Why was Elijah so afraid of Jezebel that he fled immediately after performing a great miracle?

Question

In 1 Kings 18, verse 16 onwards we read that Elijah performed a miracle.
He prays to God and brings fire down from heaven to consume the sacrifice.
He is shown as a courageous prophet who is not afraid of King Ahab or the followers of Baal.

But in the following chapter, we read that he runs away after Jezebel sends him a death warning.

Was he insecure or unsure that God who performed miracle through him, would also save him from Jezebel?

Answer 1

Was he insecure or unsure that God who performed miracle through him, would also save him from Jezebel?

We aren't told explicitly of course, but we do know that he was afraid Jezebel would kill him:

²Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” ³Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there._ESV

But he was apparently not afraid of death itself:

⁴But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”_ESV

Elijah seems to have had great confidence that God will judge the Baal-worshipers, but very little confidence that God would not also allow all his prophets to be killed by the sword:

¹⁰He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”_ESV

And God answers Elijah by promising that though yet more evil will afflict Israel, all those who remain faithful will escape:

¹⁸Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”_ESV

Assuming this speaks to the fear Elijah had, we can reason that Elijah was despairing that God's judgement would allow none to escape—indeed Paul quotes this verse in Romans 11 to support his argument that God has not utterly rejected his people Israel:

¹I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. ²God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? ³“Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” ⁴But what is God's reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” ⁵So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. ⁶But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace._ESV

Elijah's fear that God would not save Israel and would destroy all without mercy was perhaps more rational than fearing that God could not save him from Jezabel (as your question asks if I understand it correctly)—though perhaps he should have know better and been confident that God would always preserve a portion of Israel as His inheritance. But then again, Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, so perhaps it is not surprising that he did not.

Answer 2

That depends on how you translate the phrase

ויּרא ויּקם ויּלך אל נפשו

1. And he saw and arose and he went - for (the sake of) his life.

2. And he was afraid and arose and fled for his life.

There is an ambiguity in the word

יּרא

I am thinking we should accept translation #1. I am sure there is something somewhere among the annals of Confucius that says the wise would avoid confrontation and the Sun Tze's art of war recommends avoiding a battle is the best way to win a battle.

Answer 3

Yup, Elijah was able to do "small stuff", cruets of oil, bringing kids back from recent death, even making water burn on the Carmel, but he wasn't able to stand up to a wholly wicked person, Jezebel, directly. This is the text's way of telling us why he lost his commission. The supertext includes a celebration of the miracles but the subtext brings a criticism of Elijah and the miracle working traditions.

The supertext is the combination of the cycle of miracle stories with the flight from Jezebel and the transfer of the commission to Elisha after the admission of failure. The subtext is what the narrator intended us to make of this jarring juxtaposition. It looks like deadly criticism.