Elijah, The First Encounters Series

Introduction: Elijah, the prophet. He was and is one of the most well-known men in the Bible. He seemed to come out of nowhere, and eventually was one of only two people (so far) to go to Heaven but never died!

But like most people, Elijah had a lot to endure before he began his ministry. Actually, we don’t know much about his early days except that he lived in the land of Gilead (east of Jordan, where the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and part of Manasseh settled). His parents are unknown, his home town is never given (only that he was from Gilead, the land east of the Jordan River), and he appears to be an only child—no mention of any siblings. Even so, his name, Elijah, means “my God is the LORD” and he did his best to honor this all his days. This first message attempts to highlight what little we know about Elijah’s first encounters.

1 The first message and miracles

Text, 1 Kings 17:1-7, KJV: 1 And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, 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. 2 And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, 3 Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. 4 And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. 5 So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. 6 And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. 7 And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

Elijah’s first message was a prophecy to King Ahab that there would be no dew or rain unless Elijah said so (paraphrasing). The whole land of Israel was prone to droughts and famines (witness Abraham’s day, Genesis 12; Isaac’s time, Genesis 26’ Jacob’s time, Genesis 42-43; and in the days of the kings—e.g., 2 Kings 25:3 to name a few). We’re not told how Elijah expressed the prophecy except that he “said [it] unto Ahab”. Elijah, then, may have found a way to speak directly to the king, or he may have used other means. The important thing was to give a message from the LORD to Ahab and Elijah did it.

And this led, in my opinion, to the first miracle. Supposing Elijah had met Ahab in person, Ahab could have had Elijah arrested and thrown into prison (like Micaiah, at a later time) or even put to death! That didn’t happen, praise God, and Elijah was able to make a clean departure from Ahab and any threats or punishments Ahab might have tried to inflict on Elijah.

This, then, leads to the second miracle. Remember that God had promised that there would be no rain or dew unless Elijah gave approval. Those conditions would apply to Elijah as well, meaning he would have had to endure famine and drought (after all, little rain little harvest; no rain, not much hope for a harvest!) But now, what was he going to do? Where could he go?

The answer came as a word from the LORD Himself. “The word of the LORD came to” Elijah and told him to hide by the brook Cherith, before the Jordan River. Just where this “brook” was located is not certain, but Dr. Barnes, and several others, believes was a “torrent course”, perhaps a wadi or dry stream bed except when storms or water from melting snow and ice flowed into the Jordan. (https://biblehub.com/commentaries/barnes/1_kings/17.htm) These are sometimes called “arroyos” in the south-western United States.

It’s been said that people can, and sometimes do, live for as long as six weeks (40 days plus or minus) without food, but only a few days (maybe 3-4) without water. The brook Cherith would give Elijah plenty of water, at least for a while, but what about food? Even a prophet like Elijah had to east at least once in a while! Well, God was going to take care of that problem, too.

The LORD did this by commanding ravens to bring bread and flesh (meat) to Elijah! We don’t know why the LORD chose this type of bird for this mission, so to speak, especially since most birds tend not to associate very often or very much with humans (excepting, of course, small birds which live in cages such as parakeets or canaries). The LORD overruled the nature of these ravens, directing them to bring Elijah bread and meat twice every day. In one sense, Elijah had it better than the Israelites in the wilderness, who only received manna once daily (Exodus 16)!