§83. Elijah's Discouragement (I Kings 19:1-21)
A. THE BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT
And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, "So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to-morrow about this time."
And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, "It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers."
And he lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and, behold, an angel touched him, and said unto him, "Arise and eat."
And he looked, and, behold, there was at his head a cake baked on the coals, and a bottle of water. And he did eat and drink, and laid himself down again.
And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said, "Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee."
And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.
B. ELIJAH COMFORTED AND INSTRUCTED
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 does thou here, Elijah?"