(9) В¶ And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?
Some have thought that this was the very spot in which Moses was placed when the Lord showed him his glory. If so, how sweet a token of the presence of Jesus. For Jesus is all the goodness of Jehovah passing by, considered in redemption. So thought the church when she said: Oh! my dove, that art in the clefts of the rocks, in the secret places of the stairs; let me see thy countenance: let me hear thy voice. Song of Solomon 2:14. But the word of the Lord came to him also similar to the voice which spake to Adam in the garden; Adam! where art thou? What doest thou here, Elijah? However solemn and alarming to both, and though speaking in a way of demand, yet to both the words were alike full of grace and mercy. Reader! do remark from the enquiry that all communion and converse between God and sinners through Jesus, begins in a sense of our wrong conduct, and the Lord's rich and free mercy.