Dusk in the bare Negev wilderness: rolling gravel plains and low eroded hills fade into blue haze, and alone in the middle distance stands a single white broom bush casting a thin, lacy shadow on the stones.

The Book of

1 Kings 19

The day after the fire fell, one threat sends Elijah running for his life. God meets him in the wilderness, and then at the mountain of Moses.

21 verses≈ 5 min4 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–2Solomon's throneThe kingdom made secure
3–4WisdomA discerning heart
5–8The templeA house for the LORD's Name
9–11Glory and fallSolomon's heart turns
12–16Two kingdomsThe kingdom torn
17–19ElijahThe LORD, He is GodChapter 19
20–22AhabNaboth and Micaiah

Elijah Flees from Jezebel

Night in the royal house at Jezreel, lit by clay oil lamps: Queen Jezebel, tall and cold in Tyrian purple, gives a message to a kneeling messenger with a staff, while King Ahab sits slumped and silent on an ivory-inlaid couch behind her; rain drips beyond the open doorway.

Now Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods deal with me, and ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I have not made your life like the lives of those you killed!”

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And Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness.

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

From Jezreel to Horeb

From Jezreel Elijah fled about a hundred miles south to “Beersheba in Judah,” beyond Ahab’s reach, and went on alone into the wilderness. Horeb, the mountain where Moses received the law, lay some two hundred miles farther south in the Sinai; its exact site is uncertain.

A vast desert of sand, gravel and wadis: far off, one small cloaked figure with a staff walks toward a range of high, bare red-and-gray granite mountains on the horizon, his footprints trailing behind him.

So he got up and ate and drank. And strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.

0:09

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Reflect

I have had enough

Elijah ran, sat down under a broom tree and asked to die. God answered with sleep, bread, water and a touch before He gave him anything to do. When you are worn out, what helps you hear God again? Who could you tell honestly how you are?

The LORD Speaks to Elijah at Horeb

The dark mouth of a cave in a bare, rocky mountainside under a heavy evening sky.

There Elijah entered a cave and spent the night.

God

And the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Elijah

“I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well.”

Then the LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD. Behold, the LORD is about to pass by.”

And a great and mighty wind tore into the mountains and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

After the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a still, small voice.

In the stillness after the storm, Elijah stands at the mouth of a cave in red-gray granite, seen from the side, his dark cloak drawn up over his head and across his face, head bowed, broken rock and settling dust around him.

When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

God

Suddenly a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Elijah

Then the LORD said to him, “Go back by the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you arrive, you are to anoint Hazael as king over Aram. You are also to anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah to succeed you as prophet.

Then Jehu will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Jehu.

1 Kings 19:18

Question

Quick question

Elijah told the LORD twice, “I am the only one left.”

How many in Israel did the LORD say He had reserved, whose knees had not bowed to Baal?

Elijah at Horeb: wind, earthquake, fire, voice

Whiteboard

A great wind, an earthquake and a fire passed by, but “the LORD was not in the wind,” nor in the earthquake or the fire. Then came “a still, small voice,” a question, a task and a promise: Elijah was not alone. God does His work by His word, often quietly.

The Call of Elisha

So Elijah departed and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve teams of oxen, and he was with the twelfth team. Elijah passed by him and threw his cloak around him.

Elisha

So Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and mother goodbye, and then I will follow you.”

Elijah

“Go on back,” Elijah replied, “for what have I done to you?”

Evening at the edge of the plowed field: a fire of broken wooden plow shafts and yokes blazes under a large clay cooking pot, and farm workers and neighbors sit around it eating from bowls, while Elisha, a bundle on his shoulder, walks away up the path after a cloaked figure.

So Elisha turned back from him, took his pair of oxen, and slaughtered them. Using the oxen’s equipment for fuel, he cooked the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow and serve Elijah.

Pray

Meet me there

Pray for anyone worn out and in despair, that God would meet them with care as He met Elijah under the broom tree. Ask for ears to hear His word when it comes quietly, and for courage to follow Him without looking back, as Elisha did when he “set out to follow and serve Elijah.”

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1 Kings 19

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A verse to carry with you

Nevertheless, I have reserved seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.

1 Kings 19:18

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