Chapter 19 comes immediately after the great scene at Mount Carmel. Eliyahu brought down fire from heaven, the people cried out "Hashem is the God," the prophets of the Baal were killed, and the rain came down. One would expect that from here onward a complete change would follow. Yet the chapter before us teaches otherwise: Izevel is unimpressed, Eliyahu is forced to flee, and he reaches the point of asking to die. Out of this very crisis a new revelation opens before him: in the desert, in a cave, at the mountain of God, Chorev.
וַיַּגֵּד אַחְאָב לְאִיזֶבֶל אֵת כָּל־אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה אֵלִיָּהוּ וְאֵת כָּל־אֲשֶׁר הָרַג אֶת־כָּל־הַנְּבִיאִים בֶּחָרֶב׃ - And Achav told Izevel all that Eliyahu had done, and all how he had slain all the prophets with the sword.
Achav returns home and recounts to Izevel all the experiences of the day: how the prophets of the Baal conducted themselves, what performances they put on, how many humiliations they suffered, how Eliyahu mocked them, in what a ridiculous light they were shown, and how in the end Eliyahu brought down the rain and the people proclaimed "Hashem is the God, Hashem is the God." Yet Izevel, it seems, was not particularly impressed by what she saw and heard.
וַתִּשְׁלַח אִיזֶבֶל מַלְאָךְ אֶל־אֵלִיָּהוּ לֵאמֹר כֹּה־יַעֲשׂוּן אֱלֹהִים וְכֹה יוֹסִפוּן כִּי־כָעֵת מָחָר אָשִׂים אֶת־נַפְשְׁךָ כְּנֶפֶשׁ אַחַד מֵהֶם׃ - And Izevel sent a messenger to Eliyahu, saying: So may the gods do and more also, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life as the life of one of them.
"So may the gods do and more also" is, in its plain sense, an expression of an oath, like "So may God do to me." A person wishes to say: let something bad happen to me if I do not do such and such, but he does not want to pronounce the bad thing upon himself, so he begins the sentence and does not complete it: that God should do to me "woe, woe, woe" if I do not do so. Rashi explains: "So may the gods do" - just as you did to the prophets of the Baal, so shall it be done to you. And in its plain sense, "the gods" here are the gods in whom Izevel believes, that is, her idolatry, for she is certainly not speaking of Eliyahu's God: surely his God would not do him harm, on the contrary, Eliyahu encouraged the people to believe in Hashem.
The question arises: if she can send a messenger, why did she not send troops to deal with him? What point is there in sending a messenger merely to threaten? The answer is that Izevel saw that Achav's heart inclined toward Eliyahu. She saw that Achav vindicated him, and that he remained silent when the prophets of the Baal were killed. She understood that now was not the time to act against Eliyahu, for she had an opponent at home, and Achav was still the king. True, she is the one pulling the strings, as will become clearer later on, but for the time being she said: there is a time and season for everything. I will turn Achav's mind around and change it, and I will see to it that he too pursues Eliyahu. Therefore for now she does not act but only threatens. And why did she not simply keep silent altogether? Because the sensible and shrewd thing would have been to wait quietly, until Eliyahu thought the area was calm, and then to send someone to surprise and kill him. But a person who acts out of impulse and emotion does not always act sensibly, and so she sent a threat, since to kill him immediately she could not.
Before we see where Eliyahu turns, let us dwell a little on the character of Izevel. The Rama miPano brings in the name of Chazal that Izevel is a reincarnation of the wife of Korach. And just as it was in the previous incarnation, so it is now: Chazal say that On ben Pelet's wife saved him, while Korach's wife buried him and brought him down. She is the one who said to him "See what Moshe did, he shaved and mocked," as brought many times in the Midrashim. And now she returns in a new incarnation, and once again she is the one who entices and incites Achav to act against Eliyahu the prophet.
And further: in Izevel was also reincarnated Kozbi bat Tzur. Let us recall that Eliyahu had already had one encounter with Izevel, for Pinchas is Eliyahu, and he is the one who killed Kozbi bat Tzur. This is alluded to in the verse "Kozbi the daughter of the prince of Midian, their sister" - the initial letters kaf, bet, nun, mem, aleph in reduced numerology equal fourteen, and this is precisely the gematria of "Izevel" in reduced numerology, fourteen, teaching that it is the same reincarnation. Therefore, just as in the previous incarnation she was killed by Pinchas, who is Eliyahu, so now she comes to take revenge: "tomorrow I will make your life as the life of one of them" - you killed me in the previous incarnation, and now I will kill you.
And what is meant by "like the life of one of them"? How many did he kill in the previous incarnation? Two: Cozbi and Zimri. "One of them" refers to the previous incarnation: just as then you killed one of them, so shall I do to you. And what is "one"? The Sages expound on "and one of the people had lain" that "one" refers to the singular, distinguished one, the king, the prince. Izevel is telling him: just as then you went and killed a prince in Israel, so tomorrow I will take my revenge on you and make your life like the life of one of them.
The Arizal has a very lengthy discussion, in many places, concerning Eliyahu and Nadav and Avihu: in Eliyahu the prophet were incarnated the souls of Nadav and Avihu, and after the episode at Mount Carmel their souls came to their rectification and departed from him. This is what Izevel hinted to him: "tomorrow I will make your life like the life of one of them" - like Nadav and Avihu who died, so shall I make your life. For she recognized that until now she could not harm him because Nadav and Avihu were within him, and once she recognized that they had left him she said to him: prepare yourself, you are about to join them, meaning you no longer have protection. And we find a hint of this in the verse "and Nadav and Avihu died before Hashem when they offered a strange fire before Hashem" - the initial letters spell Izevel, to teach you that she recognized that they had left him, and consequently his soul would be like the life of one of them.
And another hint is possible: Pinchas killed Zimri ben Salu who was the husband of Cozbi, and Cozbi was a gentile woman, and such a woman is called in the language of Scripture "the daughter of a strange god." And we said that Cozbi is Izevel. The verse says "there shall be no strange god within you, nor shall you bow to a foreign god" - "there shall be no strange god within you" the initial letters spell Izevel, and the continuation "nor shall you bow to a foreign god" corresponds to the daughter of a strange god. Therefore she informs him: prepare yourself, tomorrow I will make your life like the life of one of them, whether according to the interpretation that it refers to Nadav and Avihu, or according to the interpretation that it refers to Cozbi bat Tzur and Zimri ben Salu.
וַיַּרְא וַיָּקָם וַיֵּלֶךְ אֶל־נַפְשׁוֹ וַיָּבֹא בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע אֲשֶׁר לִיהוּדָה וַיַּנַּח אֶת־נַעֲרוֹ שָׁם׃ - He saw, and he arose and went for his life, and he came to Beer Sheva which belongs to Yehudah, and he left his servant there.
What is "he saw" and what is "he went for his life"? According to the words of the Arizal the matter is understood: "he saw" - he recognized that the souls of Nadav and Avihu had departed from him, "he went for his life" - until now the souls of Nadav and Avihu were within him, and from now on he was left with his own soul alone. And the Malbim explains: "he saw" - he saw through divine inspiration that Izevel would indeed prevail against him, meaning that he no longer had protection. "He went for his life" - Eliyahu the prophet was for most of his days in seclusion, engaged in perfecting his soul, and would not associate much with the people. Only when there was need was he sent to them, but his constant way was the endeavor of perfecting his soul. Now, when he saw that everything he had done - he killed all the prophets of Baal, he brought down fire from heaven, the people cried out "Hashem, He is God" - and yet it brought about no change, and the people did not repent completely, and the situation continued and Izevel still ruled, he understood: if so, I no longer have any interest or endeavor in perfecting the soul of the people, there is no benefit in it. And therefore he decided "he went for his life" - from now on I will go and occupy myself with perfecting my own soul alone.
And he arrives at Beer Sheva which belongs to Yehudah. But is this not outside the domain of Izevel's rule, since she rules over Shomron and the ten tribes? Rather, he still knew that she could send men to harm him, and therefore he did not feel secure there. He leaves his servant there, in order to go and seclude himself, as was his way.
וְהוּא־הָלַךְ בַּמִּדְבָּר דֶּרֶךְ יוֹם וַיָּבֹא וַיֵּשֶׁב תַּחַת רֹתֶם אֶחָד וַיִּשְׁאַל אֶת־נַפְשׁוֹ לָמוּת וַיֹּאמֶר רַב עַתָּה ה' קַח נַפְשִׁי כִּי־לֹא־טוֹב אָנֹכִי מֵאֲבֹתָי׃ - And he went into the wilderness a day's journey, and he came and sat under a certain broom tree, and he asked for his life to die, and he said: Enough now, Hashem, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.
He went into the wilderness a day's journey, because he still feared that Izevel would send messengers, and therefore he went a full day inward into the wilderness so that they would not reach him. "And he sat under a certain broom tree" - the broom tree is a low tree, whose coals smolder and burn most intensely. The Sages say that sometimes they burn for a full year, and one who interrupts in the middle of his study and lets his mind wander is fed coals of broom, because they burn at a very high temperature and burn for a long time. There, in that place, he sought to seclude himself with God.
"And he asked for his life to die" - the Malbim says: Eliyahu saw that he had already rectified himself, and everything he had to rectify here during his lifetime had already come to its rectification. Consequently he understood that the time had come for his soul to unite with the supernal Godliness and separate from his body, and that his time had come to die. For what could be rectified here had been completed, and what remained for the perfection of his soul? Only death, through which he would unite with the supernal spirituality and attain perceptions that he could not attain while in the body. And the Malbim adds: the reason a person remains here in this world is because he has not completed what he lacked and still has something to rectify, and about this Eliyahu says "enough now, Hashem" - what I had to rectify I have done more than enough, I have already completed it. And if you should say that he need not die since he is not deserving of death, to this he says "for I am no better than my fathers": what happened to my fathers? They died. Even if you should say that I am like Adam before the sin, upon whom death should not befall - yet my fathers died, and I too wish to follow in the way of my fathers.
The Radak adds that from here there is a hint to the words of Chazal that Eliyahu lived many years and that Pinchas is Eliyahu. For he says, "Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers," meaning: my fathers lived standard lives, whereas I live with such tremendous longevity. I am no better than my fathers, and I am not worthy of this length of days, and therefore I ask that You already take me.
וַיִּשְׁכַּב וַיִּישַׁן תַּחַת רֹתֶם אֶחָד וְהִנֵּה־זֶה מַלְאָךְ נֹגֵעַ בּוֹ וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ קוּם אֱכוֹל׃ - And he lay down and slept under a certain broom tree, and behold, an angel touched him and said to him, "Arise, eat."
There is a repetition here: it already said "and he came and sat under a certain broom tree," so why does it mention this again? The Radak explains according to the plain meaning: why does it not say "under the broom tree," since it is that same broom tree? Because the broom tree was solitary, and there was no other shelter there besides it, and only with difficulty could he fit beneath it. Therefore it says "a certain broom tree," for he had to contract and squeeze himself, since there was only one broom tree there.
The Malbim, in his way of seeking the depth in the verses, explains differently: whenever something is mentioned twice, it is a sign that it is not the same thing. At first it is written "and he sat under a certain broom tree," and afterward "and he lay down and slept under a certain broom tree," to teach you that the second broom tree is not the first broom tree but another one. The first was small, sufficient only for sitting beneath it, and therefore it was written "achat" in the feminine spelling, to hint that it was weak and small. The second was a broom tree with more shade, fit to lie beneath. Except that Eliyahu erred in thinking it was a broom tree, and in the end it became clear to him, "and behold, this was an angel" - it was not a broom tree at all, but an angel who had materialized in the guise of a broom tree. The first broom tree was a real broom tree, but the second was an angel, and it touches him and says to him, "Arise, eat."
וַיַּבֵּט וְהִנֵּה מְרַאֲשֹׁתָיו עֻגַת רְצָפִים וְצַפַּחַת מָיִם וַיֹּאכַל וַיֵּשְׁתְּ וַיָּשָׁב וַיִּשְׁכָּב׃ - And he looked, and behold, at his head there was a cake baked on coals and a jug of water, and he ate and drank and lay down again.
A cake baked on coals is a cake that is baked over glowing embers of fire, as we saw with Kalev who took a cake - that same cake that is baked upon coals. Except that the Malbim explains that it appeared to him as if sparks of fire had joined together in the likeness and form of a cake, so it appeared to him in the prophecy that he prophesied, and as if the angel commanded him to eat it. That is to say, all of this was in a vision, and you should not think that there was any physical eating or physical drinking here.
And what did it come to tell him? A cake composed of sparks of fire. Fire is lighter than matter, for when one kindles fire it rises upward. As if to say to him: you will be in the category of "He makes His messengers winds, His servants a flaming fire." Of the demons too it is written that they are composed of fire and wind, and they fly through the air, and by the power of the fire within them they are able to reach the firmament, and it is written of them that they derive sustenance from tongues of fire and vapors of water - this is their food. So too you: your food will be a cake of sparks, a cake made of fire. From here onward your food will be spiritual food.
And according to the deeper meaning the Malbim explains: the coals hint at prophecy, like fire, and the water hints at Torah, as it says, "Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the water." And how do we know that the coals hint at prophecy? From the verse in which he saw an angel with a coal in his hand, that is, tongs and coals, and Yonatan translated there "and in his mouth was speech" - here you have the expression of the utterance of the lips, prophecy. As if to say to him: from now on your occupation will be with prophecy and with Torah, and you will no longer engage in physical matters, but your entire essence will be more spiritual.
וַיָּשָׁב מַלְאַךְ ה' שֵׁנִית וַיִּגַּע־בּוֹ וַיֹּאמֶר קוּם אֱכֹל כִּי רַב מִמְּךָ הַדָּרֶךְ׃ - And the angel of Hashem returned a second time and touched him and said, "Arise, eat, for the journey is too great for you."
Notice: the first time, the angel appeared to him in the form of the bread cake, but the second time it does not clothe itself in the form of the cake, rather it appears as an angel, which is why it says "the angel of Hashem a second time" - at first in the form of the cake, and now truly in the category of an angel of Hashem. And why does he need to eat again? Because the first eating had not yet purified him properly, and the proof: what did he do afterward? He lay down to sleep. And if a person lies down to sleep after eating, it is a sign that there was something of the physical in that eating, and it was not a wholly spiritual eating. Therefore he tells him "Arise and eat": you still need more holiness and elevation and uplift, to eat more of that quality of the coal baked cake and the water which are of the quality of Torah, more sanctification, until you reach a state where you will not even need sleep. And this is "for the journey is too great for you" - you still have a long road to travel, and you need a strength that is not natural and not physical.
וַיָּקָם וַיֹּאכַל וַיִּשְׁתֶּה וַיֵּלֶךְ בְּכֹחַ הָאֲכִילָה הַהִיא אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם וְאַרְבָּעִים לַיְלָה עַד הַר הָאֱלֹהִים חֹרֵב׃ - And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that eating forty days and forty nights until the mountain of God, Chorev.
He arises, eats and drinks, and in this he already resembles Moshe Rabbenu: he reached a state of purification, so that by the strength of that eating he can stand forty days and forty nights without eating and without drinking, like Moshe Rabbenu who for forty days and forty nights ate no bread and drank no water. And here Eliyahu arrives at the mountain of God, Chorev, like Moshe Rabbenu, and he is fit for the divine revelation like Moshe, after forty days of purification without eating and drinking.
The Radak, who understood that the eating and drinking written here are physical eating and drinking, says that there is a difference here between Moshe and Eliyahu: with Eliyahu we see that he needed to eat in order to hold out forty days and forty nights, whereas with Moshe there was no need to eat, what might be called no need to charge up beforehand, while Eliyahu needed to eat beforehand in order to succeed in walking forty days and forty nights. But according to the way of the Malbim, the entire eating was of a spiritual nature, like Moshe Rabbenu of whom it is said "man ate the bread of the mighty" - this too is eating, spiritual eating, and by the strength of that spiritual eating he succeeded in making that journey.
וַיָּבֹא־שָׁם אֶל־הַמְּעָרָה וַיָּלֶן שָׁם וְהִנֵּה דְבַר־ה' אֵלָיו וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ מַה־לְּךָ פֹה אֵלִיָּהוּ׃ - And he came there to the cave and lodged there, and behold the word of Hashem came to him, and He said to him: What are you doing here, Eliyahu?
He arrives at the cave, and it is that same cleft of the rock in which Moshe stood, as it says "and I will cover you with My hand until I pass by." "What are you doing here, Eliyahu" - simply understood, this is an opening of conversation, in the way the Holy One, blessed be He, began to speak with Adam and said to him "Where are you," and in the way He began with Kayin and said to him "Where is Hevel your brother." A beginning of conversation meant to enter into discussion with him, for it is not possible that Hashem is asking Eliyahu an informational question: what Eliyahu knows, Hashem surely knows. And according to the Malbim, Hashem's intent is to say to him: is not the prophet supposed to be with the people, for the prophet must rebuke the people. If so, what are you doing here? How did you go and distance yourself from the people? Why are you not with the flock of your pasture? It is not the task of the prophet to seclude himself in the mountains. A prophet, from the term the utterance of the lips, must express the word of Hashem and draw the people close to His service.
וַיֹּאמֶר קַנֹּא קִנֵּאתִי לַה' אֱלֹהֵי צְבָאוֹת כִּי־עָזְבוּ בְרִיתְךָ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־מִזְבְּחֹתֶיךָ הָרָסוּ וְאֶת־נְבִיאֶיךָ הָרְגוּ בֶחָרֶב וָאִוָּתֵר אֲנִי לְבַדִּי וַיְבַקְשׁוּ אֶת־נַפְשִׁי לְקַחְתָּהּ׃ - And he said: I have been very zealous for Hashem, God of hosts, for the children of Yisrael have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and slain Your prophets by the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek my life to take it.
Eliyahu says to Him: I cannot be together with the people, I am not able to be with them and to see the deeds that they do. Why? My zeal has consumed me - I am zealous with the zeal of Hashem, and since this is so, when I see them doing bad deeds I am not able to be beside them and in their company. And he further enumerates before Him their deeds: "the children of Yisrael have forsaken Your covenant," "torn down Your altars," as we saw that they tore down the altars of Hashem, "and slain Your prophets by the sword," as we saw that Izevel killed all the prophets of Hashem except for those hundred who were hidden in the cave. "And I alone am left," and as if that were not enough, "and they seek my life to take it." Consequently I cannot carry out my mission: in such a situation I cannot come to the people and rebuke them, the people do not accept rebuke and only pursue my life, and I have no possibility.
"They have forsaken Your covenant" in its plain sense refers to the covenant that Hashem made with Israel at Chorev, to serve Hashem. But Chazal expound that he is speaking about the covenant of milah: they should at least perform the covenant of milah, and even that they do not do. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: Eliyahu, is this how you accuse My children of not performing the covenant of milah? By your life, you shall be required to be present at every bris that Israel performs, and you will testify about them that they circumcise their sons. This is why we say "Eliyahu, angel of the covenant," for Eliyahu comes to every bris milah.
Therefore it is written in the Midrash that Eliyahu said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the Universe, I am zealous for the honor of Hashem, and if I come to a bris and see there people who are sinning, people who are not proper, immodesty, Rachmana litzlan, then Heaven forbid I might harm them. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: I forgive whoever will be present there at the bris, forgiveness of sins is granted to him. This is why it is written that there is great value in being present at a bris milah, for one merits forgiveness of sins, and therefore it is a good time to contemplate teshuvah during the bris, for it is a time of forgiveness of sins. However, we do not know where this Midrash is written, and it is not among the well known and familiar midrashim to us, but so it is brought in the name of an old Midrash, that the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: There is no concern, you may come, and they will have forgiveness and you will not, Heaven forbid, need to hold it against them.
Regarding this matter of the bris, it is brought in the works of the Mekubalim, I believe in the name of the Ben Ish Chai, and perhaps even in the name of the Arizal: Do not err to think that Eliyahu HaNavi descends from the Heavenly Yeshiva and runs with a bag from bris to bris. For when there is a bris here there is a bris in America, and when it is night for us it is day there, and if not here and not there then in Australia. If so, when would he have time to be in the Heavenly Yeshiva? Say the Mekubalim: Certainly this is not the intent, but rather a spark of his soul is present at every bris. And if there are two brisos at once, certainly there is more than one spark. It is only a spark of the soul that is present in each and every place.
The chapter opens with Achav telling Izevel of the events at the Carmel, and Izevel, who is the reincarnation of the wife of Korach and of Kozbi bat Tzur, sends Eliyahu a threat and does not kill him, because Achav's heart inclines after him. Eliyahu sees that the protection has departed from him, that the souls of Nadav and Avihu that had entered him were rectified and departed, and he understands that there is no benefit in perfecting the souls of the people, and therefore he "goes for his life": he flees to Be'er Sheva, leaves his lad, enters a day's journey into the wilderness and asks to die, claiming that he has already completed his rectification and is no better than his fathers. From Heaven they answer him with the eating of the cake baked on coals and the jar of water, which, according to the Malbim, is a vision of spiritual eating: prophecy and Torah, a fire subtler than matter. Twice he is called to eat, until he is refined enough for a journey of forty days and forty nights until the mountain of God, Chorev, like Moshe Rabbeinu. And there he is asked "What are you doing here, Eliyahu" - the prophet's place is with the people and not in a cave. His answer "I have been zealous" led precisely to his becoming the angel of the covenant, testifying about Israel at every bris milah that they fulfill the covenant of the Holy One, blessed be He.