Elijah on Mt. Horeb

This is a story from I Kings as found in the TANAKH.  As a feminist, I am very sensitive to using inclusive language.  In this instance, since this is a tale from a specific tradition, I am going to keep the words as translated in the NRSV.

Elijah was in a heap of trouble.  He had won a bet with the priests of Baal, resulting in their slaughter.  Now, Queen Jezebel was declaring her revenge for the murder of her priests.  Elijah, being a smart man, got out of town.  When Elijah stopped running, he sat under a broom bush, and wished to die.  Instead, an angel of the Lord sent him to Mt. Horeb.

The Lord then asked Elijah, “what are you doing here?”  Elijah responds, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” Lord tells Elijah to stand on the mountain, for the LORD is passing by.  And the procession starts:  a great wind, an earthquake, and then a fire.  But the Lord was not present in those.  After the fire there was a “sound of sheer silence.”  At this point, Elijah covered his face, knowing he was in the presence of the Most Holy.  Out of the silence came the voice with Elijah’s marching orders.

These are the verses where the concept of the “still small voice,” came to us through the KJV of the Bible.  The NRS Version translates this pericope as “sound of sheer silence.”  Silence is the context for hearing Spirit’s call.  And, as my therapist explained, we sit in the silence, and see what arises.  We become still in the silence.  We bring our longings, hopes, fears, joys, and sorrows, and rest in them.  From the silence a “voice” may arise.