Physical Self-Care
The command to eat is not unique to Elijah’s story in 1 Kings 19. It is pretty straightforward in its meaning, especially since immediately after, God provided Elijah with food. However, the implications of this command to eat go beyond feeding oneself. To dig deeper into this idea, we are going to use a Bible study technique called a concept study. Let’s look at some other Old Testament examples where a person is commanded to eat. Instead of determining the sense of the word like we did with “arise,” we are focusing on the reason this command was given. [This list is not exhaustive of every possible implication, but it should be sufficient for our purposes.]
I think that Elijah’s situation involved a mixture of these implications to God’s command to eat, especially since many of them overlap.
1. God’s command to eat was an injunction to move away from Elijah’s despondent feelings (according to implication #1 above).
This aspect of the command had a cultural significance that perhaps does not easily translate to our Western mindset. In the Ancient Near East, fasting was a mourning ritual that physically displayed internal feelings of a troubled spirit, humility, or grief. In the Old Testament, fasting often included other practices of lamentation and penitence, like tearing clothes, dressing in sackcloth and ashes, or putting dust on your head. This concept of fasting contrasted starkly to how often celebration concurs with feasting.[1] In 1 Kings 19, God veers Elijah away from his depression by giving him something else to do. And that something was the exact opposite of how Elijah would normally express his depressed state of mind. God’s command to eat would cause his outward appearance not to match his internal conflict. When we are depressed, it is easy to make lots of decisions according to how we feel. God’s call to arise calls us to move away from these comfortable patterns. Instead, He calls us to do the healthy thing—i.e., the opposite of those self-destructive behaviors that externalize an inner self-hatred. In my experience, I must act my way into feeling rather than feeling my way into action. Feeling my way into action keeps me in the same pattern of depression, while changing my outward action often improves my feelings. If I take care of my physical body, I will feel better about myself. While this relief from depression doesn’t happen overnight, as we will see in Elijah’s case, God’s command to eat teaches us to feed our physical bodies in order that the change in outward action would improve our internal feelings.
2. God’s command to eat served to restore Elijah to strength and to satisfy his hunger (according to implications #3 and #4).
1 Kings 19:7 says explicitly that Elijah needed to eat, or he would not have the strength he needed for his journey. As we saw last time, “arise” was an indicator of transition—a command for Elijah to get up from sleeping so he could get busy eating. Elijah’s body needed sustenance for the journey to Mount Horeb. God intentionally provided the life-giving staples of bread and water, not choice foods or fatty foods we see referenced in the more celebratory passages above. God urged Elijah to eat for its nourishing and restorative power. Once he has eaten, Elijah is strengthened by the food and makes the 40-day journey to Horeb (v. 8). When I am depressed, I often forget to eat or I make poor food choices that are not nourishing or restorative, merely ensuring my survival rather than establishing my strength. God commands us to eat because He cares for the needs of our physical bodies.
These implications of God’s command to eat bring us to the possibility that eating might serve as a synecdoche. Unless you are an English teacher, you’re probably wondering, “What in the world is a synecdoche?? And how do I even pronounce that?” A synecdoche (sin-NECK-doc-key) is a really complicated name for a very common figure of speech where a part(s) of something is used to refer to the whole.[2] For example, when you say “Martha got a new set of wheels,” you mean that she got a new car. Or when you call for all hands on deck, you’re referring to everyone (or all their hands). In the Bible, we see this figure of speech most clearly in the Lord’s Prayer when Jesus asks God to “give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). We instinctively understand that Jesus is not asking God for bread only, rather, bread represents all food. Bread (as a type of food) refers to the whole—any food we might eat throughout the day. So how does this apply to God’s command to Elijah to eat? The concept of eating is a part that represents the whole concept of physical self-care. After that initial arising, it was important for Elijah to regain his strength not only through his appetite but also in his rest. It is not out of the realm of possibility that God’s command to eat encompassed all aspects of Elijah’s physical wellbeing.
The idea of caring for our physical bodies because God cares for them is not unique to this one passage of Scripture. Throughout the New Testament, we see reasons we should value our physical bodies. Jesus cared for the needs of people’s physical bodies, and, specifically, their needs for food to satisfy hunger (Matthew 14:13-21; John 6:1-5). When He healed people of their diseases, they felt this healing in their body (Mark 5:24-34). As Christians, we are called to offer our bodies as living sacrifices in service to the Lord (Romans 12:1-2). Our bodies are part of Christ’s own body; we are each a temple for the Holy Spirit. It is important to honor God in our bodies because they really belong to Him (1 Corinthians 6:15-20. Likewise, when we serve others, our service is not complete unless we meet their physical needs (James 2:14-17). One day, we look forward to the redemption of our bodies when we are bodily resurrected like Christ was (1 Corinthians 15:35-44; 2 Corinthians 5:1-4). The New Testament is clear that we should take care of our physical bodies because God cares for them.
Furthermore, Scripture says that Jesus humbled Himself to take on flesh and become a physical body (John 1:14; Philippians 2:6-8). We believe in His bodily Incarnation. Jesus bore our sins in His body (1 Peter 2:24), physically died (John 19:30-33), and then was resurrected bodily after three days where we see him eating and physically interacting with the disciples (John 20:24-29; Luke 24:36-43). And we believe that Christians will one day be bodily resurrected in the same manner He was (Romans 8:23). At the very beginning, God created man in His image and said that he was good (Genesis 1:27-31). God made our physical bodies to be just as much a part of us as our spirit. Our physical health is just as important as our spiritual health in God’s eyes.
Applying God’s action plan to “arise and eat” involves not only eating but also caring for our physical bodies. He wants us to choose the restorative and nourishing option rather than the self-destructive one. He has shown us in His Word that He cares for our body because our physical bodies are part of Christ’s. We are part of Him. Your body is valuable to God. When we care for our body, we are leading our feelings into valuing our body as well.
Do you have any self-destructive behaviors that God has brought to mind through today’s lesson? You are not alone, if you said yes to this. What are some ways you can begin to arise from those habits in order to take care of your physical body? Reference the Wheel of Physical Wellness if you need some categories to think about in relation to your own self-care.
[1] Seal, David, and Kelly A. Whitcomb. “Fasting.” The Lexham Bible Dictionary. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
[2] “Synecdoche.” Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/synecdoche.
