Albert Barnes Commentary 1 Kings 19:12

"and after the earthquake a fire; but Jehovah was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice." — 1 Kings 19:12 (ASV)

A still small voice - literally, "a sound of soft stillness." The teaching condemns the kind of "zeal" in which Elijah had gloried—a zeal that manifested itself in fierce and terrible acts of vengeance. Instead, it exalts and recommends the mild and gentle temperament that beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

However, this lesson was so contrary to the character of the stern, harsh, and unsparing Tishbite that it could not have easily entered his heart. It may have moderated his excessive zeal for a time and inclined him toward gentler ways. But later in his life, his old harshness returned in a deed that prompted our Lord Himself to draw the well-known contrast between the spirits of the two dispensations (Luke 9:51–56).