Elijah on Mount Horeb

Charles Henry Mackintosh

Elijah seems to have had little anticipation of the terrific storm which was about to burst upon him. He had come from the top of mount Carmel, and in the energy of the Spirit outstripped Ahab in his chariot to the entrance of Jezreel; but there he was destined to receive a check, and that too from one who had hitherto kept herself in the background. This was the wicked Jezebel. I say she had kept herself in the background; but she had not been idle there. She had no doubt influenced her weak-minded lord and used his power for her wicked ends. She had opened her house and spread a table for the prophets of Baal. These things she had done in furtherance of her master’s interests.

Jezebel is not to be looked at merely as an individual: she stands before the spiritual mind as the representative of a class — yea more, as the impersonation of a principle which has from age to age been working in hostility to the truth of God, and which appears in its full maturity in the person of the great whore spoken of in Revelation. The spirit of Jezebel is a persecuting spirit — a spirit that will carry its own point in opposition to everything — an active, energetic, persevering spirit in which satanic vigour appears very manifestly.

Very different is the Ahab spirit. In Ahab we see one who, provided he could attain the gratification of his carnal and worldly desires, cared but little about religion. He troubled himself but little to decide between the claims of Jehovah and those of Baal. To him they were all alike. Now it was such an one that Jezebel could wield according to her mind. She took care to have his desires gratified while she actively and cleverly used his power in opposition to the truth of God. The Ahabs are always found to be fit instruments for the Jezebels; hence, in Revelation 17:3, we find the woman riding the beast — that is, corrupt religion wielding the secular power, or the full-grown Jezebel-spirit making use of the full-grown Ahab-spirit.

All this has a solemn voice for us. Men are becoming increasingly heedless as to the interests and destinies of the truth of God on the earth. Christ and Belial are all alike, provided the wheels of the vast machine of utilitarianism be not clogged in their movement. You may hold what principles you please provided you hold them in the background; and thus men of the most conflicting principles can unite and hold those principles in abeyance while with ardour and energy they pursue their worldly interests.

Such is the spirit and tendency of the age, and all that is needed is that a Jezebel-spirit should arise and lead men on along the path upon which they have manifestly entered — a path which will most assuredly end in the blackness of darkness forever. Solemn, most solemn thought! 

But we have said it was from Jezebel that the prophet Elijah received the check which seems so to have overwhelmed his spirit. ‘And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword’ (1 Ki. 19:1). Observe, ‘Ahab told Jezebel’; he had neither sufficient interest in the matter to lead him to take an active part himself, nor, even if he had the interest, did he possess sufficient energy. To him, perhaps, the abundance of rain seemed to stand connected with the death of the prophets, and therefore he could quietly stand by and see them put to death.

What was Baal to him, or Jehovah either? Nothing. Let Ahab and all of that school get enough to ‘eat and drink’ and all questions of truth and religion will be but lightly regarded. Miserable, infatuated sensualism! Ye children of this world, whose sentiments are expressed in the words ‘let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die’ (1 Cor. 15:32), think of Ahab, and remember his terrible end. What was it? ‘The dogs licked his blood’ (1 Ki. 22:38). And as to his soul — ah, eternity will unfold its destinies!

But Jezebel lacked neither interest nor energy. To her the controversy was one of the deepest moment, and she was determined to act with decision. She ‘sent a messenger to Elijah saying, So do the gods to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to-morrow about this time’ (1 Ki. 19:2). Here Elijah was called to endure the storm of persecution. His course had hitherto been a triumphant one, the result of communion with God; but now his sun seemed, in his view, to be about to go down, and his horizon to become dark and gloomy.

‘And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, 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’ (vs. 3–4). Elijah’s spirit sinks altogether; he looks at everything through the dark cloud in which he was enveloped. All his labour seems to have been in vain, and he has only to lie down and die. His spirit, harassed by what he deemed fruitless efforts to bring the nation back to its faith, longed to enter into rest. Now, in all this we perceive the workings of impatience and unbelief. Elijah said nothing about longing to depart when he stood on mount Carmel. No; there all was triumph; there he seemed to be achieving something — he seemed to be of some use, and therefore he thought not of his departure. But the Lord would show His servant not only what he must do, but also what he must suffer (cf. Acts 9). The former we like well enough, the latter we are not so well prepared for. And yet the Lord is as much glorified in a patient sufferer as in an active servant. The graces that are developed by one who is enabled to endure protracted suffering are as fragrant in their perfume as all the fruits of active service. 

There are few of the Lord’s servants who have not, at some time or other, eagerly desired to put off their harness and cease from the toils of conflict, particularly at times when all their labour and testimony would seem to be in vain and when they are disposed to look upon themselves as mere cumberers of the ground. Yet we must wait God’s time, and until then seek to pursue our way in patient, uncomplaining service. There is a vast difference between longing to get away from trial and sorrow and longing to be at home in our Father’s house.

No doubt the thought of rest is sweet, ineffably sweet, to the labouring man. It is sweet to think of the time when our own gracious God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes, sweet to think of those green pastures and living fountains to which the Lamb will lead His flock throughout the coming ages of glory. In a word, the whole prospect presented to the view of faith is sweet and cheering; yet we have no right to say, ‘O Lord, take away my life.’ Nothing but an impatient spirit could ever utter such language.

How different is the spirit breathed in the following words of the apostle Paul! ‘For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you’ (Phil. 1:23–25). These words exhibit a truly Christian spirit.

Unbelief is sure to drive us from the place of testimony and service. So long as Elijah walked by faith, so long he occupied the place of a servant and a witness; but the moment his faith gave way, he abandoned both and fled into the wilderness. Unbelief ever unfits us for the place of service, and renders us useless. We never can act for God save in the energy of faith. 

Had Elijah held fast the truth which filled his soul when he stood on mount Carmel, he would never have been found beneath the juniper tree, nor would he have given utterance to such words as ‘Take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers’.

Yet the Lord can graciously meet his poor servant even asleep under a juniper tree. ‘He knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust’ (Ps. 103:14) and therefore, instead of granting the petulant request of His disappointed servant, He rather seeks to feed and strengthen him for further exertion. This is not ‘the manner of man’, but it is, blessed forever be His name, the manner of God. Man would often deal roughly and harshly with his fellow, making no allowance for him, but acting towards him in haste and severity. Not so God. He ever deals in the deepest pity and tenderness. He understood Elijah, and He remembered the stand he had recently made for His name and truth, and therefore He would minister to him in the season of his depression.

‘And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said to him, Arise and eat’ (1 Ki. 19:5, 8). The Lord knows better than we do the demands that may be made on us, and He graciously strengthens us according to His estimate of those demands. The prophet wished to sleep for sorrow, but the Lord wished to strengthen and nerve him for future service. Similarly the disciples in the garden, who, overwhelmed with deep sorrow at the apparent failure of all their fondly cherished hopes, allowed themselves to sink into profound slumber while their blessed Master would have had them girding up their loins and nerving their arms for the trying scenes on which they were about to enter.

But Elijah did eat and drink; and being thus strengthened, he proceeded to mount Horeb. Here again we have to trace the sorrowful actings of an impatient spirit. Elijah seems determined to retire from his place of service and testimony altogether. If he cannot sleep under the juniper tree, he will hide himself in a cave. ‘He came thither unto a cave, and lodged there.’

When once a man allows himself to slip aside from the position in which faith would keep him, there is no accounting for the extremes into which he may run. Nothing but abiding faith in the Word of God can maintain one in the path of service, because faith makes a man satisfied to wait for the end, whereas unbelief, looking only at surrounding circumstances, sinks into complete despondency.

The Christian must make up his mind to meet with nothing but trial and disappointment here. We may often dream of rest and satisfaction in some condition or other here; but it is only a dream. Elijah had no doubt hoped to see a mighty moral change brought about by his instrumentality; and instead of that, his life was threatened. But he ought to have been prepared for this.

The man who had fearlessly faced Ahab and all the prophets of Baal ought surely to have been able to trust God despite Jezebel’s threat. Yet no; his faith had given way. When a man’s faith gives way, his own shadow will deter him. In contemplating the prophet’s position on mount Horeb, one is disposed to ask, ‘Can it be the same man who stood on mount Carmel and there so blessedly vindicated the God of Israel?’

Alas! what a powerless creature man is when not sustained by simple faith in the testimony of God! David could, at one time, meet Goliath in the power of faith, yet afterwards say, ‘I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul’ (1 Sam. 17; 27:1). Faith gets above circumstances and looks at God; unbelief loses sight of God, and looks only at circumstances. Unbelief says, ‘We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so were we in their sight’; faith says, ‘We are well able to overcome it’ (Num 13:30, 33) [1]

[1] From The Life and Times of Elijah.

From: Truth and Testimony, 2023