Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 19:8
And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.
8. in the strength of that meat ] As Moses had been forty days on Sinai and had taken no food with him, so now Elijah, who was to be in many ways a counterpart of Moses, is divinely sustained by the food which had been supplied to him while he rested. The fasting of Jesus at the time of His temptation lights up these Old Testament histories, which were meant to preach to former ages the lesson which the Lord emphasises, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’
forty days and forty nights ] A great deal has been written to shew that the journey from the edge of the wilderness of Paran to Mount Horeb could not have occupied forty days, even of very slow walking. But there is nothing in the verse to make it necessary to suppose that the writer intended such a sense. Elijah was wandering in despondency and seeking to hide himself. The time spent was not what was required for the journey only, but far more in meditation and prayer, and seeking from God a reason why all the toiling and testimony, which the prophet had bestowed, had proved so unproductive. The spiritual conflict of Elijah prefigures the spiritual conflict of Jesus.
unto Horeb the mount of God ] So called because, above all other places, it was distinguished through God’s manifestations of His power and glory. The LXX. ( Vat.) does not represent ‘of God.’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The old commentators generally understood this to mean that Elijah had no other food at all, and compared this long fast with that of Moses and that of our Lord (marginal references). But the words do not exclude the notion of the prophets having obtained such nourishment from roots and fruits as the desert offers to a wanderer, though these alone would not have sustained him.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Ki 19:8
And went in the strength of that meal forty days.
Elijahs repast
I. The prophets repast.
1. The sacramental feast is alike simple and plain.
2. Yet is this a mysterious repast.
II. The peculiar unworthiness of the prophet on this occasion.
1. The Lords Supper is a repast prepared for sinners!
2. True, they must be penitent, broken-hearted sinners.
3. It is for the weary, burthened, troubled servants of Jesus.
III. The great benefit which the prophet derived from this repast, although he was so unworthy.
1. Spiritual benefits are not necessarily so attached to the Christian feast. (F. Close, M. A.)
Thought, on life
This incident suggests three things.
I. An undesirable possibility in human life. The fact that a man lived forty days and forty nights without food, certainly impresses us with the possibility of his being kept in existence without food for ever. The possibility is obvious. But such a state would clearly be very undesirable. Were men to continue here without food, a disastrous inactivity would ensue. Want of food keeps the world in action, keeps the limbs and faculties of men going. What would life be without action? a weak and worthless thing.
II. The supporting element of all life. What is it that kept Elijah alive without food? The will of God, nothing else; and this is that which supports all created existences every moment. Man cannot live by bread alone. Gods will can starve men with bread, and sustain them without it. It is He, not material substances, not food, that sustains life. He may do it with means, or without means, according to His pleasure. Let us not trust in means or secondary causes, but in Him who is the Fountain of Life.
III. The Divine care of a godly life. That God takes care of His people individually is
(1) Accordant with reason;
(2) taught by Scripture;
(3) attested by the experience of the good. (Homilist.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. Forty days and forty nights] So he fasted just the same time as Moses did at Horeb, and as Christ did in the wilderness.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In the strength of that meat; God giving that food a far greater and more durable virtue than ordinary.
Unto Horeb: he wandered hither and thither for forty days, till at last he came to Horeb, which in the direct road was not above three or four days journey.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And he arose, and did eat and drink,…. Of what was left of the cake and cruse of water, before provided for him:
and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God; for so long he was going to that place, though it might have been gone in three or four days; but he went in byways, and wandered about in the wilderness, as the Israelites did, and that for the space of forty days, as they did near forty years; and all this while he had no other sustenance than what he had taken under the juniper tree, from whence he set out, which must be supernatural; for it is said t, a man cannot live without food beyond seven days, [See comments on Ex 24:18] the food either staying in his stomach all this while, or however the nutritive virtue of it, by which he was supported, and held out till he came to Horeb or Sinai; called the mount of the Lord, because here he had appeared to Moses in the bush, and from hence gave the law to the children of Israel. Abarbinel is of opinion that this term of forty days was consumed in his whole journey to Horeb, his stay there, and return to the land of Israel.
t Macrob. in Soma Scipion. l. 1. c. 6.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(8) Forty days and forty nights.Unless this time includes, as has been supposed by some, the whole journey to and from Horeb, and the sojourn there, it is far in excess of what would be recorded for a journey of some two hundred miles. It may, therefore, be thought to imply an interval of retirement for rest and solitary meditation, like the sojourn of Moses in Horeb, and the sojourn of our Lord in the wilderness (Exo. 24:18; Mat. 4:2) during which the spirit of the prophet might be calmed from the alternations of triumph and despondency, to receive the spiritual lesson which awaited him. During all that time he went in the strength of the Divine food, that he might know that man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God (Deu. 8:3).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Forty days and forty nights He was miraculously sustained. On the same mountain Moses had twice fasted this same length of time, (Exo 24:18; Exo 34:28,) and in another wilderness Jesus did the same.
Mat 4:2. “Elijah stands,” says Wordsworth, “at a middle point between Moses and Christ. He looks back to the law and forward to the Gospel. He restores the one and prepares the way for the other. He hears an echo of the terrors of the law in the wind, the earthquake, and the fire; he hears the far-off whispers of love in the Gospel in the still small voice.”
Horeb the mount of God See on Exo 3:1. It is remarkable that after the giving of the law there is no account of any Jew visiting this holy mount except Elijah.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ki 19:8. Went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights From Beer-sheba to mount Horeb is at the most not above a hundred and fifty miles, and the prophet, it seems, had advanced one day’s journey into the wilderness; so that he had not now more to finish than any active man might have done in four or five days. How came the prophet then to make forty of it? To this some reply, that he, like the Israelites of old, was kept wandering up and down this pathless wilderness forty days, as they were forty years, till at length he came to the sacred mountain: others suppose, that he went about by private ways; and perhaps rested, and lay hid, in order to prevent discovery. The Jews have made a comparison between Moses and Elijah in many particulars, and given Moses the preference, especially in the matter of his forty days fast, though certainly without any reason; as it is very plain from the text, that Elijah, as well as Moses, took no other food during the forty days than that here mentioned. To make the miracle more remarkable, we are informed, that the food here mentioned was simple bread and water; and who can doubt that God could make its strength and nourishment sufficient for the time specified? His slightest volition can make the same meal which usually serves us for four-and-twenty hours support us for forty days, and much longer if he pleases. That meat of any kind should sustain us for four-and-twenty hours, if rightly considered, is a miracle, and that the like proportion should do it for the space of forty days, is still but a miracle; and with the same facility that God does the one, he can do the other. See Exo 34:28 and Deu 8:3.
REFLECTIONS.Elijah entered Jezreel yesterday as in triumph, to-day he is driven thence in disgrace, and flies for his life: so changeable is this vain world!
1. Hardened Ahab relates to Jezebel the late transactions, and fails not to inform her of the death of her prophets: that though he dared not himself, for fear of the people, seize Elijah, he might incense her, whose furious passions would not fail to fire at the tidings. Note; With the wickedness to which we instigate others, we are as chargeable as if ourselves had committed it.
2. Jezebel, enraged, denounces vengeance on Elijah, and swears by her gods that he shall have met his death by to-morrow at that time. Note; (1.) Profaneness in a woman is doubly shocking. (2.) The presence of a good man is a burdensome restraint on the wicked, and they are always impatient to get him out of the way.
3. Elijah, who had not been intimidated by kings, priests, or people united, now trembles at the threats of a woman; and, without waiting God’s orders, seeks to save himself by flight; and, as if he heard Jezebel’s voice behind him, even at Beer-sheba, though out of the territories of Ahab, he cannot think himself safe, but hides himself a day’s journey in the wilderness; thus deserting his post, when he was most wanted to carry on that reformation which was begun. Note; (1.) The strongest in faith, when left for a moment to themselves, turn cowards. (2.) We ought never to desert the path of duty, though it lead us through the valley of the shadow of death.
4. Fatigued with his journey, and impatient under his burdens, he grew weary of life, which he had shed so far to save: and, though unwilling to die by the hand of Jezebel, prays to die there by the hand of the Lord. He concludes his usefulness to be at an end; and, as not better than his fathers, desires his dismission, thinking that he has lived long enough. Note; (1.) However dark providences appear, we must not despair; we know not what further work God may have to do by us. (2.) Though to desire to be with Christ is laudable, to be weary of our warfare is sinful.
5. Grieved and weary, sleep stole upon his eyelids; and under a juniper-tree he lay down, careless whether he ever awoke again. But God, kinder to him than he deserved, awakes him by an angel; and there he sees a table spread for his refreshment, and a bright spirit his attendant. Having satisfied his hunger, and again composed himself to sleep, he is again called upon to rise and eat, because the journey was great to which God called him, even to Horeb. Thither in the strength of this repast he travels; and, during forty days and nights, needed no other refreshment. Note; (1.) How much better is God to his children than their frowardness desires! He supports them and feeds them, even in this wilderness; and when they are ready to despair, he is at hand to succour and save them. (2.) They who are travelling to Horeb, the mount of God in glory, will find strength ministered to them for their journey, and meat to eat which the world knoweth not of. (3.) The meanest child of God is more nobly attended than the kings of the earth; angelic spirits minister continually to these heirs of salvation.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Ki 19:8 And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.
Ver. 8. And he arose, and did eat and drink. ] Let us do the like at the Lord’s supper, where to be a holy glutton is a great virtue.
Forty days and forty nights.
Unto Horeb the mount of God.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
forty. The number of Probation. See App-10.
Horeb. About 180 miles.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
in the strength: Dan 1:15, 2Co 12:9
forty days: Exo 24:18, Exo 34:28, Deu 9:9, Deu 9:18, Mat 4:2, Mar 1:13, Luk 4:2
Horeb: Exo 3:1, Exo 19:18, Mal 4:4, Mal 4:5
Reciprocal: Gen 7:12 – forty Exo 4:27 – the mount Exo 18:5 – General Act 1:3 – forty Act 7:30 – there
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Ki 19:8. He went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights Observe here, how many different ways God took to keep Elijah alive: he was fed by ravens, by a miraculous increase of meal and oil, by an angel, and now, to show that man lives not by bread alone, he is kept alive forty days without meat, while in the mean time he was not resting and sleeping, which might have made him the less to crave sustenance, but continually traversing the mazes of the desert, a day for each year of Israels wanderings; yet he neither needs food, nor desires it. The place, no doubt, reminds him of the manna, and encourages him to hope that God would sustain him here, and in due time bring him hence, as he did Israel. Unto Horeb, the mount of God Which, in the direct road, was not above four or five days journey from Beer-sheba: but he wandered, it seems, hither and thither in the wilderness, till the Spirit of the Lord led him, probably beyond his intention, to this noted mountain, that he might have communion with God in the same place where Moses had; the law, that was given by Moses, being revived by him.