(9) "AND he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of Jehovah came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? (10) And he said, I have been very jealous for Jehovah, 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. (11) And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before Jehovah. And, behold, Jehovah passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before Jehovah; but Jehovah was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake; but Jehovah was not in the earthquake: (12) and after the earthquake a fire; but Jehovah was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. (13) And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? (14) And he said, I have been very jealous for Jehovah, 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.
(15) "And Jehovah said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, thou shalt anoint Hazael to be king over Syria; (16) and Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. (17) And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay; and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. (18) Yet will I leave Me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him."
Golden Text.—"Fear thou not; for I am with thee." Isa. 41: 10.
SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.
(1) When Elijah came to Mount Horeb in his flight, where did he find lodging? What word of the Lord came to him there? Verse 9. Note 1. (2) What did Elijah say of his devotion to God? What did he say of the people of Israel? Verse 10. Note 2. (3) Where then did the Lord tell him to go? Who then passed by? What great commotion took place? Did that indicate the presence of the Lord? What phenomenon followed the wind? Verse 11. (4) What marked display followed the earthquake? Did any of these demonstrations indicate the presence of the Lord? After the earthquake what did the prophet hear? Verse 12. Note 3. (5) What did Elijah do when he heard the voice? What was said to him there? Verse 13. Note 4. (6) What was Elijah's reply? Verse 14. Note 5. (7) To what place did the Lord then send His servant? On what mission? Verse 15. Note 6. (8) After this what was he to do? Verse 16. (9) What indicates the sore judgment awaiting Israel? Verse 17. Note 7. (10) What further encouraging word was spoken to Elijah? Verse 18. Note 8.
NOTES.
1. Far away, more than three hundred miles away, from the scene of his victory on Mount Carmel, the lone prophet retires to a mountain cave, and his old enemies at Samaria are either flattering themselves that he is out of the way, or wondering where he will turn up next. However, in his secluded resort the Lord appears to him again, and asks, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" Sure enough, what is the prophet of the Lord hiding away in the wilderness for, when there is so much to do in his appointed field of labor, and just when the way was beginning to open for his labors to bear fruit?
2. This disposition to judge all his brethren, and to reckon them as reprobates, at least partially accounts for Elijah's susceptibility to discouragement and sudden flight. Had he not himself forsaken the cause at a most critical moment in the great conflict? Had he not left the field just when God had manifested Himself in great majesty, and had just begun a great work for His people?
3. The Lord did not further chide His servant (Ps. 103: 8, 9), but immediately began to build him up in the faith.
4. The Lord was not in the windstorm, or the earthquake, or the demonstration of fire. Who, then, was in them?—Evidently it was Satan, the "prince of the power of the air" (Eph. 2: 2; 2 Thess. 2: 8-10; Rev. 13: 11-14). He would fain divert the mind of God's servant, and secure his attention by great demonstrations of power, and thus turn him away from the voice of God's Word. That is a favorite scheme of the adversary in our time, and he finds many professed followers of Christ more ready to follow great demonstration and "wonderful works" than they are to heed the "still, small voice," the quiet, calm teachings, of the unerring Word of God. Satan would fain destroy those who honestly desire to serve the Lord in truth, but when he can not destroy them, he aims to deceive them by counter attraction.
5. As if testing the effect of this manifestation of Himself at the scene of His appearance to all Israel when they had been delivered from Egypt, the Lord again said, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" And again the prophet calls attention to his own steadfastness as compared with his brethren, not recognizing any exception to the widespread iniquity of his people. He does not even recognize the hundred prophets who had been hidden in caves during the drought, nor yet Obadiah, the king's steward, who had fed them. Now that he was so ready to die in the wilderness, why had he not been ready to further risk his life in defense of the truth in face of the enemy? There had been a time when he did not fear Jezebel.
6. After being revived in spirit and encouraged by communion with the Lord, Elijah was sent back to do important service. This mission took him to Damascus, as the margin of verse 15 would infer, by way of the wilderness. Thus he was not exposed to the danger of meeting his enemies in Samaria. The commission to anoint Elisha to be prophet in the room of Elijah was an assurance that the work of the Lord was to be continued, notwithstanding appearances.
7. Verse 17 gives Elijah assurance that his enemies in Israel shall all be destroyed. Hazael, Jehu, and Elisha are to be the instrumentalities. On the words, "shall Elisha slay," the "Bible Commentary" says: "We must understand these words in the sense suggested by Hosea 6: 5, 'Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth.' It is a spiritual slaying by the Word of the Lord, which is 'sharper than any two-edged sword,' and may be said to slay those whose doom it pronounces. (Compare Jer. 1: 10.) Elisha did not do any physical slaying."
8. Elijah must have been greatly encouraged by the assurance that so many of his brethren were still so faithful to the true God that the Lord could recognize them as His. And this is an important lesson to all who are inclined to deprecate the attitude of their brethren before God. It is not the province of fallible man to judge his brother. "Let us therefore not judge one another any more; but judge ye this rather, that no man put a stumbling-block in his brother's way, or an occasion of falling." Rom. 14: 13.
