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Chapter 9
Elijah the Tishbite
AMONG the mountains of Gilead, east of the Jordan, there dwelt in the days of Ahab a man
of faith and prayer whose fearless ministry was destined to check the rapid spread of
apostasy in Israel. Far removed from any city of renown, and occupying no high station in
life, Elijah the Tishbite nevertheless entered upon his mission confident in God's purpose
to prepare the way before him and to give him abundant success. The word of faith and
power was upon his lips, and his whole life was devoted to the work of reform. His was the
voice of one crying in the wilderness to rebuke sin and press back the tide of evil. And
while he came to the people as a reprover of sin, his message offered the balm of Gilead
to the sin-sick souls of all who desired to be healed.
As Elijah saw Israel going deeper and deeper into idolatry, his soul was distressed and
his indignation aroused. God had done great things for His people. He had delivered
them from bondage and given them "the lands of the heathen, . . . that they might
observe His statutes, and keep His laws." Psalm 105:44, 45. But the beneficent
designs of Jehovah were now well-nigh forgotten. Unbelief was fast separating the chosen
nation from the Source of their strength. Viewing this apostasy from his mountain retreat,
Elijah was overwhelmed with sorrow. In anguish of soul he besought God to arrest the
once-favored people in their wicked course, to visit them with judgments, if need be, that
they might be led to see in its true light their departure from Heaven. He longed to see
them brought to repentance before they should go to such lengths in evil-doing as to
provoke the Lord to destroy them utterly.
Elijah's prayer was answered. Oft-repeated appeals, remonstrances, and warnings had failed
to bring Israel to repentance. The time had come when God must speak to them by means of
judgments. Inasmuch as the worshipers of Baal claimed that the treasures of heaven, the
dew and the rain, came not from Jehovah, but from the ruling forces of nature, and that it
was through the creative energy of the sun that the earth was enriched and made to bring
forth abundantly, the curse of God was to rest heavily upon the polluted land. The
apostate tribes of Israel were to be shown the folly of trusting to the power of Baal for
temporal blessings. Until they should turn to God with repentance, and acknowledge Him as
the source of all blessing, there should fall upon the land neither dew nor rain.
To Elijah was entrusted the mission of delivering to Ahab Heaven's message of judgment. He
did not seek to be the Lord's messenger; the word of the Lord came to him. And jealous for the honor of
God's cause, he did not hesitate to obey the divine summons, though to obey seemed to
invite swift destruction at the hand of the wicked king. The prophet set out at once and
traveled night and day until he reached Samaria. At the palace he solicited no admission,
nor waited to be formally announced. Clad in the coarse garments usually worn by the
prophets of that time, he passed the guards, apparently unnoticed, and stood for a moment
before the astonished king.
Elijah made no apology for his abrupt appearance. A Greater than the ruler of Israel had
commissioned him to speak; and, lifting his hand toward heaven, he solemnly affirmed by
the living God that the judgments of the Most High were about to fall upon Israel.
"As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand," he declared,
"there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word."
It was only by the exercise of strong faith in the unfailing power of God's word that
Elijah delivered his message. Had he not possessed implicit confidence in the One whom he
served, he would never have appeared before Ahab. On his way to Samaria, Elijah had passed
by ever-flowing streams, hills covered with verdure, and stately forests that seemed
beyond the reach of drought. Everything on which the eye rested was clothed with beauty.
The prophet might have wondered how the streams that had never ceased their flow could
become dry, or how those hills and valleys could be burned with drought. But he gave no
place to unbelief. He fully believed that God would humble apostate Israel, and that through
judgments they would be brought to repentance. The fiat of Heaven had gone forth; God's
word could not fail; and at the peril of his life Elijah fearlessly fulfilled his
commission. Like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, the message of impending judgment fell
upon the ears of the wicked king; but before Ahab could recover from his astonishment, or
frame a reply, Elijah disappeared as abruptly as he had come, without waiting to witness
the effect of his message. And the Lord went before him, making plain the way. "Turn thee eastward," the prophet was bidden, "and
hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt
drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee."
The king made diligent inquiry, but the prophet was not to be found. Queen Jezebel,
angered over the message that had locked up the treasures of heaven, lost no time in
conferring with the priests of Baal, who united with her in cursing the prophet and in
defying the wrath of Jehovah. But notwithstanding their desire to find him who had uttered
the word of woe, they were destined to meet with disappointment. Nor could they conceal
from others a knowledge of the judgment pronounced in consequence of the prevailing
apostasy. Tidings of Elijah's denunciation of the sins of Israel, and of his prophecy of
swift-coming punishment, quickly spread throughout the land. The fears of some were
aroused, but in general the heavenly message was received with scorn and ridicule.
The prophet's words went into immediate effect. Those who were at first inclined to scoff
at the thought of calamity, soon had occasion for serious reflection; for after a few
months the earth, unrefreshed by dew or rain, became dry, and vegetation withered. As time
passed, streams that had never been known to fail began to decrease, and brooks began to
dry up. Yet the people were urged by their leaders to have confidence in the power of Baal
and to set aside as idle words the prophecy of Elijah. The priests still insisted that it
was through the power of Baal that the showers of rain fell. Fear not the God of Elijah,
nor tremble at
His word, they urged, it is Baal that brings forth the harvest in its season and provides
for man and beast.
God's message to Ahab gave Jezebel and her priests and all the followers of Baal and
Ashtoreth opportunity to test the power of their gods, and, if possible, to prove the word
of Elijah false. Against the assurances of hundreds of idolatrous priests, the prophecy of
Elijah stood alone. If, notwithstanding the prophet's declaration, Baal could still give
dew and rain, causing the streams to continue to flow and vegetation to flourish, then let
the king of Israel worship him and the people say that he is God.
Determined to keep the people in deception, the priests of Baal continue to offer
sacrifices to their gods and to call upon them night and day to refresh the earth. With
costly offerings the priests attempt to appease the anger of their gods; with a zeal and a
perseverance worthy of a better cause they linger round their pagan altars and pray
earnestly for rain. Night after night, throughout the doomed land, their cries and
entreaties arise. But no clouds appear in the heavens by day to hide the burning rays of
the sun. No dew or rain refreshes the thirsty earth. The word of Jehovah stands unchanged
by anything the priests of Baal can do.
A year passes, and yet there is no rain. The earth is parched as if with
fire. The scorching heat of the sun destroys what little vegetation has
survived. Streams dry up, and lowing herds and bleating flocks wander
hither and thither in distress. Once-flourishing fields have become like
burning desert sands, a desolate waste. The groves dedicated to idol
worship are leafless; the forest trees, gaunt skeletons of nature, afford no shade. The air is dry and suffocating; dust storms blind the eyes and
nearly stop the breath. Once-prosperous cities and villages have become places of
mourning. Hunger and thirst are telling upon man and beast with fearful mortality. Famine,
with all its horror, comes closer and still closer.
Yet notwithstanding these evidences of God's power, Israel repented not, nor learned the
lesson that God would have them learn. They did not see that He who created nature
controls her laws, and can make of them instruments of blessing or of destruction.
Proudhearted, enamored of their false worship, they were unwilling to humble themselves under the mighty hand of
God, and they began to cast about for some other cause to which to attribute their
sufferings.
Jezebel utterly refused to recognize the drought as a judgment from Jehovah. Unyielding in
her determination to defy the God of heaven, she, with nearly the whole of Israel, united
in denouncing Elijah as the cause of all their misery. Had he not borne testimony against
their forms of worship? If only he could be put out of the way, she argued, the anger of
their gods would be appeased, and their troubles would end.
Urged on by the queen, Ahab instituted a most diligent search for the hiding place of the
prophet. To the surrounding nations, far and near, he sent messengers to seek for the man
whom he hated, yet feared; and in his anxiety to make the search as thorough as possible,
he required of these kingdoms and nations an oath that they knew nothing of the
whereabouts of the prophet. But the search was in vain. The prophet was safe from the
malice of the king whose sins had brought upon the land the denunciation of an offended
God.
Failing in her efforts against Elijah, Jezebel determined to avenge herself by slaying all
the prophets of Jehovah in Israel. Not one should be left alive. The infuriated woman
carried out her purpose in the massacre of many of God's servants. Not all, however,
perished. Obadiah, the governor of Ahab's house, yet faithful to God, "took an
hundred prophets," and at the risk of his own life, "hid them by fifty in a
cave, and fed them with bread and water." 1 Kings 18:4.
The second year of famine passed, and still the pitiless heavens gave no sign of rain.
Drought and famine continued their devastation throughout the kingdom. Fathers and
mothers, powerless to relieve the sufferings of their children, were forced to see them
die. Yet still apostate Israel refused to humble their hearts before God and continued to
murmur against the man by whose word these terrible judgments had been brought upon them.
They seemed unable to discern in their suffering and distress a call to repentance, a
divine interposition to save them from taking the fatal step beyond the boundary of
Heaven's forgiveness.
The apostasy of Israel was an evil more dreadful than all the multiplied horrors of
famine. God was seeking to free the people from their delusion and lead them to understand
their accountability to the One to whom they owed their life and all things. He was trying
to help them to recover their lost faith, and He must needs bring upon them great
affliction.
"Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not
that he should return from his ways, and live?" "Cast away from you all your
transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit:
for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that
dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." "Turn ye,
turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" Ezekiel 18:23,
31, 32; 33:11.
God had sent messengers to Israel, with appeals to return to their allegiance. Had they
heeded these appeals, had
they turned from Baal to the living God, Elijah's message of judgment would never have
been given. But the warnings that might have been a savor of life unto life had proved to
them a savor of death unto death. Their pride had been wounded, their anger had been
aroused against the messengers, and now they regarded with intense hatred the prophet
Elijah. If only he should fall into their hands, gladly they would deliver him to
Jezebel--as if by silencing his voice they could stay the fulfillment of his words! In the
face of calamity they continued to stand firm in their idolatry. Thus they were adding to
the guilt that had brought the judgments of Heaven upon the land.
For stricken Israel there was but one remedy--a turning away from the sins that had
brought upon them the chastening hand of the Almighty, and a turning to the Lord with full
purpose of heart. To them had been given the assurance, "If I shut up heaven that
there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence
among My people; if My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and
pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and
will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:13, 14. It was to
bring to pass this blessed result that God continued to withhold from them the dew and the
rain until a decided reformation should take place.
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