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1 Kings 19:16
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14 aAnd he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”  
15 Then the Lord said to him: “Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; aand when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria.  
16 Also you shall anoint aJehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And bElisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place.  
17 aIt shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will bkill; and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, cElisha will kill.  
18 aYet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, band every mouth that has not kissed him.”  

Elisha Follows Elijah

19 So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his amantle on him.  
20 And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, a“Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?”  
21 So Elisha turned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and aboiled their flesh, using the oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah, and became his servant. 
Commentaries:
Forerunner Commentary
What is the Forerunner Commentary?
<< 1 Kings 19:15   1 Kings 19:17 >>

What Does 1 Kings 19:16 Mean?



1 Kings 19:10-18

Possibly in the same cave where Moses saw God (Exodus 33:17-23; 34:4-7), Elijah finally vocalized to God why he had fled to the wilderness: In his zeal he felt alone, rejected, and ineffective (verse 10). By God's blunt response, it seems that He had decided that Elijah needed a quick and effective dose of reality.

In the tremendously powerful wind, earthquake, and fire, God showed that though He causes or allows great works that destroy, punish, or expose the ungodly, His greatest work is elsewhere. He was in the "still small voice" (verse 12). He does His most astounding and effective work in the background, working His salvation in (Psalm 74:12), and giving His gifts, His grace, to His people (Ephesians 4:7). In a sense, He told Elijah He is "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (II Peter 3:9).

Undaunted, though humbled, Elijah still insisted that he was alone, rejected, and ineffective (verse 14). Almost curtly, God gave the prophet something to do, though nothing on the scale of his former work (verses 15-17). But before He sent Elijah away, God reminded him that in his self-absorption he had forgotten all the other people with whom He had been working. "Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him" (verse 18).

Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Elijah's Dose of Reality

Related Topics: Elijah | Elijah's Dose of Reality | Elijah's Fear | Elijah's Self Absorption | Gifts | God's Work | God's Workmanship | Grace | Salvation as the Work of God | Still Small Voice




Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing 1 Kings 19:16:

1 Samuel 28:11-14
2 Kings 2:9-10
Isaiah 45:1


 
<< 1 Kings 19:15   1 Kings 19:17 >>

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