"Silence is the language of God. All else is poor translation." (Rumi)
The story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal remains infamous for its recitation of a cosmic showdown between clashing deities. YHWH, the God of Elijah and ostensibly the patron God of Israel, contended with Baal, the imported Syrian storm and fertility god venerated by Jezebel and her prophets. Elijah scheduled a winner-take-all-match with the cultic mediators of Baal at the summit of Mt. Carmel to decide, once and for all, who the people of Israel will worship and who reigned supreme in the heavens.
Readers of this explosive narrative in 1 Kings 18 know how the story unfolds.
In summation, after levying pejorative jabs at Baal, Elijah pleaded fervently with YHWH to make himself known. YHWH obliged by raining down fire bolts (lightning) from heaven, consuming the water and the bull. The spectators witnessed this dazzling theophanic display and unequivocally proclaimed YHWH was God-not Baal. Elijah then proceeded to mercilessly slaughter the prophets of Baal. Immediately after, Elijah implored his servant to search the sky in hopes of detecting rain. Once his servant spotted a storm cloud presumably approaching from the west over the Mediterranean, Elijah ran before Ahab’s chariot all the way to Jezreel.
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| 8th B.C.E. Bar Rakub inscription depicts a Syrian vassal running ahead of Tiglath-Pileser III's chariot, symbolizing devotion and allegiance to the king. |
Once the plot line in chapter 18 ends, chapter 19 commences with an irate Jezebel issuing an APB for Elijah’s head on a platter.
And we gloss over an innocuous, almost insignificant phrase in verse 3 indicating Elijah was afraid prompting him to run for his life.
ויּרא ויּקם ויּלך אל־נפשׁו
"Then he as afraid, and he arose and ran for his life."
Three consecutive verbs constitute this five word diction with an integrated rhyme scheme:
"Vayar vayakom vayilekh el nafsho."
The Hebrew appears to employ a euphemistic phrase that English translates "ran for his life:" The transliteration is: "And he went/walked to his soul/life/throat/breath." There are other Hebrew words utilized for run (רוץ) and flee (ברח / נוס) but the author chose the generic verb "to walk" or "to go."
More relevant to the story is the imminent fear Elijah perceived.
Why?
He just witnessed YHWH’s grand pyrotechnics descend from heaven.
How could any mere mortal touch him if he had YHWH on his side raining down thunderbolts?
Why not invoke the name of YHWH again and incinerate Jezebel?
And of all the places Elijah could have ventured, why flee to Sinai?
In my opinion, Elijah experienced a massive crisis of faith that required sorting.
To understand Elijah’s mentality and perhaps why he felt his ideas about God needed to be hashed out, we need to delve into the worldview of the ancient Near East-specifically the divine manifestations of Baal.
Texts discovered at Ugarit in the 1920's revealed religious and mythical tales of the gods and goddesses worshipped at the site. Yam, El, Anat, and Baal were but a few whose exploits were recorded. Baal is actually a nickname for the god Hadad much in the same way Adonai serves as an epithet for YHWH. Functioning as a storm and fertility god, archaeological evidence characterizes Baal holding a lightning bolt in one hand and riding on clouds. Eventually, the Greeks incorporated Baal into their pantheon but renamed him Zeus.
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| Stele of Baal striding upon clouds with lightning in left hand. Baal, meaning lord or master, was the nickname of Hadad much in the same way Adonai is a nickname for YHWH |
The bull was Baal's mascot so to speak. This is probably the reason Elijah requested bulls to be offered as sacrifices as it was a symbol of Baal’s strength and virility. Baal also brought rain to fertilize the earth inducing crop growth. At the outset of the narrative, a 3-year drought ravaged the country which could also be the impetus behind coordinating this event.
Something needed to happen to persuade YHWH or Baal to bring the rain to sustain life.
Mt. Carmel also owes it's lush vegetation to it's annual 32 inches of precipitation. It's geographic prominence as an elevated land mass near the coast compels the moist air sweeping in off the Mediterranean to rise and condensate. In fact, the Assyrians associated Mt. Carmel with divine activity as they coined it "Baal of the Headlands." Elijah “stacked the deck” against himself. He played an away game on Baal's home field. He furthermore put himself at a great disadvantage by dousing the slaughtered bovines with water.
But, something happened to Elijah’s perception of YHWH after the Mt. Carmel event.
Something caused cognitive dissonance within him requiring resolution.
YHWH behaved exactly like Baal.
He sent fire/lightning from heaven and a storm immediately ensued after the contest.
The theophany of YHWH mirrored the theophany of Baal.
Elijah may have said to himself: Whom do I serve? YHWH or Baal?
To seek clarity for this along with preserving his life, he arduously journeyed south to Sinai. The place where God revealed himself to Moses and the Israelites after exiting Egypt. A location rife with remembrance of God who bestowed an identity on a people group and implored them to follow his "covenantal constitution." It was a tipping point in Israelite history.
Elijah, posted up in a cave (presumably the same area where Moses was when God passed before him), entertained a question from YHWH about why he was there at all.
God’s inquisition in the Hebrew מה לך פה literally reads “What for you here?”
Elijah responds with fervor, citing his zeal for YHWH as his primary objective.
A series of natural phenomenon transpire; all of them replications of expected exhibitions of Baal.
A big and strong wind mimicking a storm. A loud sound resembling thunder. And fire resembling lightning.
But YHWH was not in any of them.
He was in the קול דממה דקה. "The sound of a low whisper."
I'm convinced דממה דקה (dammamah dakah) is an onomatopoeia in the same vein as whisper. English translations have difficulty capturing the essence of the original language. The Greek translation (LXX) apprehends the nuance behind דממה:
"Vibrant silence."
Expanding on the full phrase, I like to say: "The thunder of a soft vibrant silence."
The antithesis of Baal.
YHWH clarified things for Elijah that stood in contradistinction to the modus operandi of mainstream celestial enterprises. Many other Canaanite/Syrian gods were personified in natural phenomenon. For instance, Yam disclosed his power through the tumultuous and rambunctious waters of the sea. But, YHWH made an vociferous statement to Elijah in a muted manner blowing his expectations out of the water. Elijah seemed so stunned and humbled by YHWH's apparent unorthodox conduct, he couldn't even look past himself as he wrapped his face in his robe.
This event marked a watershed moment in Biblical history on three fronts.
First, YHWH's attenuated display of power on Mt. Sinai in this episode is a harbinger for the remaining arc of the Hebrew Bible.
From this point forward, we see YHWH begin to practice self-effacement. Outside of Elijah's "chariots of fire" experience, the miraculous acts of YHWH begin to dissipate. We see a transition to the writing prophets (Hosea, Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah) where YHWH speaks directly to them. The Northern Kingdom eventually gets eliminated by Assyria. Then the Judean exile happens, and YHWH is silent for 400 years. Eventually, YHWH becomes so small He becomes one of us and enters the world during a silent night in a nondescript village of Bethlehem.
Second, YHWH commissions Elijah with altering the geopolitical landscape of the Southern Levant. Hazael, a foreigner, was anointed king of Damascus who eventually made war with the Northern Kingdom. Jehu son of Nimshi became the newly appointed instrument to usurp the throne in Israel. His assassination of Joram, king of Israel, and Ahaziah, king of Judah, effectively truncated the Omride dynasty's reign and established the Nimshide dynasty as the North's new ruling elite.
Third, YHWH asks Elijah to hang up his jersey and pass the mantle on to Elisha. Elijah's time as arguably the most prolific prophet winds down. Perhaps he was existentially exhausted which is hinted at when he asks YHWH to take his life (1 Kings 19:4).
For a personalized twist on the story, how do we react when God’s behavior doesn’t align with our expectations?
What do we do when we experience a crisis of faith that questions our belief about who God is and how He functions?
Where do we go when we encounter unfavorable circumstances in life that push us to our knees?
Paul also retreats to the Sinai region when he undergoes a faith crisis after his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. The Spirit compelled Jesus, presumably, into the wilderness after his supernatural encounter with God during his baptism.
Biblical titans withdraw to remote, holy places when their faith is tested. Reclusion and isolation strip away interfering distractions that blunt the voice of God and allow space for the vibrant silence to permeate our soul. In a world saturated with diversions and foreign voices clamoring for our attention and perhaps, faith, it would behoove us to intentionally immerse ourselves in segments of silence. Book a remote Air BnB. Sit in the woods for a time. Recoil into nature. Retreat to a “holy spot” for you imbued with meaning and simply be. Quiet your soul in moments of spiritual chaos to relax into who God is and to gain clarity in confusing situations that shatter presuppositions of standard operating procedure.
It may happen that even in the most trying and tragic moments of our lives, God desires to collaborate with us to bring immense change, not just in our intrinsic perspective, but in the world and people around us.
The Persian poet Rumi implores the soul to continually practice the art of serenity:
"Silence is an ocean. Speech is a river. When the ocean is searching for you, don’t walk into the river. Listen to the ocean."
Inundate yourself in the language of God and incline your ear to His voice amid the vibrant silence.
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