1 Kings 19: 1 – 21
A clean sweep
19 And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” 3 And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” 5 Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” 6 Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So, he ate and drank, and lay down again. 7 And the angel of the LORD came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” 8 So he arose and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 So he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.” 11 Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces 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; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. 13 So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14 And he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.” 15 Then the LORD said to him: “Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. 16 Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. 17 It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill. 18 Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” 19 So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him. 20 And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” 21 So Elisha turned back from him and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah and became his servant.
Right now, in the good old US of A we are having our Major League Baseball Playoffs. Last year’s World Series Champions made a clean sweep of their first divisional rival. We are used to this term in sports but has this term occurred in any other situation? One of the definitions of the term ‘a clean sweep’ means a thorough or sweeping change, especially one effected by the large-scale removal or elimination of unwanted persons.
We are looking at Biblical accounts of man’s verbal interactions with God. We are thinking about prayer, and how to pray. And in Genesis 18, we see Abraham engaged in active negotiation with God.
Due to the depth of the relationship between God and Abraham, the Lord decides to share what He will do next, in visiting the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah with the intent of destroying them. It is here that Abraham begs for God’s restraint. “Will you destroy it if you find 50 righteous people there? or 45? or 40? How about 30? or 20? Even 10?” God says that He will withhold judgment even if there are 10 righteous people. But there are not.
Abraham pleads for a division of mankind, between those who are proclaimed righteous, and those who are not; between those covered by the blood of the covenant and those who are not. Abraham, based on God’s revelation of Himself, sees all of humanity in this light. There are only two kinds of people: righteous, and unrighteous, not measured in human standards or by human appearances, but by faith in the promises of God.
Will God “sweep away” the righteous with the unrighteous? Will God treat the wheat as though it is chaff? No, He will not, and He does not. And even though He did not find even ten righteous people in Sodom, he still arranged the rescue of “righteous Lot,” his wife (partially), and his two daughters. Then He made a clean sweep of Sodom and Gomorrah, but not before rescuing the righteous.
God has promised to make a clean sweep of this world in which we live as well. It’s a mess, and God is at odds with sin. We look forward to a new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells. Will He sweep away the righteous with the unrighteous? No, He will make a clean sweep of this world, even as He reaches out and saves those who are in right relationship with Him through faith in the covenant formed by Him for the sake of His people, sealed with the blood of His Precious Holy Son Jesus Christ.
In today’s scripture our Lord Is going to make a clean sweep in the prophet ministry. He Is going to replace Elijah with Elisha. In future chapters we will learn how He makes a clean sweep of all those who refused to give up worship of Baal.
19 And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword.
Ahab naturally recounted to the queen the amazing events he had witnessed, including the execution of the prophets of Baal.
Exultant because the battle appeared almost won, and, with King Ahab surely now convinced, Elijah probably felt safe back in Jezreel, but he was to be devastated the next day to receive a message from Jezebel that she intended to have him executed.
2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.”
Jezebel was enraged , Instead her anger spilled over as she considered what Elijah had done, and filled with a determination for revenge, and infuriated that he might be feeling that he had won, she immediately dispatched a messenger in order to disillusion him and inform him that she intended to execute him as he had executed the prophets of Baal. She wanted Elijah to know immediately what was in store for him, so that he could not gloat, and so that he would suffer in the meanwhile waiting for soldiers to come and get him. In her view now that he was accessible in the city he had made himself vulnerable.
3 And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
While Israel had recognized YHWH again, the ruling establishment were still totally against Him. The sudden unexpected turnaround temporarily unbalanced him, and in his panic, he fled for his life, feeling that his cause was now hopeless. It was apparent that he had not really won after all, apart from in the hearts of the general populace. Despite what had happened on Carmel, Ahab appeared not to be willing to protect him.
His initial destination was the sanctuary at Beersheba in the very south of Judah where he knew that he would be safe, even from Jezebel’s long arm. But his ultimate destination was Horeb (Sinai), the mountain of God.
At times of great stress godly people regularly seek out a hallowed place which they associate with God, and what better place than that where YHWH had made His covenant with Israel?
4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”
Beer-sheba was not his destination because he had decided to make for Mount Horeb. The sudden turn of events had made him lose hope. So, leaving his servant at Beer-sheba he travelled on into the desert wilderness beyond.
Having gone a day’s journey into the desert wilderness he sought the shade of a broom tree. This spot is a very interesting coincidence. Elijah wanted to make a clean sweep of his life. He wanted out of the ministry. He wanted to be replaced. How fitting that he winds up under a ‘broom’ tree.
5 Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.”
You can imagine this situation. You are running for your life and you become so exhausted you pass out. You are awoken be someone touching you. I am sure he was shocked by a visitor out of nowhere.
6 Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So, he ate and drank, and lay down again.
And when Elijah looked he saw placed by his head a cake of bread which had been baked on coals, and a jar of water. And he ate and drank as he had been bidden, and then laid himself down to rest again. He was totally exhausted. He had stretched himself beyond his limit.
7 And the angel of the LORD came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.”
When he had slept again the Angel of YHWH came again a second time and touched him, and bade him ‘arise and eat’, pointing out that the journey on which he had set out was proving too much for him.
8 So he arose and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.
Elijah arose, and ate and drank, ‘and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God’. This may signify that he took what remained of the food and water with him, eking it out of his journey. Or it may be intended to suggest special divine endurance.
Horeb was the area in which Mount Sinai was situated so that the range could also be called ‘Mount Horeb’.
9 And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Arriving at Horeb Elijah sought out a cave where he could sleep, and there the word of YHWH came to him and asked him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
10 So he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”
His reply was to explain the situation as he saw it in Israel. However, we all need to stop and really understand what our Holy God Was asking him We know that Jehovah Elohim knew why Elijah was there at Mount Sanai. The question our Great and Holy God Was asking is, ‘Why have you stopped trusting Me Elijah to take care of you that you had to flee here?’
Elijah perception of what was going on is revealed in that he responded that he had fought jealously on behalf of YHWH of Hosts, in the face of the forsaking of the covenant by the people of Israel, in that they had thrown down his altars and slain his prophets with the sword, all mainly the work of Jezebel and her minions. And now he found himself alone and without help, and they were seeking to take away his life as well. That was why he had fled.
11 Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces 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; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
Then YHWH told him to go out and stand on the Mount before YHWH. And when he had done so YHWH gave him a spectacular demonstration of power. First YHWH passed by and a great and strong wind tore at the mountains, causing rents to appear and breaking up rocks. But YHWH was not in the wind. (This clearly means that once the wind had manifested itself, Elijah heard no voice, for we have been told that it was caused by YHWH passing by. YHWH was in the wind, it was just that He did not speak to Elijah through the wind).
The violent wind was followed by an earthquake. But similarly, although YHWH was in the earthquake, there was no voice. YHWH was not intending to manifest Himself to Elijah in the earthquake. Then there was a flaming fire, but again, although YHWH was in the flaming fire, as He had been on Mount Carmel, it was not the way in which He would speak to Elijah. There was no voice in the fire. YHWH was not manifesting Himself in the fire. It will be noted that all three of these manifestations had been a part of original revelations by YHWH to Moses and Israel. And it will be noted especially that the fire was how He had spoken on Mount Carmel. But the question was, who had really heard it? It had had an instant effect, but it would not be a permanent effect, except in the few. That was why Elijah was here, Because the fire had ‘spoken’ to Ahab, but he had not really listened. Now, however, YHWH was manifesting Himself through a ‘still, small voice’. Because of this voice men would listen. The point was being made crystal clear that YHWH was at that time speaking to those who would listen in Israel, not through devastating events, not through the spectacular fire on Mount Carmel, but through a ‘still, small voice’ within each heart, and through the mouths of His prophets.
13 So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
We are probably to see the first part of this verse as occurring in response to the command to go forth in verse 11 (‘it’ being that command), what then followed having taken place once he had done so (which is why he wrapped his face in his robe in anticipation of a theophany). This allowed the repetition of the question to be emphasized. Elijah should not have been there. He should have trusted Adoni Yahweh to protect him and should have been out proclaiming YHWH so that His still small voice could work in people’s hearts.
14 And he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”
Elijah gives the same response as the first time. It was him against the world.
15 Then the LORD said to him: “Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. 16 Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. 17 It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill. 18 Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
YHWH’s named the names of the three agents through whom He intends finally to rid Israel of Baalism and called on Elijah to anoint them for that purpose. What we see here is that our Holy Ruler wanted Elijah to anoint pagan rulers from other countries to come and destroy the people of Israel who even after our Holy Lord God’s action on Mount Carmel returned to their evil ways of worshiping Baal.
To correct Elijah’s view of being the only one left faithful to our Holy and Great God, He then He emphasized that there were still a good number who had also heard, and would hear, the still, small voice. YHWH had reserved for Himself in Israel seven thousand who had remained totally faithful to Him.
19 So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him. 20 And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” 21 So Elisha turned back from him and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah and became his servant.
In obedience to YHWH’s command Elijah then went to seek out Elisha as his successor. Arriving at the field where Elisha was ploughing he threw his robe over him. Elisha would know immediately what that signified. He was being called into his service by Elijah. Accordingly, he asked permission to say goodbye to his parents, and held a feast at which relatives and neighbors all partook of his slain oxen. By this he made clear that he was finished as a ploughman and was leaving his former manner of life. Then he followed Elijah.
