6. God dealt with this mood as He has done in all ages, as He had done before to Jacob, as He did afterwards to David and to Hezekiah, and to Isaiah and Jeremiah; and as the Son of God did to the antitype of Elijah--the great forerunner--when his faith failed him. He let the conviction steal into his mind that the ways of God are wider than men, and His thoughts greater than men's. He unteaches His prophet the delusion that everything depends on _him_. He shows him that though He works for men by men, and though
"God cannot make best man's best Without best men to help Him,"
still no living man is necessary, nor can any man, however great, either hasten or understand the purposes of God.
Elijah had need to be taught that man is nothing--that God is all in all. Instead of answering his complaint, the voice said to him: "Go forth to-morrow, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. Behold, the Lord is passing by."[684]
[679] The _coals_ (_reshaphim_) for the cake (LXX., ἔγκρυφίας ὀλυρίτης; Vulg., _subcinericius panis_) were the dry twigs of the broom plant, still sold for that purpose in the markets of Cairo. Comp. Psalm cxx. 4; "_coals of juniper_."
[680] 1 Kings xix. 5. מַלְאָךְ means "a messenger," and in verse 2 is used of the messenger of Jezebel.
[681] Exod. xxxiii. 22.
[682] _Bible Educator_, iii. 135.
[683] The use of the plural, and the absence of any objections to an uncentralised worship, are proofs of the northern origin of the Elijah-episode.
[684] LXX., αὔριον; Josephus, _Antt._, VIII. xiii. 7; Comp. Exod. xxxiv. 2. It is hardly likely that the stupendous vision would follow instantly and without a moment's preparation.