CHAPTER 19

(906 B.C.)

ELIJAH FLEES FROM JEZEBEL

¹And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had killed all the prophets (of Baal) with the sword.

²Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. (She claimed she would kill Elijah. It should have been obvious to the Prophet that her threats were empty. Almost immediately after a great victory in the Lord, Satan often attacks with great success. In this, we must remember that the faith of yesterday does not suffice for the need of today. The Child of God must ever have a continued deposit of the touch of God, even on a daily basis. If Jezebel was so sure of her position, why did she not send soldiers to kill Elijah, instead of a messenger with the threat? She did not do so, because she feared for the life of the soldiers, and even herself. As the fear of Elijah was totally unfounded, so is the fear of every other Child of God unfounded.)

³And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. (The mighty Prophet is now operating from a position of fear. Fear always leads one away from the Will of God. Faith always leads one toward the Will of God. But fear is now in control.

As well, fear always seeks isolation, so he left his servant in Beer-sheba.)

⁴But he himself went a days journey into the wilderness (the wilderness is somewhat of a type of his own spiritual position), and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. (Elijah, by Faith, has just overcome 450 prophets of Baal and, now, he is fearful of one woman. Satans threats come in every direction. Too often we believe his lies instead of the Truth of the Word of God.)

⁵And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an Angel touched him, and said unto him. Arise and eat (did he know this was an Angel?).

⁶And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again (in fact, the Angel of the Lord had followed him all the way from Mount Carmel).

⁷And the Angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for you. (This was a journey not ordained of God. In fact, it would be a round-trip of approximately 500 miles, all of it out of the Will of God. And yet, in this wayward journey, the Lord would never leave Elijahs side. How many wayward trips have all of us taken? And yet the Lord never leaves us nor forsakes us.

The fact is: every journey of fear is too great for us. The reason is: our energy is from the flesh and not the Spirit.)

ELIJAH GOES TO HOREB

⁸And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the Mount of God. (Horeb was about 180 miles from where he had sat under a juniper tree. Evidently, the food prepared for him by the Angel was supernatural, and provided a supernatural strength.)

⁹And 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 are you doing here, Elijah? (Even though it cannot be proven, there is a possibility that the cave that Elijah arrived at was the clift of the rock in which Moses had stood while the Lord passed by [Ex. 33:22]. He had come all this distance, and now the Lord asks him as to why he is here?)

¹⁰And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of Hosts: for the Children of Israel have forsaken Your Covenant, thrown down Your Altars, and killed Your Prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. (The angry Prophet, crouching with embittered heart in the cavern, pictured the nation. The flesh in him was just as hateful as the flesh in them. He is invited to come forth and meet God. As Israel refused, Elijah likewise refuses. He must, therefore, be compelled to come forth.)

¹¹And He said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake:

¹²And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. (While the Lord was the cause of all of these things, this was not the manner in which He would speak to the Prophet. Unfortunately, far too many in the modern Church have traded the still small voice for the fire, wind, earthquake, etc. And then they wonder why they get into trouble!)

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 are you doing here, Elijah? (Why does the Lord keep asking the Prophet this question? He does so for all the various reasons. The Lord didnt bring him here, so why has he come? If its not the Lord, it should not be done! I personally think the Lord is asking this same question of many, even at this present time. What are you doing here?)

¹⁴And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of Hosts: because the Children of Israel have forsaken Your Covenant, thrown down Your Altars, and killed Your Prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. (As is obvious here, Elijahs emphasis is strictly on himself and not the Lord. When self is not properly hidden in Christ [Jn. 14:20], self always becomes king, and brings about many problems. Thats the reason that Jesus told us that we must deny ourselves [Lk. 9:23].)

¹⁵And the LORD said unto him, Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when you come, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria:

¹⁶And Jehu the son of Nimshi shall you anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shall you anoint to be Prophet in your room. (There is no record that Elijah physically anointed anyone. It may very well have happened, but no more information is given.

In the first place, Syria was by and large the enemy of Israel. So, its hard to imagine that any Syrian would have allowed Elijah to do such, considering that, in some way, it would have been a recognition of Jehovah, which, of course, Syria would not do.

All of this is probably the Lord telling Elijah what is going to happen in the near future.)

¹⁷And it shall come to pass, that him who escapes the sword of Hazael shall Jehu kill: and him who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha kill. (Some of this was literal, but, concerning the Prophet Elisha, who would take the place of Elijah, the term was used strictly in the spiritual sense, for Elisha was a man of peace.)

¹⁸Yet I have left Me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him. (We gather from Job 31:26-27 that it was customary to kiss the hand of the idol, or object of worship Pulpit. Whether the number seven thousand is to be taken literally or not, we have no way of knowing. It could very well have been symbolic and, again, it could very well have been literal.)

THE CALL OF ELISHA

¹⁹So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him. (Nearby was a school of the Prophets, but upon none of these did Elijah cast his mantle; but, guided by the Holy Spirit, he cast it upon a plowboy. How different are Gods thoughts from mans! He chose Amos, who was a gatherer of sycamore fruit, and Paul, who was not one of the Twelve, and Moody, who was uneducated. Through men like these, He rebukes and refreshes the official Ministry.)

²⁰And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray you, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to you? (A greater readiness to obey the prophetic summons Elisha could not well have shown. He only asked that he be allowed to go bid his parents farewell, which was the right thing for him to do, and to which Elijah readily acquiesced.)

²¹And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and killed them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him. (This was a symbolic act, expressive of Elishas entire renunciation of his secular calling. This was a farewell, not a religious feast. He was in essence saying that he would not be back. He was obeying the call to the full, even as he should have done.)