1 Kings 19:6
And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again.
After his victory on Carmel Jezebel threatened his life and he fled rashly without waiting for direction when he would have been shielded. Alone and exhausted after bearing Israel through famine and triumph, his faith failed and under the juniper tree weary without food he wished to die. While he slept an angel woke him to find bread baked on coals and water at his head, and after eating and drinking and lying down again he was urged to eat a second time because the journey was too great, and in that strength he went forty days and nights to Horeb. God did not forsake His broken-hearted servant but loved him no less than on the mountaintop, bending over him in pity and sending a holy angel on mercy to feed him when he would have perished. By once yielding after his greatest victory he cut short his life-work and was told to anoint another in his place, yet he was not left to perish but taken up to glory, teaching God's people in difficulty to trust and wait for His help rather than give way to fear.
Elijah's Flight and Refreshment
This verse comes after the victory on Carmel, when Jezebel threatened Elijah's life and he fled rashly for his life to Beer-sheba and into the wilderness without waiting for the Lord to speak or warn him to go. He did not wait for direction, though God would have shielded him and given him another victory. His flight was discouraged flight from the threat, taken in weariness and prostration rather than in obedience.
He was alone, exhausted and weak, his faith failing after the strain of bearing Israel's burden. He had borne a heavy burden for Israel with faithful warnings against national idolatry, and had watched and waited through three years and a half of famine for some token of repentance. He had then stood alone for God upon Mount Carmel, where through the power of faith idolatry was cast down and the blessed rain testified to showers of blessing waiting for Israel. After that elevation of faith and glorious success came reaction into discouragement, from the heights of faith to the lowest valley in faith and feeling. Weary and prostrate under a juniper tree after toiling all day without food, he lay alone in the desert praying that he might die and feeling no better than his fathers. He forgot that God was the same all-powerful and pitiful God who had granted his requests for fire from heaven and for rain.
While he slept he was touched by an angel telling him to arise and eat. He looked and found a cake baked on the coals and a cruse of water placed at his head. He ate and drank and laid himself down again to sleep, receiving care and rest in his exhaustion before the journey ahead. He was then touched a second time and told to eat because the journey was too great for him. In the strength of that food he went forty days and nights to Horeb the mount of God, where he lodged in a cave and the word of the Lord asked what he did there.
God's Tender Care Revealed
God did not forsake His exhausted servant when he felt forsaken by God and man, but loved him no less in broken-hearted discouragement than when fire flashed from heaven in answer to prayer on Carmel's mountaintop. He had toiled all day without food, and after elevation of faith and glorious success came reaction into despondency and despair, from Pisgah's top to the lowliest valley in faith and feeling. God's eye was still upon His suffering servant, for He knows and reads the heart's sore anguish under temptation and severe conflict. As Elijah slept under weariness, a soft touch and pleasant voice awoke him, and the pitying face bending over him with love was not an enemy but a friend sent from heaven with food from heaven to sustain His faithful servant. At his head were placed a cake baked on the coals and a cruse of water, and at the word Arise and eat he ate and drank and laid down again to sleep, slumbering again before the second ministration, receiving the strength God abundantly bestows on His servants for test and trial.
The cake and water were brought by a holy angel sent on a mission of mercy to a child of God when he was about to perish from weariness and hunger in the desert. The angel ministered to him in exhaustion and hunger, supplying food and drink so he could eat, drink, and rest. It is one proof and example that holy angels have in all ages ministered to God's people. The Lord thus fed the prophet by miracle upon a long journey when food and water could be obtained from no other source and nowhere else. This proves the Father's eye is constantly upon His own to preserve life and supply necessities on a journey He commands, the same watchful provision by which Joseph and Mary and Jesus were preserved in the flight into Egypt and the stay there through the costly gifts of the wise men.
When Jezebel's oath threatened Elijah with the fate of the prophets of Baal, God did not forget him but sent angels to supply his want with food and water. This proves that though the righteous endure privation and suffer for lack of food they are not left to perish. While God's judgments fall and the wicked die from hunger and thirst, angels will likewise provide food and water for God's people when they flee to desolate places and suffer persecution in the final time of trouble.
Trust and Warning for Believers
After bearing a heavy burden for Israel with faithful warnings against national idolatry and watching and waiting through three years and a half of famine for some token of repentance, and after standing alone for God upon Mount Carmel where through the power of faith idolatry was cast down and the blessed rain testified to showers of blessing waiting for Israel, Elijah in weakness and weariness after his greatest victory yielded once to human weakness and let go of faith and fled before the threats of Jezebel and lay alone in the desert praying that he might die. By that one failure of faith he 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. But God had marked the heart-service of His servant, so Elijah was not to perish in discouragement and solitude in the wilderness, and for him there was not the descent to the tomb but the ascent with God's angels to the presence of His glory. Sin can bring only shame and loss and unbelief means failure, but God's mercy reaches to the deepest depths and faith lifts up the repenting soul to share the adoption of the sons of God.
The eating and resting under angelic care belongs to a trial in which his natural impulses and passions were revealed and tested alongside his spiritual life. That trial brought impurity to the surface, while the character refined by God remained.
The history of discouragement and flight after Jezebel's threat is a help to God's people facing difficulties, teaching that God cares for His tempted and tried servants and works for them in difficulty. It teaches them to trust the Lord rather than human wisdom, to remain in the way of duty, and to wait patiently and prayerfully for God's defense and power and help rather than give way to fear.