I Kings 19:8
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So he got up and ate and drank. And strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
We left Elijah at the entrance of Jezreel, still appearing publicly, and all the people's eyes upon him. In this chapter we have him again absconding, and driven into obscurity, at a time when he could ill be spared; but we are to look upon it as a punishment to Israel for the insincerity and inconstancy of their reformation. When people will not learn it is just with God to remove their teachers into corners. Now observe, I. How he was driven into banishment by the malice of Jezebel his sworn enemy (Kg1 19:1-3). II. How he was met, in his banishment, by the favour of God, his covenant-friend. 1. How God fed him (Kg1 19:4-8). 2. How he conversed with him, and manifested himself to him (Kg1 19:9, Kg1 19:11-13), heard his complaint (Kg1 19:10-14), directed him what to do (Kg1 19:15-17), and encouraged him (Kg1 19:18). III. How his hands were strengthened, at his return out of banishment, by the joining of Elisha with him (Kg1 19:19-21).
Open source ↗19:8 Elijah’s determination to go to Mount Sinai took him on a journey of approximately 200 miles. The trip would not have required forty days and forty nights, so Elijah may have set a pace that was symbolic of Israel’s past. Moses spent forty days on Mount Sinai, and Israel subsequently wandered in the wilderness for forty years (Num 14:33-34; Deut 1:2-3). Forty sometimes represented a period of full testing (Gen 7:4; Ps 95:10; Jon 3:4; Matt 4:1-2).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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So Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.
Then I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, as I had done the first time. I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD and provoking Him to anger.
Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
Moses entered the cloud as he went up on the mountain, and he remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry.
But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.
where for forty days He was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He was hungry.
and He was there for forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and the angels ministered to Him.
Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke, because the LORD had descended on it in fire. And the smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.
And at the end of ten days, they looked healthier and better nourished than all the young men who were eating the king’s food.