Elijah sleeps under the tree, a bedtime story
Elijah sleeping under the tree is the story in 1 Kings 19 of a prophet so tired and sad that he tells God he has had enough. He lies down under a juniper tree and sleeps. An angel wakes him with bread baked on coals and a jar of water, he eats, and he sleeps again. The verse to keep is the angel’s first gentle word: Arise and eat!
God’s first answer to a worn out heart is food and rest.
Before you read
This is 1 Kings 19:4 to 8, printed in full below. Elijah was a prophet who had just come through something very big and very hard (1 Kings 18), and then a queen threatened his life (19:1 to 3). He went off alone into the wilderness, worn out and very low.
In the Bible, Elijah asks God to take his life. This retelling keeps that true but gentle for young ears: he was very tired and very sad, and he told God he had had enough. Notice what God does first. There is no speech, only bread, water and sleep, twice. If an older child or anyone in your home ever talks about not wanting to be alive, take it seriously and get help today: in the US, call or text 988; elsewhere, your local emergency number.
Elijah was a prophet. That means he carried messages from God to people. He had been very brave for a long time, and now some powerful people were very angry with him.
And Elijah was tired all the way through, in his legs and in his heart. He left his helper in a town called Beersheba, and he walked on alone, out into the wilderness. He walked for a whole day, where there were no houses and no people. Only sand and rocks and sky.
At last he came to a small tree, a juniper tree, and he sat down underneath it, in its thin bit of shade.
Elijah was very tired and very sad. He told God he had had enough. It is enough.
That is what he said.
Then he lay down under the tree, and he fell asleep. A little wind moved the thin branches above him. The wilderness was very quiet, and Elijah slept and slept.
While he was sleeping, someone came. An angel touched him, and said to him, Arise and eat!
Elijah opened his eyes and looked. There by his head was a round cake of bread, baked on hot coals, still warm. And beside it was a jar of water.
So Elijah sat up. He ate the bread, and he drank the water. The bread filled his empty tummy, and the cool water filled his dry mouth. And then do you know what he did? He lay down again and went back to sleep.
Nobody hurried him. Nobody told him to cheer up. God gave him bread and water, and let him sleep.
After a while the angel of the LORD came a second time. He touched Elijah again, and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.
The angel knew how far Elijah still had to go. He knew how tired Elijah was. It was all right to need help.
So Elijah got up, and he ate, and he drank. And that food made him strong, strong enough to walk for forty days and forty nights, all the way to Horeb, the mountain of God.
There on the mountain God spoke to Elijah again. First came a great wind, then an earthquake, then a fire, but God was not in any of them. After the fire there was a still, small voice. That was where God was.
Some days you might feel tired all the way through, like Elijah. That is all right. God knows about it, and he is not cross with you. Sometimes the best thing he gives is a warm supper, a drink of water, and a good long sleep.
So tonight you can lie down, like Elijah under his little tree. Let God take care of you while you rest. In the morning there will be strength for the day.
The verse to keep
He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat!”
A prayer to close
Dear God, thank you for my supper and my drink of water and my bed. When I am tired or sad, thank you that you are kind to me, like you were kind to Elijah. Please give me good sleep tonight, and strength in the morning. Amen.
Questions to talk about
- What did the angel bring Elijah? What would you like for a midnight snack?
- Elijah slept, ate, and slept again. Why do you think God let him rest first?
- Have you ever felt tired all the way through? Who helped you?
Read it in the Bible
4But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree. Then he requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is enough. Now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.” 5He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat!” 6He looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on the coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. 7The LORD’s angel came again the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” 8He arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, God’s Mountain.
Questions people ask
Why was Elijah under the juniper tree?
After a queen named Jezebel threatened his life (1 Kings 19:1 to 3), Elijah went a day’s walk into the wilderness and sat down under a juniper tree, worn out and in despair. Some translations call it a broom tree.
What did the angel give Elijah to eat?
A cake of bread baked on hot coals and a jar of water, twice (1 Kings 19:6 to 8). In the strength of that food Elijah walked forty days and forty nights to Horeb.