Elijah at the Mountain of God
1 Kings 19
God's prophet Elijah showed King Ahab and the people that the god Baal was false. Jezebel, King Ahab's wife, was filled with anger, because she was a believer in Baal. Jezebel sent a message to Elijah and swore that she would kill him.
Elijah felt tired and frightened. He got away quickly and went south to the desert of Judah. He sat down under a tree and asked God to let him die.
"I have lived long enough," he told the Lord. "Let me die." He lay down under the tree and slept. Suddenly an angel touched him and said, "Elijah, get up and eat."
Elijah looked around. Near his head was bread, baked on the hot stones, and a jar of water to drink. He ate and drank and slept again.
Then he had enough strength to walk to the very mountain where God gave Moses the ten commandments. It took him forty days.
He found a cave in the mountain and went in for the night. Suddenly God's word came to him.
"What are you doing here, Elijah?" God asked.
"O Lord," Elijah complained, "I have loved you for a long time, but your people have given you up. Your altars are torn down. Your prophets have been killed. Now I am the only one left, and they want to kill me, too?"
God said, "Go out and stand before me, on the top of the mountain." So Elijah went out and God passed by.
First a great wind came. It was so powerful that it broke pieces of rock off the mountain. But the Lord God was not in the wind.
After the wind there was a great earthquake. But the Lord God was not in the earthquake.
But after the fire there came a still, small voice, like the sound of a gentle breeze. When Elijah heard the voice, he wrapped his face in his cape and stood at the entrance to the cave.
"What are you doing here, Elijah?" said the voice. Elijah answered again, "I have loved you for a long time but your people have given you up. Your altars are torn down. Your prophets have been killed. Now I am the only one left, and they want to kill me, too."
God told Elijah there were seven thousand faithful people left in Israel.
"Now go into Syria. Take oil and use it to anoint the man named Hazael to be king of Syria. Anoint the man named Jehu to be the king of Israel. Anoint the man named Elisha to be the next prophet."
The first person Elijah found was Elisha, plowing a field with oxen. Elijah came close and threw his prophet's cape over Elisha. Elisha said, "Let me say good-bye to my mother and father, and then I will come with you." He gave a feast for his parents and the farm workers. Then he followed Elijah to Syria.
