1 Kings 19 · a question people ask
What was the LORD showing Elijah in the wind, the earthquake, the fire and the still small voice?
The chapter tells what happened and doesn't explain it. "The LORD passed by" (19:11); a wind that "tore the mountains", an earthquake and a fire went by, and each time "the LORD was not" in it (19:11-12). "After the fire, there was a still small voice" (19:12). In Hebrew the three words are qol demamah daqqah: Brown-Driver-Briggs gives qol as "sound, voice", demamah as "(silence) whisper", and daq as "thin, small, fine" (tap still). "When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle, went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave" (19:13), and a voice asked him the same question as before (19:13). Christians agree on all of that. They read what it shows in two main ways, each resting on verses.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Care for a prophet who asked to die
Those who hold this view read the scene with the verses before it. Elijah had asked the LORD to take his life (19:4), and the LORD's angel touched him twice and gave him food and water (19:5-7). On the mountain, too, the LORD was not in the wind that "tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks" (19:11), and after it all there was "a still small voice" (19:12); they read that voice as the same care. They read what follows the same way: company in Elisha (19:16, 19:21), and seven thousand in Israel who had not bowed to Baal (19:18).
1 Kings 19:4-7 · 1 Kings 19:11-12 · 1 Kings 19:16 · 1 Kings 19:18 · 1 Kings 19:21
The LORD's work beyond fire and force
Those who hold this view read the scene with Elijah's own answer: "I have been very jealous for the LORD" (19:10). On Carmel the LORD had answered by fire (18:24, 18:38), and Elijah brought the prophets of Baal down to the brook Kishon "and killed them there" (18:40). Here "the LORD was not in the fire" (19:12), and the question comes again after the voice (19:13). They read it as the LORD showing Elijah that his work goes on in more than fire and force: seven thousand he has kept (19:18), and men to anoint for what comes next (19:15-16).
1 Kings 19:10 · 1 Kings 18:24 · 1 Kings 18:38 · 1 Kings 18:40 · 1 Kings 19:12-13 · 1 Kings 19:15-16 · 1 Kings 19:18
The verses
“He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” Behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire passed; but the LORD was not in the fire. After the fire, there was a still small voice. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle, went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. Behold, a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?””