- We just look at Jeroboam, and then Omri as the worst kings
- Ahab one-ups them -- how?
- He introduces a foreign wife as queen in Israel
- Jezebel means dunghill
- Jeroboam refashioned worship of Yahweh, but Ahab replaces God with Baal (and Jezebel with Asherah)
- There are actually three different stories of trust
- The first, God takes away the rain and tells Elijah to live near a brook, and ravens feed him
- Then Elijah is to live off a widow and her son who have nothing
- Then God allows the widow's son to die, and Elijah, blaming himself, prays and God performs another miracle
- What I find interesting is that if Elijah had not come, what would have happened to the woman and her boy?
- They probably would have died
- So after providing a miracle to keep them both alive, how does the women respond to her son's death
- She blames the prophet (and to a certain extent God)
- She blames her sin
- APPLICATION: Suffering cause us to respond in an emotional and illogical manner to events. We are slow to remember God's blessings, but quick to blame God when life does not turn out the way we wished
- APPLICATION: Note that Elijah learns a great lesson in prayer (that he will apply later). Certain request require fervent prayer
- First thing to notice is Obadiah -- what do we learn about him
- God calls him a devout believer
- He served a wicked King
- He disobeyed orders that were morally wrong
- And while he put his life on the line, his trust in God waivered when God calls him to a new task
- APPLICATION : We forget God's protection when God calls us to a new task
- There are only a few passages in scripture that are quite so blatant in their description of a contest between good and evil. Job is an interesting story along this line, and Elijah and the prophets of Baal are the other. In both, God intervenes in a very miraculous manner. But what will be the ultimate result in the history of Israel?
- The great miracle will do little to change the course of Israelite history
- Not even the next king will be any different
- We skipped Elijah's taunting near the end of Baal's 6-hour turn. Elijah actually does make fun of their God, suggesting that he was relieving himself, or a long journey (showing his limitations). Clearly the pagan religion was harmful as evidenced by the cutting of the body by the prophets
- I don't believe that making fun or speaking bad of another religion is a good idea. Again, the text only tells us what happened in history. Not everything that Elijah did was biblical
- We could compare the two cases. Baal's prophets took all morning and did all kinds of things to make something happen. Elijah does everything to make sure his sacrifice won't catch on fire, and then does one simple prayer
- What is the result?
- An amazing miracle
- 450 prophets immediately killed
- No long-term change in anything
- APPLICATION: Jesus relates a story of Abraham and a rich man who wanted to warn his brothers. In essence, people don't believe in miracles. Their effect is short term with little long-term value
- Definitely, not seeing is not believing
- How does Elijah respond to Jezebel's threats and why?
- He becomes discouraged
- Mountain top experiences are often followed by valley discouragements
- Real life has a way of making us forget the great things of God
- Elijah, after such an incredible miracle, is ready to completely give up -- why?
- Fear of his life
- No impact on the people
- Relying on the miraculous over the daily (to be seen next). You can not fuel your Christian life by experiences
- Why does God ask questions?
- God's questions are never his benefit, they are always for the recipient's benefit
- How does Elijah respond?
- The covenant is rejected by the people
- The places of worship are broken down
- The other spiritual leaders are dead
- And I am also going to die
- SUMMARY: pity party
- God tells him to go out and see the presence of God. What does he see?
- A miraculous wind that can shatter mountains and rocks (Lord is not in the wind)
- A powerful and miraculous earthquake (Lord is not in the earthquake)
- A fire (Lord is not in the fire)
- A gentle whisper (What are you doing here, Elijah?)
- APPLICATION: Our trust is often held together by the miraculous. But a real relationship with God is not based on mountain top experiences, but on listening to the gentle whisper of God. Elijah was living off of the miraculous, but God wanted him to live off the daily, routine relationship with him
- APPLICATION: Also, the question -- what are you doing here, (tom)? What is God wanting me to do, and what am I doing to fulfill the gentle whispers? Elijah, ridiculously repeats his answer back to God, as if God had a hearing problem. Elijah had a listening problem
- "Go back the way you came" is the reason God asks "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
- And oh, by the way, there are seven thousand in ISRAEL who have not bowed the knee to Baal -- it is never as bad as you might think it is
- One more note: James says Elijah was a man of prayer just like us. But in three cases of prayer, in only one case did God answer immediately
1 Kings 16:29-33 (NIV) In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel twenty-two years. 30 Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. 31 He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. 32 He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. 33 Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him.
1 Kings 17:1, 7-9, 13-14, 17-18, 22-23 (NIV) 17:1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word."
7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the Lord came to him: 9 "Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food."
13 Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land.'"
17 Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. 18 She said to Elijah, "What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?"
22 The Lord heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived. 23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, "Look, your son is alive!"
1 Kings 18:1-14 (NIV) After a long time, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah: "Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land." 2 So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.
Now the famine was severe in Samaria, 3 and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of his palace. (Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord. 4 While Jezebel was killing off the Lord's prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.) 5 Ahab had said to Obadiah, "Go through the land to all the springs and valleys. Maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive so we will not have to kill any of our animals." 6 So they divided the land they were to cover, Ahab going in one direction and Obadiah in another.
7 As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him, bowed down to the ground, and said, "Is it really you, my lord Elijah?"
8 "Yes," he replied. "Go tell your master, 'Elijah is here.'"
9 "What have I done wrong," asked Obadiah, "that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death? 10 As surely as the Lord your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you. 11 But now you tell me to go to my master and say, 'Elijah is here.' 12 I don't know where the Spirit of the Lord may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn't find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the Lord since my youth. 13 Haven't you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord? I hid a hundred of the Lord's prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water. 14 And now you tell me to go to my master and say, 'Elijah is here.' He will kill me!"
1 Kings 18:16-21 (NIV) So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17 When he saw Elijah, he said to him, "Is that you, you troubler of Israel?"
18 "I have not made trouble for Israel," Elijah replied. "But you and your father's family have. You have abandoned the Lord's commands and have followed the Baals. 19 Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table."
20 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him."
But the people said nothing.
1 Kings 18:30-39 (NIV) Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come here to me." They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which was in ruins. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, "Your name shall be Israel." 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, "Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood."
34 "Do it again," he said, and they did it again.
"Do it a third time," he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.
36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."
38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The Lord-he is God! The Lord-he is God!"
1 Kings 19:1-4 (NIV) Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them."
3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, Lord," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors."
1 Kings 19:9-14 (NIV) There he went into a cave and spent the night.
And the word of the Lord came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
10 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."
11 The Lord said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by."
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
14 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."
1 Kings 19:15-18 (NIV) The Lord said to him, "Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel — all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him."
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