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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Elijah's still small voice 1 Kings 19
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venbede
Shipmate
# 16669
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Posted
“It's God who comes to him in quietness.”
I don’t see how that is incompatible with the experience of contemplative prayer.
It’s not that the passage describes the human experience of contemplative prayer. It’s that the phrase “the sound of silence” is very evocative of it.
(The phrase “still small voice” is also highly evocative, but probably evoking something different.)
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Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
Posts: 3201 | From: An historic market town nestling in the folds of Surrey's rolling North Downs, | Registered: Sep 2011
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Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Adam.:
But, Elijah does come to the edge of the cave, and that's something.
It may not seem very bold compared with some of the things he's already done, but there is a daring in his coming to the edge of his cave.
Although, God has brought Elijah to the cave in the first place, providing for the journey to get there. I think that's also important. But, maybe I have an inner Calvinist fighting to get out ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
Possibly more significantly in relation to contemplative worship, if Elijah had been bolder and come out during all the cacophany would he have heard Gods voice then?
Which is why I worry about this passage as a Biblical justification for the practice of contemplative prayer. Jesus taking himself away to the wilderness provides much more justification for the practice IMO. Which isn't to say that the passage is incompatible with the practice (to address the point venbede makes).
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Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
quote:
Alan Cresswell: But, maybe I have an inner Calvinist fighting to get out
Put it back! Put it back! ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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venbede
Shipmate
# 16669
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Alan Cresswell:
Which is why I worry about this passage as a Biblical justification for the practice of contemplative prayer.
Now that does feed into my prejudices about Calvinism, as if there has to be a Biblical justification for every religious practice.
The passage provides an illuminating image.
[ 29. February 2016, 15:39: Message edited by: venbede ]
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Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
Posts: 3201 | From: An historic market town nestling in the folds of Surrey's rolling North Downs, | Registered: Sep 2011
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Anselm
Shipmate
# 4499
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Posted
My take on this passage is that Elijah has given up on Israel as a lost cause.
He has returned to Mt Horeb (=Mt Sinai) in language that echoes Moses assent of the mountain (Exodus 19).
When Moses was there God had appeared in earthquake, smoke and fire; Moses had received the Law, God had cut a covenant with Israel.
But for Elijah, God is not in the stereotypical theophanies of wind, earthquake and fire - he is in the sound of silence. God has nothing more to say, there will be no new covenant, no restart. God will faithfully continue with what he has already said - the Mosaic covenant.
Hence God's message is that Israel is not a lost cause - there will be a new generation of kings, and prophets; God has preserved a faithful remnant quote:
15 The Lord said to him, ‘Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel – all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.’
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carpe diem domini
...seize the day to play dominoes?
Posts: 2544 | From: The Scriptorium | Registered: May 2003
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