Ahab and his wife Jezebel may have been extremely wicked, but God's hand remained on his chosen people in the form of godly prophets who would not compromise. In those days there were good prophets and bad prophets. Jezebel was killing off the good prophets while the bad ones were telling Ahab whatever he wanted to hear. The last thing Ahab wanted to hear was the word of the Lord and Elijah, who had told Ahab there would be no rain for the next few years, was hiding, first in a ravine where he was fed by ravens, and later at the widow's house in Zarephath where he brought her son back to life.
Finally God told Elijah to present himself to Ahab and rain would come. Ahab's response when he saw Elijah was to be expected. When he saw Elijah, he said to him, "Is that you, you troubler of Israel?"
"I have not made trouble for Israel," Elijah replied. "But you and your father's family have. You have abandoned the LORD's commands and have followed the Baals." - 1 Kings 18:17-18. NIV
Elijah, only one prophet of the Lord God against four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, challenges the Baal's to prove their power to the people. The prophets slaughter a bull and place it on the altar to Baal and call on their god to light the fire and consume the sacrifice. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. "O Baal, answer us!" they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.
At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!" he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened." So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention. - 1 Kings 18:16-29 NIV
When it was Elijah's turn he had the people fill four large jars with water and pour it on the wood, three times in all. Then he called to his God: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."
Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. - 1 Kings 18:36-38 NIV
After this demonstration of power, Elijah should have been riding high, but with Jezebel hard on his tail, he went to the desert instead, sat down under a broom tree, and prayed to die. 'I'm the only one left,' he complained to the Lord, 'and now they're trying to kill me too.'
'Go and stand on the mountain,' God told him, 'for I am going to appear to you.' Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. - 1 Kings 19:11-12 NIV
'I have reserved seven thousand men in Israel who have not bowed to the Baal's.' God told Elijah. There may have been hundreds of thousands who had followed after the gods of Ahab and Jezebel, but they were powerless. The seven thousand were but a whisper of God's power, but that was all that was needed.
No comments:
Post a Comment