The answer is not a justification of the ways of God, nor a direct reproof of the prophets weakness and despondency, nor an explanation or application of what Elijah had seen. Elijah said, "Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not. And the king of Israel went to his house heavy and displeased, and came to Samaria.". Elijah tells the prophets to choose the bullock, and dress it first; and so they do. They are each of them different. Elijah gives the same answer (1 Kings 19:14; 1 Kings 19:14), complaining of Israel's apostasy from God and the ruin of religion among them. In times of the greatest degeneracy and apostasy God has always had, and will have, a remnant faithful to him, some that keep their integrity and do not go down the stream. Now the men did diligently observe whether any thing would come from him, and did hastily catch it: and they said, Thy brother Ben-hadad.
God was about to bring his judgments upon the land, and especially on the house of Ahab. And I said, "If you want to really get farm work, you better stop in one of these communities between here and San Francisco, Salinas or somewhere, you're never going to get a job on a farm up there. If you are come out to see wonders wrought and to see great things done you have made a great mistake; and if you are caught by such things you will fall into a serious error, and you will lose the place of blessing to which you are called. Prophecy, in the Christian sense of the word, no doubt as such when compared and contrasted with miracles prophecy is for the church. 19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. The blow was only to fall in the days of his sons. And it came to pass at the seventh time" patience must have its perfect work in every case "that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand." And there are some back seat Christians too with lots of good ideas about what somebody else could do but never getting into the hot seat and doing those things themselves. He said, "I have been very jealous." You really don't mean that.The prophet is saying, "Lord, slay me, I've had it. ", So Obadiah, with this pledge of the, prophet, goes and tells his master; and Ahab meets Elijah.
And so he went to sleep and when he woke up, the angel was there, [had prepared a meal for him,] and said, Come on and eat ( 1 Kings 19:5 ). "And he said, Go again, seven times. There was the point.
He said, "It is enough; now, O Jehovah, take away my life." The occasion required it. And he came to Horeb the mountain of God ( 1 Kings 19:8 ). Now he could be a sign a sign to king Ahab and he goes. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant. "What brings thee so far from home? The LORD tells Elijah to anoint Elisha as prophet in his place (1 Kings 19:16), language usually reserved for kings or priests, and such an apprenticeship with the prophet likely implied succession.
Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab every man child, and him that is shut up and left in, Israel, and will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin. 1 Kings 19:15-21 The high priest's sin had precisely this same effect, that is, it damaged the communion of the whole people, just as the whole people's guilt would have interfered with, or affected, him. "Take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers." We need to get away from the shaking and the things around us to get alone to where I can really hear that still, small voice of God within as He guides me, as He assures me of His love, as He assures me of His purpose. You remember how God cared for Elijah and revealed His Almighty power to him, and spoke to him in that still small voice of calm, that gentle whisper. There is no power in flesh, even in a saint of God nor in a prophet. 10 You have asked a difficult thing, Elijah said, yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yoursotherwise not. And mark, too, how completely God shows the connection of this. Amos 7:14-15; Luke 9:62).
one. There were many widows in Israel; God chose this one outside Israel. It was the testimony for the prophet to bring in God, for that is the very business of the prophet to bring in God, as we see in 1 Corinthians 14:1-40 that where there is prophecy, the man, if he were an unbeliever, is smitten in his conscience and falls down and says, "God is in you of a truth." And what was the consequence? Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table." Moses had not sanctified Jehovah when the great trial came, for when Jehovah was full of grace towards the people, Moses, smitten by the people's dishonour that they had put upon him and his brother, resented it, and Moses would have brought out something judicial. The New Testament shows us the key that is behind.
And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head.
And what the Scripture is saying is that God usually speaks to us in very natural ways.Don't expect God to speak in some earthquake, or in fact, it's awfully hard to hear God many times when our earth is shaking around us. I love you, How have we seen Gods work manifested in mentors, friends, or strangers? We catch their faith. We know that the prophetic call can be full of danger, loneliness, and despair. So Naboth perishes, but his blood was watched by the Lord, and the word comes forth, too, in consequence, through Elijah. 1 Kings 18:13). He gives the reasons why he retired into this desert and took up his residence in this cave. This would have spoiled the whole teaching of the Lord. the sword, and I, even I, only am left." Elijah has been associated consistently throughout the Kings narrative with water and food, particularly in times of drought and famine brought on by the apostasies of kings. Where was God? The same word is used of Joshuas relationship with Moses. We are called to be holy, set apart for God. And God will keep on filling us with His Holy Spirit again and again, as much as we need to be able to say and do the things He wants us to do. God doesn't like for us to do nothing. He was not alone in his stand for Yahweh (1 Kings 19:10; cf. "Yet I have left me," says He, "after all you have been saying as to 'I, and I only' yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him."
IV. This alone is the truth as to a miracle. Yahweh next directed Elijah to return to Israel to do three things (1 Kings 19:15-16). A new Christian needs to grow in their faith and learn to serve God in the church and in the world. In any other case death is a gain.
]. We learn how to cope with life. In the Old Testament God the Holy Spirit came upon specific individuals at specific times for particular purposes. And it's interesting how that when we are so upset, we oftentimes say things we don't really mean. It was not that the law was set aside any more than, as I said before, the natural laws of creation are set aside in the case of a miracle. 3. And this became apparent from another circumstance deeply to be considered by us. That is another thing altogether, and this is the true and only true application of the thought. "What doest thou here, in this cave? He had to be taught. No, no, you're not alone. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel. It was not in the presence of Jehovah in the presence of His Father here it was in the presence of Satan,. The reason is manifest. Hello brothers and sisters of Spiritual Q&A,I have a question Id like to ask. And the king of Israel said unto him, So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it. It was not what God was for Elijah, but what Elijah was for God. . I love that drive up the coast through Malibu and Point Mugu and on in that way. said he, for indeed it troubled him to appear to disobey a prophet "What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab to slay me? Despair of success hinders many a good enterprise. Never can it content itself with a part; it must have all God's people for God. 2022 bibleapppourlesenfants.com All rights reserved. , He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. On the contrary, He felt death, and He felt the gravity. For we must remember, and it is an important thing in looking at all these operations of the ancient testimonies of God to understand it, that a prophet had his warrant for what he did from God that not only the word of the Lord, but the power of God that accompanied it, was his warrant. 33.]. Now Elijah failed there, and failing there he failed God, for certainly these were very precious to God, and Elijah had not seen one of them, did not know one of them, did not suspect the existence of one. They are going to be thoroughly judged, but inasmuch as there was a measure of the outward holding of the true God a measure of truth and of honesty so far the king was a party. He answered the Lord the same way. Elishas response to Gods call gives a perfect example of how somebody should respond when God calls them.
He says, "I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there" birds which, as we all know, are remarkable for their voracity. And he said, Do it the second time. The question God puts to the prophet it, What doest thou here, Elijah?1 Kings 19:9; 1 Kings 19:9, and again 1 Kings 19:13; 1 Kings 19:13. God planted that thought in my mind, that still, small voice. He saw no manner of similitude, any more than Israel did when God talked to them in Horeb. But he returned back and he took a yoke of oxen, and he killed them, and he boiled their flesh, and he gave it to the people, and he ate. It is unclear whether this was a recognized symbol of apprenticeship, a common custom among prophets, or a gesture unique to Elijah himself. I just want sympathy at this point. Elijah, then, gives to Ahab a most solemn warning of the first great miracle which was itself a prophecy. Most miserable that they are obliged to own, perhaps, a rationalistic bishop, or a ritualistic one! I am reminded of the hymn I have decided to follow Jesus, which sums up this commitment to discipleship in starkly poignant terms: The world behind me, the cross before me, no turning back, no turning back., A resource for the whole church from Luther Seminary. "And they called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. Elijah? There were many lepers; it was not there that the grace of God was running, but it was towards the Syrian towards the great captain of their great enemy, for Syria was, at this time, perhaps their greatest foe. The call of Elisha is not like other prophetic call narratives in the Old Testament. Now the question was, "What are you doing here?"
And Elijah answered why he was there, not what he was doing there, but why he was there. We may be certain that Elijah indeed obeyed the heavenly commandments, even if our extremely-abbreviated records do not tell us anything about how or when he did so. That is, his soul took in the people of God in their whole twelve-tribe nationality as God's people, for faith never can do less than that. [Note: Ibid., p. They have slain thy prophets with the sword, who, it is probable, ministered at those altars. And therefore, shall one be jealous of the mighty grace of God working? "I have been very jealous." No one is willing to venture alone, forgetting that those are not alone who have God with them. (1.) There was no power to enter in either instance. God, when He gives a trial of faith, does not pare it down so as to spoil the very force of His blessing; but contrariwise. This is where faith really shows itself, not in finding fault only, and finding this or that that is not correct that is easy enough and requires no power at all, but the other does, and it requires what is greater than power grace willingness and delight of heart for that which is good. What signs of our talents and gifts have we seen in the past, and what must we give up to embrace the future God is making for us? within. I grant you that no man that knows what death is, that knows what judgment is, that knows what sin is, that knows what God is, could wish to die unless he knew the Saviour. And behold Jehovah passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before Jehovah; but Jehovah was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but Jehovah was not in the earthquake." 2. The comfortable information God gives him of the number of Israelites who retained their integrity, though he thought he was left alone (1 Kings 19:18; 1 Kings 19:18): I have left 7000 in Israel (besides Judea) who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Especially for people starting out in the Christian faith we have a little course called Making Disciples One to One for New Christians. He had put himself out of service. No doubt they deserved it, no doubt of it. It's hard to hear God when it seems like everything around us is being consumed. "What have I done to you" (1 Kings 19:20) is an idiom that means, "Do as you please." And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.". "Fill four barrels with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood. Oh, what a solemn warning this is for us, for it was not merely that the guilty man sought him, but he sought the guilty king of Israel. Elisha became the Apprentice. Elisha was empowered. He finds Elisha. We are called to be Gods children. Men are brought into the world; men die. Elisha became Elijahs attendant, Elijahs helper.
That point then gained was presently lost again, and Jezebel can do more to debauch them than I can to reform them. Follow the sidebar links to my Reflections on Theology, Ministry and Mission Blog at www.pbthomas.com/thoughts and my Evangelism Blog at www.takingeveryopportunity.org, God Inside Us The Helper John 14:15-27, Knocked down but never knocked out studies in 2 Corinthians. They knew very well that Samaria was a hill, and Jerusalem was a hill, and they thought that the Jehovah God of Israel was only a god of the hills. "God, You don't have a single one left in Israel." The restraint of all that would refresh the earth from the heavens had passed over the people a most solemn sign, for it was not merely water turned into blood, or various blows which fell upon the earth, but the very heavens were withdrawn from all the kindness of which they are the medium from all the refreshment that God is pleased to give this earth. Note, 1. "Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it. Elisha was discipled. Dost thou flee from Jezebel? I've been very jealous for You: for Israel has forsaken the covenant, they've broken down your altars, they've slain your prophets; I, only I am left; and they're looking for me to take my life ( 1 Kings 19:14 ). And yet suddenly I realized it was the Lord.
The world is full of back seat drivers. Full of good advice but never ever getting in the hot seat. But no, God would prove before all Israel how little His sympathies were with the people how completely He was independent of all such action. Elijah's work Elijah's proper work was closed.
But it was the blinding power of self even in a most true saint of God, for self always blinds, and the one and only thing that gives us to see clearly is when self is judged. In many ways Elijah, Israels savior, prefigured Jesus Christ and His ministry. The question was, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" [Note: J. And so the Lord re-commissioned him. 2. He wasn't. When the darkness was greatest.
Then Ben-hadad came forth to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot. He went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree, and he requested for himself that he might die. Myrothec. Other people think if we have the anointing of the Holy Spirit, that is enough. By slaughtering his oxen and feeding the people with them, Elisha establishes himself, like Elijah, as a source of Gods great abundance. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far offfor all whom the Lord our God will call. We need that kind of apprenticeship in the life of the church. The law had its own place according to its own proper sphere, but where it was disowned and where there was idolatry set up instead, there God acted according to His own sovereignty.
20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah.
Throwing a prophets cloak around a person symbolized the passing of the power and authority of the office to that individual. He felt the shock of an earthquake.
VI. And of Jezebel also spake Jehovah, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. So, how can we gain the power of prayer? Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of Jehovah; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. After many years with Elisha learning from Elijah as his apprentice, at the end of his life Elijah took Elisha out across the Jordan back into the desert. The law had its course where the law was owned, but these prophets who were acting thus were where the law was not owned, and, accordingly, there God acted according to His sovereignty. the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I, only, am left; and they seek my life to take it away. Restoration of Elijah (1 Kings 19:5-18),", "Taking Then the fire of Jehovah fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. "God teaches here that there is no such thing as a NECESSARY man; man, even at his best estate, is altogether vanity; but God is all in all. Very likely it will shock and provoke the flesh; very likely it will give ground for unbelief there, for you will find this to be most true that the very same things which are a support to faith are the stumbling-block to unbelief; but however that may be, God in no wise softened the trial, but brought it out to her in all its apparent harshness and difficulty.
It is not said, really, but, "in the sight of men." That is the effect of it the sense of the presence of God being there, not merely in the person that prophesies. 1 Peter 2 9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. And Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, and she said, So let the gods do to me, and even more also, if I don't make your life like the life of those prophets by to morrow this time. He has been bold in telling the king the guilty king. By that I mean, Elijah took Elisha as his disciple. Who has eternal life? Here we get the facts. Verse 1 Kings 19:15. Wishing to die is not the proof of faith at all. (2.) He could have stayed right back there in Jezreel and Jezebel would have taken care of it very gladly. The prophet makes no small demands upon her pity, he puts her faith thoroughly to the test, and says what, if he had not been a prophet, and if it had not been a trial of faith, would have been a most cruel and selfish word, for with what face could a man, as a man, have asked her out of her little her last meal to provide first for him and then for herself and her son? It was because he could not appear with any safety: "They seek my life to take it away; and I had better spend my life in a useless solitude than lose my life in a fruitless endeavour to reform those that hate to be reformed.". The precise cultural resonances of Elijahs mantle-toss are lost to us today. What Elijah proposed to himself in coming to lodge here, I cannot conceive, unless it was to indulge his melancholy, or to satisfy his curiosity and assist his faith and devotion with the sight of that famous place where the law was given and where so many great things were done, and hoping to meet with God himself there, where Moses met with him, or in token of his abandoning his people Israel, who hated to be reformed (in the latter case, it agrees with Jeremiah's wish, Jeremiah 9:2, O that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men, that I might leave my people, and go from them, for they are all adulterers) and so it was a bad omen of God's forsaking them; or it was because the thought he could not be safe any where else, and to this instance of the hardships this good man was reduced to the apostle refers, Hebrews 11:38. Is this a place for a prophet of the Lord to lodge in? Very nutritious. He anointed Hazael and Jehu indirectly through his successor, Elisha (2 Kings 8:7-14; 2 Kings 9:1-3). And we think that when God is leading us that there must be something almost like a trance experience where I become, you know, almost in this trance and I hear a little sign saying, "Beep, beep, beep, beep, turn right. So natural that it seems like it comes maybe even from your own heart or your own mind. God's love often proves larger than man's charity and more extensive. That government, as no other, was the direct action through the family that God Himself had chosen to govern His people, and therefore the very fact of their being the people of God made their insubordination to be so much the more grievous. God's faithful ones are often his hidden ones (Psalms 83:3), and the visible church is scarcely visible, the wheat lost in the chaff and the gold in the dross, till the sifting, refining, separating day comes. And yet I realized, "Hey, God was directing me, because though I love the coast, being that well along on my way in the inland route, I don't like Sunset Boulevard and all the signals going up to the coast." I had an alcoholic uncle that I kicked out and he came back while I was gone and my mother was quite desperate. And the Lord Jesus showed us that in its full perfection in the presence of the enemy. It was not true. He could follow, and does follow. ", "Go, return on thy way" (1Kings 19:15). As other people share their lives with us, we learn from them how to share our own life with other people. And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there" (1 Kings 19:1-21).
You are welcome to quote from these sermons and reproduce (but not sell) these studies. None. It was not "I, even I, only." But now we see the very darkness and evil of the people of God for here we have to do not with a family, not with His children in the true and Christian sense of the word; but we have to do with a people under the government of Jehovah in having now set up, not the fullest form of apostasy from God, but that which was verging towards it the first great departure from God, religiously as well as politically.
It was not that what he said was the smallest approach to deceit. "They said, "Oh, we're looking for work. And they had invited me back to speak on a Sunday evening. I just let my mouth run and I said these things. And then Elisha was being trained for the job God had for him to do as prophet of Israel. It is all the same principle, for it is the direct dishonour of the Holy Ghost, and yet, beloved friends, does not God own the preaching of His word and of His gospel there? There is not an alteration of that. Elijah did, and he wished to die, wished to get out of the trial certainly a most unbelieving wish.
And so it was done. (3.) And he said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah, Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall be for his life, and thy people for his people.
And there was the perfection of it. 2 Timothy 1 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
Ahab reigns; his next son reigns too. Elisha needed a period as an attendant, a time of training, of growing, of learning from his Spiritual Elder before he could take over the role of Prophet to Gods people. God was not his first thought. And he arose, and went after Elijah, and became the servant of Elijah ( 1 Kings 19:19-21 ). But now the time was come for God to terminate this chastisement, and Elijah comes to show himself to the king. It was not that God was not in his thoughts. the Bible, By QingxinThe Bible says, Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you (James 4:8). When Jezebel heard that Elijah had killed her prophets, she threatened to do the same to him. So also in the Christian life there are individuals who inspire and encourage us by their passion in prayer, their boldness in evangelism, their commitment to holiness and their complete devotion to God. And be assured of this, beloved friends, it is of the very greatest importance for our own souls, as well as for God's glory, that He has these, and the only question is whether we give credit for it and whether our souls take it in, not as a mere thing that we believe, but as that which acts upon our hearts, which draws us out in prayer, in intercession, in care, and in desire for every one of these seven thousand every one of the lips that have not kissed Baal. God buries His workmen, but his work goes on."[18]. And we are called to follow Jesus. To this God gives him a reply. And all the people came near unto him. We ought to be really more careful with our speech. And they took them and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there." "Yet will I leave me seven thousand in Israel" (1Kings 19:18). She was in circumstances next door to death, and it is evident that God was far from giving her by the prophet, as He could easily have done, a barrel of meal to encourage her and the cruse to begin marvelously supplying oil. Elijah covered his face because he realized that He could not look at God and live (1 Kings 19:13), as Moses also realized (Exodus 33:20-22; cf. And accordingly one can rejoice, and the more so because judgment is coming; and therefore that God should gather out of what is going to be judged is what one delights in. But the Lord would give the sign of interest, of tender interest, and the use of means even to any other, but not so with Him. This closes the so-called Elijah cycle or narrative (chs. [3.] The angels cover their faces before God in token of reverence, Isaiah 6:2. We love to hear of it. My, the voice of God must really rumble like thunder or something, you know. Surely God's own presence had not less power to sustain the man that was in it in the way that the children of Israel were not, than the manna that came down from Him.
21 So Elisha left him and went back. "And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water. God had been observing. He was vexed; he was unhappy. Yet will I leave me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth that hath not kissed him. He understood it; he understood it well, and you observe it was not merely the return to his parents. This view has not found popular acceptance. In recent years, Psalms scholarship has been inclined to attend more carefully to the sequencing of the poems.
God wants to use us to change the world! Not at all. The account he gives of himself, in answer to the question put to him (1 Kings 19:10; 1 Kings 19:10), and repeated, in answer to the same question, 1 Kings 19:14; 1 Kings 19:14.
God was about to bring his judgments upon the land, and especially on the house of Ahab. And I said, "If you want to really get farm work, you better stop in one of these communities between here and San Francisco, Salinas or somewhere, you're never going to get a job on a farm up there. If you are come out to see wonders wrought and to see great things done you have made a great mistake; and if you are caught by such things you will fall into a serious error, and you will lose the place of blessing to which you are called. Prophecy, in the Christian sense of the word, no doubt as such when compared and contrasted with miracles prophecy is for the church. 19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. The blow was only to fall in the days of his sons. And it came to pass at the seventh time" patience must have its perfect work in every case "that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand." And there are some back seat Christians too with lots of good ideas about what somebody else could do but never getting into the hot seat and doing those things themselves. He said, "I have been very jealous." You really don't mean that.The prophet is saying, "Lord, slay me, I've had it. ", So Obadiah, with this pledge of the, prophet, goes and tells his master; and Ahab meets Elijah.
And so he went to sleep and when he woke up, the angel was there, [had prepared a meal for him,] and said, Come on and eat ( 1 Kings 19:5 ). "And he said, Go again, seven times. There was the point.
He said, "It is enough; now, O Jehovah, take away my life." The occasion required it. And he came to Horeb the mountain of God ( 1 Kings 19:8 ). Now he could be a sign a sign to king Ahab and he goes. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant. "What brings thee so far from home? The LORD tells Elijah to anoint Elisha as prophet in his place (1 Kings 19:16), language usually reserved for kings or priests, and such an apprenticeship with the prophet likely implied succession.
Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab every man child, and him that is shut up and left in, Israel, and will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin. 1 Kings 19:15-21 The high priest's sin had precisely this same effect, that is, it damaged the communion of the whole people, just as the whole people's guilt would have interfered with, or affected, him. "Take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers." We need to get away from the shaking and the things around us to get alone to where I can really hear that still, small voice of God within as He guides me, as He assures me of His love, as He assures me of His purpose. You remember how God cared for Elijah and revealed His Almighty power to him, and spoke to him in that still small voice of calm, that gentle whisper. There is no power in flesh, even in a saint of God nor in a prophet. 10 You have asked a difficult thing, Elijah said, yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yoursotherwise not. And mark, too, how completely God shows the connection of this. Amos 7:14-15; Luke 9:62).
one. There were many widows in Israel; God chose this one outside Israel. It was the testimony for the prophet to bring in God, for that is the very business of the prophet to bring in God, as we see in 1 Corinthians 14:1-40 that where there is prophecy, the man, if he were an unbeliever, is smitten in his conscience and falls down and says, "God is in you of a truth." And what was the consequence? Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table." Moses had not sanctified Jehovah when the great trial came, for when Jehovah was full of grace towards the people, Moses, smitten by the people's dishonour that they had put upon him and his brother, resented it, and Moses would have brought out something judicial. The New Testament shows us the key that is behind.
And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head.
And what the Scripture is saying is that God usually speaks to us in very natural ways.Don't expect God to speak in some earthquake, or in fact, it's awfully hard to hear God many times when our earth is shaking around us. I love you, How have we seen Gods work manifested in mentors, friends, or strangers? We catch their faith. We know that the prophetic call can be full of danger, loneliness, and despair. So Naboth perishes, but his blood was watched by the Lord, and the word comes forth, too, in consequence, through Elijah. 1 Kings 18:13). He gives the reasons why he retired into this desert and took up his residence in this cave. This would have spoiled the whole teaching of the Lord. the sword, and I, even I, only am left." Elijah has been associated consistently throughout the Kings narrative with water and food, particularly in times of drought and famine brought on by the apostasies of kings. Where was God? The same word is used of Joshuas relationship with Moses. We are called to be holy, set apart for God. And God will keep on filling us with His Holy Spirit again and again, as much as we need to be able to say and do the things He wants us to do. God doesn't like for us to do nothing. He was not alone in his stand for Yahweh (1 Kings 19:10; cf. "Yet I have left me," says He, "after all you have been saying as to 'I, and I only' yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him."
IV. This alone is the truth as to a miracle. Yahweh next directed Elijah to return to Israel to do three things (1 Kings 19:15-16). A new Christian needs to grow in their faith and learn to serve God in the church and in the world. In any other case death is a gain.
]. We learn how to cope with life. In the Old Testament God the Holy Spirit came upon specific individuals at specific times for particular purposes. And it's interesting how that when we are so upset, we oftentimes say things we don't really mean. It was not that the law was set aside any more than, as I said before, the natural laws of creation are set aside in the case of a miracle. 3. And this became apparent from another circumstance deeply to be considered by us. That is another thing altogether, and this is the true and only true application of the thought. "What doest thou here, in this cave? He had to be taught. No, no, you're not alone. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel. It was not in the presence of Jehovah in the presence of His Father here it was in the presence of Satan,. The reason is manifest. Hello brothers and sisters of Spiritual Q&A,I have a question Id like to ask. And the king of Israel said unto him, So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it. It was not what God was for Elijah, but what Elijah was for God. . I love that drive up the coast through Malibu and Point Mugu and on in that way. said he, for indeed it troubled him to appear to disobey a prophet "What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab to slay me? Despair of success hinders many a good enterprise. Never can it content itself with a part; it must have all God's people for God. 2022 bibleapppourlesenfants.com All rights reserved. , He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. On the contrary, He felt death, and He felt the gravity. For we must remember, and it is an important thing in looking at all these operations of the ancient testimonies of God to understand it, that a prophet had his warrant for what he did from God that not only the word of the Lord, but the power of God that accompanied it, was his warrant. 33.]. Now Elijah failed there, and failing there he failed God, for certainly these were very precious to God, and Elijah had not seen one of them, did not know one of them, did not suspect the existence of one. They are going to be thoroughly judged, but inasmuch as there was a measure of the outward holding of the true God a measure of truth and of honesty so far the king was a party. He answered the Lord the same way. Elishas response to Gods call gives a perfect example of how somebody should respond when God calls them.
He says, "I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there" birds which, as we all know, are remarkable for their voracity. And he said, Do it the second time. The question God puts to the prophet it, What doest thou here, Elijah?1 Kings 19:9; 1 Kings 19:9, and again 1 Kings 19:13; 1 Kings 19:13. God planted that thought in my mind, that still, small voice. He saw no manner of similitude, any more than Israel did when God talked to them in Horeb. But he returned back and he took a yoke of oxen, and he killed them, and he boiled their flesh, and he gave it to the people, and he ate. It is unclear whether this was a recognized symbol of apprenticeship, a common custom among prophets, or a gesture unique to Elijah himself. I just want sympathy at this point. Elijah, then, gives to Ahab a most solemn warning of the first great miracle which was itself a prophecy. Most miserable that they are obliged to own, perhaps, a rationalistic bishop, or a ritualistic one! I am reminded of the hymn I have decided to follow Jesus, which sums up this commitment to discipleship in starkly poignant terms: The world behind me, the cross before me, no turning back, no turning back., A resource for the whole church from Luther Seminary. "And they called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. Elijah? There were many lepers; it was not there that the grace of God was running, but it was towards the Syrian towards the great captain of their great enemy, for Syria was, at this time, perhaps their greatest foe. The call of Elisha is not like other prophetic call narratives in the Old Testament. Now the question was, "What are you doing here?"
And Elijah answered why he was there, not what he was doing there, but why he was there. We may be certain that Elijah indeed obeyed the heavenly commandments, even if our extremely-abbreviated records do not tell us anything about how or when he did so. That is, his soul took in the people of God in their whole twelve-tribe nationality as God's people, for faith never can do less than that. [Note: Ibid., p. They have slain thy prophets with the sword, who, it is probable, ministered at those altars. And therefore, shall one be jealous of the mighty grace of God working? "I have been very jealous." No one is willing to venture alone, forgetting that those are not alone who have God with them. (1.) There was no power to enter in either instance. God, when He gives a trial of faith, does not pare it down so as to spoil the very force of His blessing; but contrariwise. This is where faith really shows itself, not in finding fault only, and finding this or that that is not correct that is easy enough and requires no power at all, but the other does, and it requires what is greater than power grace willingness and delight of heart for that which is good. What signs of our talents and gifts have we seen in the past, and what must we give up to embrace the future God is making for us? within. I grant you that no man that knows what death is, that knows what judgment is, that knows what sin is, that knows what God is, could wish to die unless he knew the Saviour. And behold Jehovah passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before Jehovah; but Jehovah was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but Jehovah was not in the earthquake." 2. The comfortable information God gives him of the number of Israelites who retained their integrity, though he thought he was left alone (1 Kings 19:18; 1 Kings 19:18): I have left 7000 in Israel (besides Judea) who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Especially for people starting out in the Christian faith we have a little course called Making Disciples One to One for New Christians. He had put himself out of service. No doubt they deserved it, no doubt of it. It's hard to hear God when it seems like everything around us is being consumed. "What have I done to you" (1 Kings 19:20) is an idiom that means, "Do as you please." And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.". "Fill four barrels with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood. Oh, what a solemn warning this is for us, for it was not merely that the guilty man sought him, but he sought the guilty king of Israel. Elisha became the Apprentice. Elisha was empowered. He finds Elisha. We are called to be Gods children. Men are brought into the world; men die. Elisha became Elijahs attendant, Elijahs helper.
That point then gained was presently lost again, and Jezebel can do more to debauch them than I can to reform them. Follow the sidebar links to my Reflections on Theology, Ministry and Mission Blog at www.pbthomas.com/thoughts and my Evangelism Blog at www.takingeveryopportunity.org, God Inside Us The Helper John 14:15-27, Knocked down but never knocked out studies in 2 Corinthians. They knew very well that Samaria was a hill, and Jerusalem was a hill, and they thought that the Jehovah God of Israel was only a god of the hills. "God, You don't have a single one left in Israel." The restraint of all that would refresh the earth from the heavens had passed over the people a most solemn sign, for it was not merely water turned into blood, or various blows which fell upon the earth, but the very heavens were withdrawn from all the kindness of which they are the medium from all the refreshment that God is pleased to give this earth. Note, 1. "Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it. Elisha was discipled. Dost thou flee from Jezebel? I've been very jealous for You: for Israel has forsaken the covenant, they've broken down your altars, they've slain your prophets; I, only I am left; and they're looking for me to take my life ( 1 Kings 19:14 ). And yet suddenly I realized it was the Lord.
The world is full of back seat drivers. Full of good advice but never ever getting in the hot seat. But no, God would prove before all Israel how little His sympathies were with the people how completely He was independent of all such action. Elijah's work Elijah's proper work was closed.
But it was the blinding power of self even in a most true saint of God, for self always blinds, and the one and only thing that gives us to see clearly is when self is judged. In many ways Elijah, Israels savior, prefigured Jesus Christ and His ministry. The question was, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" [Note: J. And so the Lord re-commissioned him. 2. He wasn't. When the darkness was greatest.
Then Ben-hadad came forth to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot. He went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree, and he requested for himself that he might die. Myrothec. Other people think if we have the anointing of the Holy Spirit, that is enough. By slaughtering his oxen and feeding the people with them, Elisha establishes himself, like Elijah, as a source of Gods great abundance. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far offfor all whom the Lord our God will call. We need that kind of apprenticeship in the life of the church. The law had its own place according to its own proper sphere, but where it was disowned and where there was idolatry set up instead, there God acted according to His own sovereignty.
20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah.
Throwing a prophets cloak around a person symbolized the passing of the power and authority of the office to that individual. He felt the shock of an earthquake.
VI. And of Jezebel also spake Jehovah, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. So, how can we gain the power of prayer? Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of Jehovah; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. After many years with Elisha learning from Elijah as his apprentice, at the end of his life Elijah took Elisha out across the Jordan back into the desert. The law had its course where the law was owned, but these prophets who were acting thus were where the law was not owned, and, accordingly, there God acted according to His sovereignty. the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I, only, am left; and they seek my life to take it away. Restoration of Elijah (1 Kings 19:5-18),", "Taking Then the fire of Jehovah fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. "God teaches here that there is no such thing as a NECESSARY man; man, even at his best estate, is altogether vanity; but God is all in all. Very likely it will shock and provoke the flesh; very likely it will give ground for unbelief there, for you will find this to be most true that the very same things which are a support to faith are the stumbling-block to unbelief; but however that may be, God in no wise softened the trial, but brought it out to her in all its apparent harshness and difficulty.
It is not said, really, but, "in the sight of men." That is the effect of it the sense of the presence of God being there, not merely in the person that prophesies. 1 Peter 2 9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. And Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, and she said, So let the gods do to me, and even more also, if I don't make your life like the life of those prophets by to morrow this time. He has been bold in telling the king the guilty king. By that I mean, Elijah took Elisha as his disciple. Who has eternal life? Here we get the facts. Verse 1 Kings 19:15. Wishing to die is not the proof of faith at all. (2.) He could have stayed right back there in Jezreel and Jezebel would have taken care of it very gladly. The prophet makes no small demands upon her pity, he puts her faith thoroughly to the test, and says what, if he had not been a prophet, and if it had not been a trial of faith, would have been a most cruel and selfish word, for with what face could a man, as a man, have asked her out of her little her last meal to provide first for him and then for herself and her son? It was because he could not appear with any safety: "They seek my life to take it away; and I had better spend my life in a useless solitude than lose my life in a fruitless endeavour to reform those that hate to be reformed.". The precise cultural resonances of Elijahs mantle-toss are lost to us today. What Elijah proposed to himself in coming to lodge here, I cannot conceive, unless it was to indulge his melancholy, or to satisfy his curiosity and assist his faith and devotion with the sight of that famous place where the law was given and where so many great things were done, and hoping to meet with God himself there, where Moses met with him, or in token of his abandoning his people Israel, who hated to be reformed (in the latter case, it agrees with Jeremiah's wish, Jeremiah 9:2, O that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men, that I might leave my people, and go from them, for they are all adulterers) and so it was a bad omen of God's forsaking them; or it was because the thought he could not be safe any where else, and to this instance of the hardships this good man was reduced to the apostle refers, Hebrews 11:38. Is this a place for a prophet of the Lord to lodge in? Very nutritious. He anointed Hazael and Jehu indirectly through his successor, Elisha (2 Kings 8:7-14; 2 Kings 9:1-3). And we think that when God is leading us that there must be something almost like a trance experience where I become, you know, almost in this trance and I hear a little sign saying, "Beep, beep, beep, beep, turn right. So natural that it seems like it comes maybe even from your own heart or your own mind. God's love often proves larger than man's charity and more extensive. That government, as no other, was the direct action through the family that God Himself had chosen to govern His people, and therefore the very fact of their being the people of God made their insubordination to be so much the more grievous. God's faithful ones are often his hidden ones (Psalms 83:3), and the visible church is scarcely visible, the wheat lost in the chaff and the gold in the dross, till the sifting, refining, separating day comes. And yet I realized, "Hey, God was directing me, because though I love the coast, being that well along on my way in the inland route, I don't like Sunset Boulevard and all the signals going up to the coast." I had an alcoholic uncle that I kicked out and he came back while I was gone and my mother was quite desperate. And the Lord Jesus showed us that in its full perfection in the presence of the enemy. It was not true. He could follow, and does follow. ", "Go, return on thy way" (1Kings 19:15). As other people share their lives with us, we learn from them how to share our own life with other people. And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there" (1 Kings 19:1-21).
You are welcome to quote from these sermons and reproduce (but not sell) these studies. None. It was not "I, even I, only." But now we see the very darkness and evil of the people of God for here we have to do not with a family, not with His children in the true and Christian sense of the word; but we have to do with a people under the government of Jehovah in having now set up, not the fullest form of apostasy from God, but that which was verging towards it the first great departure from God, religiously as well as politically.
It was not that what he said was the smallest approach to deceit. "They said, "Oh, we're looking for work. And they had invited me back to speak on a Sunday evening. I just let my mouth run and I said these things. And then Elisha was being trained for the job God had for him to do as prophet of Israel. It is all the same principle, for it is the direct dishonour of the Holy Ghost, and yet, beloved friends, does not God own the preaching of His word and of His gospel there? There is not an alteration of that. Elijah did, and he wished to die, wished to get out of the trial certainly a most unbelieving wish.
And so it was done. (3.) And he said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah, Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall be for his life, and thy people for his people.
And there was the perfection of it. 2 Timothy 1 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
Ahab reigns; his next son reigns too. Elisha needed a period as an attendant, a time of training, of growing, of learning from his Spiritual Elder before he could take over the role of Prophet to Gods people. God was not his first thought. And he arose, and went after Elijah, and became the servant of Elijah ( 1 Kings 19:19-21 ). But now the time was come for God to terminate this chastisement, and Elijah comes to show himself to the king. It was not that God was not in his thoughts. the Bible, By QingxinThe Bible says, Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you (James 4:8). When Jezebel heard that Elijah had killed her prophets, she threatened to do the same to him. So also in the Christian life there are individuals who inspire and encourage us by their passion in prayer, their boldness in evangelism, their commitment to holiness and their complete devotion to God. And be assured of this, beloved friends, it is of the very greatest importance for our own souls, as well as for God's glory, that He has these, and the only question is whether we give credit for it and whether our souls take it in, not as a mere thing that we believe, but as that which acts upon our hearts, which draws us out in prayer, in intercession, in care, and in desire for every one of these seven thousand every one of the lips that have not kissed Baal. God buries His workmen, but his work goes on."[18]. And we are called to follow Jesus. To this God gives him a reply. And all the people came near unto him. We ought to be really more careful with our speech. And they took them and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there." "Yet will I leave me seven thousand in Israel" (1Kings 19:18). She was in circumstances next door to death, and it is evident that God was far from giving her by the prophet, as He could easily have done, a barrel of meal to encourage her and the cruse to begin marvelously supplying oil. Elijah covered his face because he realized that He could not look at God and live (1 Kings 19:13), as Moses also realized (Exodus 33:20-22; cf. And accordingly one can rejoice, and the more so because judgment is coming; and therefore that God should gather out of what is going to be judged is what one delights in. But the Lord would give the sign of interest, of tender interest, and the use of means even to any other, but not so with Him. This closes the so-called Elijah cycle or narrative (chs. [3.] The angels cover their faces before God in token of reverence, Isaiah 6:2. We love to hear of it. My, the voice of God must really rumble like thunder or something, you know. Surely God's own presence had not less power to sustain the man that was in it in the way that the children of Israel were not, than the manna that came down from Him.
21 So Elisha left him and went back. "And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water. God had been observing. He was vexed; he was unhappy. Yet will I leave me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth that hath not kissed him. He understood it; he understood it well, and you observe it was not merely the return to his parents. This view has not found popular acceptance. In recent years, Psalms scholarship has been inclined to attend more carefully to the sequencing of the poems.
God wants to use us to change the world! Not at all. The account he gives of himself, in answer to the question put to him (1 Kings 19:10; 1 Kings 19:10), and repeated, in answer to the same question, 1 Kings 19:14; 1 Kings 19:14.