838 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces,.... In reverence of God, astonished at the miracle wrought, ashamed of themselves and their sins, particularly their idolatry, that they should turn their backs on the true God, and follow idols: and they said, the Lord, he is the God, the Lord, he is the God; which acknowledgment of God,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Elijah said unto them, take the prophets of Baal,.... The four hundred and fifty that were upon the spot; for the number of the people of Israel, now gathered together, were equal to it; nor was it in Ahab's power to hinder it, and he might himself be so far surprised and convicted as not in the least to object to it: let not one of them...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Elijah said unto Ahab, get thee up,.... From the brook and valley where the execution of the prophets had been made; either up to his chariot, or to the tent or pavilion erected on the side of the mount, where the whole scene of things was transacted; eat and drink; which he had no leisure for all the day, from the time of the morning...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So Ahab went up to eat and to drink,.... Up to his chariot, as some think, or rather to some place higher than that in which he now was: and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; higher still, where he both might be alone, and have the opportunity of observing the clouds gathering, and the rain coming: and he cast himself down upon the earth, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And said to his servant,.... Whom some take to be the son of the widow of Sarepta, but he must be too young to be employed in such service as this was: go up now; still higher on Mount Carmel; than where he was, even to the highest point of it: look towards the sea: or the west, as the Targum, the Mediterranean sea, which lay to the west of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass at the seventh time that he said, behold there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand,.... Either about the size or in the form of it; rain water comes out of the sea, and, being strained through the clouds and air, becomes fresh: and he said, go up: the meaning seems to be, that he should first go down from...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass in the mean while,.... That the servant was gone with the message to Ahab, and Ahab was getting ready his chariot: that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain; which all sprung from the cloud like a man's hand; and so we are told (k), that sometimes a little cloud called the ox's eye is seen on a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah,.... Giving him more than common strength of body, as well as courage and fortitude of mind; so the Targum, the spirit of strength from the Lord was with him: and he girded up his loins; gathered up his long loose garment, and girt it about him, that he might be more fit for travelling: and ran before Ahab to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 19 This chapter gives us a further account of Elijah, of his being obliged to flee for his life through the threats of Jezebel, 1 Kings 19:1, of the care the Lord took of him, providing food for him, in the strength of which he went to Horeb, 1 Kings 19:5, of the Lord's appearance to him there, and conversation with him, 1...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done,.... What miracles he had wrought, how that not only fire came down from heaven, and consumed the sacrifice, but even the stones and dust of the altar, and licked up great quantities of water in the trench around it; and that it was at his prayer that rain came down from heaven in such abundance, of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah,.... In Jezreel, or near it, to frighten him away; not caring to seize him, and dispatch him, for fear of the people, in whom he had now a great interest; or otherwise it is not easy to account for it that she should give him notice of it; unless she scorned to do it privately, as some think, and was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when he saw that,.... That her design and resolution were to take away his life; the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Syriac versions read, "and he was afraid"; or frightened; he that had such courage as not to be afraid to meet Ahab, and contend with four hundred and fifty priests of Baal, and in the face of all Israel, who at first were not...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness,.... Of Paran, which began near Beersheba, and was the wilderness of Arabia, in which the Israelites were near forty years; this day's journey carried him about twenty miles from Beersheba southward, as the above writer reckons: and came and sat down under a juniper tree; Abarbinel supposes...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree,.... Being weary and fatigued with his journey, the same under which he sat; for there was but one, as that is said to be in the preceding verse: behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, arise, and eat; so far was the Lord from granting his request to take away his life, that he made...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he looked, and, behold, [there was] a cake baked on the coals,.... Just took off the coals, quite hot. Bochart (q) thinks it should be rendered, "baked on hot stones"; and such was the way of baking cakes in some of the eastern countries, [See comments on Genesis 18:6], the stones hereabout might be heated by a supernatural power, and the cake...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him,.... In order to awake him out of sleep: and said unto him, arise, and eat, because the journey is too great for thee; which he had to go to Horeb, without eating more than he had; and there were no provisions to be had in a common way and manner in his road thither.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there,.... This cave, some travellers say (u), is to be seen at this day, not far from a church dedicated to the prophet Elijah, and that the cave itself has the appearance of a chapel; but a more particular account of it is given in a journal (w) lately published, which says, this cave exists to this...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said, I have been jealous for the Lord God of hosts,.... Through zeal for the glory of God he had slain four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and this had stirred up the malice and revenge of Jezebel against him, who sought his life, and which had obliged him to flee, and come to this place for shelter; this is the first part of his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said, go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord,.... Who would appear there as he had to Moses formerly, though not in the same manner: and, behold, the Lord passed by; or was about to pass, for as yet he had not; his messengers first went before him: and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks...