1 Kings 19:7-14  ⁷ The angel of the LORD came a second time, touched Elijah, and said, "Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you."  ⁸ He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.  ⁹ At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"  ¹⁰ He answered, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away."  ¹¹ He said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces 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;  ¹² and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.  ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"  ¹⁴ He answered, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away."

            For those of you that missed it yesterday, the text above was part of our first lesson.  Of this entire pericope, there is one part that sticks out as unusual.  Elijah “hears” God in the sound of sheer silence.  Is that possible?  Can you hear something in the sound of silence?  In this moment for Elijah, God chooses not to show up in mighty acts of power, but instead to show up in the tranquil peace of being alone with God.  Elijah as a name means “YHWH (or Yahweh/Jehovah as we know it) is my God.”  He is the prophet who alone has kept God’s covenants, and done all he can in order to get the Hebrew people to do the same.

            Notice that Elijah is at Mt. Horeb, here identified as the mount of God (sometimes the mount of God is identified as Mt. Sinai, it depends on the tradition of the author on which is the case).  Like many of his predecessors, and like some of those that will come after him, Elijah goes up on a mountain to be with God.  In the high place (and holy place for that matter) God comes to Elijah, to give him instructions about his future.  That future would be essentially for Elijah to choose Elisha as the next prophet, as well as anoint the appropriate people as future kings.  His life as a prophet, although powerful, is not necessarily successful, as the people do not listen to him and therefore God extends his wrath on them. Shortly thereafter he is taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire. 

Below are some well known icons of Elijah, and you will see him both in the cave mentioned above and also in the chariot being taken to heaven.

Elijah

Iliya_prorok_ikona_Pskov

Ilia_chariot

In our prayers this week:  Ann, Daniel, Norm, Anna

God’s Peace,