Juniper tree. — A sort of broom, found abundantly in the desert. It has been noted that its roots were much prized for charcoal, the “coal” of 1 Kings 19:6.
I am not better than my fathers. — The exclamation is characteristic. Evidently he had hoped that he himself was “better than his fathers” as a servant of God — singled out beyond all those that went before him, to be the victorious champion of a great crisis, “he, and he alone” (1 Kings 18:22; 1 Kings 19:10-14). Now he thinks his hope vain, and sees no reason why he should succeed when all who went before have failed. Why, he asks, should he live when the rest of the prophets have died?