgment. Evil follows sinners, and there is no escaping it. If they try to get away from one danger, they only run into another. As Jeremiah says, the one who flees from fear falls into the pit, and the one who climbs out of the pit is caught in the snare (Jeremiah 48:44). Elisha, by the sword of the Spirit, would terrify and wound the consciences of those who escaped Hazael’s sword of war and Jehu’s sword of justice. With the breath of his lips he would strike down the wicked (Isaiah 11:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:8; Hosea 6:5). It is a great comfort to faithful people and faithful ministers to know that God will never lack servants to do his work at the right time. When one servant is gone, another will be raised up to continue it.

God then gave Elijah comforting news about the number of Israelites who had stayed faithful, even though Elijah thought he was alone (1 Kings 19:18). “I have left for myself 7,000 in Israel,” God said, “who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” In the middle of the worst corruption and turning away, God has always had, and always will have, a faithful remnant. The apostle Paul refers to this answer to Elijah (Romans 11:4) and applies it to his own day, when most Jews rejected the gospel. Even then, he says, there was a remnant (Romans 11:5).

It is God’s work to keep that remnant and set them apart from the rest, because without his grace they could not have set themselves apart. God says, “I have left for myself,” so this is called a remnant chosen by grace. It is only a small remnant compared with the whole rebellious nation. What are 7,000 compared with the thousands of Israel? Yet when all the faithful from every age are gathered together, they will be found to be many more, like the 12,000 sealed from each tribe (Revelation 7:4).

God’s faithful people are often hidden people (Psalm 83:3). The visible church is often barely visible, with the wheat buried in the chaff and the gold hidden in the dross, until the day comes when all is sifted, refined, and separated. The Lord knows those who belong to him, though we do not, because he sees in secret. And there are more good people in the world than even some wise and holy men suppose. Their own carefulness about themselves, and their zeal for God, can make them think corruption is everywhere. But God sees differently. When we get to heaven, we will miss many people we thought would be there, and we will meet many we never expected to find there. God’s love is often wider than human charity, and it reaches farther.