20140601 Sunday, June 1 2014
1 Kings 19: Elijah's Journey To Mount Sinai

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"He arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God"

The prophet Elijah had just successfully confronted (see Who Has A Spirit Of Confrontation?) a powerful king, Ahab (see Ahab Of Israel) and then destroyed hundreds of idolatry priests of Israel's state religion (see 1 Kings 18: Elijah's Defeat Of The Prophets Of Baal). Elijah accomplished the work simply because the LORD (Who was and is Jesus Christ - see Genesis 1: In The Beginning Was The Word and The Kingdom Of The LORD God) had sent him to do so. Elijah wasn't looking to be anyone's vain "leader" - a Satanic narcissism that all true servants of the LORD reject and rebuke (see 3 John: Follow Not That Which Is Evil, But That Which Is Good).

When his given task was completed, and he saw that the miraculous power that he was given to complete the job had expired, Elijah, by then an experienced man with little childish tolerance left for clowns ("a rude or vulgar fool") and infidels ("a person who does not acknowledge God"), left the kingdom of Ahab and Jezebel in Israel, where he was about to be murdered, and crossed over into the Kingdom of Judah ("to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah") where he knew that the forces of the Kingdom of Israel would be stopped at the border (see 1 Kings 14: The First Kings Of Israel and Judah).

The LORD had not left Elijah, but merely had no task for him to do at that particular time. The LORD did however sustain the prophet's journey with a miracle of a forty-day fast. It was a supernatural feat done by only two other people in the Holy Bible - Moses, when he received The Ten Commandments (Exodus 34:28-29; see Exodus 20: The Ten Commandments and Exodus 34: The Second Tables Of Stone) and Jesus Christ, just before the Temptation of Christ (Matthew 4:1-11; see Matthew: The Gospel By The Accountant and Who Lights Your Walk?). Elijah then continued on to Mount Sinai.

"19:1 And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. 19:2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time.

19:3 And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. 19:4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. 19:5 And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat.

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.

19:7 And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee. 19:8 And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.

19:9 And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?" (1 Kings 19:1-9 KJV)

Elijah thought that his natural lifetime was over ("he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers"). He went away to die - in a way that would not give Ahab and Jezebel the satisfaction of killing him. By then however, the time of the LORD's next task for Elijah had arrived. The LORD commanded Elijah to return from the Sinai, right back through Judah and Israel, and up into Syria where he would anoint the man, Jehu, who would remove Ahab and Jezebel from Israel (see Jehu Of Israel).

"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.

19:11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD.

And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: 19:12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. 19:13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave.

And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?

19:14 And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because 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.

19:15 And the LORD said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: 19:16 And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. 19:17 And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. 19:18 Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him." (1 Kings 19:10-18 KJV)

The LORD accomplishes things in a timely, orderly way. Elijah was then also given to anoint a young man who would at first assist, and then succeed Elijah - Elisha (see Elisha's Miracles).

"19:19 So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him. 19:20 And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee.

And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee?

19:21 And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him." (1 Kings 19:19-21 KJV)

Fact Finder: The LORD appeared to Moses and Elijah on Mount Sinai. What other mountain did the LORD appear to them - as a prophecy of the coming Kingdom of God ("His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with Him")?
See The Moses And Elijah Vision