Elijah and Affliction

Elijah’s Depression

Last time we saw Elijah, he had just thrown down all of the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. God had consumed his sacrifice with fire, and all the people worshiped the Lord. At that time Elijah lined up all the prophets of Baal and killed them as punishment from the Lord.

And if you remember, because of the wicked King Ahab and Jezebel his wife, God through Elijah had stopped all rain on the earth for three years. After this mighty display of God’s power on Mt. Carmel, Elijah prayed for the rain to return, and it did! If you remember, Baal was the storm god, and through the contest on Mt. Carmel, killing the prophets, and bringing back the rain, Elijah is definitively showing that God is the only true God. Therefore he alone is worthy of worship.

Defeated, King Ahab returned to his wife Jezebel and gave her the news. And that is where our story picks up.

1 Kings 19:1–3 “And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time. And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there.”

Jezebel turns on Elijah and threatens to kill him. And Elijah’s response is a bit shocking. He ran into the wilderness to hide, and he asks God to kill him!

1 Kings 19:4 “But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.”

He is absolutely depressed, and just wants to die. The Lord had just used him to call down fire from heaven, to completely wipe out the religious elites, but Elijah chose to look at his present circumstances over his God.

And sometimes we can do that as well. God could be doing amazing things in our lives, but the instant affliction or trials hit us we throw our hands up in defeat. “It would just be better if I were dead!”

And in one of the most fascinating passages in the entire Bible, God gives his response to Elijah, and I believe we should sit up, and listen to this as well.

God’s Response to Elijah

1 Kings 19:5–8 “And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee. And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.”

As Elijah slept under the tree, the angel of the Lord appeared and gave him food and water, and Elijah ate and drank then fell back asleep. The angel then came to him a second time with food and water. This time the angel explains that Elijah has to eat because the journey he was about to take was too hard without it. Elijah obeyed, and then travelled for the next forty days and nights to Mt. Horeb.

The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament 19:1-18: Elijah’s Flight

19:8. trip to Horeb. Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai. If Sinai is to be found down in the southern region of the peninsula, as the text seems to necessitate (see comment on

Horeb, also known as "the mountain of God," is a significant location in biblical tradition, often used interchangeably with Mount Sinai[1][2]. It is mentioned in various biblical contexts, including Moses' encounter with the burning bush, the giving of the law to Israel, and as a place where God revealed Himself to the Hebrew nation[1][2]. While its exact location remains uncertain, Horeb has traditionally been identified with Jebel Musa in the southern Sinai Peninsula, though alternative sites have been suggested[1][4]. The mountain is described as a place of divine encounters, where God spoke audibly to His people and established His covenant with them[2].

Easton’s Bible Dictionary Horeb

HOREB—desert or mountain of the dried-up ground, a general name for the whole mountain range of which Sinai was one of the summits (

Elijah goes to Mt. Sinai, the very same mountain in which God met Moses and gave His covenant to the people of Israel. Now the passage doesn’t tell us whether God told him to go there or not. Regardless, God intends to meet with Elijah, and this is a powerful place to do this.

1 Kings 19:9–14 KJV 1900

And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for 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. And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God 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.

Elijah went to this cave in the Horeb mountain range, and when he got there God asks him “What are you doing here?” And I love his response, “I have been jealous for the Lord, I have served you, and I am the only person alive right now who is doing so! Everyone else has followed Baal. I am alone, and they are trying to kill me.”