1 Kings 19

Tliere was none that followed the house of David but the tribe ofJudah only.*. Which comprehends Benjamin also, being one with it, as was observed before, (xi. 31, 32.) And it was by the singular providence of God, that they were not also tempted to desert such a haughty prince as Relioboam was. But the Lord was not in the wind.’] The Schechinah did not yet appear. And after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake.] The Divine Presence still did not manifest itself.

1 Kings 19:1

A^NDAhab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done. How he had called for fire from heaven, and had made rain to fall upon the earth* And withal, that he had slain all the prophets with the sword.] That is, all the prophets of Baal, for they only are mentioned, xviii. 22. 25. and the prophets of the groves (who are said to bo four hundred, xviii. 19.) were still in being, as appears from xxii. G.

1 Kings 19:2

Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let God do to me, and more also, if I make not thy Ufe as the life of one of them by to-morrow about this time. This shews the great folly of rage; which gave him notice of his danger, and admonished him to avoid it: or, perhaps she thought him as courageous as she was furious; and that he would not flee; and then she knew her power would be greater than his.

1 Kings 19:3

And when he saw that, f he arose, and went for his Ufe, and came to Beer-sheba, tvhich belonged to Judah. Whither her power did not reach; being in another kingdom. And he left his servant there.] Because he intended to go into the wilderness, where he resolved to spend the rest of’ his days, and die; and he would not have the youth put to the same straits, in which he was like to be. We read of no command from God to fly; nor doth he forbid it; but left him to his own prudence. Which made him think it in’vain to hope for Ahab’s protection; who he saw would continue an idolater, and by his example make the people revolt to the worship of Baal. Though some are of opinion’it was a fault in Elijah to run away, and not to depend * upon God to preserve him, in his pious endeavours to keep “the people in the true religion; who had so solemnly acknowledged the Lord to be God.

1 Kings 19:4

And he himself went a day s journey into the wiU * derness.* This wilderness was that wherein the Israelites wandered forty year3; and he now travelled as many days. And came and sat down under a juniper-tree.] Which * some look upon as a sign he did not value life; because’ the* shade of this tree (under which he not only sat, but lay 1 downand slept) is thought to be very noxious, as Virgil observes. And he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough: now, O Lord, take away my life.] He thought he could do God no further service; and therefore desired to be discharged from his office by death; for’all that he * could say or do proved ineffectual. For I am not better than my fathers.] Unto whoso, ago, it is likely, he had lived.

1 Kings 19:5

And as he lay and slept under a juniper-tree, be-’ hold, an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. Perhaps he was faint with his day’s journey, for want * of food at the end of it. ■ Ver.G. And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coalsJ] It should be translated, upon hot stones, as Bochartus shews in his Hierozoicon, par. i. lib. ii. cap. 33. Arid a cruse of water at his head: and he did eat and’ drink, and laid him down again.]- Being weary, and want- 1 ing rest.

1 Kings 19:7

And the angel of the Lord came again the second fime, and touched him, saying; Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee. Without extraordinary strength; he being an old man, and much tired with one day’s journey.

1 Kings 19:8

And he arose, and did cat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights, unto Horeb the mount of God. It was a journey of not above four or five days, if so much; but he went about by private ways, that he might not be discovered; and, perhaps, rested sometimes, and lay hid, if there was any danger of his being seen. The Jews have made a comparison between him and Moses, in twenty-four particulars. But Abarbinel shews they were very different, and Moses had the superiority,* especially in this thing here mentioned. For he is of opinion that Elijah ate and drank every day, when he could meet with food, as he might in several places of the wilderness. But ordinary food would not have enabled him to travel so long as he did: but it was by the power of that celestial food which the angel brought him, that he held out, it giving him vigour beyond all that he could receive from any other nourishment. But in this Moses went beyond him, that he had no food at all; being supported by a miraculous power, forty days and forty nights, without any sustenance of meat and drink.

1 Kings 19:9

And he came thither into a cave, and lodged there: and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and said to him, What doest thou here, Elijah?. As much as to say, I have no business for thee here. This is not a place wherein to do me service. Which was a secret reproof for flying so far away: Judea, Samaria, or Damascus, being fitter places for him to be employed in. Ver. “10. And he said, J have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts.] He professed that he had not wanted zeal for the Lord’s service; but been moved with great ■indignation against idolatry. For the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, and thrown down thine altars.] He calls the altars that had beenerected in high places by the ancient patriarchs, or other pious people in following times, God’s altars: because they sacrificed upon themto him alone, and not t to idols. And slain thy prophets with tJie sword.] So Jezebel had done, xviii. 4. And I, even I only, am left.] There were many prophets besides him: but none of them appeared publicly in de- - fence of religion, but he alone. And they seek my life, to take it away.] These words an- ■ swer the question, What doest thou Iiere?- He fled thither to save his life.

1 Kings 19:11

And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. Where the Schechinab, I suppose, appeared unto him, after somo preparations for it. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strqng * tvind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks.] He * heard a sign of the Divine presence coming, before he went out of the cave. -For his angelical ministers, which attended his majesty, passed by the mouth of the cave in a mighty terrible wind; which had those dreadful effects here mentioned. Before the Lord.] These words shew, that, in exact speaking, it was not the Lord that passed by when this wind blew, but his ushers> as I may call them, who went before the Lord: so it here follows..

1 Kings 19:12

And after the earthquake afire. Lightning and thunder, just as there was at the giving of the law, which Elijah endeavoured to restore. But the Lord tvas not in the fire.] Still he heard nothing from God; who by these things prepared him to receive his majesty with the greatest humility and composure of spirit. And after the fire a small still voice.] At the last the Lord himself came, as he perceived by the whispering of a voice; which bade him listen and attend to what the Lord should say unto him. There are many pious meditations, which this appearance of the Divine Majesty hath suggested to interpreters. Particularly Strigelius looks upon it as representing the Divine Nature to be inclined not to terrify and destroy, but placidly to invite and preserve. God easily lays aside his anger (as Nazianzen speaks in his oration upon his father), arid delights to exercise mercy. For he is compelled to anger by us, Trpbg Bl tovto tt)v 6pjtn)v ix*i, but to mercy lie is very prone, as we may speak, and by his own nature bent unto it, &c. To the same purpose Ralbag discourses among the Jews. Others look upon all this as a figure of the gospel dispensation, which came not in such a terrible manner as the law did, with storms, thunders, lightnings, and earthquakes, (Exod. xix. 16. Heb. xii. 18, &c.) but with great lenity and sweetness, God speaking to us by his Son, in the most mild and gentle manner. And herein also some think he intended to shew Elijah that he had all the elements ready armed at his command, if he pleased to make use of them, to destroy idolaters: but by that still voice he declared the Divine patience and tenderness, which he would have him to imitate, by bridling his anger, to which he was by nature very prone.

1 Kings 19:13

And it was so, when Elijah Jieard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in tlie entrance of tlie cave. He first covered his face, in token of great reverence to God, not being able to look upon the Divine Glory which now appeared; and then went out of the cave, (as God had commanded him, ver. 11.) and stood in the entrance of it, to listen to what God would say to him. And, behold, there came a voice to him.] From the Schechinah, or Divine Glory. And said, What does t thou here, Elijah?] The same words are repeated which he had heard before, ver. 9. Only there they were spoken by the angel, but here by the Lord himself.

1 Kings 19:14

And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.] He makes the same answer that he had done before, ver. 10. He was so full of anger (as Ralbag thinks) that he did not apply his mind as he ought to understand the vision, and therefore only repeats his former words. But God informs him in the following verse, that he would take care to chastise the Israelites in due time for their apostacy from him; and for that end bade him go and anoint Hazael, &c.

1 Kings 19:15

And the Lord said unto him, Go, return thy way to the wilderness. of Damascus. He. bids him return. the way he came to Horeb; till he came to the way that led to the wilderness of Damascus, and go thither. And when thou contest, anoint Hazael to be king of Syria.] As much as to say (as the forenamed author expounds it), Since thou art so angry with the Israelites for th^ir impiety, go and anoint one to be king of Syria, who shall’ be. a scourge, to them. But this was not done presently, nor did he himself anoint Jehu; but ordered that it should be done by his successor Elisha; though it may be doubted whether any of them were anointed, except Jehu. For the word anoint may be no iriore than appoint him king, as kings were constituted in Israel by unction. Hence, by a metaphor, it is accommodated to the preferment of men to all dignities: as in Psal. cv. 15. " Touch not mine anointed; J> and Cyrus is called the Lord’s anointed, Isa.xlv. 1.

1 Kings 19:16

And Jehu the son ofNimshi. He was grandson of Nimshi, (as appears from 2 Kings ix. 2.) who are frequently called sons in the holy books. Anoint to be king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat, of Abel-meholah, shalt thou anoint to beprophet in thy room.] This last was the chiefest command (to anoint, that is appoint, Elisha to be his successor), for the other two were, to be performed by him, not by Elijah; who ordered Elisha to do it in convenient time; and first he appointed Jehu king, and afterward Hazael.

1 Kings 19:17

And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay; and him that escapeth from tlie sword of Jehu, shall Elisha slay. This is not to be understood, as if the sword of Hazael should do execution before the sword of Jehu, and the sword of Jehu before that of Elisha: but it only signifies, as Abarbinel observes, that God in his providence had appointed three persons to punish the Israelites, according to their deserts. Thus he intended Hazael should destroy them in battle; which he mentions first, because it is a, general calamity. But Jezebel, and the children of Ahab, and the priests of Baal, not going out to fight, and consequently not falling in battle, God ordered Jehu should cut them off in that manner as he did, with all the worshippers of Baal. But he did not inflict evil upon all the people of Israel, because he was to be their king. And though he slew idolaters, he did not meddle with little children, whose disposition he did not know: but they were reserved to be punished by Elisha, who foresaw they would prove idolaters. Thus he, with too much subtilty: but in general he saith well, that. the Scripture doth not mention these things according to the time wherein they fell out; but according to the decree of God, who appointed every one to execute that which was proper for him to do.

1 Kings 19:18

Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel. This seems to be a correction of Elijah’s mistake, who imagined that he alone was the only true worshipper of God that remained in Israel. Though Abarbinel will haVe it relate to what goes immediately before, that all the Israelites should not be destroyed: for he had a great number (seven thousand being put indefinitely for many thousand) of pious people in Israel, who had never worshipped Baal; and should not therefore be hurt cither by Hazael, or otherways. All the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that hath not kissed him.] Every one knows that

1 Kings 19:21

And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house ofJudah, with the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men, which were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.) This was a very potent tribe, especially assisted by Benjamin, and wanted not affection to tho house of David, which they had expressed upon all occasions; and were ready now, with a very numerous army, to fall upon the Israelites, before their new king was settled in his throne, and bring them back to their rightful king.

But the word of God came to Sliemaiah the man * of God, saying.* A person, known to be a prophet, “was sent to them from God with a message, before they marched to the country of Israel.

Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah. God himself owns him for no more than king ofJudah. And to all the house ofJudah and Benjamin, and to the remnant of the people, saying J] Unto those mentioned ver. 17.

Thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not go up to fight against your brethren the children of Israel: turn every man to his house; for this thing is from me. Who was resolved to maintain what ho had done. It was the intention and design of God to make Jeroboam king; but he did not stay for his appointment, but usurped the kingdom by the help of certain vain fellows, who raised a sedition against Rehoboam. (See 2 Chron. xiii. 5 — 7.) And besides, God did not promise to set his posterity upon his throne” (as he did to David and Solomon), unless he kept his commandments, which he did not: and therefore, though he saith the thing was from him, yet the setting his son upon the throne after him, and the succeeding kings, was not from Kim; but in Hoseahe saith, (viii. 4.) TJiey have set zip kings, but not by me: they have set up princes, and I knew it not; i. e. did not approve it. They hearkened therefore to the word of the Lord, and returned to depart,, according to the word of the Lord.] Now Rehoboam was cool, and began to be wise, in not resisting the counsel of God, who had taken the kingdom from him; but submitting to his decree, and bearing it patiently. The people, at least, were of this mind, and persuaded him not to engage in a war, wherein God would appear against him. According to the counsel of Menander mentioned byStrigelius, Mfj Stofiaxti, jurjSc irpoaayov t^j TipayfiaTi xtifiwvae iripovg, -roue §^ avaytcaiovg <£lp£. Fight not against God; neither do any thing to bring upon thyself neiv storms and tempests: but bear those that are necessary, and cannot be avoided.

Then Jeroboam built Shechem in Mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein. For there it is likely they chose him king; and therefore he enlarged and beautified it (which is meant by built), to be his royal’seat. And he went out from thence, and built Fennel*] But this did not satisfy him, he removed from thence to another city, which ho also built; and so became a builder as well as Solomon, with whose building* he is thought to have found fault. Ver. 2G. And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David.] Though God had told him he would build him a sure house, (xi. 37, 38.) if he kept his commandments, yet he did not trust to his promise; but after he had been some time possessed of the kingdom, began to fear a revolt of the people, if he permitted them to worship God according to the law; and so contrived to make an alteration in religion.

If the people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king ofJudah^] All the people of Israel being bound at tho three great feasts to go up to Jerusalem to worship; as also, upon other solemn occasions, devout persons going thither to offer gifts and sacrifices; he was afraid they would bo so taken with the splendour and magnificence of the temple, and of the royal city, and recal to memory the famous acts of David and Solomon, who were buried there; and the king would find such means to oblige them, and the priests and Levitcs.so solicit them to unite themselves again to Judah (who appeared to have the better cause, having the temple in possession where God dwelt), that they would be drawn not only to forsake him, but to kill him. For besides all this, their belief of one only God was the principal cause of union among them: and next to that was their worshipping God at one only place* Therefore, instead of consulting God, and committing himself to him, who could and would have preserved him in the kingdom he had given bim, notwithstanding all these dangers; he took counsel, as it here folloAVs, of such as were governed only by reasons of state, and devised how to establish himself by wicked inventions. The Talmudists, after their manner, add another reason why he took the following resolution. For, saith R. Nachman, (in the Gcmara of the Sanhedrin, cap. 11. n. 4G.) the custom being that none should sit in the court of the temple, but only the king of the house of David, he thought with himself, that if the people saw Rehoboam sit, and him stand, they would conclude tho former to be king, and Jeroboam but his servant. Another reason is alleged by Kimchi: when the year of release came, Jeroboam said within himself, it is written, (Dcut. xxxi. 10, 11,) " At the end of every seventh year thou shalt read this law in the ears of all Israel/’ &c. Now if I attempt to read it, the people will say, The king who. is in the place which God hath chosen (i. e. Jerusalem) must read first, and so I must read it after him, which will be a disgrace to me; and if I read it not at all it will be worse, for I shall be thought profane. But these, and such-like, are frivolous reasons, for his resolution to draw the people from the worship of God according to the law, at his own house at Jerusalem.

Whereupon the king took counsel. Of some secular politicians, who, if they could but preserve the civil government, cared not what became of religion. The Jews in the place abovementioned, in the Sanhedrin, tell the story in this manner; That he summoned a council, consisting partly of pious, partly of wicked men; whom he asked whether they would subscribe to all (hat he or-