1Ki 19:10 | KingComments | STEP | Elijah enters a cave at Horeb. Moses has also been in a cave ( ). Moses also had a problem: on the one hand the judgmental God toward a wicked people and on the other hand the gracious God Who wanted to spare His people. After Elijah had spent the night in the cave, God asked him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” That should force him to reflect. Elijah, however, is full of himself and what one wants to do to him, and that while he has so dedicated himself to the LORD, and this all alone. The whole forty-day journey did not change his mind. He is still the same disappointed prophet. He is charging Israel before God. The people are very unfaithful to God and to His prophets, and even the one who is left, they want to kill. What a people! He has forgotten that there are several faithful. To God this is a serious matter, which is evidenced by the fact that God cites this pleading against Israel with Him in the New Testament ( ). God does so with no fault of any Old Testament believer except with what Elijah does here. Here Elijah is a prosecutor of the people. In the New Testament many believers are quoted from the Old Testament, but only their acts of faith come to the fore there. Elijah is a negative exception. Then he must stand before the LORD ( ). That is where the Lord wants each one of us to be: before Him. There the LORD passes by. But before this happens, some impressive events take place. The LORD first sends a great wind, then an earthquake, and then a fire. They are manifestations of His power. Every time it says that the LORD was not in it. Maybe Elijah thought: “How impressive such manifestations of God’s power would be if you could go to the people with them!” But, and this is decisive, God would not be in it . So where can the LORD be found then? He shows Himself in “a sound of a gentle blowing”. Elijah remained unmoved when he saw the power of God, perhaps with a sense of excitement. But as he hears the sound of that gentle blowing, he wraps his face. Here he sees himself before God, Who shows Himself to him as the merciful God. There is nothing that makes a man so small as to be confronted with a gracious God. It is not the time of judgment, which is represented in the different elements – wind, earthquake and fire. This seems to appeal to Elijah, but the LORD is not in it, not yet. Now He is still in grace dealing with His people and with His servant. This is shown by a sound of a gentle blowing. It is not about impressive, deafening manifestations, but about peace and quiet. Again the question is asked: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” And, incomprehensibly if we don’t know ourselves a little, Elijah answers with the same words. Rocks can be broken, but breaking hearts is more difficult. Elijah says with his remarks that with his death the testimony about God has disappeared from the earth. He has no eye for the 7,000 whom God sees.

‏ 1 Kings 19:10

At Horeb

Elijah enters a cave at Horeb. Moses has also been in a cave (Exo 33:22). Moses also had a problem: on the one hand the judgmental God toward a wicked people and on the other hand the gracious God Who wanted to spare His people.

After Elijah had spent the night in the cave, God asked him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” That should force him to reflect. Elijah, however, is full of himself and what one wants to do to him, and that while he has so dedicated himself to the LORD, and this all alone. The whole forty-day journey did not change his mind. He is still the same disappointed prophet.

He is charging Israel before God. The people are very unfaithful to God and to His prophets, and even the one who is left, they want to kill. What a people! He has forgotten that there are several faithful. To God this is a serious matter, which is evidenced by the fact that God cites this pleading against Israel with Him in the New Testament (Rom 11:2a-4). God does so with no fault of any Old Testament believer except with what Elijah does here. Here Elijah is a prosecutor of the people. In the New Testament many believers are quoted from the Old Testament, but only their acts of faith come to the fore there. Elijah is a negative exception.

Then he must stand before the LORD (1Kgs 19:11). That is where the Lord wants each one of us to be: before Him. There the LORD passes by. But before this happens, some impressive events take place. The LORD first sends a great wind, then an earthquake, and then a fire. They are manifestations of His power. Every time it says that the LORD was not in it. Maybe Elijah thought: “How impressive such manifestations of God’s power would be if you could go to the people with them!” But, and this is decisive, God would not be in it.

So where can the LORD be found then? He shows Himself in “a sound of a gentle blowing”. Elijah remained unmoved when he saw the power of God, perhaps with a sense of excitement. But as he hears the sound of that gentle blowing, he wraps his face. Here he sees himself before God, Who shows Himself to him as the merciful God. There is nothing that makes a man so small as to be confronted with a gracious God.

It is not the time of judgment, which is represented in the different elements – wind, earthquake and fire. This seems to appeal to Elijah, but the LORD is not in it, not yet. Now He is still in grace dealing with His people and with His servant. This is shown by a sound of a gentle blowing. It is not about impressive, deafening manifestations, but about peace and quiet.

Again the question is asked: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” And, incomprehensibly if we don’t know ourselves a little, Elijah answers with the same words. Rocks can be broken, but breaking hearts is more difficult. Elijah says with his remarks that with his death the testimony about God has disappeared from the earth. He has no eye for the 7,000 whom God sees.