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From: 1 Kings 19:9a, 11-16

Elijah’s encounter with God

[9a] And there he came to a cave, and lodged there; and behold, the word of the
Lord came to him. [11] 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 broke 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 earth-
quake; [12] and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and
after the fire a still small voice. [13] And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his
face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And be-
hold, there came a voice to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
[14] He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the peo-
ple of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thy altars, and slain they
prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take
it away.” [15[ And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness
of Damascus; and when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria;
[16] and Jehu the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet
in your place.

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Commentary:

19:9-14. “Taking the desert road that leads to the place where the living and true
God reveals himself to this people, Elijah, like Moses before him, hides ‘in a cleft
of the rock’ until the mysterious presence of God has passed by (cf. 1 Kings 19:
1- 14; cf. Ex 33:19-23). But only on the mountain of the Transfiguration will Moses
and Elijah behold the unveiled face of him whom they sought; ‘the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God [shines] in the face of Christ’, crucified and risen
(cf. 2 Cor 4:6)” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2583). There is a sharp con-
trast between the spectacular forces of nature, in which God is not present, and
the small still voice of a gentle breeze in which Elijah recognizes God to be pre-
sent (vv. 11-13). “In this way,” writes St Irenaeus, “the prophet, who was great-
ly downcast by the transgression of the people and the murder of the prophets,
learned to work with greater calm, and thus also the coming of the Lord in human
form is signified. In the light of the Law given to Moses, his coming will be seen
as an untroubled time when the bent reed will not be crushed nor the flickering
flame quenched. The sweet rest and peace of his reign is foreshadowed here
as well. After the wind that moves mountains, after earthquake and fire, the calm
and peaceful age of his reign will come, in which the Spirit of God will revitalize
and gently encourage the growth of man” (Adversus haereses, 4, 20, 10).

19:15-18. It is important to note that the “anointing” given to the prophet Elisha
is on a par with that given to the kings – and that there is already a reference
here to the remnant of Israel (cf. Is 4:3).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.