Bible Commentaries

And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the ^a prophets with the sword.

(a) That is, of Baal.

Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, ^b 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.

(b) Though the wicked rage against God's children, yet he holds them back so they cannot execute their malice.

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, ^c take away my life; for I [am] not better than my fathers.

(c) It is so hard to control our impatience in affliction, that the saints could not overcome the same.

And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise [and] eat; because ^d the journey [is] too great for thee.

(d) He declares that unless God had nourished him miraculously it would have been impossible for him to have gone on this journey.

And he said, I have ^e 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.

(e) He complains that the more zealous he was to maintain God's glory, the more cruelly he was persecuted.

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] ^f not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; [but] the LORD [was] not in the earthquake:

(f) For the nature of man is not able to come near God, if he appeared in his strength and full majesty, and therefore he mercifully submits himself to our limitations.

And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: ^g 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.

(g) So should not depend on the multitude in maintaining God's glory, but because our duty requires us to do it.

Yet I have left [me] seven thousand in Israel, ^h all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.

(h) He declares that wicked deceivers and idolaters are not his.

And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, ⁱ 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?

(i) Though this natural affection is not to be contemned, yet it should not move us when God calls us to serve him.

And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the ^k instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him.

(k) He would not stay till wood was brought, so great was his desire to follow his calling.