1 Kings 19:11

And he said, Go forth [The LXX . inserts αὔριον , which, however, is destitute of authority, and was probably inserted from Exodus 34:2 , to explain the difficulty which the prophet's apparent disregard of this command creates], and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed, by [Heb. passeth by . Only used here and in Exodus 33:22 ; Exodus 34:6 of the Divine Being. The beatific vision must be transient. An abiding presence, a שֹׁכֵן , was more than man could bear. So Bähr. As Elijah does not seem to have gone forth from the cave until he heard the still small voice ( Exodus 34:13 ), some would take the participle עבֵר which is probably employed as more graphic, as a future, i.e; "the Lord will pass by," and this is the interpretation of the LXX .; ἰδοὺ παρελεύσιται κύριος καὶ ἰδοὺ πνεῦμα μέγα κ . τ . λ . The effect of this rearrangement of the text would be that the words, "And behold the Lord passing by," must be taken as a part of the message, "Go forth," etc; and not as a statement of what happened. That statement would then begin with the next words, "And a great and strong wind," etc. But in that case we might have expected " For behold," etc; or the "And behold" would have come before "a great and strong wind," etc. It is also to be considered—and this seems to me decisive—that the words "rent," "break," etc; are also participles, which it would be unnatural to divorce from the participle preceding], and a great and strong wind [Such as was net uncommon in that region. The approach to Sinai from the west is known as Nukb-Hawy, "the pass of the winds ." Elsewhere we find the Wady-el-Burk, or "valley of lightning." These phenomena—the tempest, fire, etc.—would be all the more awful and impressive because of the surrounding desolation and the utter solitude] rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind [Heb. not in the wind Jehovah ]: and after the wind an earthquake [Once before ( Exodus 19:18 ) an earthquake accompanied the descent of God upon the same mountain. The desert of Sinai, with the exception of the Hammam Pharoun and other hot springs, affords no traces of volcanic action. "Everywhere there are signs of the action of water, nowhere of fire" (Stanley). But רַעַשׁ properly means (compare rauschen, rush ) a crashing noise ( Job 39:24 ; Isaiah 9:4 ), and the mysterious sounds of Jebel Musa have often been remarked]; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: