30878838 life-of-elijah-chapter-three

LIFE OF ELIJAH CHAPTER 3
I KIGS 19 COMMETARY
Written and edited by Glenn Pease
PREFACE
Many other authors are quoted in this study, and some are not named. Credit will be given if the
name of the author is sent to me. Some may not want their wisdom shared in this way, and if they
object and wish it to be removed they can let me know also at my e-mail address which is
glenn_p86@yahoo.com In this chapter I quote Arthur W. Pink almost excessively. He has the best
and most complete commentary on Elijah, and he has so much wisdom and insight that it is hard
to quit quoting him, but believe it or not, I still only quote a fraction of what he has written. I just
want to acknowledge how indebted I am to him, even though I sometimes dispute his comments.
Don't let my numbering system puzzle you. It is just a way to add new material without having to
change all the numbers each time I add a new paragraph.
ITRODUCTIO
1. John M. Loweie, “We accord to him ( Elijah) the reputation of a holy man ; yet can we not
approve of his entire spirit and character. We recognize him as a man of great zeal and boldness
in the service of his God ; yet was he not without the fears and misgivings and infirmities which
bring him down to the level of our own frail and erring humanity. He stands forth upon the
sacred page as one of the sternest reformers that ever called a guilty people to repentance; and
yet beneath that rugged exterior there beat a heart of the finest and tenderest sympathy for
human suffering, exemplifying a character, not seldom given in the Scriptures and found beneath
their teachings, where an inflexible and high-toned sense of right is joined to the warmest and
truest benevolence.
More perhaps than is true of any other character in sacred history, the life of this man of God
contains many checkered scenes and exhibits many wide extremes of feeling. Here we have zeal
as bold and fears as timid ; success as large and failure as decided ; faith as confident and yet
unbelief as dejecting and despondent, as can be easily found in any wide experience of other men.
2. A. W. Pink has a brilliant description of the radical change as we go from the last chapter to
this one. He wrote, In passing from 1 Kings 18 to 1 Kings 19 we meet with a sudden and strange

transition. It is as though the sun was shining brilliantly out of a clear sky and the next moment,
without any warning, black clouds drape the heavens and crashes of thunder shake the earth.
The contrasts presented by these chapters are sharp and startling. At the close of the one the
hand of the Lord was on Elijah as he ran before Aha' s chariot: at the beginning of the other he
is occupied with self and went for his life. In the former we behold the prophet at his best: in
the latter we see him at his worst. There he was strong in faith and the helper of his people: here
he is filled with fear and is the deserter of his nation. In the one he confronts the four hundred
prophets of Baal undaunted: in the other he flees panic-stricken from the threats of one woman.
From the mountain top he betakes himself into the wilderness, and from supplicating Jehovah
that He would vindicate and glorify His great name to begging Him to take away his life. Who
would have imagined such a tragic sequel?
In the startling contrasts here presented we have a striking proof of the Divine inspiration of the
Scriptures. In the Bible human nature is painted in its true colors: the characters of its heroes are
faithfully depicted, the sins of its noteworthy persons are frankly recorded. True, it is human to
err, but equally true it is human to conceal the blemishes of those we most admire. Had the Bible
been a human production, written by uninspired historians, they had magnified the virtues of the
most illustrious men of their nation, and ignored their vices, or if mentioned at all, glossed over
them and made attempts to extenuate the same. Had some human admirer chronicled the history
of Elijah, his sad failure would have been omitted. The fact that it is recorded, that no effort is
made to excuse it, is evidence that the characters of the Bible are painted in the colors of truth
and reality, that they were not sketched by human hands, but that the writers were controlled by
the Holy Spirit.”
Elijah Flees to Horeb
1 ow Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and
how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
1. Pink describes how Jezebel was likely thinking as she awaited the return of her husband.
“Doubtless she cherished the hope that her priests had triumphed, and as the rain clouds blotted
out the sky would attribute the welcome change to some grand intervention of Baal in response to
their supplications. If so, all was well: her heart's desire would be realized, her scheming crowned
with success, the undecided Israelites would be won over to her idolatrous regime and the last
vestiges of the worship of Jehovah would be stamped out. For the troublesome famine Elijah was
solely to blame; for the ending thereof she and her gods should have the credit. Probably such
thoughts as these occupied her mind in the interval of waiting.
He would relate how Elijah had mocked her priests, lashed them with his biting irony, and held
them up to the scorn of the people. He would describe how he had put them to confusion by his
challenge, and how he, as if by some spell or charm, had brought down fire from heaven. He
would enlarge upon the victory gained by the Tishbite, of the ecstasy of the people thereon, how

they had fallen on their faces, saying, Jehovah, He is the God; Jehovah, He is the God. That he
recounted these things unto Jezebel, not to convince her of her error, but rather to incense her
against God's servant, is clear from his designed climax: and withal how he had slain all the
prophets with the sword. How this revealed once more what an awful character Ahab was! As
the protracted drought with the resultant famine had not turned him unto the Lord, so this
Divine mercy of sending the rain to refresh his dominions led him not to repentance. either
Divine judgments nor Divine blessings will of themselves reclaim the unregenerate nothing but a
miracle of sovereign grace can turn souls from the power of sin and Satan unto the living God.”
2. Everything was going so great for Elijah until this blabber mouth king got his wife involved in
the fight. Ahab was a wimp, and just watched as all of his religious leaders were wiped out. He
never says a word to Elijah about this slaughter. Elijah treats him with respect, and he just keeps
silent as he races back to tell Jezebel what an awful day he has had. He was thinking that maybe
she would have some ideas on how to deal with this crisis. He was afraid to do anything for fear
the people might even turn on him, and so he ran home to mama. And we know when mama is
mad, nobody is happy, and this mama queen was raving murder mad. She had just lost 450
prophets who ate at her table, and you can imagine how many left overs that meant, but this was
not what made her angry. Elijah is the focus of her explosion of rage, and she let him know
immediately.
3. “Anyone hearing what had happened on that mountain would respond with awe at what God
had done, and change their minds about everything they had thought before about Baal and the
God of Israel, who was Jehovah. That is what we would assume, and we would expect a repentant
attitude that made people forsake their loyalty to this false god and begin immediately
worshiping the God who can send fire from heaven. Dr. Criswell put it this way, And, when
Ahab told Jezebel all the things that happened on top of Mount Carmel, you would have thought
that Jezebel would have said, “Well, Ahab, my husband and my king, we've been mistaken. God
is not Baal and Baal is no god. Jehovah is God. And, let us adore him and worship him.” That is
how the scene would have played out if people had wisdom, but folly reigns in the hearts of fallen
people, and so it went just the opposite way. Jezebel seeks only revenge on the man who made her
religion look weak and worthless. Instead of repentence for her folly in trusting in an idol, she
sought revenge on the one who made it clear her idol was nothing but a dead end road to
nowhere. Showing people that their false religion is a farce is very seldom an effective method of
winning them to the truth.” author unknown
4. We as believers often have a very superficial idea that if God would only do more wonders and
miracles the people of the world would be more likely to believe and not stay in a state of
rebellion against God and his laws. Scripture, however, makes it clear that this is not so. God did
one of the greatest miracles ever in sending fire from heaven to consume the water logged
sacrifice of Elijah, and yet this seems to have had no impact on Ahab or his wife Jezebel. They did
not in awe bow down before the God of Elijah, nor did they bring Elijah to their palace and give
him the honor he deserved. They should have proclaimed him a national hero and threw a
national celebration in his honor as they called the nation back to the worship of Jehovah.
Instead, the goal was to kill him in revenge for killing the false prophets.
4B. Miracles do not impress people who refuse to believe. The Pharisees and the Saducees saw
the miracles of Jesus, which he did in abundance, and yet they still did not want to bow to him as

their Messiah. They hated his miracles and him, and they plotted his death in spite of the
wonders that he performed daily in their presence. There is no way that miracles are the key to
winning the world to Christ. They have little to no effect on rebellious unbelief. They never have,
and they never will, and so don't waste your time praying for miracles as a means of evangelism.
Love will get you more success than miracle ever will in winning people to trust in God and
receive his gift of eternal life in Christ.
4C. W. A. Criswell reminds us of a story in the Bible where a miracle is said to be of little worth
to persuade anybody. He wrote, Do you remember the story of the rich man, Dives, down there,
burning in hell? And, he said: O Father Abraham, I wouldn believe in my lifetime, and I wouldn
repent in my lifetime, but if you would raise Lazarus from the dead and send him back to my
father's house, they'd believe. Do you know that great miracle of a man being raised from the
dead and testifying to them of that terrible place? Remember what Father Abraham said. He
said, They have the Book. They have Moses and the prophets. They have the testimony of God.
And, if a man won't believe and be converted by the testimony of God, neither would a man
believe the one who was raised from the dead. That's an astonishing thing, isn't it?
2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, May the
gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time
tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of
them.
1. Mama was no pussycat like Ahab. She whipped off a letter to this fanatical prophet, and she
gave him a piece of her mind. It was an outright death threat, for she said to him that if she did
not have him killed by the next day, she wanted the gods to punish her for her delaying her
revenge for so long. In other words, she is saying you are on my most wanted list right now,and I
have given orders to all my people to kill you on sight. “You kill my people, and I kill you. That is
how it works in my kingdom.”
1B. “Ahab saw it all with his own eyes, and he may have been ready to admit they were being
foolish by worshiping this weak god of Baal, but he was not the one wearing the pants in that
marriage. He had to stand by and watch his wicked wife put out a contract on the man of God
who demonstrated that Jehovah was indeed the God of power, and the one they should be bowing
down to. o one tells this woman what to do, however, for she has a Satan like ego, and she will
go after the very throne of God before she will put up with any opposition to her home made
gods.” author unknown
1C. Alan Carr, “Jezebel is a typical domineering woman. Her actions prove this to be true. First,
she made all the decisions in this matter. Second, she performed Ahab's job her way. Third, she
used scheming and intimidation tactics when she saw her puny little husband beginning to cave
into the pressure. Ahab, on the other hand is a true henpecked husband. He may have been the

king, but Jezebel wore the crown in that castle! She was the boss, he was her puppet!
2. Howat, “This 'daughter of Tyre' is aroused. The Gileadite again! — the very name deepens the
crimson on that painted face on which Ahab, cursed for a craven, and cowering like a child, can
read the concentration of all rage and scorn. Defied! Baal degraded before assembled Israel. His
priesthood butchered like so many cattle. And all by a wild Bedouin from the mountains — a
boor, a fanatic let loose among men. By all the divinities of Phoenicia it shall not be unrevenged.
And so, swearing a tremendous oath, like Saul at Aijalon,' or Hannibal by the deathbed of his
father, she cries, and cannot sleep that night till she has sent Elijah the words, — thinking him'
quite within her reach for the present, and that with the new day she shall the more effectually
accomplish her purpose...
3. Pink, “Beware of resisting God and rejecting His Word, lest you be abandoned by Him and He
suffers your madness to hasten your destruction. The more it was manifest that God was with
Elijah, the more was Jezebel exasperated against him. ow that she learned he had slain her
priests, she was like a lioness robbed of her cubs. Her rage knew no bounds; Elijah must be slain
at once. Boastful of the morrow, swearing by her gods, she pronounced a fearful imprecation
upon herself if Elijah does not meet the same end. The resolution of Jezebel shows the extreme
hardness of her heart. It solemnly illustrates how wickedness grows on people. Sinners do not
reach such fearful heights of defiance in a moment, but as conscience resists convictions, as light
is again and again rejected, the very things which should soften and humble come to harden and
make more insolent, and the more plainly God's will be set before us, the more will it work
resentment in the mind and hostility in the heart; then it is but a short time until that soul is
consigned to the everlasting burnings.”
3 Elijah was afraid [a] and ran for his life. When he came
to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there,
1. Elijah did not just laugh it off, for he was not ignorant about the wrath of Jezebel. She was a
dangerous and determined woman who expected to get her own way, and especially when it came
to killing people she did not want around. Fear gripped him, and in fear he ran for his life. He
had just been running with a sense of joy over the victory that God had given him on Carmel, but
now he is running like a scared rabbit, for he did not know who and how many were on his tail
ready to slay him with the sword. He could face 450 Baal prophets with no fear at all, but now he
is facing Jezebel, and that is a different story. She has already killed a number of God's prophets,
and how could he know that he was not next on her list of successful assassinations? He was not
going to take a chance, and so he was on the run. He could stand and mock the 450 prophets of
Baal, but he is not going to stand before this angry woman and face her wrath head on. There is a
time to retreat, as any good general knows, and Elijah knew this was a good time to do so.

1B. “Elijah knows this queen from hell means what she says, and she will have her Gestapo at his
door step armed for the kill in the morning. He knew he would not sleep good anyway and so he
took off in the night running for his life. You can pretend that you would not run, but stand
bravely before this wicked witch of the East, but the odds are that it is you who would be the fool,
and not Elijah. He had a great history yet ahead of him, and you would likely have an early
funeral, for this woman was evil to the core, and she meant business when she said he would be
dead tomorrow. There is a time to run from an enemy when you know that the odds are in their
favor. Many a wise general has won a war by knowing the right time to retreat. Sometimes it is
wise to run away and live to fight another day.” author unknown
1C. “We need not wonder at his sudden flight. It is the price that strong, fervent spirits pay for
their very strength, that they suffer a correspondingly strong reaction. So it was with the
prophet's antitype, John the Baptist, when in the prison he lost his faith and sent to ask Him
whom God had Himself pointed out to him on the banks of Jordan, whether, indeed, He was the
Coming One. So it was with Peter also, who could venture on the waves, but only to cry, Lord
save me, I perish; who could draw his sword and smite the High Priest's servant, but only at
once to deny his Lord at the challenge of a servant maid. So now it was with Elijah. God's hand
had been outstretched at his call. He had shut up the heavens at his bidding and had nourished
him at Cherith and given him miraculous sustenance at Zarephath, and the widow's son back
from the grave. He had sent down His fire from heaven and delivered the priests of Baal into his
hand and opened the heavens at his prayer. But Elijah could not trust God, now, to deliver him
from a woman' s hate.”
Fresh from Carmel and the slaughter of the priests he was impatient of the continuance of evil,
and expected the miracles of Carmel to be but the harbinger of the greater miracle of the
conversion of the people to God in a day. When Elijah awoke on the morrow and found Israel
altogether as it had been yesterday, he was dismayed. Had then the triumph of yesterday been as
nothing? Was Jezebel still to lord it over God's heritage? What then availed it that the fire had
fallen from heaven? That the false priests' blood had flowed like water? That the rain had come
at his bidding? Was the hand of God outstretched only to be withdrawn again? Elijah loses heart
because God's ways were not as his ways. He cannot understand God's secular modes of
working; and, conceiving of His ways as sudden and miraculous only, he feels that the Most High
has deserted His cause and His servants. He almost feels bitter towards the Lord who had let him
begin a work which He leaves him without power to complete. Hence Elijah must go to the
wilderness to learn somewhat of the God he serves.” author unknown
1D. Believe it or not there is a word for the fear of women and it is Gynophobia. Elijah must have
had it, for nothing else could scare him, but the threat of a woman sent him into a panic, and he
ran like the wind to escape her. She was mean to the bone, and would not hesitate to kill a
powerful man of God, and so he had a right to fear her, but it seems excessive in the light of
God's protecting him from all other threats.
2. Howat, “fleeing from the threat of the Phoenician queen over the mountains of Jezreel and
Samaria, accompanied only by the Sareptan boy, and halting not till he has reached the southern
extremity of the land of Palestine. At first we are apt to imagine he might have remained in
Judah, whither so many of the faithful in Israel had gone, and where good King Jehoshaphat
reigned ; but we must remember, on the other hand, that Jehoshaphat was on terms of political

alliance with Ahab, and that Jehoram, his eldest son, had married the daughter of Jezebel.'”
But the flight of the prophet is not yet over. Although far from the palace of Israel, and with the
whole territory of the rival kingdom between him and implacable Jezebel, he cannot rest satisfied
and so, leaving the Sareptan boy at Beersheba, he plunges a day's journey into the wild,
uninhabited region beyond the boundary of Palestine, known as the Arabian desert. Broken-hearted
and alone, he wanders over the rocky waste. He has cut himself off from all human
sympathy, and he has none to expect from God. He is worn with travel, he is hungry for food, and
there is no grot of Cherith here, nor ravens to bring him a welcome meal.”
3.King Ahab was a piece of cake
He could face him without fear.
But the queen like an earthquake
Made her intentions clear.
He was number one on her hit list,
And she was not fooling around.
Elijah quickly got her gist,
And just as quickly covered ground.
His hero's heart now filled with fear
propelled him far away.
His prayer was, “Get me out of here!”
I want to live another day.
But very soon his tune would change,
And he would beg to die.
Even though out of Jezebel's range,
This was his feeble cry. Glenn Pease
4. He left his servant behind in Beersheba, for there was no reason he should be killed if some
posse caught up with them and killed them both. A companion would have been nice at this time,
but he did not want to risk the life of his friend for no good reason. He was on his own now, as a
fugitive of the state.
5. Pink, “But his eyes were no longer fixed upon God, instead they saw only a furious woman.

The One who had miraculously fed him at the brook Cherith, who had so wondrously sustained
him at the widow’s home in Zarephath, and who so signally strengthened him on Carmel, is
forgotten. Thinking only of himself he flees from the place of testimony. But how is this strange
lapse to be accounted for? Obviously his fears were excited by the queen’s threat coming to him
so unexpectedly. Was there not good reason for him now to be anticipating with great joy and
exultation the cooperation of all Israel in the work of reformation? Would not the whole nation,
who had cried, Jehovah, He is the God, be deeply thankful for his prayers having procured the
much-needed rain? And in a moment his hope seemed to be rudely shattered by this message
from the incensed queen. Had he then lost all faith in God to protect him? Far be it from us so to
charge him: rather does it seem that he was momentarily overwhelmed, panic- stricken. He gave
himself no time to think: but taken completely by surprise, he acted on the spur of the moment.
How that gives point to he that believeth shall not make haste (Isa. 28:16).”
5B. Pink adds. “It is conspicuous that we have here a picture of one of the greatest and
courageous men of God in the Bible turning cowardly and running in fear from a godless woman.
It is out of character for this hero to be doing such a thing, and it reveals that the best of men are
men at best. Even a great man of faith can allow fear to take the controls of his life and act as if
he has no faith at all. This is such a negative view of a man who is seen as so positive an example,
and what we learn from this is that he who stands should beware lest he fall. In other words, it is
folly to think so highly of yourself that you think you can never be depressed, or filled with fear,
or feel like dying because life seems so bleak. History as well as Scripture reveals that these things
happen to the greatest men and women of faith. The best preparation for dealing with these dark
night of the soul type experiences is to be fully aware that they can happen to you. The proud and
arrogant believer who looks down at the failures of faith in others is the least prepared for when
it hits them. So the practical value of studying this chapter is to face the reality that it could be an
experience that we may have to endure. God wants us to see the down side that can come into a
great persons life, for to be forewarned is to be forearmed.”
6. Pink sees the weakness of Elijah in this chapter as being due to his pride. He saw the great
miracle of fire fall from heaven, and he had already seen God use him to raise a child from the
dead. He was a great hero, and he had seen things no man had seen in history to his day, with
ravens bringing him daily meals. Pink wrote, “If it was needful that the apostle should be given a
thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him, lest he should be exalted above measure
through the abundance of the revelations vouchsafed him (2 Cor. 12:7), then what need have we
to rejoice with trembling (Ps. 2:11), when we are elated over receiving answers to our
petitions?” And how much more so Elijah? It is speculation, but it makes sense that God had to
bring him down a few pegs to humble him and make him a more useful servant. Pride goes
before a fall, and Elijah had every reason to be growing in pride, and he certainly did take a fall
in this chapter.
7. Scholars debate the wisdom of Elijah fleeing from the city of Jezebel. “Professor Porter, who
remarks that flight in times of danger is not always a sign of cowardice, and that Moses fled from
Egypt, Paul from Damascus, and even our blessed Lord, on one occasion, from the temple.” He
and others say that he was justified in fleeing from this wicked queen. Others, like Howat, say
that it was a major mistake. He wrote, “But the highly critical condition of Israel at this moment
is forgotten. The monarch and people were indeed cowed by Jezebel ; and yet the presence of

Elijah daring her as he had done the priests, would probably have restored the popular, if not the
royal faith. The nation, never very resolute, had given way for the moment ; but what might not
have been accomplished, had Elijah stood forth as their leader, cheered them with words of hope,
and animated them with something of his own native force and fire? All this was lost by his flight,
— the whole work of Carmel was undone by that midnight rush through the gate of Jezreel.
Surely, if ever great things might have been expected from Elijah, it would have been now; and
yet he deserts his post.
Why did he not ask counsel on his knees ? Where was his confidence in Him who was greater
than Jezebel ? Where was the memory of past deliverances ? Could the God who had been with
him in six troubles, not be with him in the seventh ? Was His ear heavy that it could not hear. His
arm shortened that it could not save ? Why this yielding to faithless alarm, in view of the
promise : ' Wait on the Lord ; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart : wait, I
say, on the Lord.' In fact, there is so much mystery about this incident in the prophet's life, that
we are almost inclined to believe with some that, as in the case of Paul, after being 'caught up to
the third heavens,' Elijah was 'exalted above measure,' after the triumph of Carmel, and that the
richest ship being the pirate's prize, God permitted the temptation of the flight, to teach His
servant, what a poor, weak creature he was in reality, when left to himself.”
8. Pink “Alas, instead of spreading his case before God, he takes matters into his own hands;
instead of waiting patiently for Him, he acts on hasty impulse, deserts the post of duty, and flees
from the one who sought his destruction. And when he saw that, he arose and went for his life,
and came to Beersheba which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there (v. 3). otice
carefully the when he saw, he arose and went for his life. His eyes were fixed on the wicked and
furious queen: his mind was occupied with her power and fury, and therefore his heart was filled
with terror. Faith in God is the only deliverer from carnal fear: Behold, God is my salvation: I
will trust, and not be afraid; Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on
Thee: because he trusteth in Thee, (Isa. 12:2; 26:3). Elijah's mind was no longer stayed upon
Jehovah, and therefore fear took possession of him.
Hitherto Elijah had been sustained by faith's vision of the living God, but now he lost sight of the
Lord and saw only a furious woman. How many solemn warnings are recorded in Scripture of
the disastrous consequences of walking by sight. Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of
Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (Gen. 13:10), and made choice thereof: but very
shortly after it is recorded of him that he pitched his tent toward Sodom ! The majority-report
of the twelve men sent by Moses to spy out the land of Canaan was, we saw the giants, the sons
of Anak, which come of the giants; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were
in their sight (um. 13:33). In consequence of which all the congregation lifted up their voice,
and cried; and the people wept that night. Walking by sight magnifies difficulties and paralysis
spiritual activity. It was when Peter saw the wind boisterous that he was afraid and began to
sink (Matthew 14:30). How striking the contrast between Elijah here and Moses, who By faith
forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible
(Heb. 11:27), and nothing but the eye of faith fixed steadily upon God will enable anyone to
endure.

9. Gill, “And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life—not for God, nor for the good
of His people; but because he thought only of self. The man who had faced the four hundred and
fifty false prophets, now fled from one woman; the man who hitherto had been so faithful in the
Lord’s service now deserted his post of duty, and that at a time when his presence was most
needed by the people, if their convictions were to be strengthened and the work of reformation
carried forward and firmly established. Alas, what is man! As Peter’s courage failed him in the
presence of the maid, so Elijah’s strength wilted before the threatening of Jezebel. Shall we
exclaim, How are the mighty fallen!? o, indeed, for that would be a carnal and erroneous
conception. The truth is that It is only as God vouchsafes His grace and Holy Spirit that any
man can walk uprightly. Elijah’s conduct on this occasion shows that the spirit and courage he
had previously manifested were of the Lord, and not of himself: and that those who have the
greatest zeal and courage for God and His truth, if left to themselves, become weak and
timorous
10. He was outrunning Jezebel, but not her master the devil. He was on Elijah's tail and bringing
on all the negative thinking he could inspire. Rich Cathers has an excellent paragraph describing
it. “After the victories, watch out for the attack Here has been Elijah's most triumphant moment.
He has been victorious over the prophets of Baal, and even has the ear of the king for a moment.
And then comes the attack. We see it in Peter's life. He first had a great revelation from God:
(Mat 16:16-17 KJV) And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God. {17} And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
And the next words that come out of his mouth:(Mat 16:21-23 KJV) From that time forth began
Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of
the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. {22}
Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be
unto thee. {23} But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offense
unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Peter wrote
later,(1 Pet 5:8 KJV) Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: The Scottish pastor Andrew Bonar (1810–1892)
said, “Let us be as watchful after the victory as before the battle.”
11. Patterson and Austel give the most negative commentary are Elijah's actions here. Probably
Elijah had played into Jezebel's hand. Had she really wanted Elijah dead, she surely would have
seized him without warning and slain him. What she desired was that Elijah and his God be
discredited before the new converts who had aided Elijah by executing the prophets of
Baal.Without a leader revolutionary movements usually stumble and fall away.Just when God
needed him the most, the divinely trained prophet was to prove a notable failure.
12. It is easy to speculate about what would have happened had Elijah stayed and faced Jezebel.
God does not speak to the matter, but this does not hold men back from having a clear picture of
what would have been. An unknown author wrote, “Elijah should not have fled from his post of
duty. He should have met the threat of Jezebel with an appeal for protection to the One who had
commissioned him to vindicate the honor of Jehovah. He should have told the messenger that the

God in whom he trusted would protect him against the hatred of the queen. Only a few hours had
passed since he had witnessed a wonderful manifestation of divine power, and this should have
given him assurance that he would not now be forsaken. Had he remained where he was, had he
made God his refuge and strength, standing steadfast for the truth, he would have been shielded
from harm. The Lord would have given him another signal victory by sending His judgments on
Jezebel; and the impression made on the king and the people would have wrought a great
reformation.” It could be this is an accurate account of what might have been, but God does not
tell us, and when God does not speak to an issue, it is not wise to suppose that human speculation
is a valid basis for judgment. God treated him with love and compassion, and not as a loser.
Pastor Guzik rightly says, “We cannot say for certain if this was led of God or not. It is clear that
God wanted to protect Elijah, but we cannot say if God wanted to protect him at Jezreel or
protect him by getting him out of Jezreel. evertheless, Elijah went about 80 miles south to
Beersheba.”
4 while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He
came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that
he might die. I have had enough, LORD, he said. Take
my life; I am no better than my ancestors.
1. The life of the fugitive did not fit Elijah at all, for he lasted one day on the run, and then was
ready to give up. After his experience of an all day battle on Carmel, and two days of running, he
was obviously exhausted. He probably felt like he was going to die anyway, and so he prayed for
the Lord to take him home, and get him out of this troubled world where there is no rest for the
righteous. He is not better than his ancestors, and they are dead, so why not have him join them
in the realm of the dead.
1B. Great Texts, “There is something in human nature which makes us feel more akin to men
who occasionally suffer defeat. If Elijah s pilgrimage along the way of life had been a series of
unfailing triumphs, and if the cloud of uncertainty had never gathered about his heart, he might
have seemed like a man of an alien race, having little or no kinship with the sons and daughters
of despondency and grief. When the Apostle Peter is very bold, daring even death in the presence
of the great ones of the earth, he appears very remote to the child of hesitancy and doubt ; but in
the hour of Peter s weakness, when he shrinks from the foes that beset him, he becomes one of the
common crowd. His impulsiveness makes even his martyrdom human. St. Paul s feelings of
wretchedness lend humanness even to his ecstasies, and his unspeakable revelations do not lie in
lands too remote. But, in spite of all this, the pity of the prophet s defeat ! He knew the strength of
his God, he had experienced the softened light of His guidance, he had had proofs innumerable of
His providential care, he had tasted that the Lord is gracious, and yet here he is, in a season of
peculiar crisis, throwing up his ministry, and lying down with a desire to die. Has there never
been a time in our experience when we have grown baffled and weary with the greatness of our
tasks and the smallness of our success with them ? Have we never felt that we craved something
besides the feeling that what we were doing was worth doing and that we would prevail in the end

? Have we never had our hours of deep discouragement yes, and our seasons of defeat in which
we questioned with ourselves whether what we were doing was worth doing after all? Like Elijah,
perhaps, we played the man, and did it well.”
1C. I get a kick out of the way W. A. Criswell describes how he imagines Elijah will respond to
this threat of such a godless angry woman. He wrote, What will Elijah do in the presence of this
ferocious lioness? What will he do in the presence of this furious woman? Well, I know what he
will do. Elijah stood in the presence of Ahab, fearless and unafraid. And, Elijah stood in the
presence of the 450 prophets of Baal, fearless and unafraid. That's what he did yesterday on the
top of Mount Carmel..........I know what Elijah will do. He will stand up there to her face and
he'll say, You old hussy, you. You low down child of the devil, you. You female blasphemer,
you. I know what Elijah will do. That's what he'll do. o woman's going to scare Elijah, no,
sir. Elijah's not afraid of all the devils in hell. He's not afraid of all that Satan himself and his
hosts can do. I know what Elijah will do. He'll look that woman in the face and say, You child of
the devil, listen to the Word of God: Thus saith the Lord God. That's what Elijah's going to do.
But in contrast to what he expected he had to write, I can't imagine it. I can't imagine it. That's
inconceivable. He can beat the lion to his face, and walk in a den, absolutely unafraid,
courageous, mighty in the Lord. And, before that woman, Jezebel, he turns to water and seeks to
hide himself in the sinking sand.I can't imagine it. And, he prayed that he might die.
1D. Steve Zeisler, “Despite the people's cheers, the next day they were no different. Yes, they had
cheered Yahweh as God, but they were as likely to worship Baal as the day before. Jezebel's
statement characterized the people's response; she was hardened and she was going to have his
head on a plate. He realized, My nation will not change. There is no revival coming. Their hearts
are as stony as they've ever been. We know from subsequent history that the northern ten tribes
did not change, and their final judgment was to be carted off to exile and dismissed from
existence as a people. At this point Elijah experienced the crushing disappointment that God
seemed not to keep his part of the bargain. The prophet assumed that if they won the victory on
Mount Car- mel that God would therefore act to bring about a change in the people, but it didn't
happen. Resentment against God began to descend on Elijah's heart so that in despair he finally
said, Let me die. It's not worth living. God, you've disappointed me too deeply. If I can give as
much of my life and my heart as I have to you and have it turn out like this, I don't want to live
anymore.
1E. “To someone who has never been in his position, that request might seem just a bit
melodramatic, but to anyone who has tried to stand for something in theface of great opposition,
his exasperation should not be something foreign. How often have we done all we could do to
share our faith with someone only to have them flatly reject the message we bring. We feel as
though all our efforts are in vain, that there is no use in going on. But it is important to
understand that when people reject the gospel message, or any other admonition from the
scriptures, they are not rejecting the messenger, they are rejecting the Lord. Jesus made it quite
clear that we would be hated by the world, yet we still despair when the world rejects the good
news of the kingdom.” author unknown
1F. David had been in this state of mind. “Psalm 42:5: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?

And why art thou disquieted in me?… O my God, my soul is cast down within me.” And, then, it
closes: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me?” ow,
look at Psalm 69, a Psalm of David: Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I
sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I am come into deep waters, where the floods
overflow me. I am weary of my crying; my throat is dried; mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.
Then, he continues in verse 14: Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink; let me be
delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the water flood overflow
me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. And, look at
verse 20: Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness; and I looked for some to
take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.
1G. He says he is no better than his ancestors, and the implication is that before his depression he
thought he was better than his ancestors. Alan Carr speaks to this by writing, “What is Elijah's
problem? Pride! He was guilty of believing his own press! He was caught in the backwash of a
great victory and he may have felt as though he were invincible. He believed himself to be more
than he was and when he was reminded that he wasn't what he thought he was, he was thrown
into the pit of despair! The saint of God had better beware of those special times of great victory!
Of course, this is a problem that we all face from time to time! We are all guilty of believing that
we are greater than we are in reality. When the truth hits home, it can lead to depression and
times of spiritual drought. When we do hit bottom, we are often guilty of trying to rationalize our
behavior. We try, like Elijah, to convince ourselves that things are as bad as we think they are. In
truth, they never are, nor will they be, as bad as we think!.......Elijah's trouble stemmed from
thinking more highly of himself than he should have. This is a problem we are all encouraged to
avoid, 1 Cor. 10:12; Rom. 12:3.”
1H. David O. Dykes tells this story that illustrates Elijah's feelings: “It’s a joke in the South that
all Baptist preachers love fried chicken. But I heard of one pastor who couldn’t stand it. In fact,
he hated fried chicken. Once this pastor was preaching a week long meeting at another church,
and was eating in the homes of members before the services. Every night, he was served the same
meal (you guessed it) fried chicken. After five nights of fried chicken, he arrived at a home for the
final meal of the week. There in front of him was a big platter of crispy fried chicken. He could
hardly look at it. To make matters worse, the host asked him to pray the blessing. So the preacher
prayed this prayer: “Lord, I’ve had it hot and I’ve had it cold; I’ve had it young and I’ve had it
old; I’ve had it tender, and I’ve had it tough, But, thank you, Lord, I’VE HAD EOUGH!”
Try to imagine this great prophet sitting under a solitary tree in the desert. Elijah just had one of
the greatest victories of his life. In response to his prayers, God sent down fire from heaven and a
three-year drought had been broken. He should have been be on top of the world, yet we find
him in the depths of depression, even begging God to let him die. We sometimes think these Old
Testament characters were superhuman, but they were just like us, and we are just like them.
Many of you know what it’s like to go from the mountaintop of happiness to the valley of
despair. Do you know why we have these stories from the Old Testament? They are written to
give us hope. Romans 15:4 says, “For everything that was written in the past was written to
teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have
hope.”

1I. Spurgeon, “ELIJAH, no doubt, expected that after the wonderful display of God’s power on
Carmel the nation would give up its idols and would turn unto the only living and true God. Had
they not confessed as with a voice of thunder, “Jehovah, He is the God! Jehovah, He is the God!”?
The Prophet trusted that the heart of Ahab might, perhaps, be touched and possibly, through
him, the heart of Jezebel. If she did not become converted, at least the manifest interposition of
Jehovah might check her hand from future persecution. The Prophet hoped that by an influence
thus established over the king and queen, the whole land would speedily glide back to its
allegiance to Jehovah. Then would his stern heart have been glad before the Lord.
When he found out that it was not so, his spirit fainted within him. The message from Jezebel,
that he would be slain the next morning, was probably not so terrible to him as the discovery that
came with it that his great demonstration against Baal was doomed to be a failure. The proud
Sidonian queen would still rule over vacillating Ahab and, through Ahab, she would still keep
power over the people—and the idol gods would sit safely on their thrones. The thought was
gall and wormwood to the idol-hating Prophet. He became so despondent that he was ready to
give up the conflict and to quit the battlefield. He could not bear to live in the land where the
people were so blindly infatuated as to honor Baal and to dishonor Jehovah. He resolved to leave
right away.”
1J. Steve Zeisler, “In the other part of verse 4 Elijah said, Take my life; I am no better than my
fathers. This is a bit obscure, but I think it means this: the people of God had never had a
generation in which the righteous were victorious. Elijah looked back on the generations of
Israel, and every time something good happened, it was followed by something evil. Elijah had
thought that this time it would be different, but it wasn't.
He was basically saying, You know, God, this big experiment of yours isn't working. It hasn't
worked in the past and I don't see it working now. It's no better now than it ever was. ot only
am I worn out, but I am also beginning to conclude that you don't know how to run your
universe. Throughout the rest of this chapter God will minister to Elijah to change his mind
from this indictment to a place of faith again.”
1K. Tom Hayes has this series of reasons for why Elijah hit bottom. “The Reasons For Being
Overwhelmed
A. His famine - the lack - dry; the length - 3 1/2 years
B. His fight - Mt. Carmel: not a scuffle; a conflict; a confrontation
C. His fame - none could excel; extinguish: or explain him
D. His fear - he failed in his strong point; summary point
E. His frustration - no repentance: no revival; no restoration
F. His fatigue - physical; mental; emotional; spiritual
G. His forgetfulness - forgot God's ability; authority; activity
2. “' What greater minds, like Elijah's, have felt intensely, all we have felt in our own degree. We
have had our lonely hours, our days of disappointment, and our moments of hopelessness ; times

when our highest feelings have been misunderstood, and our purest met with ridicule, when our
heavy secret was lying unshared, like ice upon the heart. And then the spirit gives way; we have
wished that all were over, that we could lie down tired, and rest like the children from life, that
the hour was come when we could put the extinguisher on the lamp, and feel the last grand rush
of darkness.'” — Robertson of Brighton.
3. Howat, “We read in physical science that, by the side of mountains, the sea or lake is, generally
speaking, as deep as the corresponding height on the adjoining bank. In spiritual matters a
similar law would seem to prevail ; for it frequently happens that those are most liable to sink to
the depths of melancholy and depression, who have risen to the loftiest eminences of trust and
faith. It was the same David, for example, who had sung, ' Though an host should encamp against
me, my heart shall not fear,' who broke out into the wail, when insulted by Doeg, .' Woe is me,
that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar ! ' It was the same Job who, when
bereft of his property and children, could say, ' The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away,
blessed be the name of the Lord,' who, at a later period in his history, borne down by
accumulated distress, exclaimed, ' I will not refrain my mouth ; I will speak in the anguish of my
spirit ; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.' It was the same Peter, the man of fire and
impulse, whom nothing could daunt, and who had solemnly sworn to be the last to quit his
Master's side, who, overcome by weakness, and in despair at the failure of his hopes, ' began to
curse and to swear' — the old fisherman nature coming back for the moment, — and, charged
with the fellowship of Jesus, replied, I know not the man. And so it is Elijah, the brave and bold,
the man of iron limb and lion heart, whom we have now to find ' in the wilderness,' ' under a
juniper-tree,' ' requesting for himself that he might die :' It is enough ; now, O Lord, take away
my life, for I am not better than my fathers.' Truly saith the proverb, ' The best of men are but
men at the best,' and even Elijah is no exception.”
4. Howat continues, “Let us try to analyse the elements of the prophet's great grief. We shall have
to show his failings in the sequel ; but, ' subject to like passions as we are,' let us first do him
justice as a man. We must allow something for the anxieties and excitement through which he
had passed. There is a limit even to an iron frame ; the bow which is always stretched to its
utmost tension will break in the end. In a different form you see the same principle in the case of
Bunyan. ' His horrible internal conflicts,' says Macaulay, 'prove not that he was a worse man
than his neighbors, but that his fervor exceeded his knowledge, and that his imagination
exercised despotic power over his body and mind.' We must allow something also for his fear of
Jezebel; and indeed, in this world, there is nothing more to be feared than a wicked, ungodly,
revengeful woman. It is the great law of contraries. There is nothing so beautiful as woman's
love ; there is nothing so terrible as woman's hatred. The refuse of what is best is worst,' says the
Roman proverb.* The pretended mother in Solomon's days proposes to slay the living child.
Athaliah, to gratify her own ambition, ' destroys all the seed royal' The daughter of Herodias
solicits the Baptist's head. Jezebel vows to take Elijah's life.”
4B. Howat goes on, “Shall we inquire the thoughts of the prophet under the juniper-tree ? ' Oh !
the melancholy images,' says Krummacher, that pass before him. He sees the people reeling on
Carmel in their idolatrous orgies, the streets of Jezreel resounding with blasphemies against God,
and Jezebel drunk with the blood of the few believers who have fallen as victims to her revenge.'
At length, unable to bear up any more, he exclaims, ' It is enough ; now, O Lord, take away my

life.' What querulousness there is here ; as if he had not voluntarily, as well as wildly and
recklessly, plunged into his present position ! — what contradiction ; it was to escape death he
fled, and now he implores it ! — what unpreparedness to die ; for he can never be fit to meet his
God in the other world who cries to Him, like Elijah, to take away his life in this ! — what
Ignorance of his highest interests ; for, had his prayer been granted, what a crowning farewell to
earth he must, in his future translation, have lost ! How sad the resemblance between the prophet
and Job: Let the day perish wherein I was born!' and how striking the contrast between the
prophet and Paul : I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ,
which is far better : nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you ! And having this
confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all, for your furtherance and joy of
faith! ' Weary, heart-sick prophet, teach us all that, however tried and tempted, with, fears
within or fighting without,' it is no light thing to wander from the path of duty, or the ways and
will of God.”
5. Elijah feels that God has forsaken him, and he is now on his own. All the miracles of the past to
protect him and shield him from dying of starvation and the sword of the king and his prophets
are forgotten. His present fear has taken over his mind, and all he can think of is that he is a
hunted man at the mercy of circumstances. How easy we lose our faith when we forget what God
has done for us in the past.
6. Spurgeon, “This was the man who never died, yet “he requested for himself that he might die.”
How gracious it is, on God’s part, not to grant the requests of his people when they are unwise, as
this petition of Elijah was! Had he known that he would go up by a whirlwind into heaven, riding
in a chariot of fire drawn by horses of fire, surely he would not have prayed after this fashion.
The man who did pray that he might die never died at all. How foolish he was to pray that he
might die, when God had intended that he should go to heaven by a whirlwind with a chariot and
horses of fire!”
Elijah failed in the very point at which he was strongest, and that is where most men fail. In
Scripture it is the wisest man who proves himself to be the greatest fool, just as the meekest man,
Moses, spoke hasty and bitter words. Abraham failed in his faith, and Job in his patience. So he
who was the most courageous of all men fled from an angry woman. Elijah could stand face to
face with that woman's husband. Yet he was afraid of Jezebel, and he fled from her and even
requested that he might die. This was to show us that Elijah was not strong by nature, but only in
the strength imparted to him by God, so that when the divine strength was gone, he was of no
more account that anybody else.”
6B. Spurgeon, “Another reason for the prophets depression was, no doubt, his intense love to
God, and his grievous disappointment with the people. He had hoped that the test he had
proposed would decide the great question. “If Jehovah be God, follow him: but if Baal, then
follow him.” He had staked everything upon that one issue.” But the people still were under the
power of Jezebel.
“I have known a man feel so bad that he thought he could not be a child of God; when really, the
main trouble was that he needed his dinner, for his spirits revived as soon as he had partaken of
proper nourishment. Certainly, one of the lessons this chapter teaches us is, that when we get

weary, or we suffer from some disease, so that the strength of our body begins to flag, then we are
apt to say,-
Tis a point I long to know,
Oft it causes anxious thought,-
Do I love the Lord, or no?
Am I His, or am I not?
He was running from Jezebel because she threatened to kill him, and now he foolishly prays that
he might die. Such inconsistency is the result of unbelief. He thought he was all alone and did
not recognize there were thousands who were believers. The folly is that if he was the only one
left and he died that would be the end of God’s people. Elijah was being very foolish at this
point. He should have been praying to live as never before.
7. Pink, “..the best of men are but men at the best. o matter how richly gifted they may be, how
eminent in God’s service, how greatly honored and used of Him, let His sustaining power be
withdrawn from them for a moment and it will quickly be seen that they are earthen vessels.
o man stands any longer than he is supported by Divine grace. The most experienced saint, if
left to himself, is immediately seen to be as weak as water and as timid as a mouse. Man at his
best estate is altogether vanity (Ps. 39:5). Then why should it be thought a thing incredible when
we read of the failings and falls of the most favored of God’s saints and servants? oah’s
drunkenness, Lot’s carnality, Abraham’s prevarications, Moses anger, Aaron’s jealousy,
Joshua’s haste, David’s adultery, Jonah’s disobedience, Peter’s denial, Paul’s contention with
Barnabas, are so many illustrations of the solemn truth that there is not a just man upon earth
that doeth good, and sinneth not (Eccl. 7:20). Perfection is found in Heaven, but nowhere on
earth except in the Perfect Man.”
8. Pink goes on, “Those who rise high can also fall low, and this is the common experience of
depression that can hit believers just as well as unbelievers. Rarely can anybody live in this fallen
world without some bouts with depression. Usually they are short lived battles, and one returns
to a normal pattern of thinking and feeling. Sometimes, however, they are long drawn out
struggles that keep us in a state of gloom for weeks and even months. Elijah's was not so long a
battle, but it was deep and intense to the point of wanting his life to end. This is what we call
hitting bottom. You can't get any more depressed than to be in a state where you want your life to
end. You want out so bad that life itself has no value to you, and death seems a sweet release. This
is a state in which many people take their own life, for death seems like a pleasant escape from
one's misery. Believers can reach even this depth of despair, and knowing that prepares them not
to give into those feelings if they ever come.
You might wonder why God would not just skip over this part of Elijah's life, and move ahead to
better days, and just forget about this negative episode. God does not hide the facts of life, and
cover up the defects in his children and servants. It is important for all of God's people to
understand that hero worship is a form of idolatry when it is carried to the point of exalting any
man to such a high level that he takes on an authority that belongs to God alone. Jesus was the
only exception, for he was God in the flesh, but no other man, however great, was anything more
than a man. All God's great men and women of the Bible are shown with their flaws, defects, and
weaknesses in order to make sure they are not robbing God of the honor that only he deserves.

Christian history reveals that there have been men and women raised to the level of worship, and
it has been a form of idolatry, for people have looked to these saints for guidance and answers to
their prayers, rather than to Christ and their Father in heaven. God does wonders through his
vessels of clay, but he expects that that no flesh should glory in His presence (1 Cor. 1:27-29).
All glory should go to Him, and not to his servants. Paul put it, so then neither is he that
planteth (the evangelist) anything, neither he that watereth (the teacher), but God (1 Cor. 3:7).
Elijah did miracles, but it was the power of God working through him, and so with all the
marvelous things men and women of God have done, and will do. It is God who is the source of
the wisdom and power, and so he alone is to be praised. Men can be thanked for their cooperation
with, and yieldedness to, God, but he alone deserves the praise and glory.”
9. It is a big mistake for believers to think that a mountain top experience is all that is needed to
keep their faith strong. People have a great revival of their spirit and wonderful things happen as
the power and love of God flows through them, and they conclude that the rest of life will be so
free of doubt and trouble now. This is the folly of unrealistic expectations. o matter how great a
spiritual experience is, and no matter how miraculous it is, it will not be all you need for the rest
of your life, or even the rest of the week. Emotions are unpredictable because life is
unpredictable, and we cannot rely on a high emotional feeling to be a lasting experience. One can
go from laughter to tears in a few moments, because life can take sudden turns, and it is
unrealistic to expect that one can live on the heights continuously. You have to be prepared to feel
lows as life changes, and not be thrown into shock because of them. They are valid emotions when
we feel the blues, and get depressed over negative events. We need to expect them, but not let
them rule our lives when they come. We need to fight them and strive to get back to the positives
that we know will win in the end if we do not give up the fight. Job hit bottom and wished that he
had never been born, but he did not give up. He fought through his depression to win the victory
in the end. He had every right to be depressed, and it was no sin to be depressed. It is a sin to give
up and cease to fight it like any other kind of evil that robs us of our joy in Christ.
10. Almost every preacher who deals with depression quotes the words of famous men of God
who have gone through this pit and fought their way out. The two most often quoted are Martin
Luther and Charles Spurgeon who were notorious for their bouts with deep depression. The
pastor of Redlands Baptist Church quotes them and refers to others with these words, And, the
record of Church history underscores this truth because many great men, faithful servants of our
Heavenly Father, struggled with this emotional illness. For example, the great reformer, Martin
Luther, fought with depression on and off through his entire life. In 1527 Luther wrote, For
more than a week I was close to the gates of death and hell. I trembled in all my members. Christ
was wholly lost....The content of the depressions was always the same, the loss of faith that God is
good and that He is good to me.
The famous preacher Charles Hadden Spurgeon, whom God used to light the fires of the 19th
century revival movement, struggled so severely with depression that he was forced to be absent
from his pulpit for two to three months a year. In 1866 he told his congregation of his struggle
saying: I am the subject of depressions of spirit so fearful that I hope none of you ever get to
such extremes of wretchedness as I go through. He explained that during these depressions,
Every mental and spiritual labor...had to be carried on under protest of spirit. Well, we could
go on and on citing examples of Godly individuals who have wrestled with this form of illness:
..John Bunyan, J. B. Phillps, even Rick Warren.

10B. C.H.Spurgeon was known to suffer at times from depression. From “Lectures to my
students” - page 167. “As it is recorded that David, in the heat of battle, waxed faint, so may it be
written of all the servants of the Lord. Fits of depression come over the most of us. Usually
cheerful as we may be, we must at intervals be cast down. The strong are not always vigorous,
the wise not always ready, the brave not always courageous, and the joyous not always happy.
There may be here and there men of iron, to whom wear and tear work no perceptible detriment,
but surely the rust frets even these; and as for ordinary men, the Lord knows, and makes them to
know, that the are but dust. Knowing by most painful experience what deep depression of spirit
means, being visited therewith at seasons by no means few or far between, I thought it might be
consolatory to some of my brethren if I gave my thoughts thereon, that younger men might not
fancy that some strange thing had happened to them when they became for a season possessed by
melancholy; and that sadder men might know that one upon whom the sun has shone right
joyously did not always walk in the light. It is not necessary by quotations from the biographies
of eminent ministers to prove that seasons of fearful prostration have fallen to the lot of most, if
not all of them. The life of Luther might suffice to give a thousand instances, and he was by no
means of the weaker sort. His great spirit was often in the seventh heaven of exultation, and as
frequently on the borders of despair. His death-bed was not free from tempests, and he sobbed
himself into his last sleep like a great wearied child.”
11. The point is, joy robbers are a part of life's battle. Jezebel was a joy robber for Elijah, and all
of us will have some joy robbers in life that make it hard to rejoice in the Lord always. Peter
understood this when he wrote in 1 Peter 1:6, In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a
little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials. We note that distress is to be
for a little while, and so the idea is that though it is normal and to be expected that believers will
go through times of trial and depression, it is expected also that they will work through it to a
place of rejoicing again as the dominant emotion of their lives. The Psalmist says, weeping may
remain for a night....but JOY comes in the morning. Depression is a part of the dark and
gloomy night of life, which we all have to experience from time to time, but if we are functioning
normally we will come through it to a bright and shinning day. If not, we need medicine to get
our body back on track.
12. How can it be, such a mighty warrior turned into a wimp? How can it be, that such a whale of
a man is turned into a shrimp? Depression is not something that only weak people have to
endure, for it hits the strongest people as well, and Elijah was among the strongest ever. It takes
strength to cope with this emotional gloom, but sometimes people are just too tired to cope, and
they feel they are at the end of their rope. Most of us get through a bad day and recover nicely,
but sometimes the hole we feel we have fallen into is too deep to climb out of, and this becomes a
serious matter where we need a helping hand. The pastor of Redland Baptist Church wrote, In
fact recent studies of more than 11,000 individuals found depression to be more physically and
socially disabling than arthritis, diabetes, lung disease, chronic back problems, hypertension, and
gastrointestinal illnesses. The only medical problem that is more disabling is advanced coronary
heart disease. So, battling depression is not an easy thing.
13. Pastor Chase Peeples wrote about the movieFor the Love of the Game. It's a movie with a

predictable plot and some weak dialogue, but it contains one poignant scene worth remembering.
The movie centers on Billy Chapel, a twenty-year veteran of the Detroit Tigers. Chapel is at the
end of his career as a pitcher. His pitching arm is tired and after an unheard of twenty years with
the same team, he is about to be traded. In the movie, the aging ballplayer ends up pitching a no-hitter,
which proves his critics wrong. Mixed in with the action of the game, we see Chapel
reflecting back on his life up until now. Specifically, his thoughts linger on the woman he loves
but has driven away because of his own stubborn pride. After the game ends, the scene changes
to Chapel weeping and alone in his hotel room. On what should be the greatest night of his life,
he realizes that his life is empty without anyone to share it with. It is ironic that some of the
greatest peaks in our lives are often followed by the deepest valleys. In today's scripture passage,
we find the prophet Elijah in a similar situation to that of Billy Chapel. He has just pitched a
prophetic no-hitter, but the game is over and he now has to run for his life.
14. J. Hampton Keathley, III stresses that Elijah was just a normal man. He wrote,Elijah's
dynamic living, his courageous ministry and effectiveness against all odds was not the result of
certain innate super-duper qualities, nor was it in the absence of personal weaknesses,temptation,
failure, nor even fear. While Elijah was spiritually head and shoulders above most of his
contemporaries, he was at the same time normal and average from the standpoint of innate or
natural qualities and abilities. Elijah possessed a sinful nature just like ours with weaknesses,
fears and doubts. He faced the I can'ts, the I don't feel like it syndrome just like everyone else.
In fact, his humanness will clearly emerge later in the record of his life and ministry. But, by the
strength of God through faith, Elijah rose above his weaknesses through the divine resources at
his disposal. The same resources are available to us in the Lord in even more abundant ways in
ew Testament times through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Most all of us in the same
situation would hit the road just like he did.
15. Thank God for unanswered prayer! Elijah in a down moment prays for God to take his life,
and if God answered all prayers as some foolishly say, this would be the end of the story for
Elijah. God had different plans for this man, however, and his plan was that Elijah would never
die, but be taken to heaven without going the route of death like all other people except him and
Enoch. There are many foolish prayer uttered by God's people, and we can all be thankful that
God does not follow our recommendations of what we think is the way to go. If God answered all
prayers the world would be in constant chaos, and the whole system of law by which God directs
the universe would be shattered. This would make the Creator the destroyer of his own wise
system. Asking God to do something that is contrary to his nature and will is an act of folly, and
we see Elijah being foolish in this prayer. God is not in the business of taking the lives of his
people for being depressed. If this was the case, there would be a great need for expanded
cemeteries. Someone pointed out that he did not really want to die, for that is why he was
running away from Jezebel. If he wanted to die he could have just stayed put and she would have
been glad to accomodate his death wish. Jonah is another example of stupid praying. He became
depressed and dehydrated by a scorching east wind that was sent by the Lord. In this fainting
condition he begged God with all his soul to let him die, saying, Death is better to me than life
(Jonah 4:8). Again, thank God he does not cooperate with our folly.
16. Criswell wrote, I am discouraged. I am blue. I am in despair. I am depressed. And that is a
universal experience. All of us fall into those black holes. We are sucked into it. And however we

may seek to fight against it, there are times in our lives when we are down, when we are blue.
There has always been, so far as I know, blues songs. Sing me a somebody has done me wrong
song, blues. They've always been sung. He goes on to quote Job who also desired to die in his
despair. Let that night be solitary, let no joyful noise come therein. Let them curse it that curse
the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning. Let the stars of the twilight be dark; let it
look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day. Because it shut not up the
doors of my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes. Why died I not from the womb?
Why did not I give up the ghost when I came out of my mother's body? [Job 1:7-11]... Wherefore
is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul; which long for death, but it
cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures; which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad,
when they can find the grave? [Job 1:20-22].
17. Criswell goes on to quote other Bible passages that reveal deep depression. .....listen to
David, in the forty-second Psalm: Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou
disquieted in me? 'O my God, my soul is cast down' Deep calleth unto deep' All thy waves and
thy billows are gone over me [Psalm 42:5-7]. And listen to him as he cries again, Save me, O
God; for the waters are come in into my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I
am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying: my throat is
dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for God. [Psalm 69:1-3]. Deliver me out of the mire, and let
me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the
water flood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth
upon me [Psalm 69:14-17]. Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I
look for some to take pity, and there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. [Psalm
69:20].
Criswell adds other men of God outside the Bible who have struggles with depression. These are
men of God. And they are in bitterness of soul. They are in despair. ow, when we come out of
the Bible and look at godly men through their generations I haven't time to recount the inward
story of the great saints of God, who lived in bitterness of soul, who were despondent. Martin
Luther, the leader of the great Reformation was so oftentimes down in the depths. William
Cowper, who wrote, There is a Fountain Filled with Blood,and many of the other great hymns
of the church, lived on the verge of taking his own life most of the time that he was grown.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon was the greatest preacher, eloquent, moving, powerful. There has
been none like him since the apostle Paul. Charles Haddon Spurgeon fell into such tragic
despondency, until he became ill. Sad of heart, deep down in the abyss. When John Bunyan
wrote Pilgrim's Progress, he was writing of the Christian life and experience. When Pilgrim
came to the Slough of Despond and found himself sucked down and wallowing in the mire. It's
been through all of the centuries, it's a part of human life.
17B. Elijah ran all this way and then wanted to die. That was a crazy thing to do, for if he wanted
to die he could have just stayed still, and Jezebel would have made his wish come true in 24
hours. Because death was an easy thing to achieve by doing nothing, it is obvious that he did not
really want to die. He felt like it with his weary and depressed spirit, but he did not really want
his life to end just then. He just wanted some escape from his burdens, and the negative thinking
that had captured his mind. After a good rest and special food he was full of life again, and ready
to take new orders from God.
The point is, what a person feels like, and what a person wants is often two different things.
Many people feel like escaping by means of death, but they do not want to die. This state of
ambiguity is still dangerous, for if they have no relationship to God, and no purpose for living,

they are candidates for suicide, and their expressing the desire to die needs to be taken very
seriously. Depression is often based on ignorance, as was that of Elijah. He thought he was all
alone in the world. It was a false understanding, for God had many more faithful people. People
who take their lives in depression are totally ignorant of the facts. They have no idea of the value
of their lives, and what God may do through them in their future. The possibilities are endless,
but in their ignorance they see only failure, and what this means is, those who take their own lives
are blind and ignorant to life's potential no matter how bad it is at the present.
18. The following is a brief study of depression, it causes and cures.
A. Depression has causes.
1. A physical cause can be fatigue. Elijah had been running hard for a long time, and he was
exhausted. He had not had adequate food intake, or enough water likely, and these things add to
the likelihood of depression. The spirit can be willing but the flesh is weak, and the result is the
body drags down the spirit. Many people get their bodies into a state where it effects the mind,
and they lose the will to life and fight the problems of life that they have to face. They get battle
weary, and do not do what their body needs to restore courage to the mind. I knew a woman
going through her change of life who wanted to die. I encouraged her to get a check up, and she
found that her body needed help. She stated taking a pill that restored balance to her body, and
the result was her mind was restored to hopefulness, and she was ready to continue fighting the
battles of life. Depressed people need to get their body in shape to overcome the negative thoughts
of the mind. A weak body will lead to a weak mind, and so we need to keep the body strong to
have a strong mind.
David Roper, in his great book Elijah: A Man Like Us, says this: Elijah's comedown is classic.
Over adrenalized, overextended, and emotionally depleted, brooding over his feelings of
inadequacy and apparent failure, he collapsed into self-pity, withdrawal and self-destructive
thoughts. Workaholics often push themselves to the limit and go through this same kind of
depression.
1B. Elijah doesn't need a counselor he needs a chef. It is not a time of prayer he needs but a time
of sleep. Often, you know we look for spiritual causes to our problems when in fact they are
physical. And it has to be said that often the worst culprits in this are those engaged in full time
Gospel work-ministers. They can be notorious in failing to take time off and working every hour
God sends. The result? Burn out. The 19th century baptist preacher C.H. Spurgeon put it like
this: Other men look after their tools; a painter will wash his pencils; a smith will look after his
hammer... only scholars neglect their instrument-their brain and spirits.... a body which has long
been without exercise and a heart burdened by many cares, and we have all the elements for
preparing a seething cauldron of despair.
2. A social cause of depression is that of feeling rejected. Elijah was a hero to many, but Jezebel
hated him and was hostile toward him. When we are rejected by anyone it tends to depress us, for
we hate to be hated and rejected. We need to feel accepted by others or our mind tends to drag us
down with negative thoughts. When we serve God and seek to do what is just and right, we

expect all things to go our way. But here is Elijah on the run in fear for his life after being a great
servant of God in defeating the prophets of Baal. It is discouraging to have to suffer for doing
good. When we are faithful to God we expects all people to love us, and when they hate us
instead, it is frustrating and discouraging. It makes you feel alone, and the feeling of loneliness
will lead to depression.
3. A sense of personal failure will lead us to depression. Elijah felt so alone in his battle with the
evil of idolatry. He had just won a great victory but had little joy in it because he felt that he
alone was faithful to God. He did not know that God had a great host of people who were faithful
to him and had not bowed to Baal. He thought he had failed to win people away from Baal
worship, and so was no better than his ancestors who went astray after false gods. This sense of
failure will lead any man into the dumps. It was a false view of reality, but such false views lead
people to take their lives every day. They do not see the whole story that they are loved and cared
for by others. They feel so alone and worthless that they do not want to live in such a loveless
world. More information could save them from this despair.
4. Clovis Chappell, “Thus utterly wearied and his old intimacy with the Lord gone, the worst
naturally followed. All his hopes seemed to fall about him. There came to him a heart-breaking
sense of personal failure. He sobbed out the complaint: I am no better than my fathers. They
allowed Israel to drift into idolatry. I have not been able to bring it back. I have accomplished
nothing. I toiled long and hard, dreaming that at the end I would clasp the warm, radiant hand of
success and victory, but in reality I only clasp the skeleton hand of failure.
Have you ever had a feeling that you were of no account and never would be; that in spite of all
that God had done for you, you were a failure? There are few things more fraught with heartache
and bitterness and discouragement than that. That is something that makes you want to sob and
give over the fight utterly. And there are a lot of folks that allow themselves to come to that
dismal conviction. They work, and nobody seems to appreciate it. They toil, and nobody
compliments them. Then they decide that they do not amount to anything, and they feel like
giving over the fight.”
B. Depression has cures.
1. Food is a cure often because the body needs it to function properly, and when it does not, it
leads the mind to be negative. A good mean can make all the difference in the world in how a
person feels about life and the battles he faces.
2. Facts are crucial to overcoming depression. People are thinking wrong in a depressed state.
Like Elijah, they are down on themselves, and feel so alone and unworthy. In verse 18 God gives
Elijah the facts that there are 7 thousand who have not bowed to Baal, and so he is not alone after
all, but has a large number of people on his side. God has not left the battle, but is continuing
with his battalions, and so don't give up as if all is lost. That is a lie of the devil that leads to

despair if you believe it.
Workmen of God! Lose not heart,
But learn what God is like;
And in the darkest battlefield
Thou shalt know where to strike.
Thrice blest is he to whom is given
The instinct that can tell
That God's on the field, when he
Is most invisible.
3. Work is a major cure to depression. We note in verses 15f, the Lord told Elijah to go back and
get to work anointing men to be kings. Sitting around by yourself having a pity party is not
conducive to beating depression. You have to get back to work. You have to be involved in some
activity that has meaning to get through the gloom of feeling like a failure. Activity is good for the
blood flow in the body, and it is good for the emotions, for they cheer up when there is a goal to
achieve. Serving God's purpose is a great booster to the soul that will help us overcome the down
times of our spirits. You cannot just tell yourself to stop feeling down. You need to act your way of
of feeling down. Emotions will not listen to your voice, but they will respond to your bodily
activity. The pastor of Redland Baptist Church wrote, So, one thing we can do to help ourselves
out of depression is to DO non-depressive things even if we don't feel like doing them. Martin
Luther would agree with this treatment. He advised people with mild bouts of depression to
ignore the heaviness.” A good way to exorcize the Devil, he maintained, was to harness the horses
and spread manure on the fields. In other words, get to work! Do something productive and you
will feel productive because doing affects feeling. You don't feel your way into acting, but act
your way into feeling.
19. Alan Carr gives us this depressing list about depression in our country.
•Depression affects all classes, races, ages, groups and genders of people.
• •17.6 million Americans will deal with some form of depression this year.
• •One out of every 5 Americans can expect to deal with depression in their lifetime.
• •The rate of clinical depression is twice that of men. Statistics teach that one person out of
every seven in this very room will need some form of professional help in dealing with
depression in their lifetime.
• •The ational Institute of Mental Health estimated that depression cost the nation
between $30-$44 billion in 1990 alone. In addition to that, over 2 million work days are
lost each year due to depression.
• •Depression is the leading cause of alcoholism, drug abuse, and other addictions.
• •Untreated depression is the number on cause of suicide.
• •Depression is not something to mess with! If you are dealing with depression, get help!

5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep.
All at once an angel touched him and said, Get up and
eat.
1. What a blessing it is to be able to sleep in times of deep distress, for this enables the mind and
body to regain strength and balance. Lack of sleep and food, plus enormous energy expended in
his running left him all out of balance. You can be a man of God, and still suffer greatly by
neglecting the natural needs of mind and body. You are not supplied with the things you need for
good health by miracle. You have to use your mind and make wise choices, or you will pay a price
in a body and mind that will fail you. God did come forth with a miracle for Elijah, but
remember, he was the miracle man, and most are not. He still paid a heavy price for neglecting
his needs until God came to his rescue with an angel messenger who also delivered groceries.
Don't count on this if you neglect you bodily needs. Grocery delivering angels are conspicuous by
their absence.
It is of interest that God cared for the physical needs of this lonely unmarried prophet than
anyone in the Bible that I am aware of. He fed him by ravens for a year, and another two years by
the miracle of a never ending supply in the home of the widow, and now by an angel in the
wilderness. He is the man who is seen eating more than anyone, and as far as we know he never
had to cook a meal in his life. Food just kept coming from any and every direction, and now he
has his angel cooking for him. Add up the number of meals that Elijah had dropped in his lap,
and you have a man who has the world record for the most free meals in history that came to him
by no human means. The widow did have to cook, but the ingredients came by miracle. There is
no record that the man had a dime to his name, but he did not need it, for all his meals were on
the house.
1B. “Then he laid down and fell asleep. The Bible doesn't say how long he z-ed out under the
tree, but it was probably a considerable amount of time. After all, he was not only emotionally
spent, but he was physically exhausted as well. But God intervened. He loved Elijah so much that
He would not let him continue where he was. Suddenly an angel touched Elijah and said, Get up
and eat. Being nudged in the middle of the desert when you are running for your life would be
enough to make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end! But not Elijah. He looked
around (didn't even sit up), saw some cakes of bread baking over hot coals and a jar of water by
his head. He didn't question anything-- didn't even scope out the situation. He merely ate and
drank and then lay back down again. What a zombie!” author unknown
2. Pink is full of good comments on this text. He points out something that most miss. “What an
amazing thing that so dignified a creature should be engaged in such a lowly task: that the
fingers of a celestial being should be employed in preparing and baking a cake! It would appear a
degrading task for one of those exalted beings which surround the throne of the Most High to

minister unto one who belonged to an inferior and fallen race, who was undutiful and out of
temper: to leave a spiritual occupation to prepare food for Elijah’s body - how abasing! Well may
we marvel at such a sight, and admire the angel’s obedience in complying with his Master’s
order. But more, it should encourage us to heed that precept and condescend to men of low
estate (Rom. 12:16), to regard no employment beneath us by which we may benefit a fellow
creature who is dejected in mind and whose spirit is overwhelmed within him. Despise not the
most menial duty when an angel disdained not to cook food for a sinful man.”
2. Pink, “How strikingly and how blessedly was 1 Corinthians 10:13, illustrated and exemplified
in the case of Elijah! It was a sore temptation or trial, when after all his fidelity in the Lord’s
service his life should be threatened by the wicked Jezebel, and when all his efforts to bring back
Israel to the worship of the true God seemed to be entirely in vain. It was more than he could
bear: he was weary of such a one-sided and losing fight, and he prayed to be removed from the
arena. But God was faithful and with the sore temptation also made a way to escape that he
might be able to bear it. In Elijah’s experience, as is so often the case with us, God did not remove
the burden, but He gave fresh supplies of grace so that the prophet could bear it. He neither took
away Jezebel nor wrought a mighty work of grace in the hearts of Israel, but He renewed the
strength of His overwrought servant. Though Elijah had fled from his post of duty, the Lord did
not now desert the prophet in his hour of need. If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He
cannot deny Himself (2 Tim. 2:13). O what a God is ours! o mere fair-weather friend is the
One who shed his blood to redeem us, but a Brother born for adversity (Prov. 17:17). He has
solemnly sworn I will never leave thee nor forsake thee, and therefore may we triumphantly
declare, The Lord is my Helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me (Heb. 13:5, 6).”
3. Pink, “Behold, then an angel touched him, gently rousing him from his sleep, that he might
see and partake of the refreshment which had been provided for him. How this reminds us of that
word, are they not all (the holy angels) ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who
shall be heirs of salvation? (Heb. 1:14). This is something about which we hear little in this
materialistic and skeptical age, but concerning which the Scriptures reveal much for our comfort.
It was an angel who came and delivered Lot from Sodom ere that city was destroyed by fire and
brimstone (Gen. 19:15, 16). It was an angel which shut the lions mouths when Daniel was cast
into their den (6:22). It was angels who conveyed the soul of the beggar into Abraham’s bosom
(Luke 16:22). It was an angel which visited Peter in the prison, smote the chains from his hands,
caused the iron gate of the city to open of his own accord (Act 12:7, 10), and thus delivered him
from his enemies. It was an angel who assured Paul that none on the ship should perish (Acts.
27:23). or do we believe for a moment that the ministry of angels is a thing of the past, though
they no longer manifest themselves in visible form as in Old Testament times—Hebrews 1:14,
precludes such an idea.”
4. Criswell, ow, I want you to look for a moment at what God does with this despondent,
despairing, discouraged prophet. Verse 5: And as he lay and slept under that juniper tree [1
Kings 19:5], what does God do? Does God upbraid him? Does God curse him? Does God
dismiss him? Does God say words of reproach? o. He is wonderfully tender with that
discouraged and despondent prophet, who is weary, who has quit, who is running away, who has
been disillusioned, thinking that he was successful. ow that he sees all that he's done turned to

dust and ashes, how does God treat him? As he lay there, God sent an angel and touched him,
and said, Arise and eat. [1 Kings 19:5]. And he looked and there was a cake baked on the
coals and a cruse of water. And he did eat and drink. And the angel came the second time and
said, Arise and eat, [1 Kings 19:7]. [It was] refreshment of body and of soul. That's the first
thing God did for him-sleep, eat, rest, drink, and find strength and refreshment of spirit and
body.
Do you see the attitude of the Lord toward this despondent prophet? He is tender and kind and
sympathetic and understanding. I want to show that to you. You cannot know the number of
times, in my pastoral work, that I have been asked, If a man commits suicide, is he saved? Can a
man commit suicide and go to heaven? Especially, is that poignantly asked when I hold a
memorial service, a funeral service for somebody who has committed suicide. Is this man who
has committed suicide, is he saved? By committing suicide, taking his own life, is he thereby
damned in hell and shut out from God forever? Well, I've always answered in this one way, which
is the truth of God. Any man, any somebody, mostly it's young people who do it. Isn't that a sad
thing? It isn't old people that commit suicide. It's usually younger people. When I am asked
that, this is what I reply. Anybody that commits suicide is ill in their mind and heart. You can be
ill, you can be sick in your foot. You can be sick in your stomach. You can be sick in your lungs.
You can be sick in your eyes. You can be sick in any organ of your body. You can also be sick in
your soul. You can be sick in your heart. You can be sick enough to die.
Well, I ask, if a man is sick in his physical frame, does God love him any less because he is sick?
If a man is sick in his soul, if he's sick in his mind, sick unto death, to the extent that he took his
life, is God any less kind to him, or unsympathetic with him because he's sick in his soul, sick in
his mind? o. God is pitiful to me when I'm sick in my physical frame. And he is no less
gracious and pitiful to me, if I am sick in my mind or sick in my heart. And you have a
marvelous, incomparable illustration of that in how God reacted to the despondency and the
despair of Elijah.”
6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of
bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and
drank and then lay down again.
1. Elijah was very careless about his eating, and so God had to do miracles to keep this man fed
and healthy. He was so often on his own in wilderness places where there was no access to food,
and so God had a private catering service for this lone ranger of the wilderness.
1B. Maclaren, “The meal to which an angel twice waked him was God’s answer to his prayer,
telling him both that his life was still needful and that God cared for him. Perhaps one of Elijah’s
reasons for taking to the desert was the thought that he might starve there, and so find death. At
all events, God for the third time miraculously provides his food. The ravens, the widow of
Zarephath, an angel, were his caterers; and, instead of taking away his life, God Himself sends

the bread and water to preserve it. The revelation of a watchful, tender Providence often rebukes
gloomy unbelief and shames us back to faith. We are not told whether the journey to Horeb was
commanded, or, like the flight from Jezreel, was Elijah’s own doing; but, in any case, he must
have wandered in the desert, to have taken forty days to reach it.”
2. Howat, “He lay and slept' Thanks for the blessed forgetfulness of slumber — riches to the poor,
and health to all. We wear out these bodies, and nightly comes the nurse to apply the soothing
draught, to close the eyelids, and unconsciously, as the dark hours pass, to restore the waste and
loss. O Sleep ! Sleep ! thou relic, like Love, of Eden, where Adam slept, how the sons of toil every-where,
after sweat of brow or brain, resign themselves to thy captivity, which is indeed but sweet
release ; how hundreds would give half their fortune to enjoy thee in upper chambers, where
foot-falls must be low, and utterance but in whispers ; and how, to the desolate in heart, thou
comest a balm from heaven, where the sorrow is forgotten, and the mysterious spirit wings its
way to the dream-land of melody and joy. It was even so with Elijah — nay, it was more. The
prophet had forgotten God, but God had not forgotten the prophet. He who sent an angel to
Hagar in the wilderness of Shur, sends an angel to Elijah in the wilderness of Idumea ; and He
who, in that extremity, provided 'the well, provides now, in this extremity, 'the cake baken on the
coals,! and the cruse of water at the prophet's 'head.”
3. Bob Deffinbaugh, “I love this text! Elijah lies down and goes to sleep, hoping never to awaken,
other than in heaven. He is awakened by a nudge from an angel, an angel who is none other than
the Angel of the Lord. Was Elijah in heaven? ot really. But he was to receive a lesson from
heaven. Elijah is in no condition to be corrected at this moment, and this is why the angel has
only one command for Elijah: “Get up and eat.” He did, and then went back to sleep again. Good
food and sleep were essential to his physical recovery.
What a lesson there was for Elijah in this meal! Here is a prophet who, according to his own
words, is a failure. He is a man who seems to feel that his significance to God is somehow
dependent upon his success in ministry as a prophet. The angel’s presence is, in and of itself,
instructive and corrective. Did God care for Elijah, at the time of his greatest failure? God
provided Elijah with bread and water before, for three-and-a-half years. He was given “day old”
bread by unclean ravens, and then a very basic bread by the widow of Zarephath. This provision
came when Elijah was obedient and successful. But now, in his greatest moment of defeat, he is
fed hot-baked bread and water, served by none other than the Angel of the Lord. Did God care
for Elijah, even when he failed? I think we know the answer.”
7 The angel of the LORD came back a second time and
touched him and said, Get up and eat, for the journey is
too much for you.
1. God made the body, and he knows how important nourishment is for the health of the body,
and so he took special measures to assure that his man had what he body needed.

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