Have you ever heard the sound of silence? The fragile silence that is found in a desert with the storms last wind. The still silence, unbroken for a moment by any ruffling or breeze. I have not experienced that physical silence in the desert, but there are times when I have felt it in my spirit, quiet enough so I can hear.
I Kings 19 is a chapter of the Bible that fascinates and is hard to understand, at least for me. Elijah, that strong and heavily anointed prophet, the man of God, is in the wilderness. He had just challenged the people of Israel who'd been going after Baal to a competition between the god they'd been serving and the living God. He had just watched as hundreds of Baal's prophets cut themselves, danced, and beseeched for hours that fire would be sent from heaven to consume their burnt offering. Then Elijah repaired God's broken altar and poured four waterpots over the bull, the altar, and filled a trench all around the altar. Then they did it again, and again. The water ran all around the altar. He did not cut himself, or make any sort of scene but prayed, " Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You."- 1 Kings 18: 36-37. Immediately the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water in the trench. And the people shouted, " The Lord He is God, the Lord He is God!" The prophets of Baal were taken and executed every one. And the drought that God has began because of Israel's sin was ended by an outpouring of rain. Elijah filled with the Spirit of God outran King Ahab's chariot to Jezreel.
Then we come to 19. Ahab tells his evil wife Jezebel all that Elijah has done and Jezebel sends a messenger to the prophet to tell him she will kill him. Elijah runs for his life to Beersheba in Judah. After going a days journey into the wilderness he rests under a broom tree and prays that he might die saying, " It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!" As he sleeps under the tree an angel comes and gives him a cake and jar of water. Elijah eats, drinks, then lays down again. The Angel of the Lord ( Jesus) comes again, touches him, and says, " Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you." Elijah obeys and goes in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights until he reaches Horeb, the mountain of God.
" And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, ' What are you doing here, Elijah?' - 1 Kings 19: 9
I found some great insight about this scripture on Torahtrek and if anyone wants to learn more I would say visit the writing published there. I'm going to share some of it here.
The Hebrew for that question God asks Elijah is "Ma lekha po, Elijah?" It literally means, " What is here for you, Elijah?"
What is here for you? Why are you here? What are wanting? The author at the site I mentioned said if he were to give the question as a phrase he believed it would say, " Who are you, here?" Now that you are alone with Me and without anything of your own...Now that you are desperate and have been in the wilderness for forty days and nights sustained by bread and water from heaven. Now that there is nothing between You and me. Who are you here on the mountain of God?
Elijah answers, " I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the word. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life."
" Then He said, ' Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.' And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rock in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice." - 1 Kings 19:11-12 (NKJV)
A still small voice. Qol dmamah daqah. This has been translated in so many ways.
The sound of a light whisper
A soft murmuring sound
A tiny whispering sound
A gentle breeze
A still small voice probably hits the mark better than most. The root of dmamah is daled-mem-mem and means "stillness". Daqah means "fine" or "thin" as in the sense of finely ground particles. Qol damamah literally means, " The sound of the storm's last wind." For those of us who live in the Northeast of the U.S. probably the best thing we can think of is the end of a summer storm when all the wind fury, rain, thunder, and lightning has ceased and there is a sudden stillness and quiet after all the turmoil. When you hear " the sound of the storms last wind." This is how Elijah heard the " voice without sound" or " voice of fragile silence" or " silent voice ". The Bible doesn't say what the voice said or if it was actually audible. I think it was a voice Elijah heard in his "inner ear" and truly was silent. Being silent God speaks.
" So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle", to cover his face because he was expecting to see the Lord, " and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, ' What are you doing here, Elijah?'"
God asks him the same question again. Why?
Elijah gives the exact same answer as before.
" Then the Lord said to him: ' Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill. Yet have I reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.'
I Kings 19 is a chapter of the Bible that fascinates and is hard to understand, at least for me. Elijah, that strong and heavily anointed prophet, the man of God, is in the wilderness. He had just challenged the people of Israel who'd been going after Baal to a competition between the god they'd been serving and the living God. He had just watched as hundreds of Baal's prophets cut themselves, danced, and beseeched for hours that fire would be sent from heaven to consume their burnt offering. Then Elijah repaired God's broken altar and poured four waterpots over the bull, the altar, and filled a trench all around the altar. Then they did it again, and again. The water ran all around the altar. He did not cut himself, or make any sort of scene but prayed, " Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You."- 1 Kings 18: 36-37. Immediately the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water in the trench. And the people shouted, " The Lord He is God, the Lord He is God!" The prophets of Baal were taken and executed every one. And the drought that God has began because of Israel's sin was ended by an outpouring of rain. Elijah filled with the Spirit of God outran King Ahab's chariot to Jezreel.
Then we come to 19. Ahab tells his evil wife Jezebel all that Elijah has done and Jezebel sends a messenger to the prophet to tell him she will kill him. Elijah runs for his life to Beersheba in Judah. After going a days journey into the wilderness he rests under a broom tree and prays that he might die saying, " It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!" As he sleeps under the tree an angel comes and gives him a cake and jar of water. Elijah eats, drinks, then lays down again. The Angel of the Lord ( Jesus) comes again, touches him, and says, " Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you." Elijah obeys and goes in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights until he reaches Horeb, the mountain of God.
" And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, ' What are you doing here, Elijah?' - 1 Kings 19: 9
I found some great insight about this scripture on Torahtrek and if anyone wants to learn more I would say visit the writing published there. I'm going to share some of it here.
The Hebrew for that question God asks Elijah is "Ma lekha po, Elijah?" It literally means, " What is here for you, Elijah?"
What is here for you? Why are you here? What are wanting? The author at the site I mentioned said if he were to give the question as a phrase he believed it would say, " Who are you, here?" Now that you are alone with Me and without anything of your own...Now that you are desperate and have been in the wilderness for forty days and nights sustained by bread and water from heaven. Now that there is nothing between You and me. Who are you here on the mountain of God?
Elijah answers, " I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the word. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life."
" Then He said, ' Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.' And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rock in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice." - 1 Kings 19:11-12 (NKJV)
A still small voice. Qol dmamah daqah. This has been translated in so many ways.
The sound of a light whisper
A soft murmuring sound
A tiny whispering sound
A gentle breeze
A still small voice probably hits the mark better than most. The root of dmamah is daled-mem-mem and means "stillness". Daqah means "fine" or "thin" as in the sense of finely ground particles. Qol damamah literally means, " The sound of the storm's last wind." For those of us who live in the Northeast of the U.S. probably the best thing we can think of is the end of a summer storm when all the wind fury, rain, thunder, and lightning has ceased and there is a sudden stillness and quiet after all the turmoil. When you hear " the sound of the storms last wind." This is how Elijah heard the " voice without sound" or " voice of fragile silence" or " silent voice ". The Bible doesn't say what the voice said or if it was actually audible. I think it was a voice Elijah heard in his "inner ear" and truly was silent. Being silent God speaks.
" So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle", to cover his face because he was expecting to see the Lord, " and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, ' What are you doing here, Elijah?'"
God asks him the same question again. Why?
Elijah gives the exact same answer as before.
" Then the Lord said to him: ' Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill. Yet have I reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.'