1 Kings 19:4

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But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.

Verse 3 Read Chapter 19 Verse 5

Ambrose of Milan

AD 397

To be sure, it was not a woman that such a great prophet was fleeing, but it was this world. And it was not death that he feared, for he offered himself to the one that searched for him and said to the Lord, “Take my soul.” He endured a weariness of this life, not a desire for it, but he was fleeing worldly enticement and the contagion of filthy conduct and the impious acts of an unholy and sinful generation. - "Flight from the World 6.34"

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Ephrem The Syrian

AD 373

“He came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die.” He hopes for death, but not for the one with which Jezebel had threatened him, that is, the one that would have given the prophets of Baal the pretext to say that Baal had defeated the God of Israel, otherwise he would have never abandoned his servant in such a danger: therefore he had forsaken him by force. - "On the First Book of Kings 19.4"

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George Leo Haydock

AD 1849

Desert. It seems, towards Horeb. (Calmet) Tree. Hebrew Rot hem, which term the Septuagint retain, "Rathmen. "Symmachus has, "a shade. "(Haydock) Die. Elias requested to die, not out of impatience or pusillanimity, but out of zeal against sin; and that he might no longer be witness of the miseries of his people, and the war they were waging against God and his servants. See ver. 10. (Challoner) He does not wish to fall into the hands of Jezabel, lest the idolaters should triumph: but he is willing to die, if God so order it. (Calmet) Mathathias entertained the like sentiments, 1 Machabees ii. 7. Fathers: that I should live longer than they did. (Menochius) (Ecclesiasticus xxx. 17.) If he had been weary of life, why did he flee? His answer to Achab shows that he was by no means timid. (Calmet)

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Jerome

AD 420

Elijah, whom John the Baptist followed in spirit and virtue and who caused fire to fall from heaven and the waters of the Jordan to part by his prayers, was afraid of Jezebel and fled, and exhausted, he sat down in the wilderness under a tree, and, wearied from walking, he prayed for death, saying, “It is enough for me, Lord, take away my soul, for I am no better than my ancestors.” Who can deny that he was a just man? And yet fear, not to mention of a woman, but of a human being, proceeds from a disturbance of the soul, which cannot be faultless, as David says: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear what people can do to me.” - "Against the Pelagians 2.21"

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Richard Challoner

AD 1781

That he might die: Elias requested to die, not out of impatience or pusillanimity, but out of zeal against sin; and that he might no longer be witness of the miseries of his people; and the war they were waging against God and his servants. See ver. 10.

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Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation - 2 Peter 1:20