1 Kgs 19:9-18 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
In the last lesson, Elijah prayed to die under a juniper tree; the LORD’s angel twice told him to get up and eat (1 Kgs 19:5, 7), and he “went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, God’s Mountain” (1 Kgs 19:8).
In this lesson, he is on Mount Horeb.
9He came to a cave there, and camped there; and behold, the LORD’s word came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
10He said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
11He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” Behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake.
12After the earthquake a fire passed; but the LORD was not in the fire. After the fire, there was a still small voice.
13When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle, went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. Behold, a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
14He said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
15The LORD said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria.
16Anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi to be king over Israel; and anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah to be prophet in your place.
17He who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and he who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill.
18Yet I reserved seven thousand in Israel, all the knees of which have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
What are you doing here? At Horeb Elijah “came to a cave there, and camped there” (v. 9). The LORD’s word came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (v. 9). The passage does not say why God asked this, nor that it was a rebuke; it only records Elijah’s answer.
Elijah’s answer. “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of Armies” (v. 10) — he says he has been zealous for God. The children of Israel “have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword” — he says the people have turned from God. “I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away” (v. 10) — he says he is alone, and his life is in danger.
Not in the wind. The LORD told him to go out and stand on the mountain (v. 11). Then “the LORD passed by”: first “a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind”; then an earthquake, “but the LORD was not in the earthquake”; then a fire, “but the LORD was not in the fire” (vv. 11–12). Last of all, “After the fire, there was a still small voice” (v. 12). That is all the passage says. It does not say God will speak only in a still small voice from now on, and it does not say the wind, the earthquake and the fire were not sent by God — in the chapter before, it was by fire that the LORD answered: “Then the LORD’s fire fell” (1 Kgs 18:38).
The same question, the same answer. When Elijah heard it, “he wrapped his face in his mantle, went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave” (v. 13). A voice asked again: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (v. 13). Elijah’s answer was word for word the same as the first time (v. 14). The passage does not explain why he said it the same way; it simply writes down both.
Go, return. The LORD did not argue about “I, even I only, am left” (v. 14). The LORD said, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus” (v. 15), and gave him three things to do: anoint Hazael, anoint Jehu, and anoint Elisha “to be prophet in your place” (vv. 15–16). A man who said he was the only one left was sent back, and told to find someone to take his place.
Seven thousand. Last of all, the LORD said: “Yet I reserved seven thousand in Israel, all the knees of which have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him” (v. 18). “I, even I only, am left” (v. 10) were Elijah’s own words. A chapter earlier, the passage also records that Obadiah had told him to his face “how I hid one hundred men of the LORD’s prophets with fifty to a cave” (1 Kgs 18:13). The passage makes no comment on Elijah’s words; it only records God’s answer: you are not alone.
Horeb is the mountain where Moses met God. When Moses asked to see God’s glory, the LORD said to him: “It will happen, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand until I have passed by” (Exod 33:22).
On the same mountain, the passage says: “Behold, the LORD passed by” (v. 11). Elijah “wrapped his face in his mantle” (v. 13). The passage does not explain how the two are related; readers who know Moses’ story can set them side by side.
Like Elijah, we can say the same set of words over and over: I’ve tried so hard, everyone else has given up, I’m the only one left. There may be real hurt in those words — and there may also be people we have not seen.
This lesson does not give you a method for hearing God’s voice. It only shows you this: God heard Elijah out, did not leave him, and did not leave him in the cave. God sent him back, told him there was still work to do, and told him there were others like him.
This week: Write down your answer to “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (v. 9) — with your own name in place of Elijah’s. Then write down two or three names: people near you who are also holding on, but whom you seldom visit. This week, talk with one of them.
Paul quotes this passage in his letter to the believers in Rome. He speaks of Elijah, “How he pleads with God against Israel” (Rom 11:2), saying, “Lord, they have killed your prophets. They have broken down your altars. I am left alone, and they seek my life” (Rom 11:3). “But how does God answer him? ‘I have reserved for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal’” (Rom 11:4).
Elijah said he was the only one left; God said there were seven thousand. Paul quotes the two side by side.
Scripture: World English Bible.