1 KINGS—NOTE ON 1 Kings 19:13 What are you doing here, Elijah? The point of the demonstration on the mountain was presumably that Elijah would answer this question differently the second time (compare v. 1 Kings 19:9). His answer is, however, exactly the same as before (I have been very jealous for the LORD). There is a suggestion in the text that he does not particularly want to understand what God is saying through these events. He has always claimed to “stand before the Lord” (see 1 Kings 17:1; 1 Kings 18:15), but here on Mount Horeb, in spite of the command of 1 Kings 19:11 (“Go out and stand... before the LORD”), he apparently stays in the cave until the storm is over and he hears the “whisper” (v. 1 Kings 19:12). When he does go out, it is with his cloak over his face, which makes it difficult for him to “see.”

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