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Author
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Topic: Elijah
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Eden
unregistered
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posted
Three years it went on, hiding by the Cherith and living in an upper loft of the Gentile widow woman's house, lest anyone think evil of it, living with a widow woman ...
And then came the call, "Go show yourself to Ahab" and "I will cause it to rain again":
1 Kings 18
1 And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.
So Elijah went ... but he was not afraid that King Ahab would kill him, at least not until Elijah had spoken the word that "it would rain again hallelujah!" For Elijah had said to Ahab at the first:
1 Kings 17
1 And Elijah the Tishbite ... [had] said to Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be no dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
More than anything else, Ahab wanted rain ... what if Elijah died before he had said it would rain again!!!
As long as Elijah said nothing about rain, Elijah had the upperhand:
1 Kings 17
17 And it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, Are you he who troubles Israel?
18 And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but you and your father's house [have troubled Israel] in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and you have followed Baal.
19 Now therefore send and gather to me all Israel onto mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of the groves who eat at Jezebel's table.
20 And Ahab sent to all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together to mount Carmel.
Now, among other titles, Baal was the rain and storm god. And Mount Carmel was usually the first promontory to receive any rain in Israel. The promontory of Carmel itself was 556 feet high and from sea level it rose 1,742 feet above sea level.
So Mount Carmel, as far as Baal worship was concerned, was the "seat of Baal", the raingod, and here Elijah gathered the prophets of Baal, in their own domain and backyard:
1 Kings 17
20 So Ahab sent to all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together to mount Carmel.
1 man against 450, in their own "sanctuary". You gotta love it.
love, Eden
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WildB
Moderator
Member # 2917
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posted
A man of Like Nature.
James.5
[17] Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
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That is all.....
Posts: 8775 | From: USA, MICHIGAN | Registered: Mar 2004
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Eden
unregistered
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posted
I'm reading an interesting little book about Elijah, called "Meet Me on the Mountain", by William J. Petersen. I paraphrase:
At first Elijah did not have it so good. He had to say to the wicked King Ahab that it would not rain until Elijah said so:
1 Kings 17
1 And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel lives before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
Then God said to Elijah, "Go hide yourself by the brook Cherith" and "I will feed you there by ravens".
Now, ravens were an unclean bird, and after all that victory, God is asking the famous Elijah to "go hide himself" and to "be fed by unclean ravens".
1 Kings 17
6 And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.
And so it says in the New Testament:
Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
2 Corinthians 1
3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.
Well, so, things aren't going as good anymore as they did on mount Carmel. King Ahab and Queen Jezebel are hunting for him, and here Elijah is doing much of nothing by the brook Cherith.
And then, to top it off, the brook Cherith dries up:
1 Kings 17
7 And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
Elijah must have gone, "Oh, oh, the brook has dried up, what am I going to drink now"?
But then the word of the LORD came to Elijah:
1 Kings 17
8 And the word of the LORD came to him, saying,
9 Arise, get yourself to Zarephath which belongs to Zidon and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain you.
"Oh, oh, to Zarephath? You are sending me right into the country and under the nose of Jezebel's father???"
"And LORD, if you are going to send me there, can't you at least let me dwell with someone who has resources and plenty of food so that I won't be a burden on anyone"?
"And why would you send me to a Gentile?" "And not just a Gentile but a Gentile WOMAN?" And not just a Gentile woman but a Gentile WIDOW WOMAN"??
1 Kings 17
10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her and said, Fetch me, I pray you, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.
Think of it, after all the great victory that Elijah had, the best God could reward Elijah for risking his life was to make him hide by the brook Cherith and be fed by unclean ravens, and then the brook dries up, and then God tell Elijah to go to Zarephath, a suburb of Zidon whose King Ethbaal is the father of Jezebel, and this time he's at a Gentile widow woman and a son who can barely sustain their own lives!
And then, while Elijah is with the widow woman, her son dies:
1 Kings 17
17 And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him {i.e., he died}.
How do you think Elijah must have felt? More trouble!! God could at least have kept this son alive because this widow woman depended on this son to provide for her in her old age, and now the son was also dead. Things were going from bad to worse.
Romans 8:28
For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Then one day the word of the LORD comes to Elijah again, "Go and show yourself to Ahab" and "I will cause it to rain again".
1 Kings 18
1 And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go show yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.
One can imagine Elijah thinking, "God, let's just skip the 'show yourself to Ahab stuff' and why don't you just go ahead and cause it to rain again by Yourself"?
It is clear that God, who knows all things, is able to lead His servants, but that there may be many times when, to the servant, it looks all wrong:
Go HIDE by the brook Cherith? Be FED by unclean ravens? And the brook dries up? You want me to go to Gentile Zarephath? And to a Gentile widow WOMAN? And now You want me to go show myself to Ahab? Yep, all that, and more.
Isaiah 55:8
For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the LORD.
Isaiah 55:9
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.
love, Eden
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