1 Kings 19:2-4

2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”

3 Elijah was afraid^[a] and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there,

4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”

1 Kings 19:2-4 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 19

This chapter gives us a further account of Elijah, of his being obliged to flee for his life through the threats of Jezebel, 1Ki 19:1-4, of the care the Lord took of him, providing food for him, in the strength of which he went to Horeb, 1Ki 19:5-8, of the Lord's appearance to him there, and conversation with him, 1Ki 19:9-14, of some instructions he gave him to anoint a king over Syria, another over Israel, and a prophet in his room, 1Ki 19:15-18, and of his finding Elisha, and throwing his mantle over him, who left his secular employment, and followed him, and became his servant, 1Ki 19:19-21.

Cross References

• 1. 1 Kings 20:10; 2 Kings 6:31; S Ruth 1:17
• 2. Psalms 13:4; Jeremiah 20:10; Jeremiah 26:21; Jeremiah 36:26
• 3. S Genesis 31:21
• 4. S Genesis 19:17
• 5. S Joshua 19:2
• 6. Job 30:4
• 7. S Numbers 11:15; Job 6:9; Job 7:16; Job 10:1; Psalms 69:19; Jeremiah 20:18; John 4:8

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "Elijah saw"