Unsung Heroes: Elijah’s First Servant

Introduction: One of the least-known unsung heroes was Elijah’s first servant. He’s only mentioned in a couple of Scripture passages, but he was faithful to Elijah. We need more such men with that spirit even today.

First, this servant is not named, and besides that, we don’t know anything about him. We don’t even know when Elijah offered him the job, so to speak, of serving the LORD as a team. Any speculation about who the servant was, to repeat, is only a guess.

In fact, his first mention, and the only words of his recorded in Scripture, took place after the contest on Mount Carmel. Briefly, Elijah had challenged Ahab to send in the 450 prophets of Baal to a contest, where the deity who answered by fire would be the only deity to worship. According to 1 Kings 18:36-40, the LORD God of Israel answered by fire!

But there was more to the story. The LORD had promised Elijah the drought was over; the LORD was going to send rain! Now let’s see what Elijah’s servant did in that situation:

Text: 1 Kings 18:41-46, KJV: 41 And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain. 42 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, 43 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. 44 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. 45 And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel. 46 And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

Here we see that Elijah had first sent word to Ahab, probably in person (some think Ahab was present at the Mount Carmel Contest) that “there is a sound of abundance of rain”, and Ahab believed it. He went somewhere, most likely his palace, to eat and drink.

Elijah, though, plus his servant, stayed at Mount Carmel. He was praying but asked his servant to look towards the (Mediterranean) Sea. Mount Carmel gives a clear view of the sea and any clouds would be readily visible.

Except in this case, as the servant saw nothing. It’s been said that rain won’t come if the sky is clear and that was the case here. Elijah told him to go back seven more times and on the seventh, the servant noticed “a cloud like a man’s hand”. Whether he knew what it meant or not, Elijah sure did, and noticing a cloud meant, here, that rain was coming, and a lot of it, as it happened!

Now Elijah sent the servant to Ahab with a message, “Get your chariot ready and ‘get thee down’ so that the rain doesn’t stop you (partly paraphrased).” Clearly Ahab got the message, because the sky became “black with clouds” and there was “a great rain”. Some folks I know would call it a “gully washer!”

Elijah wasn’t finished, though, as he personally ran before Ahab’s chariot all the way from either Carmel or Samaria (we don’t know where Ahab was staying at this time). Either way, Jezreel was maybe 20-30 miles from Mount Carmel but somehow Elijah led the way for Ahab and anyone who was riding in the chariot. Had Elijah’s servant not done his job, by not getting word to Ahab, the story might have been very different.

Unnamed, unknown, Elijah’s servant in not only an unsung hero—he can be and should be an inspiration to many people!

Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV)