2 Kings 1:12 "But Elijah answered them, 'If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.' Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty."
Ahaziah, son of Ahab has some weird accident where he falls through some lattice or whatever. Who knows. Anyway, he was evil. So, curious as to whether he would recover from his sickness, he sends a cavalcade of messengers to consult Baal in Ekron.
The angel of the LORD tells Elijah that he's on. He's got to confront these messengers and ask them if they're consulting Baal because there's no God in Israel. Because of this, and probably the evil, Elijah tells them that Ahaziah is gonna die.
So they go back and deliver the news, and Ahaziah sends a delegation of a captain and 50 dudes to meet Elijah and tell him to come back with him. Ahaziah has not learned from the past, where you can't order prophets around and live. Elijah says "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty." And it happens again. Finally, the third guy gets it, and the angel allows Elijah to go see Ahaziah.
There Ahaziah hears it straight from Elijah that he's gonna die. Maybe if Ahaziah had consulted God, things might have been different.
Showing posts with label Elijah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elijah. Show all posts
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
1 Ki. 19: New Guy
1 Kings 19:8 "So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God."
What's most interesting to me about Jezebel's predictable reaction to the massacre of Baal's prophets is how Elijah, exhausted from fleeing the wrath of Jezebel's gods, is helped along by the Angel of God. Elijah, who just proved the superiority and Lordship of God at the altar, would surely have been protected. Why would God, who rained fire on a soaked sacrifice turn around and allow Elijah to die at the hand of a pagan? Anyway, that's not the question here. The question is, why does God sustain Elijah in his fleeing? God didn't tell him to go, but Elijah bailed. It must not have looked good for God to the Israelites, who witnessed the miracle, but now watch God's prophet run in fear from idols. I guess to me it shows how God is willing to preserve even those who disobey and turn from him...God had a plan for Elijah, and was going to see it through.
The LORD catches him in the middle part of the chapter. He asks Elijah what he's doing there. This is sort of a strange passage. Elijah answers, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."
What follows is a series of huge events. The first being a wind that (apparently) dashes a mountain to pieces. Next there was an earthquake, and then a fire. And then a whisper. The great and powerful displays show God's power, but the whisper shows God's nuance. His subtlety. God was in that huge show at the altar, but where did Elijah miss something? God asks him again. Elijah answers exactly the same way, word-for-word. Did he miss something again? What does he need, God to spell it out? Fortunately, God does.
In fact God gives him very explicit instructions. To anoint a king over Aram, a king over Israel, and Elisha, Elijah's successor as prophet. God had in place a system to preserve order, including a line of succession as to who would kill rebels.
Elisha protests not when met by Elijah. In fact, all he wants to do is kiss his folks good bye, and he's out of there. In fact, he slaughters the oxen he'd been plowing with, and burns the equipments to cook the meat. He wrapped it all up pretty nicely. Then he takes off to follow Elijah. Who I don't think he knew previously. What is with that motivation? He was already going to be a prophet, so my thoughts are that God already appeared to him somehow, and prepared him for Elijah's visit. If not, Elisha is more motivated than me.
What's most interesting to me about Jezebel's predictable reaction to the massacre of Baal's prophets is how Elijah, exhausted from fleeing the wrath of Jezebel's gods, is helped along by the Angel of God. Elijah, who just proved the superiority and Lordship of God at the altar, would surely have been protected. Why would God, who rained fire on a soaked sacrifice turn around and allow Elijah to die at the hand of a pagan? Anyway, that's not the question here. The question is, why does God sustain Elijah in his fleeing? God didn't tell him to go, but Elijah bailed. It must not have looked good for God to the Israelites, who witnessed the miracle, but now watch God's prophet run in fear from idols. I guess to me it shows how God is willing to preserve even those who disobey and turn from him...God had a plan for Elijah, and was going to see it through.
The LORD catches him in the middle part of the chapter. He asks Elijah what he's doing there. This is sort of a strange passage. Elijah answers, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."
What follows is a series of huge events. The first being a wind that (apparently) dashes a mountain to pieces. Next there was an earthquake, and then a fire. And then a whisper. The great and powerful displays show God's power, but the whisper shows God's nuance. His subtlety. God was in that huge show at the altar, but where did Elijah miss something? God asks him again. Elijah answers exactly the same way, word-for-word. Did he miss something again? What does he need, God to spell it out? Fortunately, God does.
In fact God gives him very explicit instructions. To anoint a king over Aram, a king over Israel, and Elisha, Elijah's successor as prophet. God had in place a system to preserve order, including a line of succession as to who would kill rebels.
Elisha protests not when met by Elijah. In fact, all he wants to do is kiss his folks good bye, and he's out of there. In fact, he slaughters the oxen he'd been plowing with, and burns the equipments to cook the meat. He wrapped it all up pretty nicely. Then he takes off to follow Elijah. Who I don't think he knew previously. What is with that motivation? He was already going to be a prophet, so my thoughts are that God already appeared to him somehow, and prepared him for Elijah's visit. If not, Elisha is more motivated than me.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
1 Ki. 17: Like Lazarus
1 Kings 17:22 "The LORD heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived."
Ahab was king on the throne of Israel, and was pretty freaking naughty, having built temples to Baal, and Asherah pole, and hooking up with a woman named Jezebel, a foreigner. This all added up to very unhappy God.
The next prophet, Elijah, passed on word from the LORD that as punishment for being a jackass, there will be no rain in Israel unless Elijah says so. Then the LORD gets him out there. Which is good. Evil kings have not reacted positively to bad news about their actions (See: Jeroboam). Where Elijah ends up, he will be fed bread and meat by ravens. The raven was last seen being Noah's signal that the earth was still flooded back in Genesis 8, and being declared an unclean animal in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. So what's the deal with that? Why would God send an unclean animal to feed Elijah? Ravens weren't to be eaten, but if they were unclean, wouldn't what they touched be unclean (Lev. 7:19)? Were they exempt from the cleanliness laws that governed people? I don't want to get hung up here, I'm just curious. It is an amazing thing to be brought sustenance by something unclean. By a bird, period. Pretty awesome.
Because of the drought, the brook that Elijah called home dried up, God sends him to Sidon, a foreign town outside Israel. There he meets a woman who gives him some water when he asks for it. As she's on her way, he asks for bread. This woman was just preparing to make the last meal for her and her son, as they are going to starve. And Elijah asks for bread.
I must admire the faith of this woman. Elijah tells her that if she goes home and makes him a cake, her flour and oil will never run out until the drought ends. And since she's from Sidon, I wonder what she knew about faith in the LORD. If anything. She knew what sin was, as when her son dies, she accuses Elijah of reminding her of her sin and killing her son. So Elijah brings the boy upstairs, prays over him, and he comes back to life! This is new territory. God is capable of restoring life to dead people. Can you imagine being deathly sick, and then what it would be like to be alive and in perfect health? Where did he go? What happened? Was he temporarily gathered to his fathers? What did he see? What did he know? What was that conversation like between him and his mother after that? Whaaaaaaaat?
Its a pretty good miracle, and that's all it took for the woman to declare her trust that the word of the LORD through Elijah was true. Not the neverending flour jar and oil jug. Flour and oil were not enough. Life is.
Ahab was king on the throne of Israel, and was pretty freaking naughty, having built temples to Baal, and Asherah pole, and hooking up with a woman named Jezebel, a foreigner. This all added up to very unhappy God.
The next prophet, Elijah, passed on word from the LORD that as punishment for being a jackass, there will be no rain in Israel unless Elijah says so. Then the LORD gets him out there. Which is good. Evil kings have not reacted positively to bad news about their actions (See: Jeroboam). Where Elijah ends up, he will be fed bread and meat by ravens. The raven was last seen being Noah's signal that the earth was still flooded back in Genesis 8, and being declared an unclean animal in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. So what's the deal with that? Why would God send an unclean animal to feed Elijah? Ravens weren't to be eaten, but if they were unclean, wouldn't what they touched be unclean (Lev. 7:19)? Were they exempt from the cleanliness laws that governed people? I don't want to get hung up here, I'm just curious. It is an amazing thing to be brought sustenance by something unclean. By a bird, period. Pretty awesome.
Because of the drought, the brook that Elijah called home dried up, God sends him to Sidon, a foreign town outside Israel. There he meets a woman who gives him some water when he asks for it. As she's on her way, he asks for bread. This woman was just preparing to make the last meal for her and her son, as they are going to starve. And Elijah asks for bread.
I must admire the faith of this woman. Elijah tells her that if she goes home and makes him a cake, her flour and oil will never run out until the drought ends. And since she's from Sidon, I wonder what she knew about faith in the LORD. If anything. She knew what sin was, as when her son dies, she accuses Elijah of reminding her of her sin and killing her son. So Elijah brings the boy upstairs, prays over him, and he comes back to life! This is new territory. God is capable of restoring life to dead people. Can you imagine being deathly sick, and then what it would be like to be alive and in perfect health? Where did he go? What happened? Was he temporarily gathered to his fathers? What did he see? What did he know? What was that conversation like between him and his mother after that? Whaaaaaaaat?
Its a pretty good miracle, and that's all it took for the woman to declare her trust that the word of the LORD through Elijah was true. Not the neverending flour jar and oil jug. Flour and oil were not enough. Life is.
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