Fight or Flight

persecuted Gods people, direct enemy of Elijah, promotes worship of Baal

Fight or Flight

This is the body’s response to perceived threat or danger. During this reaction, certain hormones like adrenalin and cortisol are released, speeding the heart rate, slowing digestion, shunting blood flow to major muscle groups, and changing various other autonomic nervous functions, giving the body a burst of energy and strength. Originally named for its ability to enable us to physically fight or run away when faced with danger, it’s now activated in situations where neither response is appropriate, like in traffic or during a stressful day at work. When the perceived threat is gone, systems are designed to return to normal function via the relaxation response, but in our times of chronic stress, this often doesn’t happen enough, causing damage to the body.

The difference between anxiety and fear

What happens?

Before we discuss what happens in the fight or flight syndrome, it is important to first discuss the difference between fear and anxiety. Fear is the emotion you experience when you are actually in a dangerous situation. Anxiety is what you experience leading up to a dangerous, stressful, or threatening situation. You may also experience anxiety when you think about something stressful or dangerous that could happen to you. Other words for anxiety may be ‘dread’ or ‘apprehensiveness’.

The difference between anxiety and fear can be illustrated nicely this way. Think about the last time you went on a roller coaster. Anxiety is what you felt when you were in line looking at the hills, steep drops, and loops, as well as hearing the screams of other riders. You also likely felt anxiety when on the roller coaster as you got closer to the top of the first hill. Fear is what you experienced as you went over the peak of the hill and started your fall down the first hill.

Anxiety and fear are helpful

Anxiety and fear are very helpful responses. The human race may not even exist if it were not for these hard-wired responses to danger and threat. Anxiety and fear provides us with information. That is, they tell us when danger is present and they prepare us to act.

When you are in a stressful or dangerous situation and experience fear and anxiety, your body goes through a number of changes:

Your heart rate may increase.Your vision may narrow (sometimes called ‘tunnel vision’).You may notice that your muscles become tense.You may begin to sweat.Your hearing may become more sensitive.

All of these changes are part of the fight or flight syndrome. As the name implies, these changes are preparing you for immediate action. They are preparing you to flee, freeze (kind of like a kangaroo does when caught in someone's headlights), or to fight.

All of these are adaptive bodily responses essentially designed to keep us alive, and because these responses are important to our survival, they occur quickly and without thought. They are automatic.

A downside to this response

It would be great if anxiety and fear only occurred in situations where we were in immediate danger. Unfortunately, it does not always work this way. For example, many people have fear and anxiety when speaking in front of other people. You may also have fear and anxiety when meeting someone new. A person with PTSD may experience fear and anxiety when they go out into crowded or cramped places, such as a grocery store or a subway. These situations are not dangerous in the sense that they don't threaten our survival. So, why might we have fear and anxiety in these situations?

We have fear and anxiety in these situations because of the way we evaluate these situations. Our body cannot always tell the difference between real and imagined threat. Therefore, when we interpret a situation as threatening, our body is going to respond as though that situation is dangerous and threatening, even if it really isn't in actuality.

When people experience something traumatic and/or have PTSD, they may no longer feel as though the world is a safe place. It may feel as though danger is everywhere. As a result, a person may constantly be in a state of fear and anxiety. For this reason, cognitive behavioural treatments for PTSD often focus a lot of attention on altering the ways in which people interpret their environment. Mindfulness may be another way of ‘taking a step back’ from thoughts, reducing their power to activate the fight or flight response.

It is remarkable that her threat terrified Elijah as it did

Summarize the passage.

19:1–5a. Jezebel had not been present on Mount Carmel; her husband reported to her what had taken place. Infuriated by Elijah’s treatment of her prophets … Jezebel sent a message to him. He was evidently still in the city of Jezreel as she was (cf. 18:46) when he received her warning. She threatened to take his life in 24 hours in retaliation for his slaughtering the 450 Baal prophets.

a. Elijah’s flight (19:1–8)

It is remarkable that her threat terrified Elijah as it did. Ironically by contrast he had told the widow in Zarephath not to be afraid (17:13). He had just demonstrated that the gods to whom she now appealed in her curse had no power at all.

Evidently Elijah’s fear sprang from the power Jezebel possessed. Rather than resting in God for His protection as he had for the past three and one-half years, Elijah ran for his life. He ran all the way through the kingdom of Judah to the southernmost town in the land, Beersheba.

Still fearful he might be discovered by Jezebel’s spies he told his servant to stay behind and he traveled alone one more day’s journey (about 15 miles) into the Negev desert. Finally he sat down under a broom tree (a desert bush that grows to a height of 12 feet and provides some, though not much, shade) and rested. He was so discouraged he prayed that he might die. Elijah had forgotten the lessons God had been teaching him

His eyes were on his circumstances rather than on the Lord. His statement that he was no better than his ancestors (19:4) suggests that he was no more successful than his forefathers in ousting Baal-worship from Israel. Exhausted and discouraged, Elijah lay down … and fell asleep.

19:5b–8. Elijah woke at the touch of a divinely sent messenger.

This angel had prepared freshly baked bread, still warm, and plenty of water, which he invited Elijah to consume. The prophet did so and then returned to his rest. The angel probably appeared as a human being as was common in the Old Testament.

Again the angel woke Elijah, perhaps after he had slept for some time, and urged him to eat more food since the journey before him would require much energy. Moses and the Israelites had traveled in that wilderness for 40 years, sustained by the manna God had provided for them and learned lessons of His faithful care and provision. Now Elijah would traverse the same desert for 40 days and … nights, sustained by the bread God provided and would learn the same lessons. A direct trip from Beersheba to Mount Horeb (the ancient name for Mount Sinai; cf. ; ; ; ; ; ; ) would have taken Elijah only about 14 days on foot (a distance of ca. 200 miles). God was reminding him and teaching him during those 40 days and nights. Finally He went to the mountain of God, the very place where God had revealed Himself to Moses and the Israelites and where He had entered into a covenant with His Chosen People.

b. Elijah’s revelation (19:9–18)

19:9–10. Arriving at one of the mountains in the Sinai range Elijah found a cave and took refuge in it. There he received a revelation from God. The Lord began this lesson with the question, What are you doing here, Elijah? (cf. v. 13; ) God had not sent him here as He had directed him to other places (cf. , ; ). Elijah had run out because of fear (19:3). Elijah’s response revealed that he felt he was standing completely alone and defenseless against the ungodly forces that threatened to overpower him (cf. v. 14). Of course he knew that he was not the only one left of all the faithful remnant (cf. 18:13), but he felt all alone. Interestingly Elijah spoke only of the Lord’s prophets being killed (cf. 18:13a); he made no mention of Baal’s 450 prophets who were killed. Fear and discouragement caused him to see only the dark side. He sensed failure in spite of his being zealous. Mercifully God did not lecture Elijah or chasten His chafed prophet. God simply gave him a demonstration of His ways.

19:11–14. Standing on the mountainside outside his cave (cf. v. 9) Elijah witnessed what Moses had seen in those mountains centuries before () and what he himself had seen on Mount Carmel only a few days earlier (, ), namely, a spectacular demonstration of the power of God, this time in wind, an earthquake, and fire. But on this occasion the Lord was not in any of these, that is, they were not His instruments of self-revelation.

Evidently some time later when Elijah was back in his cave (19:13) he heard the sound of a gentle whisper. Recognizing this as a revelation of God he pulled his cloak over part of his face, walked out to the mouth of the cave, and stood there waiting for God to act. God asked the same question He asked earlier (cf. v. 9): What are you doing here, Elijah? The prophet’s response was identical to his first reply (cf. v. 10), suggesting that even though he may have understood the point of God’s display of natural forces for his benefit he still felt the same way about himself.

The message God seems to have intended for Elijah is that whereas He had revealed Himself in spectacular demonstrations of His power in the past at Kerith, Zarephath, and Carmel, He would now use Elijah in gentler, less dramatic ways. These ways God proceeded to explain to His servant (vv. 15–18). God would deal with Elijah’s personal feelings about himself later in a gentle way too.

19:15–17. The Lord told Elijah to leave there, to go back the way he came

The Lord then gave him three assignments

: to anoint Hazael king of the Arameans in Damascus , to anoint Jehu … king of Israel, and to anoint Elisha . Through these three men God would complete the purge of Baal worship that Elijah had begun. Actually Elijah did only the last of these three directly, but he did the other two indirectly through Elisha, his protegé.

19:18. God then revealed to Elijah that He had preserved 7,000 faithful followers in Israel who had not bowed before or kissed the emblems of idolatry in worship. Such news undoubtedly cheered Elijah. Were it not for the insight into his feelings of fear and discouragement given in this chapter, one might not believe that Elijah was indeed “a man just like us” ().

19:18. God then revealed to Elijah that He had preserved 7,000 faithful followers in Israel who had not bowed before or kissed the emblems of idolatry in worship. Such news undoubtedly cheered Elijah. Were it not for the insight into his feelings of fear and discouragement given in this chapter, one might not believe that Elijah was indeed “a man just like us” ().

c. Elijah’s successor (19:19–21)

19:19–20. Elijah returned from the Sinai peninsula to find Elisha (whose name means “My God is salvation“) near his hometown of Abel Meholah (v. 16) in the Jordan Valley about halfway between the Dead Sea and the Sea of Kinnereth in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Elisha evidently came from a family that owned lots of land (as implied by the 12 yoke of oxen). He himself was plowing when Elijah found him. Throwing a prophet’s cloak around a person symbolized the passing of the power and authority of the office to that individual. That Elisha realized the meaning of this act is obvious from his reaction. Immediately he started to abandon his former occupation and follow Elijah. Elijah gave him permission to say farewell to his family. The unusual reply, What have I done to you? is an idiom meaning, “Do as you please” or “What have I done to stop you?“

19:21. Elisha sealed his decision by slaughtering his yoke of oxen and burning his plowing implements. He evidently hosted a farewell banquet, serving his sacrificed animals to his guests for supper. Then he set out to accompany Elijah as his attendant.

Constable, T. L. (1985). 1 Kings. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, pp. 527–529). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.