Information Related to "Profiles of Faith: Elijah: Uprooting Evil From the Land"
| Audio/Video |
Elijah
Uprooting Evil From the Land
by Jerold Aust
Ancient Israel was sliding ever more
swiftly into abject paganism. Weak King Ahab and his cruel wife, Jezebel, were burying
Israel under a suffocating mantle of evil. God sent Elijah to reverse this disastrous
descent into heathenism.
One day, as Elijah confronted the king, Ahab asked sarcastically: "Is that you, O
troubler of Israel?" Elijah coolly responded to Ahab's insult: "I have not troubled
Israel, but you and your father's house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments
of the Lord and have followed the Baals (false gods)."
Courageous Elijah followed with a direct challenge to the king: "Now therefore, send
and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets
of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table" (1 Kings 18:17-20). Ahab did as Elijah asked and gathered the false prophets on Mount
Carmel.
It is remarkable that Ahab responded in this manner to Elijah's challenge. As the
events unfold, we see the prophets of Baal behaving like sheep being led to slaughter.
Israel's Immorality
In Elijah's day Israel had willingly fallen into a vortex of evil. The nation
had turned to idol worship. God's people had forgotten the one true God who, generations
earlier, had repeatedly delivered them from their troubles. Much of their attitude
was attributable to Israel's morally weak king, Ahab, and his overbearing pagan queen,
Jezebel.
Elijah the Tishbite, a faithful prophet of the true God, had early in his life learned
the fear of God. His calling was to fight against idolatry and injustice, protesting
a corrupt society. His sudden, direct pronouncements and his abrupt appearances and
disappearances created an air of mystery.
Ahab had cemented a political alliance between Israel and Phoenicia by marrying Jezebel,
daughter of the Phoenician king. The consequences for Israel were to prove disastrous.
Ahab appears to have honored God early in his reign, as the names of his sons show:
Ahaziah ("God possesses") and Jehoram (ėGod is highî). Brave in battle but morally
weak, he acquiesced to the degrading influence of Jezebel, a fanatical Tyrian devotee
of her false religion.
To please her, Ahab erected a temple to Baal at Israel's capital, Samaria (1Kings 16:32). He allowed Jezebel to support hundreds of foreign priests (1Kings 18:19).
and permitted her to execute prophets of the true God (verses 4,13). The Israelites
tragically followed the lead of their king and queen as they degenerated into idolatry.
Jezebel's religious customs became the court religion and were rapidly being adopted
throughout the nation. God called Elijah to staunch the spread of the cancer eating
away at the fabric of Israelitish society.
Elijah Confronts Ahab and Jezebel's Prophets
The saga of Ahab and Jezebel is a stark warning to succeeding generations. The
Scriptures say that Ahab "did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were
before him" (1Kings 16:30).
"And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the
sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal,
king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. Then he set
up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab
made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than
all the kings of Israel who were before him" (1Kings 16:31-33).
After Ahab's flagrantly evil acts, God sent Elijah to confront the monarch and pronounce
a curse on Israel: "As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall
not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word" (1Kings 17:1).
God punished backsliding Israel for its idolatry, sending a crippling drought. It
took some time for the effects of the drought to be felt. Knowing the murderous inclinations
of Jezebel, God sent Elijah to the east, to hide near the Brook Cherith, which joined
the Jordan River. There Elijah would have ample water; there God would send birds
to feed him (verses 3-5). Elijah could eat while the rest of the nation withered
from the drought.
Eventually, with no rain to replenish it, the brook dried up. Elijah's life was again
apparently in danger.
The Widow's Mite and God's Might
God instructed Elijah: "Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell
there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you" (verse 9). Parched
but obedient, Elijah entered the city and noticed a widow gathering sticks. He asked
her to bring him a little water to drink. As she went fetch the water, he called
to her and asked her to bring him a scrap of bread (verses 10-11).
The biblical account describes the woman's crestfallen response. She dejectedly explained
that she had no more bread, only a handful of flour in a bin and a little oil in
a jar. She was picking up sticks so she could prepare a meal from the last of her
food. After that food was gone, she had resigned herself to the certainty of death
from starvation for her and her son.
Elijah told her that God would not allow her and her son to perish. The bin of flour
would not be used up, nor would the jar of oil run dry, until God sent rain to break
the drought.
The widow honored Elijah's request and prepared bread for him. Elijah's word was
good: Her flour and oil, enough for only one last meal, miraculously fed the woman,
her son and Elijah for many days.
But the woman's trials were not over. She was shocked when her son fell sick and
died. In her grief she blamed Elijah for her son's death.
Moved by her anguish, Elijah prayed fervently for her son: "O Lord my God, have You
also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I lodge, by killing her son? . . .
I pray, let this child's soul come back to him" (verses 20-21).
God heard Elijah's prayer and brought the boy back to life. Elijah presented him
alive to his mother. This miracle convinced the widow: "Now by this I know that you
are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth" (verse 24).
But it would take more than miracle for Israel to learn that Elijah was God's prophet--and
even more to convince Ahab and Jezebel.
Capricious Ahab, Murderous Jezebel
After the third year of drought, God instructed Elijah to visit Ahab and tell
him that the drought would soon be over (1Kings 18:1). Meanwhile, Ahab had charged
Obadiah, the overseer of his household and a God-fearing man, to search for grass
to feed his mules and horses.
During Obadiah's search, he met Elijah. Elijah instructed Obadiah to return to the
king and tell him he would visit him.
But Obadiah was afraid. If he relayed Elijah's message to the king but Elijah failed
to appear as he said he would, Ahab might kill him. So Obadiah prevailed on Elijah
not to endanger his life. It was he, after all, who had helped save 100 prophets
of God, hiding them in caves and sustaining them with bread and water.
Jezebel had massacred the prophets of God whom Obadiah could not hide, but he had
risked his life for those he had hidden. Elijah appreciated Obadiah's fearful concern.
He reassured Obadiah that he would indeed appear before Ahab, that he need not worry.
Elijah kept his word. When he came to the king, Ahab chided Elijah, "Is that you,
O troubler of Israel?" (verse 17). Elijah pointedly responded that Ahab himself was
responsible for Israel's troubles and the prolonged drought that was ravaging his
nation.
To settle the matter, Elijah put forth a challenge: "Now therefore, send and gather
all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and
the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table" (verse 19).
Amazingly, Ahab complied. Was he deluded by his own arrogance into thinking he could
meet Elijah's challenge? We don't know. Perhaps he thought he could humiliate Elijah,
thereby diminishing his influence on Israel. Whatever Ahab's thoughts may have been,
it must have seemed a risk worth taking: hundreds of Baal's prophets against only
one Elijah.
Showdown on Mount Carmel
When all the participants had gathered on the mountain, Elijah set the stage
to reveal the existence and power of the one true God. "How long will you falter
between two opinions?," he called out to the Israelites gathered to watch. "If the
Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him" (verse 21). Nobody spoke.
Fascinated though unconvinced, they watched his every move, hung on his every word.
Elijah's plan was simple. It required the offering of two sacrifices, one from the
prophets of Baal and one from Elijah. Baal's prophets could choose among the bullocks
and sacrifice first. Elijah's instructions were straightforward: "Then you call on
the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord; and the God who answers
by fire, He is God" (verse 24). Everyone agreed to the arrangement. Everyone would
see and know who was God.
The prophets of Baal hastily prepared their offering. They cut up the animal, then
placed an abundance of dry wood under the offering. Then they called on their gods.
In a exhausting, long-winded effort, they cried out to Baal from morning until noon.
"O Baal, hear us!" they begged (verse 26).
The prophets of Baal called, but there was no answer. The pagan priests even leaped
around the altar to motivate their gods to respond. Still no answer.
About noon Elijah began to mock his rivals: "Call louder, for he is a god. It may
be he is deep in thought, or engaged, or on a journey; or he may have gone to sleep
and must be woken up" (verse 27, Revised English Bible).
Elijah's words provoked them into frenzied desperation: "They cried still louder
and, as was their custom, gashed themselves with swords and spears until the blood
flowed" (verse 28, REB). Bloody and weakened, Jezebel's prophets continued their
crazed pleas to their gods until evening. Still they were met with silence.
Then came Elijah's turn. He asked the people to move in closer while he picked
up a dozen stones, representing the 12 tribes of Israel, and reconstructed the broken-down
altar.
Around the altar he dug a trench. He arranged the wood and cut the sacrifice in pieces
and laid it on the altar. He instructed others to drench the sacrifice and wood with
water. Elijah asked them to repeat the drenching with water a second and third time,
soaking everything so thoroughly that the trench overflowed. There would be no allowance
for error or trickery.
Elijah asked God to reveal Himself to Israel as the one true God. His prayer was
brief but telling: "Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this
day that You are God in Israel, and that I am Your servant, and that I have done
all these things at Your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know
that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again"
(1Kings 18:36-37, emphasis added throughout).
Then the all-consuming "fire of the Lord" suddenly fell on the altar and burned up
the sacrifice. Even the water in the trench around the altar disappeared in the flames
(verse 36-38).
It was an awesome, frightening sight. The stunned bystanders fell on their faces
and cried out: "The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!" (verse 39).
Elijah seized the moment. He ordered the Israelites to seize the prophets of Baal.
"Do not let one of them escape!" (verse 40). On Elijah's instruction, they brought
the pagan priests to the Brook Kishon, where Elijah executed them.
Jezebel had murdered God's prophets. Now God had Jezebel's degenerate pagan prophets
killed. The spread of idolatry was stopped in its tracks.
The Miracle of Rain
God had revealed Himself to His chosen people, Israel. Their sincere and faithful
response would soon bring blessings. "Then Elijah said to Ahab, 'Go up, eat and drink;
for there is the sound of abundance of rain' "(verse 41).
Seven times Elijah sent his servant to check for rain clouds. During his last trip,
he saw a small cloud rise from the sea. Rain was on its way.
Elijah immediately told Ahab, "Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain
stops you" (verse 44). Ahab rode down the mountain to Jezreel. Miraculously, Elijah
outran the king's chariot! (verse 46). God again showed His power through this superhuman
feat.
Israel's long trial had come to an end. God was vindicated, restored to His rightful
place in the eyes of His people.
The New Testament mentions this particular incident as an encouraging example of
faith and answered prayer (James 5:17-18). In fact Elijah is portrayed as one of
the great men of God of all time. Centuries after his time, John the Baptist (whose
ministry preceded Christ's), is said to have come in the "spirit and power of Elijah"
(Luke 1:17).
'The Lord is God!'
Elijah's name demands attention. It means "The Lord is God!"--spoken vehemently
and emphatically. It means, in essence, "That One, and no other, is the only true
God!"
Without knowledge and conviction of the one true God, people follow the world's evil
ways and reap its curses. You and I have lived this way (Ephesians 2:1-3). God is
calling everyone, everywhere to repent, to turn from their false gods (2Corinthians 4:4) and return to the one and only true God (Acts 17:30-31).
Mankind does not know the true God. But the prophet Isaiah predicted that all will
someday be able to learn God's truth (Isaiah 11:9). That has not yet happened. It
will happen, after Christ's second coming.
There will be no televangelists in that day, pleading with their viewers to "know
the Lord" (Hebrews 8:11). Jesus Christ will rule supreme on earth, uncontested and
uncontestable in his righteous reign. Satan will be bound for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:3).
There will be only one religion, one faith. No one will need ask, "Do you know
the Lord?" God's ways will be taught to all mankind. "None of them shall teach his
neighbor, and none his brother, saying, `Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me, from
the least of them to the greatest of them" (Hebrews 8:11).
However, before Christ's second coming will come times of hunger, pain, destruction
and widespread death. God will send Jesus Christ to rescue mankind from self-extermination--from
the consequences of our own greed, selfishness, anger and arrogance that will bring
us to the brink of human annihilation (Matthew 24:21-22).
Beyond that horrendous time lies a marvelous age--1,000 years of peace and prosperity.
In that wonderful world of tomorrow, when everyone will know the true God,
reverently honoring and obeying Him, God's peace and prosperity will cover the earth
as the waters cover the seas!
You, too, can know the one true God, the God of Elijah. You don't have to wait until
mankind has to learn the hard way to acknowledge the true God. You can rejoice with
those ancient Israelites, "The Lord is God, the Lord is God!"
Be sure to request our free booklets The Gospel of the Kingdom, What Is
Your Destiny? and The Road to Eternal Life. They're free for the asking
when you contact us at the office in your country (or the country nearest you).
©1999 United Church of God, an International Association
Related Information:
Table of Contents that includes "Profiles of Faith: Elijah: Uprooting Evil From the Land"
Other Articles by Jerold Aust
Origin of article "Profiles of Faith: Elijah: Uprooting Evil From the Land"
Keywords: Elijah Israel, ancient Jezebel faith, examples of
Elijah: