1 Kings 19:7, commentary and pictures

After faithful warning, famine, Carmel and answered prayer for fire and rain, Elijah expected reformation but fled rashly to Beer-sheba and the wilderness when Jezebel threatened his life, without divine direction or patient faith for further victory. Worn, exhausted and prostrate after toiling without food, in the reaction that follows high faith he felt forsaken, believed himself no better than his fathers, and asked God to take his life. After he had eaten the cake and drunk the water and lain down again under the juniper tree, the angel returned a second time, touched him with pitying tenderness, wakened him, and told him to rise and eat again because the journey was too great for him without renewed strength. In the strength of that food he arose, ate and drank, and traveled forty days and forty nights through the wilderness to Horeb the mount of God, where he lodged in a cave, though his failure of faith cut short his life-work so another was to be anointed prophet in his stead. It shows God did not abandon or forsake His broken-hearted servant in discouragement and solitude but loved him no less than on Carmel, sending miraculous mercy to one near death from weariness and hunger, and bestowing strength for test and trial that never wearies.

Elijah's Flight and Exhaustion

The verse belongs to Elijah's flight for his life to Beer-sheba and into the wilderness after Jezebel threatened him. He had faithfully warned against national idolatry through three and a half years of famine, stood alone for God upon Carmel, cast down idolatry, and received answered prayer in fire from heaven and in rain, and he had expected Israel to become true and faithful to God, Ahab to escape Jezebel's influence, and a general reformation and revolution in the land. When the threatening message came he fled rashly without divine direction and without waiting in faith and patience for the Lord to speak, to shield him, and to grant another signal victory in Israel in judgments upon Jezebel.

He was worn down by the burden of his work, weary, exhausted and prostrate after toiling all day without food. The reaction that often follows high faith and marked success had brought him from Pisgah's top to the lowest valley in faith and feeling, discouraged and murmuring and seized by despondency and despair. Feeling forsaken by God and man and believing himself no better than his fathers, he counted life no longer desirable and asked God to take his life. He had forgotten that God was the same almighty and pitiful God who had sent fire when he prayed and it came, and rain when he prayed and it came, and had granted every request.

What the verse records is a second ministration under the juniper tree. After eating the cake baked on the coals and drinking the water and lying down again to sleep, the angel of the Lord came again the second time to the exhausted man. With pitying tenderness he touched him, wakened him, and bade him arise and eat again because the journey was too great for him without renewed strength.

In the strength of that food Elijah arose, ate and drank, rested, and then traveled forty days and forty nights through the wilderness unto Horeb the mount of God, where he came to a cave and lodged and found refuge. His failure of faith had cut short his life-work, so the work he had begun he was not to complete. God therefore directed him to anoint another to be prophet in his stead.

God's Tender Sustaining Care

God did not abandon His suffering servant in discouragement and solitude, but kept His eye upon him in the wilderness after his flight from Jezebel's threat. Though Elijah's faith failed and he wished to die, God marked his heart-service and sustained and preserved him. He loved him no less when broken-hearted and feeling forsaken of God and man than when fire flashed from heaven on Carmel in answer to prayer.

The angel was sent on a mission of mercy to a child of God who was about to perish from weariness and hunger in the desert and was near death. He wakened the sleeping man and provided food and drink for a journey too great for him unaided. The return a second time, the touch in pitying tenderness, and the renewed bidding to arise and eat show a care that does not forget faithful people in danger and need.

The provision was miraculous, given when Elijah was on a long journey and could obtain food from no other source. It is an example of watchful care to supply the necessities of a journey He directs. The same care rained manna for Israel and supplied Joseph, Mary, and Jesus in their flight to Egypt and sojourn there through the valuable offerings brought by the wise men of the East.

God is able and willing to bestow upon His servants the strength they need for test and trial. His infinite love and compassion never weary, and He never changes His covenant with those who love Him. He sustains His tempted and tried servant, so that faith, prayer, and work bring assurance and satisfaction even in the darkest days when appearances seem most forbidding. After eating and resting under this tender provision, Elijah was strengthened to continue to Horeb.

This history helps God's people facing difficulty to trust the Lord rather than human wisdom, to remain in the way of duty, and to wait patiently and prayerfully for His help without letting fear discourage them. Unbelief means failure and sin brings only shame and loss, yet God's mercy reaches to the deepest depths and lifts the repenting soul by faith to share the adoption of the sons of God. He sustained Elijah not for descent to the tomb but for ascent with angels to the presence of His glory. He uses personal trial like a furnace to consume the dross of natural impulse and passion and to bring to light the fine gold of character.