to see · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
arose
וַיָּ֙קָם֙vai.Ya.kom
H6965
to rise (in various applications · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
went
יָלַךְyâlak
H3212
to walk (literally or figuratively)
life
נַפְשׁ֔וֹnaf.Sho
H5315
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
came
וַיָּבֹ֕אvai.ya.Vo'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Beer-sheba
בְּאֵ֥רbe.'Er
H884
Beer-Sheba · proper noun, a place name
Judah
לִֽיהוּדָ֑הli.hu.Dah
H3063
Jehudah (or Judah) · preposition + proper noun, a place name
left
יָנַחyânach
H3240
to deposit
servant
נַעֲר֖וֹna.'a.Ro
H5288
(concretely) a boy (as active) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Genesis 21:31 Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba; because there they sware both of them.
Matthew 26:56 But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.
Matthew 26:70-74 But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest.
2 Corinthians 12:7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messeng…
Genesis 12:12-13 Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they w…
Exodus 2:15 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he…
1 Samuel 27:1 And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily esca…
1 Kings 4:25 And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 19:1-8
One would have expected, after such a public and sensible manifestation of the glory of God and such a clear decision of the controversy depending between him and Baal, to the honour of Elijah, the confusion of Baal's prophets, and the universal satisfaction of the people - after they had seen both fire and water come from heaven at the prayer of Elijah, and both in mercy to them, the one as it signified the acceptance of their offering, the other as it refreshed their inheritance, which was weary - that now they would all, as one man, return to the worship of the God of Israel and take Elijah for their guide and oracle, that he would thenceforward be prime-minister of state, and his directi…
He arose, and went for his life - He saw it was best to give place to this storm, and go to a place of safety. He probably thought that the miracle at Carmel would have been the means of effecting the conversion of the whole court and of the country, but, finding himself mistaken, he is greatly discouraged.
To Beer-sheba - This being at the most southern extremity of the promised land, and under the jurisdiction of the king of Judah, he might suppose himself in a place of safety.
Left his servant there - Being alone, he would be the more unlikely to be discovered; besides, he did not wish to risk the life of his servant.
John Gill on 1 Kings 19:3
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 inclined to take his part, is now terrified at the threats of a single woman; which shows that the spirit and courage he had before were of the Lord, and not of himself; and that those who have the greatest zeal and courage for religion, for God, and his worship, his truths and ordinances, if left to themselves, become weak and timorous; and whether t…
"Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life." It was out of wisdom that he turned away from danger, because it was absolutely wrong that he disposed of his soul, since he had no reason to give it to death, but, on the contrary, he had every reason to keep it alive. And that was done so that the prophets of falsehood might not say that the god—whose worship he had disrupted, whose sacrifices he had despised and whose prophets he had killed—had handed him over to the power of the queen.
Somebody may ask why Elijah, who did not fear Ahab's authority, was frightened and fled when Jezebel sent him the message. We answer: The providence of God is directed by him and proceeds toward us in two different ways: either by means of benefits or corrections. This is evident from many events. When [Elijah] stopped the heavens, and tortured the Jews through a famine, and killed the prophets of Baal and made the fire come down on the fifty and fifty, he did not tremble before the king because [God's] providence assisted him. But when he slightly turned away from him, he could not resist before Jezebel's threats. The same thing happened to David. He was brave and warlike when the army of Israel was frightened by Goliath, and he killed Goliath, because he was supported by divine providence. But when he was tested through divine desertion, even though the generals of his army surrounded him, he was afraid of the other Philistine.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Elijah — Whose God is Jehovah. (1.) “The Tishbite,” the “Elias” of the New Testament, is suddenly introduced to our notice in 1 Kings 17:1 as delivering a message from the Lord to Ahab. There is mention made…
Judah, Kingdom of — When the disruption took place at Shechem, at first only the tribe of Judah followed the house of David. But very soon after the tribe of Benjamin joined the tribe of Judah, and Jerusalem became the…
Deserts · Mentioned in scripture: Beersheba — Mentioned in scripture: Beersheba
Elijah · .Es — .Es
Jezebel · Vowed to kill Elijah — Vowed to kill Elijah
Life · .Elijah — .Elijah
Prophets · Often led a wandering and unsettled life — Often led a wandering and unsettled life
Prudence · .Elijah, in his es — .Elijah, in his es
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Kings 19:1-8
The hope of completing his victory over the idolaters and overthrowing the worship of Baal, even in the capital of the kingdom, with which Elijah may have hastened to Jezreel, was frustrated by the malice of the queen, who was so far from discerning any revelation of the almighty God in the account given her by Ahab of what had occurred on Carmel, and bending before His mighty hand, that, on the contrary, she was so full of wrath at the slaying of the prophets of Baal as to send to the prophet Elijah to threaten him with death. This apparent failure of his ministry was the occasion of a severe inward conflict, in which Elijah was brought to a state of despondency and fled from the land. The…
Elijah was afraid: The NLT follows the Greek Old Testament and a majority of scholars in translating Elijah’s reaction as one of fear, proposing a reading of wayyira’ (“he feared”) in the original Hebrew. The Hebrew text as we have it reads, “he saw it” (wayyare’)—i.e., the danger in Jezebel’s threat. Rather than a warm reception after the spectacular victory, and a hoped-for repentance beginning with the royal house, Elijah faced a death threat. • Beersheba lay at the southern end of the country. A familiar formula described the limits of the land as “from Dan . . . to Beersheba” (4:25; 2 Sam 24:2).
Rashi on 1 Kings 19:2
So may the gods do. As you have done to the prophets of the Baal.
