1 Kings 19:1-8. Elijah's flight to Horeb (Not in Chronicles) 1. _And Ahab told Jezebel_ The LXX. adds -his wife." _and withal how_ The construction in the original is here irregular. The words rendered -withal" are omitted in nearly all the Versions. The expression translated -withal how" is exact... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jezebel sent a messenger_ The queen could not restrain herself in her rage. She cannot make arrangements for seizing Elijah at once, but lets him know that she is resolved to do so. The LXX. has no word for -a messenger," but enlarges the sentence by the words -If thou art Elijah, and I Jezebel, so... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when he saw_that] The LXX. reading וַיִרָא instead of the text וַיַרָא renders by καὶ ἐφοβήθη, -and he was afraid." And this makes a good sense. But it is not necessary. Elijah saw (mentally) from the message which came to him, that he must be gone, if he would save his life. Moreover after the... [ Continue Reading ]
_a day's journey into the wilderness_ The wilderness here spoken of is the desert of Paran, through which the Israelites had of old wandered from Egypt toward the promised land. _under a juniper tree_ The LXX. merely represents the Hebrew name רֹתֶם by a transliteration ὑποκάτω Ραθμέν. The plant is... [ Continue Reading ]
_And as he lay and slept_ Better, with R.V., -And he LAY DOWN and slept." The verb is the same as that which is so rendered at the close of the next verse. The description is of what Elijah did, not only of something which happened -as he lay." _behold then_ R.V. AND BEHOLD. A change made necessary... [ Continue Reading ]
_and behold_, there was] The R.V., following the Hebrew order, puts -at his head" immediately after these words.... [ Continue Reading ]
_because the journey_is _too great for thee_ No mention has yet been made of the distance or place to which Elijah meant to go. It seems therefore more natural to conclude that the flight into the wilderness had been undertaken by the prophet merely because he thought that he would there be less lik... [ Continue Reading ]
_in the strength of that meat_ As Moses had been forty days on Sinai and had taken no food with him, so now Elijah, who was to be in many ways a counterpart of Moses, is divinely sustained by the food which had been supplied to him while he rested. The fasting of Jesus at the time of His temptation... [ Continue Reading ]
God's revelation and direction to Elijah (Not in Chronicles) 9. _unto a cave_ The Hebrew has the article, and this is represented in the LXX. by τὸ σπήλαιον -the cave." It is very likely that by Elijah's time tradition had fixed on a definite place as that -cleft of the rock" in which Moses stood ... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have been very jealous_ There is no boastfulness in these words. Elijah only opens his grief, and sets forth that he has done his utmost, but that, in spite of all, both king and people are still unrepentant. _have forsaken thy covenant_ For -thy covenant" the LXX. reads, in this verse but not i... [ Continue Reading ]
_Go forth_ The LXX. here adds αὓριον, _to-morrow_, and the narrative in Josephus (_Ant_. VIII. 13. 7) represents the prophet's going forth as taking place on the day following the divine questioning. But these variations from the text may be, and probably are, due to a desire to assimilate the narra... [ Continue Reading ]
_a still small voice_ Literally, as in the margin of R.V. -a sound of gentle stillness." There is nothing to indicate to us whether the sound was articulate or not, nor is it said that the Lord was now present, but the action of the prophet shews that he knew the time was come for him to present him... [ Continue Reading ]
_wrapped his face in his mantle_ The revelation was not one for the eye, but for the spirit, of the prophet. Like Moses -he was afraid to look upon God" (Exodus 3:6). in _the entering in of the cave_ The command given before had been -Go forth and stand upon the mount," but this only applies to suc... [ Continue Reading ]
_Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus_ It seems from what follows that the margin of the R.V. gives the truer sense, viz. -by the wilderness to Damascus." Elijah was to go back through the wilderness, the way by which he had come to Horeb, and we see that he came first to Abel-meholah... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Jehu the son of Nimshi_ We learn from the account of Jehu's anointing (2 Kings 9:2) that Nimshi was Jehu's grandfather. He was -Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi." He was one of Ahab's captains, and heard the sentence which Elijah pronounced against Ahab for the murder of Naboth (2... [ Continue Reading ]
_shall Elisha slay_ Here we come upon evidence that the language of these verses (15 18) is not to be pressed into a literal interpretation. In the second book of Kings the compiler gives us all that he thought needful of the life of Elisha, and there is nothing in it which accords with a literal ac... [ Continue Reading ]
_Yet I have left_me] R.V. (and margin of A. V.) YET WILL I LEAVE ME. And this is not only required by the Hebrew words, but for a true conception of the sense of the passage. Elijah had been witness of God's might and power to execute judgement, in the wind, the earthquake, and the fire, and subsequ... [ Continue Reading ]
The call of Elisha (Not in Chronicles) 19. _So he departed thence_ Josephus says, what the visit to Abelmeholah shews, that Elijah returned into the land of the Hebrews. He was instructed, comforted, and assured of safety. God, who had assigned him work to do, and given him hope therein, would not... [ Continue Reading ]
_kiss my father and my mother_ He was sensible that the separation was to be permanent, and that a higher call than that of earthly parentage was laid upon him. This is the ground for his petition. Thus will he make known to his parents the reason of his departure. _Go back again: for what have I d... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he returned back from_[R.V. FROM FOLLOWING] _him_ Elisha clearly understood the permission which was given to him. He is allowed a short space for leave-taking, but the call is imperative, and he is to follow with all speed. Elijah goes his way, but leaves Elisha in no doubt whither he is going... [ Continue Reading ]