Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In our last posting we talked about Rehoboam (king of Judah) and Jeroboam (king of Israel) from 1 Kings 12-14. I hope you got a chance to read the text for finer details. Today’s posting will skip a few of the minor kings and focus on a really interesting part of Israel’s history, the era of king Ahab and the prophet Elijah. If you’d like to read it for yourself, today’s story comes from 1 Kings 17 through 19.

Things can change fast

Not even 50 years had passed from the death of Solomon to the ascent of Ahab to the throne of Israel, but a lot had happened to corrupt the nation of Israel. Solomon’s allowance of foreign gods in Jerusalem and Jeroboam’s changes to the worship of God had paved the way for full-scale abandonment of the worship of the one true God. There were hardly any followers of God anymore. In fact Elijah’s name his main message to the people of Israel during the time “YHWH (God’s personal name) is God”. Add to all of this, king Ahab had also decided to marry the daughter of the king of Sidon (a Canaanite seacoast city), Jezebel—a true evangelist for the religion of Baal.

Consequences for falling away

Because of Israel’s great apostasy (apostasy simply means morally or doctrinally “falling away” from the faith), Elijah had announced, as a spokesman for God, that there would be a great drought in Israel. Drought would meant no crops and no food, famine.

King Ahab, seeking to find Elijah and get him to stop the drought (forgetting, I suppose, that it was God who brought the drought as punishment for Israel) sent men everywhere in Israel to look for him. But Elijah wasn’t even in Israel, he had been led by God to an isolated brook on the east of the Jordan River. there God took care of Elijah by having ravens bring him food. Later, God led Elijah to a small town named Zarephath in land controlled by Sidon. In Zarephath Elijah stayed with a very poor widow. While at her house he was empowered to miraculously make enough flour and oil to feed the widow, her son, and Elijah until the drought was over. Elijah even raised the widow’s son from the dead through God’s power, of course. God took good care of Elijah, while the nation of Israel suffered greatly.

Who really troubled Israel?

After three years God came to Elijah to announce that the drought would come to an end. When Elijah came to Ahab, the king tried to play the “blame game”: (1 Kings 18:17) “Is this you, you troubler of Israel?” Elijah’s answer was to the point, (1 Kings 18:18) “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, because you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and you have followed the Baals.” But Elijah didn’t just drop the debate and “agree to disagree”. Elijah followed with a challenge to prove once and for all which God was true and which god was false. The challenge was to bring all the priests and prophets of Baal to Mt. Carmel and have a decisive contest between your gods and the true God. He challenged the onlooking Israelites, (1 Kings 18:21) “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.”

God v. Baal

The challenge was to build an altar, put wood and a sacrifice on it, and see which deity would answer and accept the offering by fire from heaven. The prophets and priest of Baal were given the first opportunity. They built the altar, put wood and a sacrifice on it, then prayed and prayed and prayed all day. Nothing, zip, nada.

In the late afternoon Elijah built his altar, put wood and a sacrifice on it, and then even had men drench it with water. Elijah then simply prayed one time, (1 Kings 18:36, 37) “…O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and I have done all these things at Your word. “Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that You, O LORD, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again.” Fire fell down from heaven immediately and not only consumed the burnt offering and wood, but the stones, the dust, and the water. The Israelites who witnessed this miraculous sign, on the command from Elijah from God, killed 850 prophets and priests of Baal. One might think that such a thing might have made a huge difference, but the result was only short-lived.

Ups and downs of following God

Before long Elijah was on the run again, this time from Jezebel who swore to kill Elijah, because he killed her prophets and priests. Elijah ran to Horeb, another name for Mt. Sinai, in Arabia, hid in a cave and held a bit of a pity-party for himself. God encouraged him with a little bit of “reality therapy” and gave him a new assignment.

Things to think about…

  • Things can change pretty quickly regarding faith and religion; consider the last 50 years in our own country.
  • God takes care of His people; we just need to have a little faith.
  • We may expect that as soon as we might find spiritual encouragement Satan will be trying to discourage us again.
  • Discouragement paralyzes folks from obedience and doing God’s will.