1 Kings 19:20 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

He left the oxen and ran after Elijah Being powerfully moved to follow him, and wholly give himself up to his function. And said Or, but he said, or, yet he said, Let me kiss my father, &c. That is, bid them farewell by the usual ceremony. And he said Go back again Take thy leave of them, as thou desirest, and then return to me again. For what have I done unto thee? Either, first, to hinder thee from performing that office: that employment to which I have called thee doth not require an alienation of thy heart from thy parents, nor the total neglect of them. Or, secondly, to make such a change in thee, that thou shouldest be willing to forsake thy parents, and lands, and all, that thou mayest follow me. Whence comes this marvellous change? It is not from me, who did only throw my mantle over thee, but from a higher power, even from God's Spirit, which hath changed thy heart, and consecrated thee to thy prophetical office; which, therefore, it concerns thee vigorously to execute, and wholly to devote thyself to it.