Elijah: The Man of God From Tishbe
Clarence E. Lunden
Table of Contents
Sarepta
Far from the multitudes, secluded from contaminating atmosphere, Elijah, a man of God, was born. The scant account of his early life given in Scripture permits us to gather only a general understanding of his childhood and upbringing. The sin among the people of God in his day was idolatry and unbelief, but through mercy this family was an exception, and the parents named their son "Elijah," which signifies "Jehovah, He is God." Perhaps they saw by faith that he was a "proper child," one whom God would use.
There was much to favor Elijah in the entire setting of his humble birth and background that would naturally qualify him for service for God. He could claim no kingly nor priestly credentials; his preparation must be moral. The signal failure in responsibility formally entrusted to God's people left room for only one alternative if there was to be blessing, the sovereignty of God to act as His Spirit would lead, with clay ready in the Potter's hand. He could profitably use a naive, informally taught servant, who, through isolation and separation from much that was of man, would properly discern the voice of his Maker and think clearly as to the need of the day among His people.
Those qualifications fit Elijah well. The experience gained in the wilderness where he lived enabled him to make clear decisions in his own path of testing and service. He knew by experience that the brook or torrent Cherith would flow fast with great volume in the rainy seasons but would have little or no water in the dry seasons and might be one of the first to dry up completely should there be a general drought. Experience in natural things had taught him that the voracious ravens could not be expected to provide him with anything, let alone flesh, to eat.
Elijah, a man of God, trusted God and believed that if He sent His servant, the mission would be effective and the means used to complete the work would be supplied by God. The Word of God was all that Elijah had. He dwelt on the east side of Jordan near the wilderness, far from Jerusalem, the center. The Spirit of God could move him, as He moved Samson and many others, but not until the preparatory work was complete in his soul in order that he act in faith. Prayer and wrestlings must precede the momentous task before him.
On the map Tishbe and Abelmeholah are about two miles apart, but Scripture does not say whether or not Elijah and Elisha knew each other in youth. It is possible that they were of different ages.
It would seem that Elijah was unknown before he confronted King Ahab but became well known later. Could there be such a thing and such a time when a servant would be known publicly only in that he spoke against evil? "Jehovah, He is God." Who would question this? Yet, in faithfulness, God raised up a servant in power with the name "Jehovah, He is God" to remind His people of its verity. Years must have passed. God dose not use a novice to do a man’s work. Elijah was a man of God. The mission before this honored servant was one of great importance. It required of the servant that he have God's mind, the result of communion, that he be wholly separated as a vessel for the Master's use, and that whatever was said or done would be on the principle of faith, for "without faith it is impossible to please him" (Heb. 11:6). The ear must be opened to hear before the tongue is loosed to speak (Psa. 40:6).
Self-control should be in exercise if God is to use a servant. Leaning on God alone is needful. "My heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord" would be the inward sentiment of a newborn soul in the power of faith and felt communion, arising from repeated experiences of testing so as to render the soul meek. It was never said that Moses was meek until after his exile in Midian. Paul could say, "I have learned," in his later years. It was David who said, "My soul is even as a weaned child." Ephraim cries out at last, "What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him."
short of at least some of these experiences. Moral power, which is greater than physical power, was needed. This required spiritual training.
Idolatry and unbelief had risen to such an alarming height that God's repeated warnings to Israel had no effect. Open defiance of God had replaced the spirit of submission which once clothed Israel upon their leaving Egypt for Canaan. How would God answer this? His people would be set aside and likened to a valley of dry bones (Ezek. 37:1,2).
No Dew nor Rain
Elijah came out of obscurity as a flaming meteor, was seen for a moment, then disappeared again. He cried to Ahab, the king of apostate Israel, "As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word" (1 Kings 17:1).
This spectacular utterance was not only divinely timed, but in consulting the epistle of James, it would seem that there was no fresh revelation to Elijah as to what he should do (James 5:17). This suggests that Elijah had God's mind, by faith, and felt that the time had come to act on behalf of God among His people, since they had given themselves over to the worship of Baal (Deut. 11:16,17;28:24).
King Ahab lived in Samaria, commanding a sizable army which he could seemingly have used to dispatch this insolent, itinerant stranger. But the king had not known before of the power invested in a man of God. Indeed, the same chariot of fire that protected Elijah on a later date as he ascended into the heavens, though not seen here, was at his right hand for his protection. Moral power excels!
The years spent at Tishbe beside the waters of Cherith, the floods, the drought, the loneliness, and the observing of God's ways were now rewarding to the prophet. Having been unknown at Cherith, God suddenly makes him well known, so much so that Ahab sent to every nation and kingdom to seek Elijah. In what way was Elijah so well known? Was it not in stopping the rain from heaven because of the land's having been given over to idolatry? He would again be known in a different way, in God's time, when He was pleased to send rain again, but in the interval a picture is used to set forth God's purpose and moral ways with an individual soul, as with each of us, magnifying His grace so much so that even the angels desire to look into it (1 Peter 1:12).
Israel having turned to idols, God turns the blessing in a different direction, to the Gentiles, to provoke Israel to jealousy. After the nation of Israel, representing man under trial, failed, God was pleased to show Himself in a different character, that of love, seeking man, not on the basis of what He might find in man, but what He could bring to His helpless creature, raising him to His position in grace that man might have a capacity for the enjoyment of divine things.
The outward forms and traditions so tightly and proudly held by religious man were to be replaced by truth in the inward parts.
Under God's government, what a calamity will befall any, who, having been so favored as Israel was, would neglect and despise his Creator! Also, what will be God's answer to one who apostatizes the present testimony of grace where God's purposes are fully known?
God could never be rightly known nor man fully blessed under Israel's economy; yet in testing man so that he could know his own heart, the law must be given. Not only did God send from His right hand a fiery law, but "he hewed them by the prophets" (Hos. 6:5).
The gospel of Matthew is the first in testimony by God to Israel after 400 years of prophetic silence. "Thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21).
All of the prophets sought not only to rebuke the people for their wickedness but also to set before Israel the promise of better things for faith. All of this hinges upon the promise to the woman's seed in Gen. 3. The book of Hebrews often speaks in that way, using the term "better."
The picture before us shows the beginning of "better" things in a sort of typical preview. Truth can only be known in the inward parts in resurrection life where the Spirit of God is free to turn the thoughts away from wretched self to a pure Object that completely satisfies the human heart, providing blessings which have a lasting character.
Hide Thyself
"And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Get thee hence" (1 Kings 17:2,3).
"Get thee hence." How God jealously guards the path of the man of God so that he might be preserved at Cherith (cutting off) even though he is found for the moment in the place of defilement because of God's interests. When all efforts are fruitless and persecution arises, it is time to flee (Matt. 10:23). The 'glory must depart from Israel for a time.
"Turn thee eastward" (1 Kings 17:3).
Dayspring from on high hath visited us! In the book of Ezekiel, chapter 43:4, we read, "And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east." The wise men said, "We have seen his star in the east." What a contemplation for one who finds little or no fellowship among God's people here! One who waits upon God is permitted to turn the gaze eastward to the Origin of blessing and glory. We await the showing of the Morning Star which has already arisen in our hearts.
"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 there. So he went and did according to the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook" (1 Kings 17:3-6).
This experience was a humbling one to Elijah, but it was an enlightening one as well. Nothing gives power and stability to the soul like experiences of need in the presence of God. This should be learned for ourselves before instructing others. Surprises for us are God's specialties. Nature would say, "The ravens would never feed me." God says, "I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there." The ravens are not commanded to feed anyone else nor in any other place, just there by the brook Cherith. This is specialty indeed. How good our God is to take notice of the individual need of each of His own. Faith says, "I will gladly accept my circumstances from the Lord; I will drink of the brook, this being the refreshment that God has provided to sustain me here."
"And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land" (1 Kings 17:7).
What a sweet meditation this affords! As for the Lord Jesus in His pathway here, "In all of their afflictions he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence followed them." As Israel felt the drought, so did Elijah, for Elijah was a man of like passions with us. We learn in this passage that a man of God must wait upon God, even when all apparent resources are gone. God is still there. How this truth rebukes our feverish flesh! The Lord is in His holy temple. Where is the brook of refreshment? Where are the ravens? This calls to mind the greatest of prophets, John, quailing under the trial of prison, "Art thou he that should come, or look we for another?" (Matt. 11:3) What a patient Master! How gracious in the behalf of John before the multitude! (Matt. 11:7-11) Here Elijah acts nobly: he waits until the word of the Lord comes. Christ never moved without a word from His Father.
A City of Zidon
"And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon" (1 Kings 17:8,9).
If we think of Elijah as having self before him, we would feel naturally fa widow woman. it was a mistake to go to the very area from which Jezebel, Ahab's wife, came, the place which was the very source of Satan's power which introduced Baal into Israel and drove Elijah away. Such, however, are God's counsels. Faith can trust God to do what is best; and more, it was a part of the very counsels of God that in the place where Christ was slain, the Roman Empire, Jezebel's land, the church was to be cradled and reared, challenging the very gates of hell, and they cannot prevail, so Jesus has declared. What a mystery of iniquity it is that encloses the professing church of God. The Lord's power is manifested here.
"Dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee" (1 Kings 17:9).
The prophet is commanded to go to Zarephath where the woman is commanded to sustain him. The place has changed from the brook Cherith to Zarephath, the means of support, first, the ravens, then a widow woman.
"So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink" (1 Kings 17:10).
Infinite patience is His as He teaches us here what would refresh and satisfy His heart. "For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee" (1 Chron. 29:14). Water speaks of refreshment, but here it is connected with obedience. This is the command of love. Will she obey him at all cost to herself? The brook had dried up; this was his need.
Is it little to say that where he had come from in Israel there was no water? All was dried. She was ready to respond and had the means, faith. Faith is "the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8). Do we really believe who it is that says, "Give me to drink"? "If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that says, Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him and he would have given thee living water" (John 4:7,10). A poor Gentile sinner supplies Jesus with a drink, and He is dependent upon her for it.
"Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand" (1 Kings 17:11).
She is being tested. With a morsel of bread? Yes, just a morsel to test our hearts. Yet he asked for it because he needed it. Beloved, it is our need that brings us to Jesus. It was Elijah's need, in his path of faith, that led him to Sarepta. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, truth, to open the inward parts sealed with sin, grace, to bind up, heal, and fill with eternal joy.
What made the widow woman comply with the request? Duty? Surely not. She knew of no traditional claims that he had upon her. Her heart was touched as he relates what the Lord God of Israel had said. Only Jesus knows what His Father has said, because He dwells in His bosom and makes all that is in that bosom known to us. We would never have known this as Gentiles unless grace had brought Him to us. This is what touches the heart. No wonder the little hymn says, "Grace is a mine of wealth laid open to the poor." This is more than a doctrine, dear fellow Christian. This is first love, which was soon lost in the church of God, the heart of God touching the heart of man and receiving the proper response. Has this been your experience, to have a harp and to have it tuned for the first time? We shall never lose this harp, though it may have to be retuned over and over again here on earth.
"As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake" (1 Kings 17:12).
What a confession! When the heart is touched, the work can proceed. Ephesians says, "Without God, without Christ, aliens." This she owns, no claim whatever upon him for any blessing, only her need acknowledged. What a condition to be in before God! Gentile, without a husband, nothing to sustain her from the power of death, yet all of her hope, her son, is dependent upon what she can form with her own hands, after that, death. She knew that what she formed with her own hands could not sustain her son long.
How man labors for the meat that perishes! He knows no other. A precious thing it is to have the revelation of what God is to us in Christ unfold before our eyes. Her need was his need.
The Meal and the Oil
"But a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in a cruse" (1 Kings 17:12).
It is sure that where Jesus is, there is everything to meet the need of the widow. If the barrel or cruse suggests to us the lowly position that our Savior took to provide for our need, the meal and oil would surely present Christ ministered to us by His Holy Spirit in the day of rejection. Blessed grace, found only in the widow's house! More, the picture given is one of complete dependence, waiting each day upon God and the barrel that never gets empty and the cruse that never fails. "Is this the way of communion?" I ask my soul. How near is the lamb that feeds from the shepherd's hand! a handful a day, how precious, how satisfying.
"Behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die" (1 Kings 17:12).
When the assembly was formed in Acts 2, everything essential had been provided, the result of the work of Christ. Man was used through the Spirit of God to gather souls to the true Center by preaching. Here in her house, the woman learns little by little that grace provides everything. All that she could see in the house was enough meal for one cake, then death. Nature cannot look beyond the grave to a God of resurrection. Yet everything was there, the handful of meal in a barrel, the little oil in the cruse, the prophet, and her son.
"Trembling we had hoped for mercy -
Some lone place within His door;
But the crown, the throne, the mansion,
All were ready long before"
(L. F. Hymn Book, #93).
It is not that we have need of anything except to have our eyes opened to see what we do have, thus the prayer of Paul the apostle in Eph. 1.
"And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and thy son. For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth"(1 Kings 17:13,14).
There is one thing which never can be compromised. God must have His portion first. The precious portion which His people eat is the same that He eats, Christ in humiliation ministered to us by the Spirit. Yet the barrel of meal, not just the handful, shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail. How blessed the heart that has learned this lesson, Christ first in everything without being concerned as to our own needs. "Be careful for nothing", "The Lord is at hand." Was it not so, that while he was in the house with the widow woman, none of them lacked? Yet she gave all to him willingly, because it was the word of the God of Israel that she believed and trusted. Is He not worthy of our utmost confidence. Do we really believe that the Lord is at hand (present with us continually)?
He, the Creator Himself, loves to draw from that heavenly treasury and fill not only all of our needs but also our hearts. Yet we have valuable lessons to learn which we can only learn here in dependence. Perhaps we are sometimes like the disciples in the boat with Jesus while the storm raged. "Master, we perish," was their cry. Would He perish? Would those He loved so much as to die for be left unnoticed in trouble? Never!
"According to the word of the LORD which he spake by Elijah" (1 Kings 17:16).
Why by Elijah? It is faith in the Sent One. "If ye believe not that I am he ye shall die in your sins." Spiritual things are spiritually discerned. Only "wisdom's children" really can understand God's ways. This is what the name Elijah intended to bring out, "Jehovah, He is God." Israel refused to bow and own Jehovah to be God but instead followed Ahab with Jezebel into idolatry. Here is a poor Gentile widow in simple faith taking the place of Israel in blessing, while the heavens are closed over them.
Blessing for the Gentiles
In the fourth chapter of the gospel of Luke, the reference to the woman that was a widow is of much interest and leads the heart to inquire further into this grand subject of sovereign mercy, so richly set forth in this gospel.
The narrative opens with Jesus in the synagogue reading Isa. 61:1,2. The result was that "all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth" (Luke 4:22). He had stopped short of vengeance and left ringing in their ears the words, "the acceptable year of the Lord." In unbelief they ask, "Is not this Joseph's son?" This was Israel's answer to the Savior who had come in grace.
"And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; But unto none of them was Elias, sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian" (Luke 4:24-27).
The foregoing statements on the part of the Lord Jesus were in essence the opening of the door for blessing to the Gentiles. When Jesus was rejected by the elders of Israel in Matt. 12:14, He referred to the prophecy of Isaiah concerning His exaltation over the Gentiles. In the same instance He showed how grace would replace the old covenant, bringing in the kingdom of God (Matt. 12:28,17-21). (See also Isa. 49:5,6.) The rejection by Israel caused the Lord Jesus to think of the Gentiles, from whom He receives His heavenly bride (Matt. 13:45,46).
When God's stream of mercy has once begun to flow, there is no quenching it. If blocked in Jacob's land, it must break out elsewhere. The Divine Mind had anticipated this rejection of mercy, knowing man and what was in man (John 2:24,25). But man did not know God, or what was in the heart of God for man, until Jesus came. Jesus has fully revealed Him as a Savior God.
If the Jews, who had the oracles of God with the accompanying benefits, refused the One who came desiring to bring them back to God, grace must flow in other channels in order that the full character of God might be displayed. Sovereign grace, to be fully displayed, must have suitable material in which to work. "But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are: that no flesh should glory in his presence (1 Cor. 1:2729).
To speak of a Gentile widow, or a Syrian leper, as blessed of God, was more than proud religious flesh could stand, especially those who claimed to be the people of God. Let us be careful that we who are blessed with so much spiritually keep a place of lowliness.
But God had great counsels to be opened up for the Gentiles, and this to magnify His grace as nothing else could, because, as in creation, He took up that which in itself was nothing and made a vessel to His praise.
The forerunner, John the Baptist, had faithfully testified of the coming Savior (John 1:27). Angels had made known the joyous announcement of. His birth to the humble shepherds (Luke 2:8-14). Isaiah prophesied the coming of the virgin's Son, (Isa. 7:14), telling His name "Immanuel" (with us is God). These announcements had no effect upon Israel. Israel must be provoked to jealousy before she repent (Rom. 11:11).
I Have Many Things to Say Unto You
The primary aspect of the ministry of the kingdom of God was given by the Lord Jesus while on earth and reaches on to its completeness in the ministry of the Apostle Paul. Luke's ministry is Pauline in character.
The public ministry of the Lord Jesus, while on earth, was largely formative, calling for repentance, even as preached by the forerunner John, who was sent to prepare the way of the Lord (Luke 5:32;13:3; Matt. 3:2). This ministry may be illustrated by parts of the ministry of Elijah, in which may be seen several pictures of repentance bringing about the emptying, cleansing, and forming of the vessel (the believer).
When the Lord Jesus was here He could say, "I have yet many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now." Many of these things were reserved for the second part of the ministry of the Lord Jesus, through the Apostle Paul, which Elisha seems to suggest. This ministry was given after the Lord ascended into the heavens and gave gifts unto men. It was only after the Spirit of God came down that the Lord could open up the things that were chiefly on His heart, which He longed to impart to His own while here but could not at that time, if the church was to be formed through faith in an absent Christ.
The Apostle Paul received revelations from the Lord Jesus, completing the Word of God, as in Col. 1:25. These revelations have to do mainly with the mystery, Christ and the church, and chiefly among the Gentiles, something that was never revealed before. The apostle waited fourteen years before he was able to impart to the saints the things that were given to him by revelation. God's patience with Israel as a nation seemed to be the reason (Gal. 2:1,2).
Elijah ascended into the heavens before the ministry of Elisha began. Elisha gives some most helpful illustrations of this ministry of Paul.
"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou nearest the sound thereof, but cant not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth, so is everyone that is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8).
This reaches to the Gentiles. Oh! the largeness of the heart of God!
"Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens: and thy faithfulness reaches unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast. How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings" (Psa. 36:5-7).
Though Israel trod under foot the Son of God and insulted the Spirit of grace, they could not stop the flow of "the river of His grace, through righteousness supplied, (that) is flowing o'er the barren place where Jesus died" (L. F. Hymn Book, #48, app.).
The Kingdom of God
When Jesus came to His own nation, His coming was not accompanied by a display of power and outward splendor, but rather that which only a new nature, taught of God, would appreciate, "truth in the inward parts."
In the day of the widow woman of Zarephath, Christ had not come, but God, in anticipation of the tremendous blessing that would accompany the first advent of Christ to this world, sets this lovely gem in 1 Kings 17 to give us facets of truth, in type, which words alone could hardly express, introducing the kingdom of God.
Christ came to fulfill the counsels of God, bringing sovereign mercy to the "vessels of mercy," both Jew and Gentile (Rom. 9:23,24).
The Jewish remnant who believed and were at Jerusalem at the time of Christ, (of whom Simeon, Anna, Zacharias, and Elisabeth were representative), if alive at the time of Pentecost, received the Spirit indwelling, but also were formed into one body. Later, Gentiles, such as Cornelius, believed and were brought into the same body with the Jews.
But, alas! the nation of Israel as a whole refused the testimony of sovereign grace. Therefore, in Acts 28:28, the Apostle Paul says to the chief men of the Jews, "Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it." It was probably after this that the revelations of the "mystery" were sent to the respective assemblies.
A Man of God
Now we have come to a new part of the narrative.
"The son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick, and his sickness was so sore that there was no breath left in him" (1 Kings 17:17).
Her all was in that son. She might value what mercy brings, but she still values that son above all; he is her hope. She has no husband.
We can be sure that God is in anything that happens for faith. "As for God, his way is perfect." We can also be sure that if our house is separated from all that is of the world, and if there is conscious communion with. God in Christ, with the joy of the presence of the Father and the Son abiding with us down here, the richest blessing will result to us. It is the Father's joy to bless. However, blessing can come only through the exercise of our hearts under testing. If there is deep testing where there is deep trust and communion, it is to let us into the more profound secrets of divine love that are shown to friends.
"0 thou man of God" (1 Kings 17:18).
What a discovery is this! "Man of God." Yes, only one who exhibits the character of God down here is entitled to this name. No formal credentials accompanied with a display of outward glory called forth this, only the heart drawn to him in her sorrow. To whom else could she go? What a blessed paradox! Could she breathe forth defiance to one who had met her every need and sustained her when she and her son were ready to die? All she could say to him was, "O thou man of God." Have you been thus in the sanctuary of God, shut up with God, all else shut out? This is soul experience, never to be forgotten. Could she ever have been that close to the man of God except in trouble? Would she have known him as such?
It is no longer sustenance for the body, things that belong to time, material things, nor even life itself here. Eternal realities are dawning upon the soul. The entire being is carried away into the infinite. Which way will the prophet move next? Grace carries the spirit through grief into fair scenes that lie before every heavenly taught soul.
"Out of my sorrow into Thyself, Jesus, I come to Thee."
Truth in the Inward Parts
She has been shown grace. She must be shown truth, for He came by grace and truth. She was a Gentile without hope.
She could say, "As the LORD thy God liveth." She knew not God. Her husband was dead. ("Husband" symbolizes "rest" in Scripture. See Ruth 1:9;3:1.) The fact that she had an upper room would remind her of happier days, because only the prosperous could afford this in her day. So she was a destitute woman who was a widow. Woman speaks of weakness. Widow speaks of need. Gentile! Woman! Widow! Son in death! Handful of meal in a barrel! A little oil in a cruse! Now in the quiet solitude of death in her house, with her mind reminiscing of all the strange circumstances to which she has been reduced, and the added sorrow of the loss of her all, her son, her hope, having come to herself as the prodigal of Luke 15, she cries in her distress and anguish of soul, "What have I to do with thee, 0 thou man of God?" (1 Kings 17:18), What have we to do with Jesus? What rights have we? The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Traditional institutions have crumbled and will all crumble, yet underneath it all there is a sublime truth not yet known by the masses of dying mankind, that God is a God of sovereign love, and down through the ages He had been waiting for an avenue to be opened in which this love could flow forth to its needy objects. The means by which it flows forth is the Son of God as Son of man, coming down to His creatures as one with them, sin apart, and undertaking a work of redemption to bring back to Himself worthless sinners, even of the Gentiles.
"Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance?" (1 Kings 17:18)
Here was a vessel empty indeed and about to be cleansed, upon the confession of sin. This is the first of several pictures of repentance in the ministry of Elijah. The effect is a new creature in Christ Jesus through resurrection.
Did he ever say he was a man of God? How did she know? It was truth in the inward parts. He came by grace and truth. The Lord Jesus, in applying His credentials to the conscience of the Jews, could say, "If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin." Also, "Which of you convinceth me of sin?"
Wisdom's children would instinctively be drawn to One whose nature they had, through grace, no matter how ignorant of God's ways or lacking in moral discernment Nathanael, the centurion, the woman of Sidon, the woman who was a sinner in Simon's house, publicans, and many others who had obeyed wisdom's voice in the baptism of John. "For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit" (Luke 6:43).
"And to slay my son?" (1 Kings 17:18)
"And the world passeth away and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." Where is your hope, my friend? Is it in that which is to pass away forever? If "son" stands for "hope," how good to have it all changed by a God of resurrection.
"Give me thy son" (1 Kings 17:19).
Give me thy hope. I have a better one for you. Is there a better hope than what is in this world? "Moses endured as seeing him who is invisible," likewise all the children of faith and wisdom.
"The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it" (Luke 16:16). It is by way of the conscience that I receive lasting understanding. Truth must be in the inward parts (heart). Here it finds its eternal home.
"And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft where he abode" (1 Kings 17:19).
"Our life is hid with Christ in God." Had she tasted mercy in receiving from the barrel and cruse? Now she is to know truth in the "portion" of her son. Nothing will do for God but to have the companion of His Son in His home enjoying the same pleasures which He enjoys. This is worthy of God and of His grace. Surely this is the fatness of the olive tree that Israel refused. Abraham, the father of faith and of many nations, dwelt at Hebron (communion) in the plain of Mamre fatness), God's fruitful fields. Yet a poor Gentile woman who was a widow, bereaved of all hope in the death of her son, finds in the prophet, the man of God, all that is needed in this world, and that which seals eternal blessing, all the desires of the renewed heart, in eternal glory in the Father's house.
"And laid him upon his own bed" (1 Kings 17:19).
If the flesh lies in death, hope lies in the place of utmost eternal tranquility. "When I awake, I am still with thee" (Psa. 139:18). God has called us to His own rest.
A God of Resurrection
"And he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried unto the LORD and said, 0 LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again" (1 Kings 17:21).
There comes a time through deep exercise when the soul is given to see all of its hope in resurrection life, although first there may be the pain of losing what nature rests upon here (2 Cor. 4:16-18).
In stretching himself upon the child, the prophet identifies the son with himself, here morally. I mean by this that the Spirit of God had so wrought that there was an inward change in this woman's hope. We are morally like Christ. This we have to learn by experience here by the Word of God, moral regeneration. Stretching himself upon the son three times would express this completeness. We may have to learn it practically, step by step, but essentially it was true when we were saved. We are in a new place, saved by the washing of regeneration (Titus 3:5). This accompanies new birth for the Christian.
"And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he lived" (1 Kings 17:22).
It is because He lives that we live. Christ is the Quickener of the dead. "The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20).
"And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth" (1 Kings 17:23).
The mother would typify the affections of a new nature with all of her hopes in resurrection life enjoyed down here in the very scene of her poverty, need, and trials.
"And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth" (1 Kings 17:24).
Can it be that a poor Gentile without God or hope now is able to say to the prophet of God, "Now by this I know that thou art a man of God and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth?" Surely the Spirit has been poured out upon the Gentiles to provoke Israel to jealousy (Rom. 11:11). If Israel be gathered on earth, and surely they will be, still, they will never know anything about the upper room, the loft where the man of God rests in his own home, nor will Israel know or feel the comfort of the bed upon which he rests.
And now as we come to the close of this most interesting and instructive narrative, we are given to see clearly that salvation rests upon God and the faith on our part that receives it, the precious blood shed at Calvary by God's own Son being the means of paying the debt that we owed. Also, that by way of resurrection we as Gentiles have been brought into something new and heavenly.
Will not this cause our hearts to worship Him Who loved us and shed His blood to save us?
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it" (Matt. 13:45,46). Having found, as Gentiles, the full blessing with the accompanying testimony, let us haste, lest, in our lethargy, the shell be nacred, hindering the pearl from attaining its luster or growth to set forth its character of "oneness."
Oh, precious pearl,
The fruit of sorrow, toil, and wasting,
The constant sore, the bitter grief
Of emptiness here tasting.
I cannot close the shell
To pain and nacre's flowing,
Lest, haply, in the harvest,
Naught but the shell be showing.
Obadiah
"And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth" (1 Kings 18:1).
Elijah had "prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months." This was by faith (James 5:16-18). There are many Scriptures upon which Elijah could act without a fresh revelation from God (Deut. 11:16,17;28:24). God is reluctant to chastise His people, but Elijah prayed earnestly that it might be so for God's glory and their good.
God does not need any of us to carry out His plans, but the marvelous truth is that He uses man, and often we see in His servants so used a faint picture of the Man of His counsels, who shall fulfill all of His will in righteousness, truth, and mercy (Mic. 7:20).
"Go, show thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth" (1 Kings 18:1).
Since God is about to send rain, He would send it by the man who had stopped the rain. The blessing must be identified with Elijah. His mission was to arouse the people of God to repentance and at the same time to a sense of God's purpose of having all of the nation (twelve tribes) as one (verse 31). Mal. 4:5,6 refers to this ultimate purpose, which can only be brought about at the return of Christ. See Acts 3:19-26, N. T. Here Elijah is seen as a type.
As we speak of "his mission" we must remember that Elijah set forth other ministry besides his mission to God's people. The prophet's stay for three and one half years in Zidon could not be construed as a part of his mission. This blessed ministry of grace, reaching to the Gentiles, entirely apart from the calling back to a broken law, is seen throughout his career as a prophet even after his mission is closed (ch. 19:19), when he chooses his successor, Elisha.
In Elijah's ministry he becomes, at times, a lovely type of Christ. The ministry of the Lord Jesus laid the groundwork for the calling out of the assembly.
When Elijah prayed for rain, it is not said in James 5:18 that he prayed earnestly. This was said when he prayed that it might not rain. In verse 18 it says, "And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit."
What a marvelous jewel mercy is! God is ready to bless! How slow His "strange work," judgment! He exercises patience with His faithless people!
"And Elijah went to show himself 'unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria" (1 Kings 18:2).
The path of faith is fraught with dangers. We would like many times to run away instead of stand our ground. (2 Sam. 23:11,12). If we feel sure that God has sent us, we can rest upon His might against numberless foes. Nearness to God brings this simplicity. Holiness brings us into nearness to God. No communion is found without holiness.
This is the part of Elijah's mission that exemplifies faith in the darkest hours of his service. Only a sense of God's presence could give such calmness. There was no nation where Ahab had not sought for Elijah, for he was bent upon Elijah's destruction. Without hesitation Elijah goes into a scene of famine and heartbreak to meet the idolatrous king Ahab face to face.
The Governor of Ahab's House
"And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house" (1 Kings 18:3).
Here we are introduced to a very different kind of servant of God, unlike Elijah who had a positive testimony. Obadiah was one who feared the Lord greatly, typical of the seven thousand who would not bow to the image of Baal (1 Kings 19:18). This is negative testimony, and characteristic of the greater mass of believers today.
Nowhere do we find Obadiah spoken of as a man of God. Only one who manifests the character of God could be so spoken of. Obadiah's name means "serving Jehovah". This he did, though in an imperfect manner. It is most touching how far-reaching grace is. The least thought, the cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, a crust of bread-all are noticed by our God, because the heart is in it. How often the flesh trembles while the heart grieves. It could be that down through the years Obadiah shed many tears. Hear God's estimate of this servant.
"(Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly: For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water)" (1 Kings 18:3,4).
Compromise
The Spirit of Christ would enable us to see good in our brethren and encourage any little effort for Christ. Poor, failing creatures we are; yet we belong to Christ. What He gets from the most devoted of His people could not be very much, but He values those who think upon His Name in the dark days (Mal. 3:16). Surely there was no power for testimony with Obadiah in the position of compromise that he took, a strange position for a child of God. How hard a path it was with little comfort, because "the fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe" (Prow. 29:25).
Obadiah did risk his life for the testimony of God, but little else has been recorded that was favorable to his account. We do notice that underneath, Obadiah manifested a warm heart filled with divine love. If only he had the courage of Elijah, he could have filled a place as a shepherd among God's faltering people.
In comparing Elijah with Obadiah, surely Elijah would stand out in relief as a man of God. Years of training at Cherith and separation from the evil of the day among God's people contributed to the stalwart character of Elijah. He speaks with poise, power, and fearlessness. This shows the importance of passing through the school of God in fitting one for service. Obadiah had not come this far. The easy life of the king's court could hardly yield what Cherith yielded. The fear of the idolatrous king was a great hindrance to Obadiah. His desire to please the king led this dear man into many fleshly pursuits.
"And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts" (1 Kings 18:5).
This word offers much to ponder in this day, surrounded by a "Babylon" of religious confusion. I refer to the general condition of those who profess to be God's people. It is well enough to have an ideal as Elijah before us, but, actually, what is our case? Are we more like Obadiah-or Elijah? Are we characterized by virtues of Elijah, or do we have the weaknesses of Obadiah, loving Christ and His people within but little or no testimony without?
"All fountains of water... peradventure" (1 Kings 18:5).
Are these the expressions of the man of faith? In the background and training of these two men we see a reason for the lack of power with Obadiah. We never read of his praying. Many times Elijah is said to be praying fervently, intelligently, and in keeping with the situation at hand.
Obadiah had no definite source of refreshment on which he could rely, but he resorted to all fountains of water, and all brooks, at the command of Ahab. Many of the dear people of God are carelessly seeking their spiritual help from similar sources.
Divine Center
The Spirit of God has come down and indwelt each believer, giving energy and discernment. Also the Holy Spirit has made His abode in the assembly on earth. If the people of God gather according to the divine instructions-only to the name of the Lord Jesus, by the Spirit, waiting upon God in dependence, the need will be supplied in that place where His Name is. The truth of God can be found only where God is pleased to place it. Today, the assembly is made the depositary of the truth, as Israel was in another day. To seek to "all fountains" is to add to the existing confusion. What do the people of God have to do with "peradventure"? If God has communicated His mind, why should there be a "peradventure"?
When the soul is at rest and in communion with the mind of God, there is progress without indecision or fear. There is much among most of God's people that would liken them to the "seven thousand" of which Obadiah seems to be a model. Do we dare look down upon this dear man as we view the state among us today? What shall we do with Scriptures such as: "Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge" (Prov. 14:7)? To listen to that which we know to be dishonoring to God is defiling. It is better to not have a formal education than to submit to defilement. "And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean" (Num. 19:15).
We are told in Scripture to flee from evil. "I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting" (1 Tim. 2:8). Men, do our prayers have power? Do we conduct business on the principles of the world, or with a conscience taught by the Word of God? "In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel... (which becometh women professing godliness)" (1 Tim. 2:9,10). Women, is the attire that is chosen in keeping with the profession of godliness? Is there the fearlessness of Elijah for the prince of this world, or the weak submitting as Obadiah? It will be just a little while and the Lord shall come. Then there will be no more opportunity to suffer for Christ's sake in rejection.
"That we lose not all the beasts" (1 Kings 18:5).
The great concern of the ungodly king was the "beasts", not the people ("sheep") whom he was given to feed. Do we have a shepherd's heart? David was a shepherd. It was from the shepherd's bag that he drew a stone to slay Goliath who was threatening the people of God (1 Sam. 17:40,49).
There is real power in affection. Poor Obadiah was torn between the shepherd's heart and pleasing the king who was his master.
Walking Alone
"So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself" (1 Kings 18:6).
Not only is there no refreshment for Obadiah, but he must walk alone, no fellowship and no communion-poor, lonely man, treading the wilderness in the very midst of the professing people of God, yet without the joy that should accompany the path of faith. Nevertheless, it is better to walk alone than to be in company with such a man as King Ahab. Secretly, Obadiah sought to serve the Lord-a true heart with an unfaithful testimony.
"And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him: and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Art thou that my lord Elijah?" (1 Kings 18:7).
It is precious to see how Obadiah immediately recognizes Elijah. Underneath all of the failure in the life of a Christian, there is that which God has wrought. Christ in the believer can always be recognized by a true heart. Here are two servants of God with the very same nature-that of God. There is a difference, however, in the way they carry themselves. There is distance on the part of Elijah because of Obadiah's compromise with Ahab. He was walking afar off from God, but Elijah was walking in fellowship with God. There could be no communion until Obadiah's conscience was. reached.
"And he answered him, I am: go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here" (1 Kings 18:8).
Nothing could have struck home with more power than the words, "thy lord". Poor, cringing Obadiah stands in the presence of a man who is morally far superior to himself, and he is fully aware of it. He is also aware that he is being read through and through. A servant of God who has God's mind knows that unless truth is ministered for the conscience, it cannot achieve its purpose. This gives Obadiah to see himself in the presence of God as God sees him.
It makes little difference whether we look at Elijah as a type of Christ here (Luke 13:1-5), or simply think of the power of the Word of God wielded by the hand of a man of God. Obadiah knew that God was behind Elijah. He knew that Elijah had the power to stop the rain, and also cause it to rain again.
Conscience
How severe the words, "Go tell thy lord," yet Obadiah's conscience must be reached ere the rain falls. This is a type of the seven thousand who are to be blessed with the rain from heaven upon the confession of sin.
"And he said, What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me" (1 Kings 18:9)?
It is Obadiah, not Elijah, who raises the question of sin. There, is moral power with a man walking in separation, and there is a right arrow for each conscience (Luke 10:36, Luke 18:22, Luke 22:48, John 18:37, etc.). As Obadiah stands overwhelmed at the meeting with Elijah, his entire path must have been reviewed in a moment. Everything is known by the prophet, bringing his life and ways into the light. He feels that he must speak of the Lord as Elijah's God. Has not Elijah spoken of Ahab as Obadiah's lord? Sin takes a different color in the presence of the man of God from a man walking in compromise. How good if one can be free like Elijah, to serve the living God without being entangled with the chains of compromise. And who was freer than Elijah? One object, one purpose, one path, one hope, one joy. This was not true of the seven thousand.
"As the LORD thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not there; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not. And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the LORD shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the LORD from my youth. Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the LORD, how I hid an hundred men of the LORD's prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water? And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here: and he shall slay me" (1 Kings 18:10-14).
What a pitiful plea on the part of Obadiah. It does not seem that he had advanced in the school of God, though he had feared the Lord from his youth (Psa. 70:17). Does a believer have to say anything about what he did? Poor dear Obadiah now clings to the one thing that he did that showed on whose side he was. "Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit" (Matt. 7:17).
As for Elijah, he lived every day under the eye and care of Jehovah. He had nothing to say about what he had done. Was it something to publish abroad, that he dwelt by the brook and ate what the ravens brought him? Yet God has forever inscribed in His holy Word these deeds of Elijah. Was it worthy of note to others how he dwelt with a poor destitute woman who was a widow, and with her son, and ate of her meat for about three years? This is recorded as service to God. Only one taught of God could appreciate this kind of service. Prophetically, Isaiah tells the thoughts of the Lord Jesus at the end of His course here, "I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for naught, and in vain; yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God." How glorious and rewarding the day of resurrection will be!
There is serenity and composure for a servant who is convinced that he is in the path that the Lord has laid out for him to serve God alone, to dwell by the brook until it dries up, then to wait for a word from God to send him to a destitute widow to be sustained, and now to approach Ahab who was waiting to kill him. This is what is learned in the school of God-dependence, cost what it will. The Lord Jesus would rather die than disobey.
Why should Obadiah fear for his life when the king has been seeking the life of Elijah for three years, and Elijah, knowing this, is not afraid to walk right up to the king with the message that has been entrusted to him by God?
What do we know about faith? Our every day life betrays only too often how faithless we are. On whose hand are we leaning this very moment? Are man-made institutions safer to trust in than the Lord? Let us not be too hard on Obadiah but rather learn from these solemn lessons something on which our consciences can act. Do not Obadiah's life and ways serve as a mirror for some of us?
Repentance
"And Elijah said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely spew myself unto him today. So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him: and Ahab went to meet Elijah" (1 Kings 18:15,16).
This seems to culminate the repentance of Obadiah. The word of Elijah fell into good ground. Obadiah now does what he said he would never do for fear of Ahab. We never hear of Obadiah again. Surely his meeting with Elijah must have had a profound effect. It took genuine faith and courage to go to Ahab and tell him that Elijah was there.
Should we compare Obadiah with Ahab, there would be greater contrast than comparing Elijah with Obadiah. Ahab's selfish interests were apparent, as few can carry power without abusing it. Ahab walked in an unprincipled, ungodly path and was an idolater with no heart for the people of God.
The record stands forever in God's Word of a man who was honored above many, but he lived to do evil as none before him (1 Kings 16:30-33). "Man that is in honor, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish" (Psa. 49:20).
The Trench and the Altar
"And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, spew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth" (1 Kings 18:1).
When the rain was withheld at the word of Elijah three years previous to this, there was no communication recorded between the Lord and Elijah. In the book of James we read of this occasion as a direct act of faith on the part of Elijah. He must have been instructed from passages in Deuteronomy, or elsewhere in the Word, as to what God's mind would be if the people turned to idolatry. What he did could be spoken of as faith (James 5:13-17) only because he had acted on the instruction from the Word of God. It could not be faith to do our own will even if what we were doing seemed good.
When Elijah prayed that it might not rain, he prayed earnestly because God is reluctant to chastise His people. There was no need of pleading with God to bring the rain again; this was His pleasure-to bless His people.
When Elijah prayed again after three years and six months, at the time of the evening sacrifice, "the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit" (James 5:18).
God was aware of the plight of His people and cared, even though they were sinful and disobedient in setting up two golden calves to worship instead of the true God (1 Kings 12:28-30).
"Many days" really were years. This is also true of the 1260, 1290, and 1335 "days" at the time of the coming tribulation. The Lord notes every day of sorrow through which His people pass. The angel of His presence followed them on their way to Canaan. In the coming days of restoration, to which the Psalms apply, we see, detailed, the feelings of God's earthly people as they pass through Jacob's last trouble. Many of these feelings are the same as Christ's when He was here in this world.
After seceding from Judah, Israel set up two calves to worship, one at Bethel and one at Dan. Bethel was the place where the promises were first made to Israel, who was Jacob at that time. "Dan" means "judgment." Idolatry in a worse form was added at the coming of Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, into the kingdom. Jezebel was the daughter of the king of the Zidonians. Baal worship was the religion of Zidon in that day (1 Kings 16:31). It is remarkable that Elijah lived in Zarephath, a city of Zidon, for the three years or more of famine in Israel and was sustained by a Zidonian widow and her son. There were 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the groves. Not only was idolatry introduced into Israel, but the groves were connected with the worship of intermediate beings which provoked God to jealousy.
This is a picture of coming days, after the true church is taken to glory, just before God restores Israel and takes away their sins. Idolatry will be such that the unclean spirit in Israel will take "seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first" (Matt. 12:45).
This will also be true of the professing church when they are given the great delusion because of their giving up the truth of "the mystery, Christ and the church." Man has proved himself bad under every trial, and blessing can come only where there is a new creature as the result of the death and resurrection of Christ. Faith is the door into this blessing.
"And Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria" (1 Kings 18:2).
Both in Luke's gospel and the epistle of James, chapter 5, we learn that the heavens were shut for three years and six months. Since travel was mostly on foot in those days, considerable time was spent in Elijah's journey to reach Ahab. There must have been deep exercise on Elijah's part, in the presence of God, because of the wickedness which he could expect to witness on arriving in Israel and meeting with Ahab. All of this could have absorbed the six months beyond his stay of three years in Zidon. When the rain fell again, three years and six months had elapsed.
Obadiah must be reached first as he represented the seven thousand true believers in Israel.
Before Elijah could call down rain from heaven, idolatry and the groves had to be removed. That was the very reason why the heavens had to be shut up-idolatry. The idolatrous king Ahab must come face to face with Elijah, the man of God, just as when Elijah prophesied, "As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word."
This period of no rain would suggest in picture the absence of Jesus from Israel upon His rejection and the lack of blessing, "no rain", until the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Malachi says in chapter 4, verses 5 and 6, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." Morally, the Spirit of God is presenting the work of Jesus unto the hearts of both fathers and children at the time of refreshing which will surely come-and that very soon.
Elijah has passed on. It was said of John the Baptist that "this is Elias, which was for to come." John has passed on. All who went before were only pictures of One and the only One who could turn any hearts to repentance and blessing. When Jesus finally comes, He will set everything right and put down all idolatry. Although Elijah's mission is completed in this chapter, and the hearts of all Israel are turned, his work is but for a moment, giving a little picture of what Christ will do when He comes again to His people Israel.
There could not be rain again unless Elijah, upon repentance of the nation, called it down from heaven-openly, before all of the people and in the presence of the king. This is connected with a sacrifice, showing that there was only one way for God to bless Israel-through the work of His own Son.
Whatever else we may find in the ministry of Elijah that is precious to the eye of faith, what we have just spoken of was his mission.
"And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim" (1 Kings 18:17,18).
To be privileged as King Ahab and to be favored as the king over God's people was honor indeed; yet there was no understanding with him. Ahab had not sought the Lord, and he had forsaken the commandments of the Lord. God's Word is the only way of happiness and blessing for man in this world. Obedience is the secret to joy and fruitfulness.
Two things are especially noticeable in the ministry of the prophets-first, the conscience spoken to, second, hope set before the remnant of faith. Some of the ministry reached further, typically, leaving a picture, not discernible then, but for us setting forth the heavenly blessings.
Upon rejecting the Word of God, the religious man seeks a substitute to cover up a stinging conscience. Satan has a well-organized system, using men to carry it out, which can easily be substituted for God's way. Unknowingly, all men are either under the power of the Spirit of God or under the power of Satan.
Ahab was well aware that there was trouble in Israel, but little did he know that he was the cause of Israel's going astray. He no longer sought to harm the prophet Elijah although he had sought for him in every nation for the purpose of destroying him. Surely the chariots of fire were round about Elijah, though unseen by men.
Power with a man of God is apparent here. Who could touch Elijah while he was carrying out his mission? Ahab must submit, regardless of the number of his followers. Here we are reminded that the Lord Jesus, in Matt. 22:15-46, stopped the mouths of all of His accusers.
"Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table" (1 Kings 18:19).
Elijah makes reference to Jezebel and the Baal worship that she had introduced into Israel in wickedness. Ahab's subjection to this woman sets forth prophetically the Jezebel of a coming day who rides the beast or controls the leader of the last power which holds the authority of the habitable earth.
"So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel" (1 Kings 18:20).
"Carmel" means "a park," or it is sometimes called "God's fruitful field." It carries the thought of blessing and was later the abode of Elisha.
"And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word" (1 Kings 18:21).
The prophet Elijah did not accuse Israel of idolatry; he asked them how long they would be undecided as to who God is. Their own history proved that their God was superior to any enemy that had ever come against them, if they acted in obedience.
"And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under. And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked. And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them" (1 Kings 18:25-28).
What power Satan has over religious people who have given up the true God! The idolatry referred to will be seen again among the false professors left behind as earth-dwellers after the church has been raptured. In that day God will send strong delusion among them, while the gospel of the kingdom will be received among the nations who have never had the privileges of Christianity. "Yea, they have chosen their own ways... I also will choose their delusions" (Isa. 66:3,4).
To follow in the path of those whom God has set up as leaders is commendable if it corresponds with what we find in the Word of God; otherwise the soul is on dangerous ground.
Although the apostate part of Israel were following Ahab in idolatry, God still had seven thousand, a perfect number, who had not bowed the knee to Baal (1 Kings 19:18). During every period of man's history God has maintained a remnant of faith, although there may be weakness and very little testimony.
"And it came to pass, when mid- day was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded" (1 Kings 18:29).
"Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought" (Num. 23:23)!
"And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him" (1 Kings 18:30).
What a contrast between the tragic picture which has been before us and the one upon which we are about to enter! Whenever man has his way, there is ruin because man's way is to follow Satan, although he may not be aware of it. God's way not only heals the sorrows and failures but inevitably brings in something new and better to comfort the hearts of those who own their failure.
Elijah invites the people to come near. After the long famine, the time had come, for the people to return to God. It has always been God's desire to have His people near Him so that He can bless them.
Elijah was commanded to call down the rain again, but first there must be true repentance. There cannot be true repentance without seeing the work done by another for us. The work of Christ, in figure, must be set forth ere the rain come. The time will come when the Lord will show His people His hands and His side (John 20:27).
"And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down" (1 Kings 18:30).
God will never be frustrated in His purpose. Satan may try to ruin what he will, but God has the power of resurrection in His hand. There will not be a new, or another, altar. The same altar was repaired, showing that in all failure we must return to the principles from which we departed. There is only one altar-which is Christ (Heb. 13:10,13).
"And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name" (1 Kings 18:31).
In restoring, God always has in mind His own work, not man's. His work is to have all twelve tribes in their places as the people of God on the earth for testimony and as the channel of blessing to all people, as well as to rule under their king, the Son of David.
In Rom. 11:26,27 we read, "And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins."
When restored, Israel will be a "prince of God" (Gen. 32:28). How rich are God's thoughts! Surely God knew Jacob before he was born, yet He blessed him from since the foundation of the world.
The sons of Jacob, as a whole, never commended themselves-rather they were a cross section of mankind. Most of the evils that afflicted man were found among the sons of Jacob. There were exceptions.
In considering the history of God's people who were named "Israel," "Prince of God," we cannot discover one reason for God to take them up for blessing rather than others-only His sovereignty and purpose in making Himself known among the nations of the earth through Israel. Because of Israel's complete failure, in taking them up God makes Himself known as a loving, righteous, patient, holy, covenant-keeping God. It is this that will cause generous praise to flow on earth and in heaven (Psa. 150) (Rev. 19:5,6).
At an earlier date, Balaam was made to prophesy of this people who were at the time of our narrative steeped in idolatry: "How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, 0 Israel! As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign aloes which the LORD hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters...
Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee" (Num. 24:5-9).
The sovereignty of God stands out throughout Scripture. Were it not so, none would ever be saved or blessed. He does what pleases Him, but the strange thing is that what pleases Him is to bless the vilest of His creatures, those who slew His own Son.
"And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD" (1 Kings 18:32).
There is only one Name which will be exalted in the day of Israel's return. We notice that praise begins and ends the last five Psalms, "Praise ye the LORD." (Hallelujah) What endless praise will fill not only heaven, but also the earthly kingdom, in that day. During the millennial day, all nations which will hear the gospel of the kingdom and be saved will join in that happy occupation in which a new nature delights.
"And he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed" (1 Kings 18:32).
Never before do we hear of a trench about an altar. The trench, ditch, valley, pool, or low place-all convey the thought of a state of soul ready for blessing. In Luke's gospel there was a man who digged deep in order to set his house upon the rock that it might survive the coming storm. In Matt. 13 the seed which fell into plowed ground bore fruit.
The "trench" suggests to us the place into which the Gentiles come in connection with the blessings which Israel refused, but also what God had in store beyond Israel's blessings-the rich portion of church blessings. He made a trench in order that those who humbled themselves might be found within the trench which enclosed the fullness of God's purpose.
The word "great" is much used in Luke's gospel, occurring more than thirty times. The coming glory of Christ will be great. The church will be associated with Him in this glory. In John 1:50,51, it is His greater glory-universal.
"He made a trench" would suggest the path of Jesus all of the way from heaven to the cross and the grave. He could say, "Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit." Had not Jesus humbled Himself, we who were objects of mercy would never know how to humble ourselves.
The trench was as great as would contain two measures of seed. There was no seed in it at the time; only its capacity is given. The trench would contain two measures when the time came. "Two" speaks of fruit found in the day of testimony in rejection. It is the least there can be and yet be a testimony. "Two measures" are a limited sphere where the seed was to be gathered. The western nations within the general confines of the Roman Empire of old seem to be the sphere where Christianity has been propagated (Acts 28:28). "The gates of hell (Rome) cannot prevail against it."
"Seed" speaks of fruit in resurrection (John 12:24, Lev. 11:37). This is being gathered, since Israel has rejected their Messiah. Spiritual things have no dimensions, only natural things. No measurement for the trench is given.
The trench is seen to encompass completely the altar of twelve stones. The overflow of anything put upon the altar would find its way into the trench. Thus the proper state of soul finds the blessing. The day will come when Israel's blessings will be administered from heaven, by the church.
Israel's blessings, prefigured by the altar of twelve stones, are within the circle of the trench. Christ is a Son over God's own house which is the universe; this is His greater glory as the Son of man. The church is His house as well (Heb. 3:6). The church will share with Him in this universal glory. "He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head" (Psa. 110:7).
The breakdown in Israel gave occasion for the Spirit of God to set forth in this chapter in picture form the full blessing that He, in His sovereignty, had intended for man. These heavenly blessings precede those of Israel, whose blessings are earthly.
"And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood. And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time.
And they did it the third time. And the water ran round about the altar" (1 Kings 18:33-35).
With the man of God there seemed to be no lack of anything when it was needed. The supply never failed, yet who was poorer than Elijah? Fed by the ravens, then sustained by a poor widow and her son, and now, in the midst of famine and drought, he said in the language of the poet, "When human cisterns all are dried, I have a fountain still."
The altar, which spoke of Israel, could not contain the water or blessing poured upon it. It surely was cleansed, and so will Israel be when God takes away their sins in one day.
"And he filled the trench also with water" (1 Kings 18:35).
The church is indebted to Israel for mercies (Rom. 11:30). Besides, we receive blessings that Israel has never known nor will ever know. Both receive the remission of sins, but only the church receives the Spirit indwelling.
How rich our blessings upon whom the ends of the age have come. The heart of God has reached out to bless as it becomes Him, now that His Son has put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
Four barrels of water speak of what is universal in its application-"Whosoever will." God's desire is that all men might be blessed. "Three" is a figure of completeness. Four barrels, three times, make twelve, or perfection in administration of the kingdom on earth.
What happens in the trench is quite another thing. Being round, it has no limit nor end-nor is there any fixed measure for the seed.
What was so precious in the land of drought as water? Elijah did not seem short of it. "And in the days of famine they shall be satisfied." (Psa. 37:19).
If we are in straits as to our circumstances, is it not because our God has allowed it for our good, perhaps at our latter end, as for Israel? In the midst of the distress, Elijah had no need. Water was plentiful to him.
In Elijah's private life he felt the drought with the people. In his public life he drew from an abundant supply for testimony and blessing to others. Was it not so with the Lord Jesus while upon earth? He could say, "Show me a penny," and "The Son of man bath not where to lay his head."
The picture before us shows twelve stones rising out of a great trench of water large enough to contain two measures of seed. Upon the altar was wood, laid in order, and a burnt offering, which had been cut in pieces, laid upon the wood. Over it all were poured four barrels of water three times. The altar, not being able to contain the water, was cleansed as the water ran round about it into the trench. Besides this, he filled the trench with water, in addition to what had passed over the altar. The trench was filled with water; its capacity was great, yet he filled it. This is the larger sphere of blessing-His greater glory-that of the Son of man. To all of this is added the precious thought of the sacrifice offered every evening.
"And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, 0 LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again" (1 Kings 18:36,37).
The time of the offering of the evening sacrifice was of moment for Elijah. The man of God knew what would reach God's ear. What is sweeter to God than thoughts of His Son who made the sacrifice that has glorified God as nothing else? God cannot countenance sin, but the work of which the evening sacrifice speaks has put the sins away. The Lamb in the morning and evening assures blessing for each day of our lives.
When the Spirit of God leads the way to restoration, He will set before both God and the sinner the death of Christ and the shed blood. Here we see also the perfection of the sacrifice, inasmuch as it was cut in his pieces-no blemish within or without.
"How rich the precious blood He spilled,
Our ransom from the dreadful guilt
Of sin against our God."
(Little Flock Hymn Book, No. 196)
In the burnt sacrifice God smells a sweet savor. It was offered wholly unto God.
"Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God. (1 Kings 18:38,39).
Fire is a symbol either of God's judgment of sin or of His approval of the sacrifice. Here we see God's approval of all that Elijah had done. Everything was consumed.
In a day not too distant, after judgment, God will again show Himself for the blessing of His people in turning their heart back again. Elijah is a type of the One who will do this for the last time. What a turning to God that will be, when "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power" (Psa. 110:3).
"And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there" (1 Kings 18:40).
God's patience with evil has a limit. The day will soon come when every trace of idolatry will be removed from the habitable earth. After this the rain can fall.
"And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain. So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not" (1 Kings 18:41-44).
This occasion is a test for both the man of God and Ahab. Elijah falls upon Mount Carmel with his face between his knees and waits upon God in patience until the rain falls. Just a cloud. the size of a man's hand is sufficient to tell the prophet that the rain had come. This pictures Israel's High Priest, Jesus, in intercession until the blessing comes (Lev. 9:23).
While Ahab is eating and drinking, Elijah is humbled before God. This reminds us of Jeremiah in his lamentations saying, "It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD" (Lam. 3:26).
We learn from Luke 17:27 that the very scene before us will be reenacted in the day of the Son of man. Men will be eating and drinking as though nothing unusual were in the offing, only to be engulfed in judgments as were never known before. We are told that all men do not have faith. How thankful we should be for this gift from God.
In the account given here God sends the rain upon all the nation, regardless of the unbelievers among them.
Ahab is instructed, upon the report of the cloud that was the size of a man's hand, to go down to Jezreel (the seed of Jehovah) before the coming rain stops him.
"And it came to pass in the meanwhile, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel. And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel" (1 Kings 18:45,46).
Here we learn much of the heart of God. Nothing on man's part can change that great heart of love. God will bless His people, and He has found a way whereby His own righteousness and glory can be maintained-yea, exalted-by the work done when Christ sacrificed Himself to God. Where there is faith on the part of any, God has removed every spot and stain and says of His people, "Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more."
How refreshing rain after drought. This was a great rain. In a coming day God will send the early and latter rain. "So the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field" (Zech. 10:1).
Elijah's mission being completed, he takes the place of a footman to run before the king so that the people will again honor their king.
To question the character of Ahab was not the thing for Elijah now. Elijah had slain the prophets of Baal and of the groves and had proved to the people who the true God was. He had restored the rain to bless the land. Now he was content to take the low place before all. This shows spiritual maturity, a result of being continually in. God's presence. What a reminder of One who humbled Himself in order that we might have blessing and honor.
Elijah's mission on earth was to turn the hearts of God's people back again to God. In order to do this, the nation must repent. The idols must go. All of this was accomplished. The narrative we have just considered shows what will take place in a coming day by the hand of Jesus (not Elijah, who is merely a type), when the people will not only be turned back to God, but will be willing in the day of His power (Psa. 110:3).
This chapter is a picture of Israel's coming national repentance when they will go out no more but with a new heart will enter the millennial blessing prepared for them from since the foundation of the world. What glory this will bring to God before all intelligent creatures!
We have also seen the vast blessing for the heavenly inhabitants connected with the coming glory of the Son of man. What universal blessing resurrection will prove when Christ as a Son will come forth as stated in figure in Psa. 19:5,6, "Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof."
Will not this be in the day of the gladness of His heart? He will fully see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied when He sees Israel His people, and the nations, in their place of blessing, and all of the heavenly ones with Himself, and the church as His companion through eternity.
The Still Small Voice
God usually uses men to set forth His Word to man. Elijah was one of these messengers. In 1 Kings 19:1-18, we see the repentance of Elijah, which is one of seven pictures of repentance in his ministry. In addition to Elijah's mission to Israel, his general ministry and career depict better, or heavenly, things for the Gentiles of a later day.
Through man's fall in the Garden of Eden he acquired a conscience which introduced him into an inward warfare from which he cannot escape. The outcome of this conflict depends upon his response to the moral illumination given to him.
This light from God's Word comes in the form of principles. Repentance is one of the first.
"And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there" (1 Kings 19:1-3).
Elijah had demonstrated to Israel who the true God was in contrast to Baal. As a result of the drastic judgment upon Baal, Elijah's life was threatened by Jezebel, the wife of Ahab. It was she who had introduced Baal into Israel.
Elijah had previously been occupied with others and their ways, bad or good, but now the arrow is pointed toward him. Perhaps this was a new position for him. "If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small" (Prow. 24:10).
Here was a man who could say, "As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word" (1 Kings 17:1). He could slay the prophets of Baal and the groves. He called fire down from heaven. He raised the widow's son from the dead. He could provide with ease twelve barrels of water in the midst of drought. The barrel of meal and the cruse of oil did not fail for three years, even though there was only a daily supply.
Had not Elijah appeared to Ahab face to face after Ahab had sought for him in every nation in order to kill him?
Now the great prophet Elijah, whose fame was spread abroad, runs for his life from an angry, idolatrous woman. "He... went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there" (1 Kings 19:3).
Elijah's lesson must be learned alone with God in quietness. It matters not if it be Job, Isaiah, Peter, Paul, or ourselves; certain deep lessons are to be learned about ourselves in order to know our God.
Athough the Lord valued His servant, public power was not the most in importance, though at times necessary. After the disciples of Jesus had returned to Him and told Him of the public display of power on their part, Jesus showed them that this was not the subject for joy, but rather that their names were written in heaven (Luke 10:20).
The exhibition of power, even for God, tends to turn the heart to pride and self. Spiritual pride is the worst form. We cannot rightly estimate our own state of soul or abilities. "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool" (Prov. 28:26). The evil nature inherited from Adam has proved to be an ugly tenant within, but the soul that abides in Christ will be preserved so that the contrary nature may not manifest itself. To walk in the Spirit is our only safeguard.
"But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers" (1 Kings 19:4).
We behold here a strange paradox, Elijah running for fear of death and at the same time asking of God that he might die.
Discouragement is not faith, even if it is found in a mighty servant of God.
Enoch and Elijah were the two men who went to heaven without dying. "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God" (Heb. 11:5).
This was not said of Elijah. Enoch departed quietly, having walked with God down here, now walking up there. What a happy picture of the assembly! That day of our departure will soon be here. Do we have doves' eyes for Christ and home?
Elijah closed his career as he lived. A chariot of fire accompanied the whirlwind which took him up.
"I am not better than my fathers" gives away the secret deep down within this mighty man of God. Whatever our reputation among men may be, only God can form the character of our lives. Character is what we are before God.
It was only as he stood before the Lord God of Israel that he had power. In himself he must confess, "All flesh is grass" (Isa. 40:6). As Elijah's fathers had failed, so had he. Elijah had to learn that triumph is reserved for One alone.
Christ will yet bear all of the glory of His Father's house, and His servants will share in it. Elijah surely will.
Restoration is through repentance for Israel. Is it not the same for Elijah? The fig tree represents Israel as a nation, but the leaves (glory) follow the fruit (repentance).
Sleeping for sorrow under a wild broom tree in the wilderness is not continuing in the land with the people of God. Either we go on with God's people in all of their weakness, and ours, or we live in a spiritual wilderness alone.
The prophet is a long way from the refreshing stream of Cherith where the ravens fed him, the place God chose for him. Here the prophet has chosen his own way, and God finds him in the wilderness. There is no resource except God. Is it not a comfort to our hearts to know that no matter where our wanderings take us, God is still there? Even if our eyes close in death, "When I awake, I am still with thee" (Psa. 139:18).
"It is enough" (1 Kings 19:4)
Elijah was ready to give up and die. John the Baptist manifested some of the same characteristics under trial. Not only would Elijah never die, but God would not give him up. His promises are yea, and amen. The wider the wilderness, the closer he is drawn to God.
Elijah had known the fullness of God's provision while serving Him in the path. He had yet to learn the provision that God would make while he was out of the path.
"And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again" (1 Kings 19:5,6).
Perhaps the wind was blowing just enough to raise the dust and sand. The branches of the wild sages and brooms were sending an endless, monotonous sound on the desert to add to the solitude encircling this forlorn prophet.
"I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled" (Jer. 4:25).
Circumstances may be unbearable, the spirit depressed, and natural resources gone. For Elijah the battle had been for others, but in his new experience he had self to contend with, alone in the desert. The question is, "Does God care?" God never sends a servant without providing for him all of the way.
It was as Elijah lay and slept that "THEN an angel touched him" (1 Kings 19:5).
This was a touch of heaven. No artist, poet, or minstrel could describe the soul experience of Elijah at this moment. Scripture is silent as well. Could our prophet have felt, while calling down fire from heaven, the mellowing warmth which gripped his soul at this moment? Deep, lasting impressions, unknown before, now stirred the senses of this man of God. He had known something of the power of God, but did he know God?
There is little on our part that pleases God more than the sense of felt need in His presence. Little by little Elijah is passed into this rich stream of refreshment. "Waters,... to the ankles,... to the knees,... to the loins,... to swim in, a river that could not be passed over" (Ezek. 47:3-5).
"Whom have we, Lord, but Thee,
Soul-thirst to satisfy?
Exhaustless spring! The waters free!
All other streams are dry.
"Our hearts by Thee are set
On brighter things above;
Strange that we ever should for-
get Thine own most faithful love."
(Little Flock Hymn Book, No. 153)
No one can teach as God can. Would that we were alone with Him more! If you were to look for Jesus when He was here, you would find Him where there was need. Are we learning the precious lessons that can only be learned here in this world which has become a wilderness to faith?
It was "THEN", at the lowest moment, that the angel touched him. Heaven's balm can heal earth's sorrows. (See Matt. 11:25,26; 1 Cor. 10:13; 2 Cor. 4:8).
"Arise and eat", the word of angels. "I am not better than my fathers", the word of man. If we could look behind the thin veil which hides the unseen, we would be as angels. Yet, if faith were active, the result of walking close to the Lord, we would be living in the atmosphere of heaven and know better the mind of heaven. We would also know ourselves better, and the result would be more intimacy with our God and His love. This brings trust.
The law was written upon stones-cold stones. They tell of God's requirements from man. Elijah's mission was to bring Israel back to this law. For one moment it seemed as though Elijah had succeeded, and then Satan's fury had broken loose upon the prophet.
As the angel touched him, he looked and saw a cake baken upon hot stones (N.T.). There are no cold stones for those who know God as a God of mercy.
Who but the Lord would follow His unhappy servant into the wilderness?
Although great things were ahead for Elijah, self was a hard master. Peace and joy are our portion, not discouragement, the result of being self-centered. He did eat and drink, only to lay himself down again.
"And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee. And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God" (1 Kings 19:7,8).
There is no patience like God's. "For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not" (Job 33:14). Elijah listened the second time the angel touched him.
"The journey is too great for thee" (1 Kings 19:7).
If Christ had not said, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee," we would not be able for the journey. We are permitted to rise and eat of the angel's provision lest we faint in the way.
No man could naturally be without food or drink for forty days. Our path is a miracle, just as Elijah's, as we wend our way homeward through testings and vicissitudes of this life.
At the giving of the law, Moses neither ate nor drank for forty days and forty nights. (See Deut. 9:9,18.)
Elijah, typifying Christ, goes to Mount Horeb (Sinai) to answer to God for Israel. who had broken the law.
Christ was without food and drink for forty days and nights, being tempted of Satan in the wilderness. Elijah was given food and drink sufficient for forty days, a complete period of testing. Sinai was the mount that Israel could not touch. Elijah, on the contrary, was at home there.
At the time of the cross, Jesus was at Mount Horeb. He sweat as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground. There He pleaded for our souls. On the cross He was made sin. It was there that Jesus began the streams of eternal transport and bliss. Elijah, on the contrary, closed his mission at Horeb by speaking against God's people.
"And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away" (1 Kings 19:9,10).
After finding lodging in a cave, Elijah heard the word of the Lord, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" His answer was sad. In the presence of God he recalls the failures of God's people. Also he lets it be known that he alone was faithful in Israel. He adds, "And they seek my life, to take it away" (1 Kings 19:10).
When Jesus went to Horeb, did He speak against us? Never! Precious Savior! He stood in our place before a holy God. No one but God will ever know what He suffered for us. "The weight of the brass could not be found out" (2 Chron. 4:18).
Here God's love for the sinner is seen in all of its beauty and luster. Why did Jesus go to Horeb? To plead for our souls and shed His blood to redeem us, praise His name!
Elijah is the only prophet whose failure is recorded in the New Testament.
"And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice" ( Kings 19:11, 12).
It is his conscience that is being reached. In John 4 the Lord said to the woman, "Go, call thy husband, and come hither." Sometimes the only way to learn is to be deprived of our privileges.
As he stood upon the mount before the Lord, he witnessed power, a great strong wind, an earthquake, a fire. Did this cheer the prophet? God is all-powerful. "None can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?" (Dan. 4:35)
God was not in this display, although the power was His.
The heart must have an Object upon Whom to rest. Power may be very good in its place, but not for comfort, joy, rest, and love.
"And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away" (1 Kings 19:13,14).
A word from the STILL SMALL VOICE, and Elijah wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave.
Again the question is asked, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" The answer is unchanged. The will is not broken.
Twice the same question. Twice the same answer.
Twice the same STILL SMALL VOICE, "Go."
"And the LORD said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room.
And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Elisha slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him" (1 Kings 19:15-18).
Four commands are laid upon the conscience of Elijah by the STILL SMALL VOICE:
1. Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus.
2. Anoint Hazael to be king over Syria.
3. Anoint Jehu king over Israel.
4. Anoint Elisha to be prophet in thy room.
We are not told if the first command was carried out, but we know that Elijah never anointed either Hazael or Jehu. This was left for Elisha to do. To be faced with the anointing of these two kings who were to be God's rod of judgment upon His people was too much for Elijah to bear. He must have broken under it. Elijah did, however, anoint Elisha as his successor, his own mission being closed. (See 2 Kings 8:10,11-13:32, 13:3, and 2 Kings 9.)
The commands from the STILL SMALL VOICE must have broken the prophet's heart, also his will. His life was changed from that moment. "For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace" (Heb. 13:9).
There was much that Elijah did not yet know. Only the Lord knows them that are His. Seven thousand, a perfect number, had not bowed the knee to Baal, nor kissed him, and were reserved for blessing.
It would be good to be able to embrace the seven thousand in our prayers, rather than to speak to God against any of His people. There are even today a perfect number hidden away for blessing.
What a victory for Jesus in that day, when He shall have the preeminence in all things (Col. 1:18).
Twelve Yoke of Oxen
Principles which test the soul as to reality before the eye of God are set forth in the story we find in the last few verses of 1 Kings 19 and in Luke 9:61,62.
It is interesting to observe that in some portions of the Word of God the Spirit of God condenses much truth, while in others He gives more general histories.
In the passages before us, we are brought into the very heart of God's ways in preparing the soul for the new and final order of the kingdom of God.
"And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:61,62).
"So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him. And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee? And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him" (1 Kings 19:19-21).
There is a special connection between these two portions of Scripture, the subject of both being "fitness" for the kingdom of God.
It has been said that one who undertakes to go forth and preach the gospel, but turns back, is not fit for the kingdom of God. This may be a cursory deduction, but it does not rise to the full meaning of the passage. Service is not the issue here, though it surely is involved.
The Word of God declares, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house" (Acts 16:31). The terms to man are simple, but how dear was the debt our Savior paid in order that we might have life.
Life has the property of manifesting itself after its kind. This will be seen in the verses we are considering.
"So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth" (1 Kings 19:19).
There is something very special and rare in contacting an empty vessel, a man or woman who has been in the presence of God as to his sins, one who has been plowing, digging deep, securing a good foundation upon which to build for eternity. This, beloved, is what is meant by fitness for the kingdom of God.
Is not the kingdom of God in its full, final condition a vast order of which the Holy Son of God, who is the Son of man, is the Head?
This eternal kingdom has a moral character described as "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Rom. 14:17). Only those who are born from above can enter it (John 3:3).
Christ is Son over this, God's own house the universe of God, where He is the Light and the Sun, the central Object who fills the entire scene with blessing. The souls who have been fitted participate in this kingdom (Col. 1:12,13).
Is my profession of this kingdom real? Is there faith in Christ? Do I dare live an unreal life when the consequences are eternal? Do I dare deceive myself into a false security, hiding under traditions?
Do my habits and deportment betray that at heart I am part and parcel of this world, even while breaking bread with saints gathered to the blessed name of the Lord Jesus Christ?
As Elijah passed through the country, he found Elisha plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him and Elisha with the twelfth. Plowing figures repentance. "He with the twelfth" would suggest that the end of the dispensation of law had come and a new order was in the offing.
"The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it" (Luke 16:16). John the Baptist prepared the way of the Lord by preaching repentance. He was the "Elias, which was for to come" (Matt. 11:14).
The Apostle Paul reminded the Ephesian elders of how he had insisted upon two main themes while among them, "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21).
Surely there is no permanent foundation without true repentance toward the God whom we have offended. Have we bowed our souls before Him, confessing our sins?
Repentance is more than an act. It becomes a state of soul in which I abhor myself and adore my precious Savior. In this I give evidence of fitness for the kingdom of God.
Those who hold the greatest amount of truth will be held most responsible for the truth entrusted to them. This is not only a corporate, but an individual, responsibility.
The highest testimony ever placed in the hands of men is that which has been given to the saints. Have we carelessly forgotten what lies beneath this testimony and what empowers the soul so that a true testimony will result?
Would it be in keeping with the character of the kingdom to publicly set forth lovely doctrines while I lead my family into the world?
It is much better to be humbled before God. "He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope" (Lam. 3:29).
We are living in a day of increased gospel activity. How thankful we are that the Word of God's salvation for sinners is being proclaimed. Do we rise out of the dust to proclaim it? Has the gospel had power in our own homes? We are living at a time of high profession but little manifest reality.
Hell will be filled with people who are intelligent as to the letter of Scripture, but this will only add to their eternal woe. They were not fit for the, kingdom of God. There had not been an inward change, simply an outward assent to truth.
"And Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him" (1 Kings 19:19).
Elijah, typifying the Lord Jesus, prepared others to carry on the work before he went to heaven. All those who are thus prepared are tested by certain principles to qualify for the kingdom.
He cast his mantle upon Elisha. "Many be called, but few chosen" (Matt. 20:16). "By grace are ye saved through faith... it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8). It stands equally true that "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9)
It is God who tries the heart. The unchanging Word of God is the criterion of all our doings. The principles of the Word of God are as stable as His character; they change not.
The fact that Elijah cast his mantle upon Elisha did not mean that there was fitness in Elisha for the place he was about to occupy. He personally had to press into the kingdom, as Luke tells us (Luke 16:16). Only one who has a nature born of God can or will press into the kingdom of God.
Many may have mantles cast upon them, that is, have special advantages, being reared under the sound of God's Word, besides enjoying Christian privileges outwardly, but they may have never pressed into the kingdom because of not having life. It is through violence that I take the kingdom by force (Matt. 11:12).
"And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee?" (1 Kings 19:20)
Elisha ran after Elijah, leaving the oxen, but crying, "Let me... kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee."
This request of Elisha needed a prompt rebuke. The issues of the kingdom of God are urgent, immediate, and binding.
There is nothing, not the dearest thing to my soul, that is worth exchanging for entrance into the kingdom of God. Besides, I must make my decision when the Spirit of God calls.
The following statement of the prophet Elijah tested Elisha for fitness for the kingdom of God. "Go back again: for what have I done to thee?"
To run after the prophet Elijah, who typifies Christ, is not enough. This might pass in religious circles but never at the great tribunal. A declaration of moral bankruptcy is called for, putting the flesh in the place of death (Luke 14:33).
To kiss father and mother is to go back to nature, Adam, first principles. This will never do. A piece of new cloth upon an old garment, or new wine into the old bottles, will end in disaster. A new garment (character) is necessary as well as a new bottle (capacity) (Luke 5:36-39).
When one is thus equipped, death is brought in upon everything with which he was formerly occupied. Such spiritual severance is complete, no turning back (Luke 9:62; Rom. 6:3-6).
"And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him" (1 Kings 19:21).
In returning back from Elijah after the solemn rebuke, he did not go to kiss his father or mother, but only to slay the oxen with which he had been plowing.
"Reproofs of instruction are the way of life" (Prov. 6:23).
Only that life of God which is in the believer can mortify the members which are upon the earth (Col. 3:5).
We see more evidences of fitness for the kingdom in subsequent actions of Elisha. No longer "destruction and misery are in their ways" (Rom. 3:16), but now the way of peace is known (Rom. 5:1).
To merely destroy the oxen would be meaningless. "There is nothing unclean of itself" (Rom. 14:14). Anything that has an element of self-will in it is unclean. In death there is no will. Elisha boiled the flesh of the oxen to provide meat for the people of God. This typifies his ministry which concerns a risen, glorified Christ. It is a new vista opened to the soul, after death has been brought in upon the old order. (See Psa. 16:10,11.)
In Christianity warmth is added to light. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, not only truth. Grace came first.
To cast the instruments of the oxen (wooden yoke and plow) into the fire is to dedicate the energies of the new man to the use of the Spirit of God in service in this world. In Num. 19:6, everything from the cedar to the hyssop, which is the smallest of all trees, is cast into the fire.
Only what was prompted by the Spirit of God could be of use to God from that time on. Elisha arose to go after Elijah and minister to him.
In passing these moral tests, Elisha proved his fitness for the kingdom of God.
"And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:61,62).
In the remaining history of events in the life of Elisha and his ministry, there are not only many manifestations of a changed life but also new energy representing a heavenly, exalted Christ. "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world" (John 17:18).
In Elisha's ministry, illustrations of New Testament doctrine are given, especially of some of the more difficult doctrines found in Paul's ministry. (See 2 Peter 3:16).
Naboth’s Vineyard
Naboth, a typical example of the true Israelite, valued his vineyard, his delight, an inheritance handed down from his fathers, truly a gift from Jehovah.
The true "Israel of God" look on to the fulfillment of God's promises when they will have peace and rest for one thousand years under their King, the One of whom David was a type. At the time of our narrative, conditions were far from this hope.
The Israelite did not leave his tribe; he married, lived, and was buried in his inheritance. To bury a man or his bones in the land of his inheritance suggests that resurrection was in view. Joseph, at his death, commanded that his bones be taken to Canaan to be buried (Gen. 50:24-26).
Although only national resurrection was taught (Ezek. 37:1-14; Dan. 12:2), the general understanding was that all men would be raised again and that every work must come into judgment (Eccl. 12:14).
We should be thankful that we have been given so much light and truth in our day. What a hope we have in resurrection life!
"And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria" (1 Kings 21:1).
Naboth's vineyard in Jezreel, which means "seed of Jehovah", was near the dwelling of King Ahab.
The king of God's people was not to oppress them, but he was to be a shepherd, protecting, feeding, and caring for them. Ahab's record was bad, for he did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him.
Ahab had introduced Baal worship into Israel and had placed the house of Baal and its altar in Samaria (1 Kings 16:32). Moreover, he built a house of ivory and lived in luxury (1 Kings 22:39; Amos 3:15).
The heart of man can never be satisfied outside of Christ. There are many examples of this in the Word of God, one being King Solomon, who, from very youth, sampled every earthly joy or pleasure and found all to be vanity (Eccl. 2:1-10).
Lust, or desire, characterizes the man of the flesh; contentment, the man of the Spirit. Naboth was content with his vineyard, but Ahab was covetous of Naboth's vineyard. From his window he could view the beautiful inheritance next to his dwelling.
"And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money" (1 Kings 21:2).
Ahab, in asking for Naboth's vineyard, wished to destroy it and replace it with a garden of herbs, which have only a temporary savoring effect, nothing permanent. It takes years to bring to maturity a vineyard enclosed with hedges. Wine in Scripture is a figure of joy; hedges speak of separation from the world, also of stability.
Joy and stability result from meditating on the handed-down ministry prepared for us by our fathers, but these things of worth the world, especially the religious world, would replace with a garden of herbs.
Money cannot replace heavenly values. "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mark 8:36,37) "Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding" (Prov. 23:23).
It is proper to honor the king, and we should obey those who are over us and pay tribute to them, but when it comes to vital matters which have to do with our souls, we have to obey God rather than man. We are not to remove the old "landmarks" (Deut. 19:14); the "hedges" must not be broken, lest a serpent bite the offender (Eccl. 10:8).
Leaders can be used by Satan to upset God's people, and because of their "itching ears" they turn the ears of the people away from the truth to fables.
"And Naboth said to Ahab, The LORD forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee" (1 Kings 21:3).
Naboth was firm. How could he give away the inheritance of his fathers? It would be giving up his hope.
"And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers.
And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread" (1 Kings 21:4).
The actions of Ahab, resulting from his talk with Naboth, did not manifest much character, but rather poor fostering on the part of his parents. Often the characteristics of a parent are seen in his children.
All Ahab needed was a Jezebel to prompt the wickedness which smouldered within him. What right had anyone, even the king, to the inheritance of Naboth?
The account of Naboth is a picture of what will take place in Judah after the return /of the two tribes to their land. We see the return of Judah and Benjamin to the Land already under way in our day.
Among those returning, there will arise a little remnant, of whom Naboth is a type. God will awaken a few of the Jews to teach this remnant the truth of the Messiah and His return to earth to set up His kingdom. These truths are found in the Scriptures of the prophets.
Many thus instructed will give a testimony in the land of Israel, Jerusalem especially, for three and one-half years (Psa. 40:9,10). After they have rendered their testimony, persecution will come.
"But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread? And he said unto her, Because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, Give me thy vineyard for money; or else, if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it: and he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard., And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite" (1 Kings 21:5-7).
Jezebel typifies the corrupt, wicked woman (the Gentile Roman church) who will control the Roman Empire (beast) during a part of the last half of the prophetic seven years yet to be fulfilled (Rev. 17:7).
The false king of Israel who will reign at that time will take his orders from Jezebel, inasmuch as she will control the kings of the earth (Rev. 17:1,2). This false king, whom Ahab typifies (Dan. 11:36), will do much the same as Ahab. He will seize the land of Israel (Naboth's vineyard), divide it, and sell it for gain (Dan. 11:39).
He is the "idol shepherd" (Zech. 11:17), "an hireling," or "the Antichrist," spoken of by John the apostle. He will have gained power among the apostate Jews, and soon after the breaking of the covenant which had been made with the western nations (Europe, etc.) for a seven-year period, he will set up idolatry. This idol set up in the holy place will be the signal for the godly remnant to flee (Matt. 24:15,16).
There will never be found a more diabolical and wicked trio than Jezebel, the Antichrist, and the Roman beast (Rev. 16:13). The deaths of all martyrs will be required of Jezebel (Rev. 8:24).
The will of man is never subject to God. The natural man is controlled by his lusts and by public opinion. The days will come when public opinion will not govern any longer, but man will give vent to his own will.
Conditions at the time this narrative typifies will be such that man's lust will be unbridled. To witness an absolute dictator giving way to an uncontrolled will would be frightening, but what our passage describes is an idolatrous woman, Jezebel, dictating to the king of Israel, even usurping his authority. It was Jezebel who ordered the death of Naboth so that the king might have Naboth's inheritance.
In describing Jezebel of a later day (Rev. 17;18), the Word also declares, "In her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth" (Rev. 18:24).
"So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth.... And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles.... proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. And there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him: and the men of Belial witnessed against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died. Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned, and is dead" (1 Kings 21:8,11-14).
Naboth lost his earthly inheritance, but he will receive a better, a heavenly, one, for there never is any loss for faith, only gain. Literally, "But there shall not an hair of your head perish" (Luke 21:18).
If we would remain as true to the light given to us as Naboth was to the light afforded him, what a blessing would result.
The unregenerate man would never own any connection with such wickedness as the slaying of a righteous man such as Naboth in his own vineyard. Yet, what happened at the cross of Jesus?
Did not Simeon prophesy to Mary that the thoughts of many hearts would be revealed at the death of Jesus? (Luke 2:35) The natural man is led about by Satan at his will. Such was the case with Jezebel and the nobles of Jezreel.
"And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money: for Naboth is not alive, but dead. And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it" (I Kinas 21:15.16).
The wealth of the land of Israel has become an object of envy to the nations about it, even to the countries of Europe.
Two great powers are already vying for a place in the affections of Israel. Although Israel is today referred to as a nation, it is but a temporary condition, and it will not be a nation again in God's sight until all twelve tribes are back in their land in peace. Then Zion will be founded. Those who are returning now do so to their sorrow. (Isa. 17:9-11).
The prince of the West will make a league with the returned Jews, but after the middle of the seven years of prophecy yet to be fulfilled, they will break the covenant and take possession of the Land, subjecting the people to the worst form of tyranny and idolatry that Israel has ever known. It will be a time of persecution and martyrdom (Matt. 24:9; Rev. 9:1-11).
"And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vine yard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it. And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine" (1 Kings 21:17-19).
After the king had taken possession of the land that belonged to Naboth, he discovered that his powerful enemy Elijah had found him again.
It is bad enough to persecute any man, but to persecute the people of God is intolerable to God.
In Rev. 6:8,9-12:2-5, 11:7-13, 15:2-8, and in chapter 16, the cries of the persecuted call down the judgments from heaven.
What Elijah had to say to Ahab reminds us of the "two witnesses" (Rev. 11:3-13) who will prophesy against evil, witnessing for the God of the earth for three and one-half years during the reign of the false king.
"And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, 0 mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the LORD. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity" (1 Kings 21:20,21).
In days of declension and weakness God always has a man, or men, whom He has empowered to meet the wickedness of the enemy by His Word.
Elijah fearlessly prophesied to Ahab in Naboth's vineyard of Ahab's and Jezebel's disgraceful end and total destruction without an heir to the throne. "Man that is in honor, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish" (Psa. 49:20).
In the present day, which is so near to the end of the church's history upon the earth, the forces of evil are being marshalled for the last crisis which will usher in the thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth (Rev. 10:7).
It could be that many of the actors in the coming drama are ready to take their parts. Events will happen swiftly after the true church is taken home. We will be snatched away out of that hour of temptation which is to try the habitable earth.
"And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly. And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house" (1 Kings 21:27-29).
Ahab is singularly marked out as an idolater who worked wickedness in Israel as none before him.
Upon the pronouncing of judgment upon Ahab's house so that there would be no remnant, Ahab repented.
We are called upon to notice how ready God is to forgive where there is repentance. As Ahab gives evidence of a change of mind, God lifts the judgment which was impending, and He spares Ahab in his day. God delights in mercy; judgment is His strange work.
God had told His people that if they sinned and turned again to God He would show mercy to them (Lev. 26:40-42).
Elijah is given to see the mercy of God in His government with Ahab.
Thus we see the repentance of Ahab by the word of Elijah. What tremendous power is found in the hand of a true servant walking under the eye of God. His word will command the conscience of all who hear him whether there is true repentance or not. This should encourage all who seek to witness for God as sent by Him.
In the present day, so near the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ for His church, should we not be greatly concerned about the truth committed to us? May we dread the breaking of a hedge (that which separates us from the world) or the removing of any landmark (doctrine), but remain, contending for the faith until Jesus comes (Jude 3).
The story of Naboth shows the spirit in which every believer, armed with purpose of heart, should strive diligently against sin, "resisting unto blood" if necessary (Heb. 12:4).
The Captain and His Fifty
"So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead" (1 Kings 22:40).
Some men are qualified for a place of leadership because of special talents or training, while others, who are not capable of honor, inherit power or position, even thrones. However, God in His government might allow such men to rule because of the people's moral state. This was the case with Ahaziah; years of rebellion and idolatry in Israel had brought upon them just such a king.
God will hold leaders, or those in authority, responsible to rule in righteousness and to give the light of God to their subjects (Gen. 1:14-18). Israel was the nation in which the principles of righteousness, coupled with the light from God, were to be displayed.
If a man in a special position is unable to carry out his responsibility, he can own his failure to God, as King David did in 2 Sam. 23:1-5.
In the history of Ahaziah (1 Kings 22:51-53), there is a summing up of evils of former leaders. Ahab wrought wickedness so that there were none like him before or after; Jezebel, the daughter of the king of the Sidonians, a cursed race, introduced idolatry into Israel in the worship of Baal; and even Jeroboam, who had made Israel to sin long before, was mentioned here.
Ahaziah should have learned from these and taken a different course, but instead he condoned and followed their wickedness, his evil fostering being his downfall. Many mothers of faith were rewarded with sons as Moses, Hezekiah, Lemuel, and Josiah.
"And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease" (2 Kings 1:2).
Although Ahaziah was bound in the chains of idolatrous religious tradition by father and mother, still he was conscious that he must answer to God. Special responsibility rests with the king of God's people, and he was made well aware of this by the affliction that came his way. The principles of God's government found here are the same today; they change not. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Gal. 6:7).
Instead of turning to the Lord and inquiring of God's prophet, Ahaziah willfully sent to inquire of Baal-zebub. Because they turn not "to the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isa. 8:20). During the time of the great tribulation, Israel "taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first" (Matt. 12:45).
"But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron? Now therefore thus saith the LORD, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And Elijah departed" (2 Kings 1:3,4).
To the messengers of Ahaziah Elijah brought the solemn word from Jehovah, "Thou.... shalt surely die." It has been said, "Hope springs eternal within the human breast," but this is man's logic, not God's Word. The day is nearing when the only testimony to be carried to the false king is that of death.
Just before the Son of man comes to take His kingdom, two witnesses will bear testimony in Jerusalem to the fact that God is the God of the earth as well as of heaven, and the apostate rulers who refuse to listen will be cut off (Psa. 76:12; Psa. 82).
The fact that there is a God in heaven is rarely opposed, but to speak of the God of the earth or the God of Israel, referring to Christ, irritates man. Man would rather that God remain in heaven and not interfere with earth, man's world, as he calls it.
"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse" (Mal. 4:5,6).
In this passage Elijah is a type of Christ who will replace all prophets, and He alone is able to turn hearts, whether of fathers or children.
God is following His people (Deut. 11:12). They may be afflicted, scattered, and peeled; their shepherds may exact and feed themselves of them, but a Shepherd will arise. "Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out" (Ezek. 34:11). "I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD" (Ezek. 34:15).
Although God's blessing is upon His people, restitution cannot come until "he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left" (Deut. 32:36).
Had not Israel said at the trial of Jesus, "His blood be on us, and on our children"? (Matt. 27:25) Before Israel's history was complete, they not only had slain their Creator but had made it clear that they did not wish for such a Man as Jesus to reign over them (Luke 19:14).
At the death of Jesus there were present chief priests, scribes, Pharisees, Herodians, and Gentile rulers arrayed against Him (Acts 4:25-27). "Nevertheless man being in honor abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish" (Psa. 49:12).
To slay their own Messiah made Israel more guilty than other nations, though all shared in it. There was never a day guiltier than the day of the crucifixion.
God had promised long before that day that He would have mercy upon the nation and bless them (Gen. 28:14; Deut. 32:43). This He will yet do. The last "captain and his fifty" whom we are considering in this paper represent the remnant of faith who will benefit from this promise.
First, however, Israel must become guilty (Hos. 5:15), that is to say, they must acknowledge that they are such. When this acknowledgment takes place, it will be on the part of their leaders first (Joel 2:17).
The two thieves on the outside crosses are also a picture of guilty Israel before their Messiah; one fears God and in tribulation gives testimony to the other who proves to be an apostate. The believing. one asked that he be remembered when the Messiah would come into His kingdom (Luke 23:39-43).
"And when the messengers turned back unto him, he said unto them, Why are ye now turned back? And they said unto him, There came a man up to meet us, and said unto us, Go, turn again unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that thou sendest to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron? therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die" (2 Kings 1:5,6).
For those who will follow the false christ in Israel there will be no hope. "And it was revealed in mine ears by the LORD of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord GOD of hosts" (Isa. 22:14). "And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness" (Isa. 8:22). Such will be the end for those who refuse to repent in Israel.
"And he said unto them, What manner of man was he which came up to meet you, and told you these words? And they answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite" (2 Kings 1:7,8).
Upon hearing the description, there was no question in the king's mind that it was the prophet Elijah.
We would do well if our dress, deportment, and manner of life told to Whom we belong.
"Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and, behold, he sat on the top of an hill. And he spake unto him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down. And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty" (2 Kings 1:9,10).
In following Baal, Ahaziah had lost all sense of what was proper in addressing the man of God. Little did he realize the greatness and power of Almighty God. This spirit will characterize the leaders of the people of Israel at the end, just before judgment. Arrogance and self-sufficiency will clothe their pride.
The book of Proverbs declares, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased" (Prov. 9:10,11).
Ahaziah's days were shortened, for he lived out only two years of his reign. He had no sons.
It seems as though there was no understanding with Ahaziah, and the prophet's terrible rebuke had no apparent effect upon him. Ahab, his father, had repented at Elijah's rebuke, but Ahaziah did not repent.
The second request through the second captain and his fifty, which was more urgent, only showed how heartless the king was toward his servants and how irreverent and independent he was toward God. "For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not" (Job 33:14).
When evil reaches its peak and rises up to heaven, God will act. The glory of God is seen in two aspects in Scripture, the glory of His grace (Isa. 60) and the glory of judgment (Isa. 63;66).
"Again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly. And Elijah answered and said unto them, If 1 be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty." (2 Kings 1:11,12).
In reviewing these pictures of repentance found in Elijah's ministry, we are impressed with the purpose before the Spirit of God in giving man a foundation for the precious truth which was to be brought in later.
There can be no new birth without repentance as we have seen in tracing the seven pictures in the ministry of Elijah. There can be no salvation without deep heart searchings and self-judgment before a holy God. This golden key is available to all of Adam's race who desire it. May all, as Job, repent in dust and ashes.
"And he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight" (2 Kings 1:13).
As this humbling took place, the prophet's favor rested upon the third captain and his fifty, the remnant of faith, while judgment was the portion of the first two captains with their fifties, who were apostates.
So with Israel. After the terrible tribulation judgments, called "Jacob's trouble" by Jeremiah, will have brought the people to their knees, they will own the Lord to be their God, and the leaders will plead for mercy. (See Joel 2 and Deut. 32:35-37.)
Upon repentance and the humbling of themselves before God, one-third of all who will be in the Land at that time will be spared to form the kingdom of Israel again (Zech. 13:8,9; Isa. 17:7). This is illustrated by the three captains and their fifties. In the first two instances a rebellious attitude was seen as the prophet calls fire down from heaven upon them, but the last prefigures a godly remnant of Israel who will be the seed of Jehovah (Jezreel) to again people the Land that was chosen by God to be the center of the new earth, having none other but Jesus, the Son of man, as their King.
Soon the day will be here when the iniquity of Israel will have come to an end.
In the prayer of Moses, the man of God, (Psa. 90:3) he says, "Thou turnest man to destruction; and sagest, Return, ye children of men."
In Isa. 30:18 we read, "And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him."
When the last enemy comes in like a flood and encircles the Land, Israel's power will be gone (Deut. 32:36), and all nations of the earth will be against them (Zech. 12:3). At their cry, fury rises in Jehovah's face (Ezek. 38:18), and He shall lop the bough with terror (Isa. 10:33).
"And the angel of the LORD said unto Elijah, Go down with him: be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king. And he said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron, is it not because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word? therefore thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. So he died according to the word of the LORD which Elijah had spoken" (2 Kings 1:15-17).
Ahaziah died without any sons to sit upon the throne. He prefigures the end of old apostate Israel whose inheritance will come to a close (Matt. 24:34).
The sovereignty of God has spared a remnant, the last captain and his fifty, who in complete dependence and obedience inherit the Land (Psa. 37:9-11; Isa. 1:19,20).
In the gospels the Lord Jesus gives us several pictures which set forth Israel's happy future, where faith is in exercise. We notice that a leader is mentioned in two examples.
One striking picture is that of the nobleman's son who was restored (John 4:43-54).
In Mark 5 we find a sequence of three: the demoniac, a sample of Israel in their last state under the power of demons, as the nation in the time of King Ahaziah, seeking to Baal-zebub rather than to God; next, the woman healed of an issue by touching the garment of Jesus, a glimpse of the calling out of the church; finally, the giving of life to Jairus' daughter.
There is something very delicate and touching in the last account. Only God can raise the dead, and all men will be raised eventually, some to everlasting life, some to be sentenced to their eternal doom. The resurrection of the nation of Israel is typified in the raising of Jairus' daughter, twelve years of age. It is prophetically stated in Psa. 110, "Thou hast the dew of thy youth."
Within a happy house which stood
On Galilean hill,
A little daughter lived whose feet
And tongue were never still;
No lambkin frolicking beside
A running stream's fair water
Could ever be more gay than she,
That merry little daughter.
One day into that happy house
Came sorrow dark and gray,
The little daughter of the house
Lay dying all the day.
And as the dusk of night came down,
And evening breezes sighed
Through flower and tree
And o'er the sea
The little daughter died.
Then to the sad distracted house
So full of dark and gloom,
Came Jesus Light of Life -and stood
In little daughter's room.
"Lambkin!" He said, "Wake up!"
He said; So clear His word and plain
The little daughter heard, and quick
Her spirit came again.
Her little loving spirit ran
To greet the Voice divine;
The busy tongue began to talk,
The merry eyes to shine;
The mischief in them came again
For every one to see;
The dancing feet began again
To jump and slide with glee;
And all the house was gay again,
With happiness aflame,
Because Lord Jesus came, and called
That little daughter's name.
-Fay Inchfawn
In Hos. 2:15 we are told that Israel "shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt."
Isa. 62:5 says, "For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee."
This is the glorious end that God has in view for His earthly people, Israel, but only after they have repented in their leaders, as was the case with the last captain and his fifty.
Courtesy of BibleTruthPublishers.com. Most likely this text has not been proofread. Any suggestions for spelling or punctuation corrections would be warmly received. Please email them to: BTPmail@bibletruthpublishers.com.