The Limits of Power: Revisiting Elijah at Horeb

When the story of Elijah at Horeb (1 Kgs 19,3–18) is held in narrative continuity with the preceding showdown between Elijah and the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kgs 18,1–39), it reads as a compelling lesson on the limitations of power. Whereas power is clearly the means of persuasion on Mount Carmel, the “still small voice” (1 Kgs 19,12, NKJV) at Horeb introduces a revised perception of transcendence within which power is no longer the central element.