I Kings 17:1-19:18Elijah is a key character in both the Old and New Testaments. John the Baptist was seen as one who came “in the Spirit of Elijah,” both in his eccentric ways of dressing, speaking and acting and as a forerunner of the Messiah. Elijah and Moses appear with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8). Elijah’s name literally means “My God is the Lord” (Eli is “My God” and “Jah” is short for Yahweh). The three spiritual gifts highlighted by his ministry are prophecy, healing and miracles.
Prophecy, as we discussed in class, is not primarily about predicting the future, more forth-telling (speaking the word of the Lord to people) than foretelling. As you can see, Elijah does do a little foretelling (the prediction of the famine and its end) but he mainly is one who declares the Lordship of God at a time when the people and leadership had strayed. I Kings 16:29-35 tells the corruption of the leadership and the following after Ba'al, the result of King Ahab taking a foreigner as his wife. Elijah’s ministry takes place in the northern kingdom, with the capital city of Samaria.
Chapter 17 tells of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath. The backdrop for this is a long-lasting famine. For awhile, Elijah is fed by ravens twice a day and drinks from a brook, until the famine finished off the brook. While at the woman’s house, her provision of food for Elijah, what she thought was the last meal for her and her son, enables her to have food for the rest of the famine (a miracle). Her second blessing was the resurrection of her son (a healing). For me, it is important to note that these signs of God through Elijah point to things that happen to us all when we open up to God’s work in our lives and put our faith to work. We give and it comes back several times over, not just in quantity but in quality of life. And our relationship with God does bring life where there was death, if not physically, certainly spiritually, relationally and so many ways.
I Kings 18:16 ff tells the epic story of Elijah vs. the 450 prophets of Ba’al. Ba’al (meaning “lord” or “master”) was a Syrian storm god, but like many of the Hindu deities, each community would have its own version of a Ba’al or Baalim (the plural). The contest is to find which God is really “Lord” and which is the imposter. The dancing and cutting was typical of the frenzy that was part of the cult practices of the nations surrounding Israel. We see here some of the atmosphere of what might have been happening around the Golden Calf in Exodus (without the sexual orgy that happened there). Elijah is quite the trash talker for being one against 450. Is this just arrogance or is it the spiritual gift of faith?
In verse 30, Elijah makes a most prophetic move. He gathers twelve stones to repair the altar and reminds the people of who and whose they really are. “You are Israel.” Then he prepares the sacrifice and for extra measure, invites the people present for this spiritual duel to pour water on the sacrifice three times. The prophets of Ba’al could not bring down fire on a dried out sacrifice, so how could it happen with one that was soaked? But, in answer to Elijah’s prayer, God does send fire that consumes the soaked sacrifice and all the water around it. The people immediately start crying out “The Lord, he is God”, which would have sounded like Elijah’s name in reverse, “Jah-Eli.” The crowd seizes the 450 prophets and kills them at Elijah’s command.
Chapter 18, verses 41-46, describes another miracle, the outrunning of the horse drawn chariots by Elijah. Running with the wind and fresh off a huge victory on Mt. Carmel, you would think Elijah would be higher than a kite. But chapter 19 shows the threat of Jezebel reducing him to severe depression. We have all experienced letdown, and this is surely what happened to Elijah. More than that, the writer of I Kings wants us to know that Elijah has clay feet just like everybody else. He is whiney, self-absorbed and doubtful. The miraculous, healing and prophetic powers of Elijah are God’s work through him.
The Lord’s appearance to Elijah in 19:9-18 is one that needs to be read regularly. In the midst of his great pity fiesta (what my friend Eddie Rivera calls it), God does an object lesson of his own. He sends a powerful wind, but God is not in the wind. Then God sends an earthquake, but God is not in that either. He even sends fire (the miracle sent with the prophets of Ba’al), but God is not there. God ends up present in a whisper. For those of us, who are addicted to noise and spectacle, to instant and dramatic results at our command, this is a wonderful corrective. Is Elijah following God for the show and the big impression he can make before the crowd, or is he following God in the quiet when nobody else is watching? Then to further deal with Elijah’s self-centeredness, God tells him that he has 7,000 other prophets that haven’t bowed the knee. In other words, “Elijah, this is bigger than you are and it’s not just all about you. Party’s over!”
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