Elijah's Flight

For all intents and purposes, Elijah should have been greatly pleased. After all, the Israelites had just recognized that YHWH-- and YHWH alone-- was their true God, after He gave Elijah the victory over the priests of Baal (1 Kings 18:18-40). Furthermore, on account of his own prayer, God returned the rains to the drought-stricken land (1 Kings 18:41-46). It had been some time since a prophet of God had been so successful before the people.

Yet Elijah was running for his life; Queen Jezebel was none too pleased with the death of her prophets and the humiliation of Baal, and she sought Elijah's life (1 Kings 19:1-3). Elijah was a pragmatic man, fully aware of the vicissitudes of power and the people: they may have believed YHWH was their only God yesterday, but tomorrow they will not cry out to save Elijah from Jezebel's hands. Elijah, therefore, flees to the south, and petitions to die...yet the Lord has much in store for him (1 Kings 19:4-7).

Sustained by angels, Elijah reaches Mount Horeb, where about seven hundred years previous God had given the Israelites the Law and made His covenant with them (1 Kings 19:8; cf. Exodus 19). He lodges there forty days and nights, and then the word of the LORD tells him to come to the outside of the cave in which he stayed. Elijah is confronted first by a strong wind, and then an earthquake, and then a fire, yet Elijah knew that the Lord was not present in these. The small voice-- indeed, the thin silence-- that followed, however, represented the presence of the Lord (1 Kings 19:9-11).

When asked about why he has come to Horeb, Elijah states:

"I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away," (1 Kings 19:14).

The response of the LORD is concise and to the point: