Elijah Series #1
[Other Messages in the Series]
A Prophet for Troubled Times
I Kings 16:29-17:1
By Dave Redick
For three years Israel baked under a rainless sky…
Introduction
When David Lofchick was born the doctors informed his parents that their son would never be able to live a normal life. He would never be able to walk, talk, or count to ten. He had cerebral palsy. The parents were told that they should put their son into an institution "for his own good" and for the good of the "normal" members of the family. David's dad walked out of the conference with the doctors with only one thing on his mind. He wanted to find a solution to his son's problems.
The Lofchicks had gone to twenty different specialists and received the same advice when finally they met a Dr. Pearlstein who was booked so heavily they almost didn't get into see him. Due to a cancellation however, they finally got in. "Can you help our boy?" was the question. After several hours of examination, Pearlstein verified what the other doctors had diagnosed. David had cerebral palsy in its severe form. There might be hope however, provided the parents were willing to pay the enormous and never ending price. To the Lofchicks, no price was too high for their son. They accepted the challenge.
Dr. Pearlstein spelled out the instructions. They were to work David until he dropped from exhaustion and then work him some more. They would have to push him to the limit of human endurance. If they ever stopped or slacked off, they would lose everything they had gained.
A physical therapist and a body builder were hired and a small gym built in the basement. The grueling process began. After months of dedicated effort, small rays of hope began to appear. David acquired the ability to move. A giant milestone had been reached.
Still another goal was reached when finally the family was called in to watch David attempt a pushup. As his chest started to rise above the mat there was not a dry portion of skin on his entire body. He quivered and shook like a leaf in the wind, but the pushup was completed. The family shed sweet tears of victory. The disease was beginning to retreat.
The doctors had told the Lofchicks that David would never swim or ride a bicycle. At the time I first heard this story he was in the process of running the wheels off his fourth bicycle when it wasn't too warm to ice skate. He learned to skate after a solid year of effort just learning to stand up on the skates. Finally, he learned to lean on a hockey stick and stand up. He played left wing on the local hockey team.
Mentally, David improved greatly. At seventh grade level he was doing ninth grade math. That's not bad for a boy that doctors said would never count to ten!
David must continue to exercise extensively for hours in the gym every day or he will go backwards. But he is paying the price. He expressed that his greatest accomplishment was when a $100,000 whole life insurance policy was issued on his life. It was issued on a standard basis and unlike any other of its kind, it was the first policy ever to be issued to a cerebral palsy victim. 1
I bring you that story of course to make a point. You cannot fully appreciate a person's accomplishment until you understand something of the obstacles he or she has faced to get there.
This morning we begin the story of an Old Testament character of tremendous accomplishment. The accomplishments are great in themselves - far above what most people have done. Then as you begin to understand the nature of some of the obstacles he faced, his life takes on a profile nothing short of incredible. Yet, as we shall also note, he was as much human as any of us here.
I refer to God's prophet Elijah. In the coming weeks I want to read and tell you his story. We'll examine both the man and his contribution to our common spiritual heritage.
Today we'll focus specifically on four areas of concern that should set the stage for his story. We'll look at the times, the man, the challenge he faced, and whatever lessons we might manage to gain from this introduction. In later messages, God willing, we'll fill in the details of this overview.
Israel had a glorious history a thousand years before Christ for about 120 years under the reign of three great monarchs: Saul, David, and Solomon. During those years the chosen nation remained basically faithful to God and because of it, their kingdom prospered. It grew to the fullest extent of its boundaries. By the time of Solomon, Israel had a reputation that went far beyond her borders. The Queen of Sheba verbalized the view of Israel from abroad by saying, "Nevertheless I did not believe the reports, until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me." 2
When Solomon died however, the kingdom began a steep decline, morally, politically and physically. Solomon's son, Rehoboam, greedy for power and wealth, provoked the people to rebellion. The period called by Bible historians, "The Divided Kingdom," ensued. The ten Northern tribes continued to be called "Israel," the two remaining tribes in the south were referred to as "Judah." Rehoboam had an archrival, Jeroboam, who came to rule the ten northern tribes of the rebellion. He was the first in a line of nineteen wicked kings that ruled Israel before she was finally carried away by Assyrian invaders in 722 BC.
Israel learned the bitter truth that our nation seems to have forgotten these days - as leaders slide into immoral and unethical behavior, the nation slides as well. An accounting of the nineteen wicked kings of Israel reads like an escalator going down. I don't expect you to remember these names and details, but I do want to bring you into the troubles of the times enough to understand what kind of man this Elijah was.
The first king of the North, as I have already mentioned, was Jeroboam. Once the nation was divided, in order to keep people from going to the south to worship in Jerusalem, Jeroboam set up two golden calves for his subjects to worship at Dan and Bethel. God warned him of His disapproval of this act in a dramatic way. Jeroboam was about to execute one of God's prophets for rebuking him. Just as he stretched out his arm to give the order to kill, the arm shriveled up. Jeroboam quickly changed his mind and the prophet healed his arm by God's power, but there was little overall change in his push toward idolatry. Ultimately God told Jeroboam that because of his introduction of idol worship in Israel, he was going to sweep him away like manure off the barn floor. If you haven't seen that graphic pronouncement, you can find it in 1 Kings 14:10. Arrogance, deception, murder, and idolatry characterized Jeroboam's reign. He was king for 22 years before he died. In the time that followed, God swept away the remains of his entire family.
Nadab, Jeroboam's son, took over for a little while but didn't change his father's policies. His rule ended in a coup d'etat in which he was murdered. Baasha, the leader of the coup, became king.
Baasha reigned 24 years. One of his first acts of state was to call all of Jeroboam's relatives to the palace and murder them. He was finally murdered himself - by his own son.
Elah was that son's name. He lasted only two years as king. One night in a drunken stupor, the commander of his chariots killed him with a sword and took the throne. (And you thought our two party system was a hassle when it comes to picking leaders!)
The commander's name was Zimri. His reign lasted barley long enough for him to sober up - just seven days. During that time he managed to murder all the friends and relatives of Baasha. When word got out in Israel that he had taken the throne by force, the General of the Army, a man named Omri, laid siege to the palace. Zimri, trapped inside, set the place on fire and ultimately died in the same flames. Omri became king.
Omri's reign lasted 12 years, but his wickedness was even greater than that of the kings before him. When he died his son came to the throne - the spineless, gutless Ahab. It was in the days of Ahab that Elijah lived.
How would you like the job of being God's prophet in a nation such as Israel during the times I have just described? Definitely not a work for cowards! Indeed, as we will see in the coming weeks, Elijah was a firebrand prophet who feared little but God Himself.
Let's turn now to the beginning of Elijah's story and read it as the Holy Spirit has revealed it.
(Read 1 Kings 16:29-30)
Ahab was the worst king of the lot but the worst single act of his reign is described in the next verse.
(Read 1 Kings 16:31)
Jezebel! That name even today still has an evil ring to it. The worst thing that could have happened to Israel took place the day that Ahab slipped a ring on Jezebel's finger.
The Law of Moses, of course, forbade such marriages. Frankly though, Ahab didn't care. That's the kind of king he was. Insolent, arrogant, he rejected the God of heaven and then put the crowning touch on his rebellion by plunging Israel headlong into the appalling ritual sex orgies of Baal and Asherah, two of the most hideous idols Israel ever linked up with. The worship of these false deities can only be understood fully, however, when you meet Jezebel.
Jezebel was the daughter of the king of the Sidonians. Her father, Ethbaal, ruled all of Phoenicia. To Ethbaal, the marriage of his daughter to the rich Jew Ahab was a great political victory because it set up trade agreements with Palestine. Israel was still quite wealthy in those days. Ahab was able to maintain both a summer and winter home and a special house made of pure ivory. To Jezebel the marriage was much more than a trade agreement. It gave her an opportunity to spread her perverted religion - something she did with the enthusiasm of a zealot. She was a worshipper of the Baals and Asherah. Baal was said to be the god of rain and Asherah the goddess of fertility. Worship of these so-called "gods" consisted of ritualized sex orgies and human sacrifice. When the gods needed to be especially appeased even children were offered in the burnt offerings. Women were required to take their turns serving as prostitutes in the temples and were not allowed to leave until they had experienced intercourse in the name of Asherah and given the money collected to the temple treasury. Not only did Jezebel practice the perversions of this religion herself, she pressed it on her husband and the citizens of Israel.
The people were oblivious of the danger. The worship of Jehovah had been in decline for 60 years. People had been born and raised who had little or no knowledge of the God of Heaven. Times were ripe for this kind of perversion because it appealed to the raw instincts of the flesh.
People often do not detect a decline in public morality because it moves relatively slowly - over the generations. What the grandparents loath, their children tolerate and their grandchildren embrace. That’s the way it goes. We're seeing this in our culture today. Things that would have caused riots in the streets 50 years ago are now shamelessly portrayed and encouraged in public entertainment for all ages to see. Walt Disney founded a safe place for children to grow and be children. His successor, Ed Eisner, has turned it into a center for perverted sexuality. In Elijah's day it was done in the sacred groves. Today you need only go to Disney World or the movie house. If you miss it there you can surely catch it at the video store or on the Internet. We too have a generation being raised without the knowledge of God and they are violent, very violent. Yet no one seems to be able to figure out why. They refuse to take any kind of backward glance at the moral decline that has brought it on.
In Israel, in Elijah's day, the people were scattered and anesthetized by a succession of wicked kings and ultimately the appearance of Baalism. God was ready to do something about it - something drastic. He reached out into an obscure group of Nomads and chose a man - a man who, by our standards and those of his day was crude and rough - a man whose voice assaulted the ears and shattered the complacency of people right in the middle of their wickedness. Israel needed a man with heavy artillery to bring her back to her senses so God called Elijah to become one of the most "politically incorrect" prophets of the entire Bible. I want you to shake hands with this man before we go home today, then at a later date we'll look more closely at his story.
II. The Man.
Elijah was a desert Nomad from the wilderness wastes beyond the Jordan. He was a rough-hewn man whose righteous indignation burned white hot, even incandescently against the evil blackness of his times. A man of fierce boldness, he was perhaps the only man of his generation from among the prophets who had the courage to stand against the murderous threats of Jezebel.
While Israel was furthering the cause of Baal and Asherah by frequenting the orgies in the groves, even Elijah's name spoke against it. His name is a combination of three Hebrew words that mean "My God is Jehovah." While the rest of Israel went "whoring" after their idols (as the Bible puts it) Elijah insisted that there was really only one God. While Ahab and Jezebel indulged themselves with male and female prostitutes in the temples and the groves, Elijah insisted that it was wrong and that ultimately God would crush Israel if she didn't repent.
Elijah was born sometime around 900 BC in the remote, unsophisticated village of Tishbe, located in the desert east of the Jordan. We don't know much of the Tishbites other than that they were nomads. Their desert lifestyle was course and crude compared to the finery of Israel's cities. Elijah's familiarity with survival in this vast trans-Jordan desert would prove useful to his calling as prophet.
Elijah's temperament is a sight to behold. Uniquely his, yet entirely human and vulnerable. We see him white-hot in his anger against the wickedness of his day, yet tenderly reaching out to a starving widow and her son during a famine. We see him taking on the 450 prophets of Baal, then we see him so depressed that he cried out for God to end his miserable life. He was both weak and strong - human and firebrand. Though most of us are not Elijahs, I believe all of us might see something of our own struggles as we look closely at his.
III. The Challenge.
One day as Ahab and his queen were proceeding with their accustomed indulgences of lewdness, Elijah came and stood before Ahab. He had a message from God that is recorded in 1 Kings 17:1:
William Stephens, in his book entitled ELIJAH3, describes what it might have been like as Elijah confronted Ahab. He tells the story beginning with Elijah's arrival at the palace. His book is an historical novel, so understand that he has taken a bit of writer's license:
The senior guard regained his composure quickly. "We are servants of Yahweh, Elijah, and admirers of your courage, but we also are soldiers in the king's command. You cannot enter unless summoned. Why do you not simply request an audience?
Elijah shrugged the robe from his shoulders. Standing silent only for a moment, his eyes searched theirs. "Yahweh has summoned me. That is enough." With a hand on each spear he wrenched them from the doors, quickly threw the latch, and shoved the double doors aside. They crashed toward the throne. Ahab looked up, puzzled. Elijah stopped a few paces away from the gold-inlaid throne.
The court attendants looked at Ahab in anticipation. The guards quickly followed Elijah and grasped each arm. The king hesitated, surprised. Then he regained his demeanor.
"The hairy one," he said. "You must be Elijah."
"I am."
Ahab gestured to the guards to release him. "You are foolish to come into my presence unannounced."
"Kings rise and fall by the word of Yahweh. I am his prophet. It is you who should be afraid."
"I am being tolerant of you, Elijah. Speak what you will say and leave my presence."
Elijah pointed his finger at Ahab. "Ahab, what does my name mean?"
The king spoke with amused condescension. "Elijah means 'Yahweh is God.' A fitting name for his prophet, I suppose.
"You will learn the truth of my name, Ahab."
Elijah turned and moved toward the door, then stopped midway between it and the throne. He turned and looked at Ahab. The king sat, now composed, looking at the prophet with a slight smile. Elijah turned to face the king directly. He raised his arm slowly and pointed a finger straight ahead. With all the fierce power he could force from his ample lungs, Elijah screamed, "Ahab, hear my words!" The attendants jumped with a start as the sound echoed through the hall. Ahab raised himself erect on the throne. The room was held in rapt surprise. Elijah's eyes flashed at the king. His scream echoed again from the walls. "Ahab! As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, but according to my word!"
Ahab hesitated a moment, stunned by the outburst. In that moment Elijah wheeled and strode from the throne room, past the guards, and toward the outer doors.4
Whether it happened exactly like that I am not sure but I do know this: The gauntlet was thrown down. The prophet bearded the lion right in his lair. Perhaps at no other time in all Israel's history since the confrontation between Moses and Pharaoh had so much evil been pitted against righteousness.
Now Elijah would vanish into the vast reaches of the desert for three and one half years as the effect of his utterance parched Israel and brought her to her knees. Baal, the so-called god of rain and the elements would be mocked and shown powerless. Faith in Baalism would be stretched to the limit. The stage would be set for act two of the showdown.
IV. The Lessons.
There are several lessons we can glean from today's message even though it is only an introduction to Elijah's life. I want to focus on just one: God looks for special people in difficult times.
A reoccurring theme in Scripture, especially the Old Testament, is that God uses men (by "men" I mean people) much or more than he uses means.
God could have used an army to stop Ahab, but he used a man instead. He uses men (and women) today.
There is a clear statement of this in Ezekiel 22:30-32. Ezekiel's day was some 300 years into Elijah's future, but God's method was the same. Ezekiel 22:30-32 reads,
"And I searched for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. Thus I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; their way I have brought upon their heads," declares the Lord GOD."
God could find no one, so He had no other choice than to release His wrath.
In Elijah's day, Ezekiel's day, and in our day, God is looking for people. He wants those who are willing to stand in the gap between His holiness and men's sinfulness and communicate His message.
We read in 2 Chronicles 16:9, "For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His."
The message is clear. God is looking for people who will commit their lives and their fortunes to Him and stand in the gap to communicate His goodness and His wrath to men and women who flaunt their Creator in ignorance.
In the time of Christ, Jesus could have brought an invading army. He could have written His message across the sky. He could have gotten their attention by dropping a nuclear bomb in the middle of the desert. He didn't do that. He called twelve men. Again the message is clear.
My point? The key to advancing the cause of the Kingdom of God today or any day is for us to be the kind of people God can call and use. That means we must be people of faith. We must be people who take His word and His holiness seriously. The day that He cannot find such people will probably be the day when the destruction begins. Are we such people? Could we be?
Conclusion
John Wesley once said, "If I had 300 men who feared nothing but God, hated nothing but sin, and were determined to know nothing among men but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, I would set the world on fire."
Oh how we need that kind of dedication today!
1. From Zig Zigglar's book, SEE YOU AT THE TOP. [Back]
2. 1 Kings 10:7 [Back]
3. ELIJAH, William H. Stephens, Living Books, Tyndale House Publishers,
Wheaton, Illinois, 1981. [Back]
4. Ibid, pp. 70-71. [Back]
Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.
Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.
All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.
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