1 Kings 19:1-18

Elijah Flees to Horeb

1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”
3 Elijah was afraid[a] and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there,
4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”
5 Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.”
6 He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.
7 The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.”
8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
There he went into a cave and spent the night.

The LORD Appears to Elijah

9 And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
11 The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered 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.
12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
15 The LORD said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram.
16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet.
17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu.
18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

1 Kings 19:1-18 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 35

  • 1. 1 Kings 16:31
  • 2. S Exodus 22:20; 1 Kings 18:40
  • 3. 1 Kings 20:10; 2 Kings 6:31; S Ruth 1:17
  • 4. Psalms 13:4; Jeremiah 20:10; Jeremiah 26:21; Jeremiah 36:26
  • 5. S Genesis 31:21
  • 6. S Genesis 19:17
  • 7. S Joshua 19:2
  • 8. Job 30:4
  • 9. S Numbers 11:15; Job 6:9; Job 7:16; Job 10:1; Psalms 69:19; Jeremiah 20:18; John 4:8
  • 10. Genesis 28:11
  • 11. S Genesis 16:7
  • 12. Exodus 24:18; Exodus 34:28; Dt 9:9-11,18; Matthew 4:2
  • 13. S Exodus 3:1
  • 14. S Exodus 33:22
  • 15. S Genesis 3:9
  • 16. S Numbers 25:13; Acts 22:3; Galatians 4:18
  • 17. S Deuteronomy 31:16
  • 18. 1 Kings 18:30
  • 19. 1 Kings 18:4,22; Jeremiah 5:11; Jeremiah 9:2; Romans 11:3*
  • 20. Exodus 34:2; Matthew 17:1-3; Exodus 24:12
  • 21. Exodus 33:19
  • 22. S Exodus 14:21; S 2 Kings 2:1; Ezekiel 1:4; Ezekiel 37:7
  • 23. Nahum 1:6
  • 24. S Exodus 3:2
  • 25. ver 11; S 1 Samuel 14:6; Job 4:16; Zechariah 4:6; 2 Corinthians 12:9
  • 26. ver 9; Exodus 3:6
  • 27. ver 10; 1 Kings 18:22; Romans 11:3*
  • 28. 2 Kings 8:7-15
  • 29. 2Ki 9:1-3,6
  • 30. ver 21; 2 Kings 2:1; 2 Kings 3:11; 2 Kings 2:9,15
  • 31. S Judges 7:22
  • 32. 2 Kings 8:12,29; 2 Kings 9:14; 2 Kings 10:32; 2 Kings 12:17; 2 Kings 13:3,7,22; Amos 1:4
  • 33. Jeremiah 48:44
  • 34. Romans 11:4*
  • 35. Hosea 13:2

Footnotes 1

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