And how did the prophet receive her message?  He had not feared to encounter Ahab and all the priests of Baal, yet he quailed before the wrath of this terrible woman,—­this incarnate fiend, who cared neither for Jehovah nor his prophet.  Even such a hero as Elijah felt that he must now flee for his life, and, attended only by his boy-servant, he did not halt until he had crossed the kingdom of Judah, and reached the utmost southern bounds of the Holy Land.  At Beersheba he left his faithful attendant, and sought refuge in the desert,—­the ancient wilderness of Sinai, with its rocky wastes.  Under the shade of a solitary tree, exhausted and faint, he lay down to die.  “It is enough, O Jehovah! now take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”  He had outstripped all pursuers, and was apparently safe, yet he wished to die.  It was the reaction of a mighty excitement, the lassitude produced by a rapid and weary flight.  He was physically exhausted, and with this exhaustion came despondency.  He was a strong man unnerved, and his will succumbed to unspeakable weariness.  He lay down and slept, and when he awoke he was fed and comforted by an angelic visitor, who commanded him to arise and penetrate still farther into the dreary wilderness.  For forty days and nights he journeyed, until he reached the awful solitudes of Sinai and Horeb, and sought shelter in a cave.  Enclosed between granite rocks, he entered upon a new crisis of his career.

It does not appear that the future destinies of Samaria and Jerusalem were revealed to Elijah, nor the fate of the surrounding nations, as seen by Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel.  He was not called to foretell the retribution which would surely be inflicted on degenerate and idolatrous nations, nor even to declare those impressive truths which should instruct all future generations.  He therefore does not soar in his dreary solitude to those lofty regions of thought which marked the meditations of Moses.  He is not a man of genius; he is no poet; he has no eloquence or learning; he commits no precious truths to writing for the instruction of distant generations.  He is a man of intensely earnest convictions, gifted with extraordinary powers resulting from that peculiar combination of physical and spiritual qualities known as the prophetic temperament.  The instruments of the Divine Will on earth are selected with unerring judgment.  Elijah was sent by the Almighty to deliver special messages of reproof and correction to wicked rulers; he was a reformer.  But his character was august, his person was weird and remarkable, his words were earnest and delivered with an indomitable courage, a terrific force.  He was just the man to make a strong impression on a superstitious and weak king; but he had done more than that,—­he had roused a whole nation from their foul debasement, and left them quaking in terror before their offended Deity.

But the phase of exaltation and potent energy had passed for the time, and we now see him faint and despondent, yet, with the sure instinct of mighty spiritual natures, seeking recuperation in solitary companionship with the all-present Spirit.