The Still, Small Voice ,,, Elijah pt 10

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?( I Kings 19:9-13)

A very dejected and exhausted Elijah leaves the promised Land, and heads South, basically reversing the Exodus. When He arrives at Sinai, he found his way up to a cave, (the text says “The Cave”, perhaps the well known cleft of the Rock Moses had once stood in, as indicated by Kiel and Delitsch, below).

Appearance of God at Horeb. When Elijah arrived at Horeb, he went into the cave (the definite article in המּערה , with the obvious connection between the appearance of God, which follows here, and that described in Exodus 33 points back to the cleft in the rock, נקרת הצּוּר ) in which Moses had stood while the glory of Jehovah passed by, and there he passed the night. ( Kiel and Delitsch I Kings 19)

There the Word of the LORD comes to him, asking him “what are you doing here,Elijah?”.

Elijah is recapitulating the experience of Moses, after the golden calf, in which he climbs the same mountain, to intercede for the sinning people,

And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the Lord; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin–; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.( Exodus 32:30-32)

But this ‘Moses figure’ , Elijah, prays against the sinning children of Israel,

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. ( I Kings 19:10)

The answer of the LORD? He summonsed His servant out of the cave so that Jahweh might pass by Him. (Similar to the events in Exodus 33-34, in which Jahweh passed by Moses, revealing his name).

In the case of Moses, He had asked God to “Show me your glory”, and the answer was a revelation of the name (Attributes and perfections of God).

In this case, that of Elijah, He had poured out his frustration and sorrow at the sins of Israel, even in spite of the mighty demonstration of Power on Carmel. Would any of it matter? Elijah seems to have come in the mode of “It is time for you to work OH Lord, for they have made void thy law!”.

In the cave, at the cleft of the Rock, God passed by in the power of a mighty destructive wind, so strong was the wind that it was splitting rocks along the face of the cave. The text says “It was not in the Wind that Jahweh was… “. Next an earthquake came, and again, “It was not in the earthquake that Jahweh Was…” and finally, Elijah saw fire go by, and again “It was not in the fire that Jahweh was…” .

The point is not that Jahweh doesn’t use those things, after all Elijah had just witnessed, (with the entire congregation of Israel, on the mountain top of Carmel), fire fall from heaven and lick up sacrifice, stones and even the water poured into the ditch! Earthquakes, tempests, and fires are all manifestations of God’s awesomized power indeed.

When the sin reaches its apex and the people seem to be incorrigible, there have been times when God has employed those powers and others, such as flooding the entire earth and sparing only eight people. The wrath of God revealed is what happens when people become unreachable.

But where is God, if not in the fire, the earthquake and the Tempest? What is God’s preferred method of drawing men and women, and revealing himself to the hearts of sinners and saint alike?

God is in the “still small voice”, and when Elijah heard it, He wrapped his face in his mantle, (Reverently positioned for worship), and stepped forward, closer to the sound of the gentle wind.

God speaks, and in his dealings with men, He has bound himself by his own Word. In His mercy He would plead, convict, convince, argue, persuade men, and as a last resort, He has the power to do earthquakes, fire, the Wind. His power is in the gospel, he uses the Bible, and preachers and teachers as well as witnesses, to reach fallen men.

Parrallel to the revelation given to Moses, who also stood in that cave as the LORD passed by, God revealed himself afresh and anew to His prophet , as being “Slow to anger, abounding in mercy, goodness and truth…”.

With reverence be it said that, in the mood in which Elijah had come, no more fitting answer could have been made to him than this awful and glorious self-manifestation of Jehovah. If the LORD Himself had not been in the desolating messengers of terror, why should Elijah have expected it in the judgments which he was commissioned to execute? Nay, if Elijah himself had come forth to worship not in the storm, the earthquake, nor the fire, but had waited for the Presence of the LORD in the soft, gentle, stilling sound, why should he wonder if the revival of Israel’s worship awaited a similar manifestation? But God would in the meantime take care of His own cause.

Again, the LORd asked his prophet, “What are you doing here Elijah? And again Elijah poured out his complaint, and his belief that He was the only faithful one left.

But was it really as absolutely hopeless in Israel as Elijah had come to believe? Was Elijah sure that Carmel and his confrontation with Baal had been of no effect?

Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. ( I Kings 19:18)

God will always preserve for himself a noncompromising remnant, a people who will love Him and stay true no matter what befalls them.

And of course God will bring others in, before the fire falls, for fall it must. How God would rather have men listen to his “still small voice” but that won’t keep him from applying other more violent means in order to undergird his Holiness and glory. So Elijah is given a threefold commission to undertake the fulfillment of God’s purposes,

And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria:And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay.

One of my very favorite passages in the Bible. My perspective is that you must be attentive so that you might recognize that God is speaking to you. Sometimes we miss Him because we are not looking for Him. His ways are not our ways. Always stand ready to receive the message God may have for you. It might take a form you are not expecting.

My perspective is that you must be attentive so that you might recognize that God is speaking to you. Sometimes we miss Him because we are not looking for Him. His ways are not our ways. Always stand ready to receive the message God may have for you. It might take a form you are not expecting.<<<

thanks that is very insightful

But who will actually be willing to receive it? When intel does not come from the "approved", established directions, then it's not only dismissed, it is outright mocked and despised.

Elijah was the "lone nut" surrounded by 400 of one consensus and 450 of another.

What chainsaw brand does the Redeemer use to whack trees for firewood? It's not complicated.

There's a Jewish tradition(s) about certain keys. Elijah having the key to rain. And another one that Elijah will announce the Messiah from Mount Carmel.

Yet how many would ever expect that in the fullness of time, "some guy" would find an old set of keys on Mount Carmel with certain tell-tale markings on them to match up with the [lack of] precipitation?

And then there's the tradition from the Catholic direction, of a certain Lady of Mount Carmel. Her feast day is July 16th.

See, all very nutty, not worth paying a lick of attention to.. random gibberish..

"Stand ready to receive the message God may have for you," and expect trouble from those who have it all worked out already.

Thank you. Pastorbill, my father died in 2008. He was a Cumberland Presbyterian minister for about 50 years. I heard him use a humorous story a couple of times that is somewhat illustrative of my point. The story goes like this:

One morning a farmer went outside ready for his day of work. He looked up in the sky only to see the letters “GP” spelled out by the clouds. Obvious to the farmer this was a miracle that could only mean “Go Preach”.

So the farmer embarked on a journey of spreading the Gospel message, but the skill of preaching did not come easy to him at all. His preaching was falling on deaf ears and his efforts seemed to bear no fruit at all.

Frustrated and confused, the farmer finally told his wife, “Honey, I think I understand where I went wrong. “GP” didn’t mean ‘Go Preach’ at all. It really meant ‘Go Plow’”

Sometimes we must wrestle with God’s message to us in much prayer before we rightly interpret it. But Paul tells us, “if we seek Him, we will find Him. . . he is not far from all of us.”

Our God is amazing beyond measure!!

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