Until now the prophet had
stood before Jehovah (chaps. 17: 1; 18: 15) and had
spoken in His name; but now, terrified by the threats of
Jezebel, he flees from the dangers of the place into
which his testimony had brought him.
Just as we have seen in
Moses at Meribah, Elijah's faith* does not rise to the
height of Jehovah's grace and patience, who is full of
goodness and mercy to His people. It is this failure
which puts an end to Elijah's testimony, as it had shut
Moses out of Canaan; for who can equal Jehovah in
goodness? Elijah does not look to God; he thinks of
himself, and takes flight; but God has His eye upon him.
He who had not God's strength amid the evil had no refuge
but the wilderness. There was a heart true to God, but
not faith equal to meet Satan's hostile power in the
place of testimony to the end. He must either be a
witness for God amongst His rebellious people, or be
entirely apart from them.
God's care over
His servant
The heart of Elijah and
the hand of God led the prophet into the wilderness,
where, overwhelmed perhaps, yet precious in Jehovah's
sight, he will be alone with God. Elijah's forty days'
journey in the wilderness has only a partial resemblance
to the forty days which Moses spent with God, in the same
Horeb to which the prophet was going, or to those which
Jesus spent in the wilderness for conflict with the enemy
of God and man. In the two latter cases nature was set
aside. Neither Moses nor the Lord ate or drank. As for
Elijah, the goodness of God sustains the weakness of
tried nature, makes manifest that He considers it with
all tenderness and thoughtfulness, and gives the strength
needed for such a journey. This should have touched him,
and made him feel what he ought to be in the midst of the
people, since he had to do with such a God. His heart was
far from such a state. Impossible, when we think of
ourselves, to be witnesses to others of what God is! Our
poor hearts are too far from such a position.
Elijah at Horeb:
his complaints
Elijah goes on till he
reaches Horeb. But coming before God to speak well of
himself and ill of Israel is a very different thing from
forgetting self through the power of the Lord's presence,
and setting Him before the people in His power which is
patient in mercy in spite of all their evil.* People
sometimes come before God because they have forgotten Him
in the place where they ought to have stood and borne
testimony for Him. And thus God asks Elijah, "What
doest thou here, Elijah? "Terrible question! like
those addressed to Adam, to Cain, and now to the world
with respect to Jesus. The answer does but betray (as is
always the case) the sad and fatal position of one who
has forgotten God. The voice was not a voice of thunder,
but one that made Elijah feel it was the voice which he
had forgotten. Wind, fire, earthquake, these heralds to
man of the power of God, would have suited the angry
heart of Elijah as instruments of divine power against
Israel; but these manifestations of His power were not
God Himself. The still small voice reveals His presence
to Elijah. That which would have satisfied his will, and
that which would perhaps have been just towards others,
did not awaken his own conscience. But the still small
voice by which God reveals Himself penetrates Elijah's
heart, and he hides his face before the presence of
Jehovah. Nevertheless the pride of his embittered heart
is not yet subdued. He repeats his complaints, unsuitable
as they were at the time when he had himself just
destroyed all the prophets of Baal, and proving that his
faith had not been able to find, by the light of his
testimony, all that God saw of good in Israel.
God's answer: the
patience of His grace
God's answer, although
just, is sorrowful to the heart. Vengeance shall be
executed, and Elijah is commissioned to prepare its
instruments—a sad mission for the prophet, if he
loved the people. As to Elijah, he should be succeeded by
Elisha in his prophetic office. But if the deserved
vengeance was to be executed in his time, and if the
saddened prophet was to announce it, God has still seven
thousand souls who had not bowed the knee to Baal,
although Elijah had not been able to discover them. Oh!
when will the heart of man, even in thought, rise to the
height of God's grace and patience? If Elijah had leant
more upon God, he would have known some of these seven
thousand. He would at any rate have known Him who knew
them, and who raised up his testimony to strengthen and
comfort them.
But the time was not ripe
for the fulfilment of God's purposes; and God will not
give up the patience of His grace towards His people to
satisfy the prophet's impatience. Elisha is anointed; but,
Ahab having humbled himself when God threatened him on
account of his iniquity, the judgments are withheld even
during the life-time of Ahab and of his son. This
displays another feature in God's government, namely,
that judgment upon the evil-doer may not only have been
pronounced in the counsels of God, but may be already
marked out in His dealings, and be even ready to be
executed a long time before it is really poured out. The
prophet, or the spiritual man, will know or will
understand in spirit that it is so, and will have to wait
for the moment that suits this perfect patience, which
itself waits upon the slowness of our hearts and the
filling up of the iniquity of the wicked, or at least for
their refusal to repent.
[1] We see here how
far the energy of the outward life of faith may continue
to exist, while the inward life grows weak. It was at the
moment of the most striking testimony to the presence of
God in the midst of the rebellious people, and when
Elijah had just caused all the prophets of Baal amongst
them to be slain by the people's own hands, that his
faith entirely fails at a mere threat from Jezebel. His
life was not inwardly sustained by this faith in
proportion to the outward testimony. His testimony
excites the enemy in a way for which his personal faith
was not prepared. This is a solemn lesson. The still
small voice (which, unknown to him, was still heard among
the people) had not perhaps its due influence upon his
own heart, where the fire and manifestations had held too
much place. Thus he did not know himself the grace which
was still in exercise towards the people; he could not
love them for the sake of the seven thousand faithful
ones as God loved them, nor hope as charity hopes. Alas!
what are we, even when so near God! And his complaint
when he came to God, for a person so blessed, has a sad
deal of self in it. I have been zealous, he says, and
they have cast down Thine altars and killed Thy prophets;
just when he had cast down Baal's and killed all his
prophets; and then, I am left alone. It is a humbling
testimony.
[2] It was different
too from Moses who, with God, interceded for the people,
setting himself aside.
1 Kings 19 Bible Commentary
John Darby’s Synopsis
Until now the prophet had stood before Jehovah (chaps. 17: 1; 18: 15) and had spoken in His name; but now, terrified by the threats of Jezebel, he flees from the dangers of the place into which his testimony had brought him.
Just as we have seen in Moses at Meribah, Elijah's faith* does not rise to the height of Jehovah's grace and patience, who is full of goodness and mercy to His people. It is this failure which puts an end to Elijah's testimony, as it had shut Moses out of Canaan; for who can equal Jehovah in goodness? Elijah does not look to God; he thinks of himself, and takes flight; but God has His eye upon him. He who had not God's strength amid the evil had no refuge but the wilderness. There was a heart true to God, but not faith equal to meet Satan's hostile power in the place of testimony to the end. He must either be a witness for God amongst His rebellious people, or be entirely apart from them.
God's care over His servant
The heart of Elijah and the hand of God led the prophet into the wilderness, where, overwhelmed perhaps, yet precious in Jehovah's sight, he will be alone with God. Elijah's forty days' journey in the wilderness has only a partial resemblance to the forty days which Moses spent with God, in the same Horeb to which the prophet was going, or to those which Jesus spent in the wilderness for conflict with the enemy of God and man. In the two latter cases nature was set aside. Neither Moses nor the Lord ate or drank. As for Elijah, the goodness of God sustains the weakness of tried nature, makes manifest that He considers it with all tenderness and thoughtfulness, and gives the strength needed for such a journey. This should have touched him, and made him feel what he ought to be in the midst of the people, since he had to do with such a God. His heart was far from such a state. Impossible, when we think of ourselves, to be witnesses to others of what God is! Our poor hearts are too far from such a position.
Elijah at Horeb: his complaints
Elijah goes on till he reaches Horeb. But coming before God to speak well of himself and ill of Israel is a very different thing from forgetting self through the power of the Lord's presence, and setting Him before the people in His power which is patient in mercy in spite of all their evil.* People sometimes come before God because they have forgotten Him in the place where they ought to have stood and borne testimony for Him. And thus God asks Elijah, "What doest thou here, Elijah? "Terrible question! like those addressed to Adam, to Cain, and now to the world with respect to Jesus. The answer does but betray (as is always the case) the sad and fatal position of one who has forgotten God. The voice was not a voice of thunder, but one that made Elijah feel it was the voice which he had forgotten. Wind, fire, earthquake, these heralds to man of the power of God, would have suited the angry heart of Elijah as instruments of divine power against Israel; but these manifestations of His power were not God Himself. The still small voice reveals His presence to Elijah. That which would have satisfied his will, and that which would perhaps have been just towards others, did not awaken his own conscience. But the still small voice by which God reveals Himself penetrates Elijah's heart, and he hides his face before the presence of Jehovah. Nevertheless the pride of his embittered heart is not yet subdued. He repeats his complaints, unsuitable as they were at the time when he had himself just destroyed all the prophets of Baal, and proving that his faith had not been able to find, by the light of his testimony, all that God saw of good in Israel.
God's answer: the patience of His grace
God's answer, although just, is sorrowful to the heart. Vengeance shall be executed, and Elijah is commissioned to prepare its instruments—a sad mission for the prophet, if he loved the people. As to Elijah, he should be succeeded by Elisha in his prophetic office. But if the deserved vengeance was to be executed in his time, and if the saddened prophet was to announce it, God has still seven thousand souls who had not bowed the knee to Baal, although Elijah had not been able to discover them. Oh! when will the heart of man, even in thought, rise to the height of God's grace and patience? If Elijah had leant more upon God, he would have known some of these seven thousand. He would at any rate have known Him who knew them, and who raised up his testimony to strengthen and comfort them.
But the time was not ripe for the fulfilment of God's purposes; and God will not give up the patience of His grace towards His people to satisfy the prophet's impatience. Elisha is anointed; but, Ahab having humbled himself when God threatened him on account of his iniquity, the judgments are withheld even during the life-time of Ahab and of his son. This displays another feature in God's government, namely, that judgment upon the evil-doer may not only have been pronounced in the counsels of God, but may be already marked out in His dealings, and be even ready to be executed a long time before it is really poured out. The prophet, or the spiritual man, will know or will understand in spirit that it is so, and will have to wait for the moment that suits this perfect patience, which itself waits upon the slowness of our hearts and the filling up of the iniquity of the wicked, or at least for their refusal to repent.
[1] We see here how far the energy of the outward life of faith may continue to exist, while the inward life grows weak. It was at the moment of the most striking testimony to the presence of God in the midst of the rebellious people, and when Elijah had just caused all the prophets of Baal amongst them to be slain by the people's own hands, that his faith entirely fails at a mere threat from Jezebel. His life was not inwardly sustained by this faith in proportion to the outward testimony. His testimony excites the enemy in a way for which his personal faith was not prepared. This is a solemn lesson. The still small voice (which, unknown to him, was still heard among the people) had not perhaps its due influence upon his own heart, where the fire and manifestations had held too much place. Thus he did not know himself the grace which was still in exercise towards the people; he could not love them for the sake of the seven thousand faithful ones as God loved them, nor hope as charity hopes. Alas! what are we, even when so near God! And his complaint when he came to God, for a person so blessed, has a sad deal of self in it. I have been zealous, he says, and they have cast down Thine altars and killed Thy prophets; just when he had cast down Baal's and killed all his prophets; and then, I am left alone. It is a humbling testimony.
[2] It was different too from Moses who, with God, interceded for the people, setting himself aside.