1 Kings 19 · a question people ask
Why did Elijah ask to die, so soon after Carmel?
The chapter gives his words and no reason beyond them. Just before, on Carmel, the LORD's fire fell (18:38), and "The LORD’s hand was on Elijah" (18:46). Then Jezebel's oath came (19:2), and "he arose and ran for his life" (19:3). Under the juniper tree he says, "It is enough. Now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers" (19:4). At Horeb he tells the LORD: "the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away" (19:10). The chapter doesn't describe what he felt beyond his own words, and these notes don't guess at it. What it does tell is what came next: an angel's touch, food, water and sleep, twice (19:5-7); a question (19:9); the LORD passing by (19:11-12); and work to do, with Elisha beside him (19:15-16, 19:19-21).
The verses
“Then the LORD’s fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust; and it licked up the water that was in the trench.”
“The LORD’s hand was on Elijah; and he tucked his cloak into his belt and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.”
“Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I don’t make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time!” When he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongs 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. Then 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.””
“He said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.””