Elijah in the Cave of Horeb

“Everyone has feet of clay.” The saying is an idiom. We don’t take the saying literally, but it means everyone has weaknesses. The “feet of clay” idiom comes from a dream of the king of the world at the time, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, in Daniel 2:32-33: “The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.” That king’s “feet of clay” were exposed by his pride which resulted in foolish and ungodly decisions that finally led to a mental illness in Daniel 4.

We’ve seen “feet of clay” in our Old Testament study as the three greatest figures of the Old Testament, Abraham, Moses, and David all had problems. Elijah, after one of the most spectacular victories in the Bible, folds like a cheap tent when threatened by the wicked Queen Cruella de Vil (a.k.a. Jezebel). After the victory on Mount Carmel, it seems inconceivable that this abrupt reversal could happen. He was on top of the mountain and fell into the valley of despair. Part of Elijah’s problem is identified in 1 Kings 19:3—because he was alone. The verse concludes with “…and he left his servant there.” He had nobody to help him. In contrast, Paul recognized his need for others while he was imprisoned. Elijah didn’t write Psalm 88, but it sounds like he could have. We can all end up as “cave” men or women in the pit of despair. Sometimes our depression is genetic—we come from families prone to it. Often our problem is circumstantial, and depression is a realistic conclusion that things can end in a bad place. Like walking through the valley of the shadow of death, we just don’t want to get stuck here. Wilderness, valleys and caves are part of life. Read all of 1 Kings 19, but also read chapter 21. Elijah recovers. In 2 Kings 1-2, his successor, Elisha, is named. He embodies hope.