_A.M. 3098. B.C. 906._ Elijah, threatened by Jezebel, flees to Beer-sheba, 1 Kings 19:1. In the wilderness, being weary of his life, he is fed and comforted by an angel, 1 Kings 19:4. At Horeb the Lord appears to him, and orders him to anoint Hazael, Jehu, and Elisha, 1 Kings 19:9. He meets with an... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done_ Not to convince her that Jehovah was the true God, and Baal a mere imaginary being, or a senseless idol, but to exasperate her against both Jehovah and his prophet. His conscience, it seems, would not let him persecute Elijah himself, having in him some r... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah_ She gives him notice of her designs beforehand; partly from her high and haughty spirit, as scorning to kill him secretly; partly out of impatience till she had given vent to her rage; and partly from God's gracious and overruling providence, that hereby E... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when he saw that, he arose and went for his life_ That is, to save his life: whereby may be intimated, that he did not flee from Jezreel by the hand or direction of the Lord, by which he had come thither; but because of his own fear and apprehension of danger. One would have expected, after suc... [ Continue Reading ]
_He went a day's journey into the wilderness_ The vast wilderness of Arabia, wherein the Israelites wandered forty years. He durst not stay in Judah, though good Jehoshaphat reigned there, because he was allied to Ahab, and was a man of an easy temper, whom Ahab might circumvent, and either by force... [ Continue Reading ]
_He lay and slept under a juniper tree_ But he is wakened out of his sleep, and finds himself not only well provided for with bread and water, but, which is more, attended by an angel, who guarded him when he slept, and called him to his victuals once and again when they were ready for him. “He need... [ Continue Reading ]
_Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for thee_ Above thy strength; now especially, when thou art faint, weary, and fasting. God knows what he designs us for, though we do not; what services, what trials; and will take care for us, when we, for want of foresight, cannot for ourselves, tha... [ Continue Reading ]
_He went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights _ Observe here, how many different ways God took to keep Elijah alive: he was fed by ravens, by a miraculous increase of meal and oil, by an angel, and now, to show that _man lives not by bread alone_, he is kept alive forty days with... [ Continue Reading ]
_He came thither_ Unto the mount where God had formerly manifested his glory in so extraordinary a manner; _unto a cave, and lodged there_ Perhaps the same cave, or cleft of a rock, in which Moses was hid, when _the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed his name._ Hither, in his wanderings, the L... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord of hosts_ I have not been wholly wanting to my vocation; but have executed my office with zeal for thy honour and service, and with the hazard of my life; and am fled hither, not being able to endure to see the dishonour done to thy name by their o... [ Continue Reading ]
_Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord_ Elijah came hither to meet with God, and God graciously condescended to give him the meeting. And the manner of his manifesting himself seems evidently to refer to the discoveries God formerly made of himself at this place to Moses. Then there was... [ Continue Reading ]
_After the fire a still small voice_ To intimate, that God would do his work in and for Israel in his own time, _not by might or power, but by his_ own _Spirit_, (Zechariah 4:6,) which moves with a powerful, but yet with a sweet and gentle gate. “Elijah had perhaps expected to carry all before him,... [ Continue Reading ]
_When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle_ Through dread of God's presence, being sensible that he was neither worthy of nor able to endure the sight of God with open face. _And went out and stood_, &c. Which God had commanded him to do; and as he was going toward the mouth of the cav... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he said, I have been very jealous_, &c. “Though Elijah showed tokens of humble adoration on this occasion, the repetition of his answer to the Lord's renewed inquiry, (‘What doest thou here?') shows, that he did not fully understand the emblematic display; and that he was not properly convinced... [ Continue Reading ]
_Go, return on thy way_ The way by which thou camest; for the way from Horeb to Damascus was, in part, the same with that by which he had come. _Anoint Hazael to be king over Syria_ It seems, the word _anoint_ must here be taken figuratively for _appoint_, or _declare_, which was done by Elisha, 2 K... [ Continue Reading ]
_Him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay_ This is not to be understood, as if the sword of Hazael should do execution before the sword of Jehu, and the sword of Jehu before that of Elisha: it only signifies, that God had appointed these three persons to punish the apostate Israelites f... [ Continue Reading ]
_Yet have I left me_, &c. Or, I have reserved to myself; I have by my grace kept from the common contagion: therefore thou art mistaken in thinking that thou art left alone. _Seven thousand_ Either definitely, so many; or rather, indefinitely, for many thousands; the number _seven_ being often used... [ Continue Reading ]
_And found Elisha_ In his journey toward Damascus. _Who was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen_ Who had twelve ploughs going, whereof eleven were managed by his servants, and the last by himself; according to the simplicity of those ancient times, in which men of good estate submitted to the meanest... [ Continue Reading ]
_He left the oxen and ran after Elijah_ Being powerfully moved to follow him, and wholly give himself up to his function. _And said _ Or, _but he said_, or, _yet he said, Let me kiss my father_, &c. That is, bid them farewell by the usual ceremony. _And he said Go back again_ Take thy leave of them,... [ Continue Reading ]
_From him_ From Elijah to his parents; whom when he had seen and kissed, he returned to Elijah. _The instruments_ That is, with the wood belonging to the plough, &c., to which more was added, as occasion required: but that he burned, to show his total relinquishing of his former employment. _And gav... [ Continue Reading ]