# Elijah's Prayer



## Reformingstudent (Feb 2, 2005)

Here is something I wondered about. In 1 Kings 19:4 Elijah
is in such despair that he begs God to take his life:
And he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he begged for his life, that he might die. And he said, It is enough. O Jehovah, take away my life. For I am no better than my fathers. 

Does this verse here: (1Ki 19:16 And you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi to be king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place.) mean that God answered his prayer for death and was having him get his affairs in order so Elisha
would take his place as God's prophet? I know James 5:17 says that he was a man of like passions as we are and that God answered his prayer that it may not rain in Israel and it didn't for three years and six months. If he was such a great man of prayer and faith is it possible than that God heard his prayer that he die and answered it? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks.


----------



## ChristopherPaul (Jul 14, 2006)

Good question


----------



## Contra_Mundum (Jul 14, 2006)

For what it's worth,
I do not think that Elijah was doing well (I think he was despondent, but I think he was also sinning) when he prayed to God to take his life. I do not think that God was "answering" his prayer. The James passage (where God is siad to answer) needs to be viewed according to Elijah's praying _in accordance to the will of God._ Praying that God will strike you dead for not being a "good enough" prophet is not a prayer according to God's will.

Maybe it's because I was in the army that Elijah's "heavenly conference" resonates with me, I don't know. But God rebukes his subordinate Elijah (not for "failing his mission," by the way, but for a spell of faithlessness), and then he "recommissions" him--giving him additional orders. Elijah may have felt like "giving up," but God had work not only for him to do, but for an additional generation at least--in the person of Elisha. Some time passes, several years at least (see 1 Ki. 22:1), between 1 Ki. 19 and 2 Ki. 2. Elisha needs the time for mentoring (1 Ki. 19:21). It is he, not Elijah, who will annoint Hazael (1 Ki. 19:15) king of Syria (2 Ki. 8:8:15).


----------

