Chapter 19

Jezebel sends Elijah a message swearing to kill him inside of 24 hrs.  Elijah runs for his life.  Elijah goes into the wilderness a day's journey and asks to die.  Then he goes to sleep under a broom tree.  An angel brings him food, twice, and that sustains him 40 days as he travels to Mt. Horeb.  He goes into a cave.  Likely he thought the fire from heaven and the rain would bring revival, not death threats, and so he was feeling pretty rotten.  He tells God that he is the only prophet left because the rest have been killed.  God says to walk outside...

Then, these verses:

And he said, "Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord ." And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke 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. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.  1 Kings 19:11‭-‬12 ESV

God shows Elijah His power, then repeats the question and Elijah gives the same answer.

God tells Elijah to go to Syria and anoint Hazael king there, and then to anoint Jehu king of Israel. God says He will protect the 7000 in Israel who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

He is also to anoint Elisha as prophet in his place.  So Elijah is only in a few chapters here!

2022 - Note that these 7,000 are in Israel, and despite the horrible kings and the pressure to worship the calves, this many have refused to do so.  There would surely have been more in Judah. 

2021 - Elijah had asked to die.  Instead, God sends him to Horeb and shows him that He is still God, and he makes it clear to Elijah that he is not alone, though he thinks he is.  Once this is established, God tells Elijah to do some final tasks.  I think it is obvious at this point that Elijah's prayer to die is being answered, but he has a few things yet to do.  Elijah would have realized the end was near, that his prayer was answered, and that he had based it on some pretty bad assumptions.

Elijah passes the cloak very unceremoniously.  Elisha sacrifices his oxen, feeds people, then follows Elijah.

(8/23/20 - Come back to this.  Find that verse where Elijah says he is the only one left, where 5 minutes after triumph he is running for his life.  We go through such times also.  Yet all these things are within God's will.  This needs to be a FB post.)

First notes, 8/23/18

The  son of the widow Elijah was staying with dies.  In the middle of an  ongoing miracle, the son dies.  Of sickness, so it took a while.  Elijah  doesn't cure the sickness.  He waits, then does a bigger miracle.

Why let the lady experience grief on that level?  Because when her son is revived, she says this: 

Then  the woman said to Elijah, “Now by this I know that you are a man of  God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth.”

I Kings 17:24 NKJV

It took this kind of demonstration to convince her.  The miracle in progress with the flour and oil was not enough.

Are we ignoring miracles all around us to avoid believing?