1 Kgs 19:1-8 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
In the last lesson, on Mount Carmel, “the LORD’s fire fell and consumed the burnt offering” (1 Kgs 18:38). The people fell on their faces and said, “The LORD, he is God! The LORD, he is God!” (1 Kgs 18:39). Elijah had the prophets of Baal seized, “brought them down to the brook Kishon, and killed them there” (1 Kgs 18:40). Then the rain came, and “The LORD’s hand was on Elijah” (1 Kgs 18:46); he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to the entrance of Jezreel.
This lesson follows straight on from that day.
1Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
2Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I don’t make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time!”
3When he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
4But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree. Then 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.”
5He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat!”
6He looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on the coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again.
7The LORD’s angel came again the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.”
8He arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, God’s Mountain.
The very next message. Ahab told Jezebel everything that had happened on Carmel (v. 1). Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah: “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I don’t make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time!” (v. 2). It was an oath to take his life.
Running for his life. “When he saw that, he arose and ran for his life” (v. 3). He went all the way to Beersheba in Judah, “and left his servant there” (v. 3); then “he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness” (v. 4). The passage traces him step by step as he goes further away: out of Jezreel, out of Israel, away from his servant, into the wilderness.
Under the juniper tree. He “came and sat down under a juniper tree. Then he requested for himself that he might die” (v. 4). He said, “It is enough. Now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers” (v. 4). This is a man who had just called on the LORD on Mount Carmel. The passage does not remove these words, and it does not rebuke him for them here; but it does not present this as a way out either — Elijah said these words to the LORD, and what happened next was the LORD’s doing.
Arise and eat. Elijah “lay down and slept under a juniper tree” (v. 5). An angel touched him and said, “Arise and eat!” (v. 5). He saw “at his head a cake baked on the coals, and a jar of water” (v. 6); he ate and drank, and lay down again. The passage does not have the angel answer ‘It is enough,’ and does not have him ask Elijah why he was there.
The second time. “The LORD’s angel came again the second time, and touched him” (v. 7), with the same words, “Arise and eat,” and this time a reason: “because the journey is too great for you” (v. 7). Elijah had just said he could not go on, and the LORD’s angel told him there was a road ahead, and that it was too much for him on his own strength.
Forty days and forty nights. “He arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, God’s Mountain” (v. 8). He got up from under the juniper tree, but the passage does not say that what was in his heart had passed. At Horeb, the LORD would still have questions for him — that is the next lesson.
The passage says Elijah came “to Horeb, God’s Mountain” (v. 8). When Moses first met God, the passage uses nearly the same words: he “came to God’s mountain, to Horeb” (Exod 3:1).
Moses had also been on that mountain “forty days and forty nights” (Exod 24:18; 34:28). Elijah went “forty days and forty nights” (v. 8), and came to the same mountain. The passage does not explain how the two are related; readers who know Moses’ story can set them side by side.
Sometimes, right after something big, a person ends up at the lowest place. That is what happened to Elijah: the fire had only just fallen on the mountain, and he was sitting under a tree in the wilderness, saying, “It is enough. Now, O LORD, take away my life” (v. 4).
This lesson does not teach you how to get better right away. It only shows you this: Elijah said his darkest words to the LORD, and the LORD did not walk away. First he had him eat and sleep, then eat again, and then told him the road ahead was long.
If you are in danger, or having thoughts of harming yourself, please call for help right away, or tell someone near you whom you trust:
- Canada and the U.S.: for emergencies call 911; for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline call 988
- Mainland China: for emergencies call 110 or 120; for psychological support call the national hotline 12356 (24 hours)
- Hong Kong: for emergencies call 999
- Taiwan: for emergencies call 110 or 119; for the Taiwan suicide prevention line call 1925
This week: Think of someone who seems worn out lately, or who is holding things together alone. This week, do one small, practical thing for them — bring a meal, walk with them for a while, or make a phone call. No lectures.
Scripture: World English Bible.