He lay down and fell asleep under a broom bush. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, "Arise and eat." He looked about; and there, beside his head, was a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water! He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the LORD came a second time and touched him and said, "Arise and eat, or the journey will be too much for you." He arose and ate and drank; and with the strength from that meal he walked forty days and forty nights as far as the mountain of God at Horeb. (I Kings, XIX, 5-8)
Of all the angels in Chagall's Bible, generally depicted as heroic, dramatic or fierce messengers of God, this angel is remarkable for its delicacy. Shyly approaching the prophet as a young child might observe a sleeping parent, the angel gently touches the prophet's weary head. In flight from Jezebel's wrath and willing himself to die, Elijah is saved by the angel's gift of the small jar of water and a small cake. The tenderness of the angel's gesture is comparable to the delicacy of Chagall's fine black touches which outline the angel's form, Elijah's face and hands, the horizon line and the young trees.