Elijah and the Still Small Voice

Elijah in the desert. No doubt due to global warming.

At the mountain of God, Horeb,
Elijah came to a cave where he took shelter.
Then the LORD said to him,
“Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD;
the LORD will be passing by.”
A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains
and crushing rocks before the LORD—
but the LORD was not in the wind.
After the wind there was an earthquake—
but the LORD was not in the earthquake.
After the earthquake there was fire—
but the LORD was not in the fire.
After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound.
When he heard this,
Elijah hid his face in his cloak
and went and stood at the entrance of the cave.

This is surely one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible. It was the first reading at last Sunday’s mass.

Bishop Barron posted a sermon on it. He reads it as a criticism of Elijah. Elijah was on the run from Queen Jezebel for having killed 450 of the prophets of Baal. Apparently the authorities were dead right to be after him. The signs were telling him that God did not want violence, represented here by the whirlwind, the earthquake, and the fire; but peace.

This interpretation seems reassuring. We are not keen these days on killing the priests of a rival religion. But it is simply not tenable on the Bible’s text.

For the text goes on to record the words God actually spoke, what the still small voice said to Elijah:

Yahweh said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. Anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi to be king over Israel; and anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah to be prophet in your place. He who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and he who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill. Yet I reserved seven thousand in Israel, all the knees of which have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him.”

Not a call to pacifism.

Bishop Barron begins by insisting that we look at the passage in context. Just so; the full context is not just that Elijah has just killed 450 prophets of Baal, but that the authorities and the adherents of Baal had previously killed all the prophets of Yahweh except Elijah, and were already hunting for him. It was not as though he had the choice of peace. And, for further context, their worship of Baal demanded child sacrifice.

The significance of the series of signs Elijah sees in the mouth of the cave, I suggest, is that we should not fear the powers or the terrors of this Earth, the powers Elijah was fleeing. The Kingdom of Heaven is within. The still small voice is the voice of conscience; and it is this to which we must listen, no matter what the world may say.

Bishop Barron worries me. He seems fully of the world.