The
quintessential prophet of the Old Testament is Elijah. We can learn much from
his life as an example. Here is his entry on to the stage of Biblical history:
(1 Ki 17:1-8 NIV) Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in
Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I
serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my
word." {2} Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: {3} "Leave here,
turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. {4} You will
drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there."
{5} So he did what the LORD had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of
the Jordan, and stayed there. {6} The ravens brought him bread and meat in the
morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. {7}
Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
{8} Then the word of the LORD came to him:
People
There
are two main characters in this story, Elijah and Ahab, the king of the
northern kingdom, Israel. Much of the appeal of the story comes from the
contrast of their characters, for Ahab is a man of this world, and Elijah the
man of God.
Elijah
One
of the most striking things about Elijah is that he has no stated ancestry.
This is quite unusual in the Old Testament. The Jews were very careful to
record ancestry. This has led some scholars to suggest that he might even have
been a Gentile. Others draw the parallel to Melchizedek, the priest of God
with no ancestry, who is believed to be the pre-incarnate Christ. One thing is
certain – he came out of nowhere.
Nowhere,
geographically speaking, is the town of Tishbe in Gilead (see map). When a man
is referred to by geography rather than by ancestry, it is something to
notice. Elijah is from the sticks. But we may note two things about his
character which define the man:
- He
is one who serves God. The phrase in the original is that he is one who
stands before God. It calls to our minds the picture of the cherubim
before God, awaiting His command.
- He
is, as James assures us, a man of prayer. So he is a man who combines the
outward life of God’s servant – a man of action who defines himself as standing
before God, awaiting His pleasure – with the inner life of prayer.
In
the combination of these two we see what kind of man God wants to bring to
greatness.
Ahab
Ahab
reminds me of no one more than Bill Clinton. I am sorry to say that, but the
parallels are striking:
- First,
he is dominated by his wife. She’s the brains of the outfit and the power
behind the throne, a woman who plays on his weak character.
- He
is a man – ask Naboth! – who schemes for petty gain. This is a man who,
at his wife’s needling, has a man killed (by legal means) to get hold of
his vineyard.
- But
– like Mr. Clinton – he is not beyond hope. In the end, he humbles
himself before God. His wife, alas, does not. She is proud to her end.
Background
To
understand the times in which Elijah lived, we need to know a few more details.
Religion
The
worship of Baal and Asherah (also Astarte, Astoreth and several other
variants) is, for the most part, extinct. (I exclude those radical feminists
who now find Astarte so wonderful). Since these are not common in our time, we
need a little bit of explanation.
- Baal
– is the primary male god of the Canaanite religion, centered around Sidon
(from which Jezebel came). Worship of this god included such interesting
features as infant sacrifice and cannibalism. Represented by the sun, he
is the primary male symbol of fertility. He (and Asherah) give birth to
70 other gods who make up the pantheon of this worship style. The name is
generic, and sometimes is applied to other, more particular gods.
- Asherah –
is the primary female goddess of this religion. Her worship features
temple prostitutes. She is represented by the moon. Lately, worship of
this goddess has been revised by certain radical feminists, about whom
more later. In her Babylonian guise, she is the root of much of the “New
Age” worship. Here, we see her in a cruder form.
Interestingly,
the evil nature of the worship of these two has been much softened as of late.
The “Noble Savage” myth runs strong in academic circles these days, and we now
see the worshipers of these gods as being those who are “at peace with each
other and in harmony with their environment.” In fact, this is a religion in
which infant sacrifice and sexual infidelity are considered good things, acts
of worship. If you substitute abortion for infant sacrifice, I’m not so sure
things haven’t changed that much. The fascinating thing is that we now have
some “new thinkers” who have revived this religion. Even in our depravity we
must have the justification of some form of religion.
Geography
We
need to have a map to see where things are in this story:

As
you can see, Tishbe is on the western side of the Jordan – which leads to the
suspicions about Elijah’s origins. The brook, Kerith, is (according to the
traditional site) a transient stream – it normally dries up in the summer.
Ravens
Ravens
are clever birds; indeed, one of the most intelligent of species. But there
is a lesson in here for us – for ravens are also considered an “unclean”
species to the Jew. So the miraculous feeding of Elijah is very unusual in
that God uses an animal which is unclean to feed his prophet. The lesson?
God’s purposes may be served by angels or ravens, the great or the least. He
doesn’t seem to be too fussy that way.
Prophets and Prophecy
Does God use natural disaster to punish a nation?
It’s one of those questions which has come up more
frequently in these days of science and understanding. After all, these are
“natural” disasters – how could you see the hand of God in them?
Do
remember that this is his universe, sustained by his power. The reason that
the “laws of nature” are the same today as yesterday is that HE is the same
today as yesterday. The artwork reflects the artist.
Perhaps
you might remember the Northridge earthquake. I recall the sermons from the
next two weeks. In the first sermon, our preacher mildly reproached those who
thought God would use natural disaster to punish a nation; it was just one of
those trials of life. The next week he pointed out that Northridge, the
epicenter of the quake, was also the city in which over 95% of the world’s hard
core pornography is physically produced.
You
decide.
The role of the prophet
Prophecy,
especially in the Old Testament, has two functions:
- The
prophet is to foretell – not in the sense of predicting the stock
market, but in terms of outlining the consequences God intends.
Foretelling by a prophet always carries an “if” –“if you don’t repent, …”
- The
prophet is to forthtell – to proclaim wickedness for what it is.
In this day when everything is relative and there is no absolute truth,
some may think this quaint, at best. But the prophet has no choice; this
is God’s work for the prophet.
The
key to the character of the prophet is this: God does not hide his intentions
from the prophet, but rather uses him to proclaim those intentions to the
world.
Elijah’s approach
It’s
instructive to see Elijah’s approach:
- He
did not go to the people and tell them of the impending drought.
He is not to be a political rabble-rouser, or form a political party.
- He
went instead to the source of the problem, the king.
This
sounds a lot like church discipline, doesn’t it? Elijah is doing this God’s
way, in the hope of producing repentance.
Purpose and Direction
Having delivered his message, Elijah is instructed to
retreat. Indeed, he is to go and hide in the wilderness! Why? The
instruction is similar to Christ’s instruction to flee persecution. We might
look at this and think that a man who would later call down fire from heaven to
fall on his enemies would have little fear of a king like Ahab. Perhaps God
knew his man; Elijah is a man who calls down fire – but just afterwards will
run for his life.
The Wilderness
Why,
then, did God have him flee to the wilderness? Surely there would be cities in
which Elijah could be safe. I think God was preparing him for greater things:
- First,
in the wilderness he was safe from the temptation to intercede with God on
behalf of a pleading people. This would harden him to do what needed to
be done later.
- He
also needed to learn God’s providence. The ravens brought him no
stockpile; he learned to live from one meal to the next.
- I
suspect he also learned the difference between necessity and desire. The
prophets of Baal probably dined in higher style than Elijah. Elijah was
fed as befits a servant of God, not in luxury but in necessity.
This
is the real point of this story. God is shaping the man Elijah to do great
things, and he is doing so by adversity. It is interesting how this part of
the story ends: the brook dries up. Elijah could probably see this coming,
but note that the brook dries up before God tells him what to do.
Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof – and one test leads to another.