Elijah flees to Horeb
1 Ahab told Jezebel every thing Eli jah had done and how he had slain all
the prophets with the sword.
2 Jezebel then sent word to Elijah, ※May I be cursed if by this time
tomorrow I have not dealt with you as you dealt with them.§
3 Elijah was scared and fled for his life. He reached Beer-sheba of Judah
and left his servant there.
4 He himself disappeared into the desert going on a day＊s journey. Then he
sat down under a broom tree and prayed to die, ※That is enough, Yahweh, take
away my life for I am dying.§
5 He lay down and went to sleep under the broom tree. Then an angel touched
him and said, ※Get up and eat.§
6 Elijah looked and saw, at his head, a cake baked on hot stones and a jar
of water. He ate and drank and went back to sleep.
7 The angel of Yahweh came a second time to him, saying, ※Get up and eat,
for the journey is too long for you.§
8 He got up, ate and drank, and on the strength of that food, he traveled
for forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.
The encounter with God
9 On reaching the place, he came to the cave and stayed in it. Then the word
of Yahweh came to him,※What are you doing here, Elijah?§
10 He answered, ※I am burning with jealous love for Yahweh, the God of
Hosts, because the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your
altars, and slain your prophets with the sword. No one is left but myself
and they are still trying to kill me as well.§
11 Then Yahweh said, ※Go up and stand on the mount, waiting for Yahweh.§ And
Yahweh passed by.
There was first a windstorm, wild wind which rent the mountains and broke
the rocks into pieces before Yah weh, but Yahweh was not in the wind. After
the storm, an earthquake, but Yahweh was not in the earthquake.
12 Af ter the earthquake, a fire, but Yahweh was not in the fire. After the
fire, the mur mur of a gentle breeze.
13 When Elijah perceived it, he covered his face with his cloak, went out
and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then he heard a voice addressing him
again, ※What are you doing here, Elijah?§
14 He answered, ※I am burning with jealous love for Yah weh, the God of
hosts, because the Israelites have forsaken your cove nant, thrown down your
altars and slain your prophets with the sword. No one is left but myself,
yet they still seek my life to take it away.§
15 Yahweh said to him, ※Take the road back through the desert and go to
Damascus for you must anoint Hazael as king of Syria;
16 you shall also anoint Jehu, son of Nimshi, as king over Israel; and
Elisha, son of Shaphat, from Abel Meholah, you shall anoint as pro phet in
your place.
17 Whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael will be slain by Jehu and
whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha will let him die.
18 Yet I will spare seven thousand in Israel who have not knelt before Baal
and whose lips have not kissed him.§
19 So Elijah left. He found Elisha, son of Shaphat, who was plowing a field
of twelve acres and was at the end of the twelfth acre. Elijah passed by him
and cast his cloak over him.
20 Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah and said, ※Let me say goodbye to
my father and mother; then I will follow you.§ Elijah said to him, ※Return
if you want, don＊t worry about what I did.§
21 However, Elisha turned back, took the yoke of oxen and slew them. He
roasted their meat on the pieces of the yoke and gave it to his people who
ate of it. After this, he followed Elijah and began ministering to him.
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Comments 1 Kings, Chapter 19
• 19.1 Elijah was scared and fled for his life. Thus, the miracle does not
miraculously solve the problems of faith. The conversion of the people will
be a long and painful work.
We can see on the map how Elijah crossed the two kingdoms of Israel and
Judah from north to south. Carmel is 250 kilometers from Beersheba, the last
town before the desert south of Judah.
The journey is too long for you. Elijah only looks for the entrance to the
desert to save himself, but God brings him much farther. He is given a
mysterious bread which recalls the manna of the Hebrews in the desert and
foretells the eucharistic bread which Jesus will give for our spiritual
journey (Jn 6:8).
He traveled for forty days and forty nights (see Ex 24:18). Elijah goes to
encounter Yahweh. Jesus himself will go to the desert as a nec es sary proof
and we, too, at certain moments need ※to go to the desert§ (sometimes God
himself puts us in the desert: Hos 2:16). Elijah＊s solitary journey shows
the itinerary which those who seek God have to undertake. However, much we
need the sup port of our spouse, of our companions, of the Church, each one
makes his or her own journey, and God calls peo ple personally to seek this
encounter with him.
• 9. Thus Elijah arrives at Horeb: it is the other name of Sinai, where
Yahweh had revealed himself to Moses four centuries earlier.
Go up and stand on the mount, waiting for Yahweh. To him who is afire with a
jealous love for God, God manifests his tenderness be yond all that we can
imagine. Thus, Yahweh reveals himself in the gentle breeze more than in the
hurricane or in the earthquake.
What are you doing here, Elijah? First, God asks a question and obliges the
prophet to discover the depth of his heart. There is nothing in Elijah but
his jealous love for Yahweh. Yahweh, in turn, reveals his infallible plans.
Hazael, Jehu, Elisha. Yahweh tells Elijah about the future of Israel with
all its tragic truth: the kingdom, gloriously begun with David and Solomon,
is destined to disappear. This will be the result of the people＊s
disobedience.
每 Hazael, king of Syria, is the enemy king who will conquer and humiliate
Israel.
每 Jehu will destroy Ahab＊s family and annihilate the worshipers of Baal.
每 Elisha will transmit the menacing words of Yahweh.
Nevertheless, Israel will not totally disappear, for God reserves a Remnant,
expressed in symbolic form by 7,000 Israelites who have not knelt before
Baal.
This revelation clarifies the mission of the prophets of the Bible. The
majority of them, and the greatest among them, lived during the three
centuries in which Israel passed from the glory of Solomon to the Exile. So
the prophets:
每 tried to hold back the infidelity of the chosen people who were heading to
their ruin;
每 called for inner conversion, that of the heart;
每 taught the marvelous future which God had reserved for the ※remnant§ of
Israel, after the destruction of their material kingdom in the land of
Palestine.
• 19. Elijah passed by Elisha and cast his cloak over him. He calls him in
the same way as Jesus will call his apostles: ※Follow me.§ Perhaps Elijah
inter prets the answer, ※Let me embrace my parents,§ as a hesitation on
Elisha＊s part to leave everything and, for this reason, he answers him: ※Go
back if you want, it was nothing of importance.§ But Elisha merely wanted to
say goodbye to his relatives in a decent manner (see Lk 9:61). From now on,
Elisha will be Elijah＊s disciple and his successor in Israel.