1 Kings 19:5-15

5 He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, there was ¹an angel touching him, and he said to him, "Arise, eat."

6 Then he looked and behold, there was at his head a bread cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again.

7 The angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, "Arise, eat, because the journey is too great for you."

8 So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food ²forty days and forty nights to ³Horeb, the mountain of God.

Elijah at Horeb

9 Then he came there to a cave and lodged there; and behold, ⁴the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

10 He said, "⁵I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, ⁶torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And ⁷I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away."

11 So He said, "⁸Go forth and stand on the mountain before the LORD." And behold, the LORD was passing by! And ⁹a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking 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.

12 After the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire ¹⁰a sound of a gentle blowing.

13 When Elijah heard it, ¹¹he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, ¹²a voice came to him and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

14 Then he said, "¹³I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away."

15 The LORD said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you have arrived, ¹⁴you shall anoint Hazael king over Aram;

1 Kings 19:5-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 19

This chapter gives us a further account of Elijah, of his being obliged to flee for his life through the threats of Jezebel, 1Ki 19:1-4, of the care the Lord took of him, providing food for him, in the strength of which he went to Horeb, 1Ki 19:5-8, of the Lord's appearance to him there, and conversation with him, 1Ki 19:9-14, of some instructions he gave him to anoint a king over Syria, another over Israel, and a prophet in his room, 1Ki 19:15-18, and of his finding Elisha, and throwing his mantle over him, who left his secular employment, and followed him, and became his servant, 1Ki 19:19-21.

Cross References

• 1. Genesis 28:12
• 2. Exodus 24:18; Exodus 34:28; Deut 9:9-11, 18; Matthew 4:2
• 3. Exodus 3:1; Exodus 4:27
• 4. Exodus 33:21, 22
• 5. Exodus 20:5; Exodus 34:14
• 6. Romans 11:3, 4
• 7. 1 Kings 18:22
• 8. Exodus 19:20; Exodus 24:12, 18
• 9. Ezekiel 1:4
• 10. Job 4:16; Zechariah 4:6
• 11. Exodus 3:6
• 12. 1 Kings 19:9
• 13. 1 Kings 19:10
• 14. 2 Kings 8:8-15

Footnotes

• [a] Or "broom-tree"