1 Kings 19:9

ELIJAH RESIDED IN A LARGE CAVE AT MOUNT HOREB

"And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and behold the word of Jehovah came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for Jehovah, the God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword: and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life to take it away. And he said, Go forth, and stand before Jehovah. And, behold, Jehovah passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and break in pieces the rocks before Jehovah: but Jehovah was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but Jehovah was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but Jehovah was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice to him and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for Jehovah, the God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life to take it away."

"And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there" (1 Kings 19:9). There is no cave on the traditional Mount Sinai. "What is sorely missing at all of the other potential locations of Mount Sinai is the all-important cave of Elijah."[11] Oh yes, the supporters of the Sinaitic Peninsula location point out "a narrow grotto, although at some distance from Sinai, but identified as the abode of Elijah."[12] However, that could not possibly be the cave of Elijah.

Why? In the first place, it was not on Horeb, but some distance away. But, more than that, "One formidable difficulty in the way of that identification, is that the (alleged) `cave' is only just large enough for a man's body";[13] and that simply cannot be harmonized with the statement in 1 Kings 19:13 that, "Elijah went out and stood in the entrance to the cave"!

Williams located the cave of Elijah, which is a real cave, not far from the summit of JABAL AL LAWZ in Arabia.[14]

"A still small voice" (1 Kings 19:12). "God wanted Elijah to know that while force and spectacular demonstrations are sometimes necessary, God's real work is accomplished by the `still small voice' calling men to do God's will."[15]

Some of the recent versions have changed this traditional rendition, "a still small voice," but, they have not improved it. "It may be altered to read, `a gentle murmuring sound," or "a sound of gentle stillness, but no expression is as full of the awe and mystery of the original as the phrase, `a still small voice.'"[16]

It appears that another instruction to be derived from the contrast of the wind, the earthquake and the fire with the "still small voice," is that many of the problems related to God's dealings with his rebellious human children cannot be solved quickly. Elijah demanded an immediate solution to the problem of idolatry. "How long go ye limping between the two sides" (1 Kings 18:18)? He demanded of the people, much the same prompt decision as did Joshua, who said, "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve" (Joshua 24:15), but neither Joshua nor Elijah could force the issue to a conclusion in one day, or even in one generation. The nearly infinite patience with man's sins is a mark of God's love of the human creation.

"What doest thou here, Elijah?" (1 Kings 19:13). Elijah's answer (1 Kings 19:14) was identical with the answer he gave to the same question in 1 Kings 19:10. It appeared to be that he had difficulty accepting the reality of his failure to do what he had hoped to do in bringing Israel back to the true faith, and there seemed to be, on his part, a resignation to the fact of its utter impossibility. However, the Lord would shock him out of his state of idleness.