1 Kings 19:10
And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD 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.
Elijah spoke these words at Horeb in answer to God's question why he was there, after fleeing Jezebel's threat to his life despite God's victory over Baal's prophets on Carmel, disappointed that no reformation had followed and having fled without being sent. In them he declares his zeal for the Lord, charges Israel with forsaking the covenant, throwing down the altars and slaying the prophets, and says he alone is left and his life is sought, supposing Jezebel's persecution had left him the only faithful one escaped. His claim to stand alone was mistaken, for seven thousand had not bowed to Baal, showing that widespread unfaithfulness had not meant God had rejected all His people but a faithful remnant remained by grace. The complaint expresses deep discouragement after self-sacrificing labor, when weary, disappointed and feeling his work defeated and his life undesirable, yet teaches that quiet trust and firm reliance will ever find God a present help and that heaven never forsakes integrity even in greatest weakness. God's question and answer therefore call His children when opposition silences or drives them from duty to come out of hiding, keep in the way of duty without withdrawing, and return to their mission to let their light shine rather than remain under sadness and helplessness.
Elijah's Flight to Horeb
The words belong to Elijah's flight after Jezebel threatened his life, even though God had helped him defeat Baal's prophets on Carmel. Disappointed that the display of divine power had not brought the reformation he expected, he lost courage and confidence in God's protection and fled without being sent. Had he remained steadfast and trusted God, the impression made upon the king and people could have led to reformation, for the victory on Carmel had opened the way for further work among those drawn into Baal worship, yet he turned away from those opportunities. His account of Israel's rebellion and the danger to his life reflects the weakness of his present position, driven from the work God intended him to do, and he needed to trust wholly in God to complete his work.
After receiving food and water from the angel, he traveled forty days and nights to Horeb and took refuge in a cave. There God met him at the entrance of the cave while he was weary and discouraged. In that encounter God sent to learn of his needs and to make clear His purpose for Israel.
The words are Elijah's answer to God's question about why he is there. God had sent him to Cherith, to the widow of Sarepta, and back to Israel to confront Baal worship at Carmel and to bear a message to Ahab in Samaria. But no one sent him on the long journey into the wilderness, and he has no errand there.
In them he declares his zeal for the Lord and charges that the children of Israel have forsaken the covenant, thrown down the altars, and slain the prophets with the sword. He says he alone is left and his life is sought to be taken away. Jezebel's persecution was so severe that he supposed he was the only one who had escaped her power.
That belief that he was the only faithful worshiper left was mistaken and incomplete. God's answer that seven thousand had not bowed to Baal shows that faithful people remained, including people living up to the light they had. The surrounding account also shows that God would bring punishment on the wrongdoers. The lesson encourages faithfulness in sharing God's truth and leaving the results to Him, trusting that others may be faithful even when they are not readily apparent.
God Preserves Faithful Remnant
Elijah's mournful complaint that Israel had forsaken the covenant, torn down God's altars and killed His prophets with the sword, leaving him alone with his own life threatened, is paired with God's answer that He had kept seven thousand in Israel who had not bowed to Baal. Israel's widespread unfaithfulness did not mean God had rejected all His people, for a faithful remnant remained by His grace. Elijah's view that he alone remained faithful was incomplete, since faithful people remained, including people living up to the light they had. The lesson is faithfulness in sharing God's truth and leaving the results to Him, trusting that others may be faithful even when they are not readily apparent.
The verse illustrates that a servant of God may stand alone against powerful opponents amid national idolatry, as Elijah did during Ahab's reign when Israel had abandoned the covenant, destroyed the altars, killed the prophets and sought his life, yet remain supported by God and His word. His faithful warnings and service had borne a heavy burden, but after fleeing Jezebel's threats in weariness and weakness his faith failed and he prayed to die, so he did not complete the work he had begun. The same is true today, with faithful ones scattered in every land who have not bowed to Baal. When God's judgments were falling on backsliding Israel Elijah counted only himself on the Lord's side, while in fact God had His hidden faithful; so now they are found in heathen Africa, in the Catholic lands of Europe and South America, in China, in India, in the islands of the sea and in all dark corners of the earth, among every nation, tongue and people.
Like stars that appear only at night they will shine forth when darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the people, shining most brilliantly in the darkest night in the hour of deepest apostasy. That hour comes when Satan makes his supreme effort to cause all, under penalty of death, to receive the sign of allegiance to a false rest day. Therefore no one should attempt to number Israel today, but everyone should have a heart of flesh, a heart of tender sympathy reaching out like the heart of Christ for the salvation of a lost world. The thrown-down altars also picture neglected family and home religion, joined with abandoned first love and the religion of Christ expelled from the soul to give place to speculation and business enterprises. That condition is constantly multiplying when devotion, piety and godliness are not interwoven into every transaction and men leave God and heaven out of their calculations.
Trust God Return to Duty
The complaint is the voice of deep discouragement after self-sacrificing labor, spoken when Elijah was weary and travel-worn with bitter disappointment crushing his spirits, seeing nothing desirable in life and even asking that he might die. His hope was gone and his life-work seemed threatened with defeat, his zeal for God's cause misunderstood and unappreciated, his counsels and reproofs slighted, and his efforts at reform repaid with hatred and opposition. Such despondency in a man of spiritual power pressed beyond measure is nothing strange or new, even in one of the mightiest of prophets, and it brings hope and courage to all tempted to despondency and distrust in assurance of God's watchful care, love, and power. In his hour of greatest weakness he learned the need and the possibility of trusting God under the most forbidding circumstances, and that heaven never forsakes him while he maintains his integrity.
After bearing a heavy burden for Israel through three and a half years of famine and standing alone for God on Carmel where idolatry was cast down, he yielded once to human weakness, let go of faith, fled in weariness before Jezebel's threats, and alone prayed that he might die feeling his work was over and he alone was left. That failure of faith cut short his life-work so that the work he had begun he was not to complete, and God bade him anoint another to be prophet in his stead. Yet God had marked his heart-service, so he was not to perish in discouragement and solitude nor go down to the tomb but was to ascend with angels to the presence of glory. This declares that unbelief means failure and sin brings only shame and loss, but God's mercy reaches the deepest depths and faith lifts the repenting soul to share the adoption of the sons of God.
God's answer to the grieving over covenant-breaking, destroyed altars, slain prophets, and hunted life manifests that quiet trust and firm reliance upon Him will ever find Him a present help in time of need. His history, carefully and prayerfully studied, helps God's people under difficulties to put trust not in the wisdom of men but in the Lord God of Israel as defense, to keep in the way of duty and not let fear discourage them. It teaches not to assume responsibilities God does not require and not to interpose between the Lord and His tempted and tried ones so that God's purposes in their experience are carried out. In trusting implicitly and waiting patiently and prayerfully with confidence in God they will see a wonderful display of His power.
God's question about his presence there is put to His children when opposition or persecution silences them or drives them from their duty, calling them to return to the mission He gave them and preach the gospel. They are called to come out of the cave and stand with God in listening obedience to hear what He will say, rather than remain under thoughts that bring sadness and helplessness, and to renew their witness for Christ. Standing to hear brings a person under divine guidance where the Comforter leads into all truth, taking the things of Christ and infusing them as living principles into hearts opened to receive them, so that hearing God results in knowing both the Father and the Son. The same call meets grief and shattered plans with grace to meet the trial.
Christians are not to withdraw from duty as he did in discouragement, but to come forth and stand with God and let their moral light shine into the world's darkness. The question is put to Christian families who know the truths of God's word to consider whether they should move to places where their gifts can serve people in spiritual need. Answering that call requires self-sacrifice, and waiting for every obstacle to be removed leaves people without hope and without God.