douglas

I appeal to your collective wisdom. Can you help me with an interpretation of this verse?

To put this in context, Elijah had just massacred Jezebel's priests of Baal, and was in hiding in fear of Jezebel's retribution.

I remember reading somewhere that this verse signalled a change in how the Hebrews viewed God. They no longer saw "the lord" as someone who controlled the forces of nature, but as more of a "small voice" who intervened with us humans in more indirect ways. Is this a common interpretation of this verse, or are there others?

yummyfur

Here's my take. A key line is 19:8 which tells you that Elijah is hiding in Mount Horeb(Sinai) the mountain of God. Then God makes the point that if the wind destroys God's mountain(Sinai), it doesn't mean the wind contains God now, or even an earthquake or fire. The point is that God is not actually in Mount Horeb, or for that matter the location of his altars(which have just been destroyed), so that even if all of these and Mount Horeb were destroyed, God would still exist and not be subject to the destroyers.

Besides I don't think the best reading is a "small voice" at the end, but "the thin sound of silence/calmness", so once it was silent or calm outside, Elijah came out of the cave.