Title: 40 Days Of Running
Series title: Experiencing God
“Even Prophets Feel Like Quitting”
Text: 1 kings 19:1ff
the big idea God shows Elijah that his faithful presence is to be valued over manifestations of his spectacular power!
Introduction:
The story of God working in Elijah’s life!
From the mountain to the desert…God meets Elijah in the desert as well as on the mountain top! I kings 19:1ff
Situation: introduce man players: Ahab + jezebel + Elijah.
58 years had passed since the kingdom was ripped apart in 931 B.C…100 years of growth and power under David/Solomon was over … 2 kingdoms 10—2…in these 58 years the north had 7 different kings…#7 was Ahab—the worst of a bad bunch.
Ahab, son of Omri, the seventh king of Israel, who reigned for twenty-two years, from 876 to 854 (1 Ki 16:28ff), was one of the strongest and at the same time one of the weakest kings of Israel
FOREIGN POLICY:
In the days of David and Solomon commercial trade existed between the Hebrews and the Phoenicians.
• Ahab, recognizing the advantages from an alliance with the foremost commercial nation of his time, renewed the old relations with the Phoenicians and cemented them by his marriage with Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of Tyre (the Ithobalos, priest of Astarte mentioned by Meander).
• He next turns his attention to the establishment of peaceful and friendly relations with the kindred and neighboring kingdom of Judah. For the first time since the division of the kingdoms the quarrels are forgotten, “and Jehoshaphat,” the good king of Judah, “made peace with the king of Israel.” This alliance, too, was sealed by a marriage relationship, Jehoram, the crown-prince of Judah, being united in marriage with the princess Athaliah, daughter of Ahab.
•
RELIGIOUS POLICY:
Ahab’s far-sighted foreign policy was the opposite of his short-sighted religious policy.
Through his alliance with Phoenicia he not only set in motion the currents of commerce with Tyre, but invited Phoenician religion as well.
• The worship of Yahweh by means of the golden calves of Jeroboam appeared antiquated to him.
• Baal, the god of Tyre, the proud mistress of the seas and the possessor of dazzling wealth, was to have an equal place with Yahweh, the God of Israel.
• Accordingly he built in Samara a temple to Baal and in it erected an altar to that god, and at the side of the altar a pole to Asherab (1 Ki 16:32, 33).
• On the other hand he tried to serve Yahweh by naming his children in his honor—Ahaziah (“Yah holds”), Jehoram (“Yah is high”), and Athaliah (“Yah is strong”).
• However, Ahab failed to realize that while a coalition of nations might be advantageous, a syncretism of their religions would be disastrous.
• He failed to apprehend the full meaning of the principle, “Yahweh alone is the God of Israel.”
• MEET JEZEBEL (WHAT A CATCH!)
• In Jezebel, his Phoenician wife, Ahab found a champion of the foreign culture, who was as imperious and able as she was vindictive and unscrupulous.
• She was the patron of the prophets of Baal and of the devotees of Asherab (1 Ki 18:19, 20; 19:1, 2)
• At her instigation the altars of Yahweh were torn down.
• She inaugurated the first great religious persecution of the church, killing off the prophets of Yahweh with the sword.
• In all this she aimed at more than a syncretism of the two religions; she planned to destroy the religion of Yahweh root and branch and put that of Baal in its place.
• In this Ahab did not oppose her, but is guilty of conniving at the policy of his unprincipled wife, if not of heartily concurring in it.
• KIDS DON’T MARRY A JEZEBEL!
• Ahab and jezebel rule Israel… (year = 800 b.c. ?)
• Baal is being worshipped
• So there is a showdown on Mt Carmel
• 450 to 1!
• Victory comes! God answers by Fire!
Complication: an honest surprise in the narrative in the wake of great triumph, Elijah is discouraged, afraid and fatigued. (I kings 19)
• King Ahab tells jezebel about Elijah’s victory
• Jezebel sends a message to Elijah in 24 hours you will be dead!
• Elijah is intimidated and afraid—right on the heels of a great triumph!
• a price is put on Elijah’s head
• Elijah was afraid and ran for his life
• GOES TO BEERSHEBA 90 MILES SOUTH !
• not a retreat but an ESCAPE
• ELIJAH IS HUMAN!
• MAYBE HE TURNED 50—DEPRESSING –OLD AGE IS SETTING IN?
• escapism and denial refusal to fight—feel like were losing the battle
• left his servant behind and went a days’ journey into the desert
• WHY THE DESERT?
• ELIJAH IS DOWN ON HIMSELF
• he asks to die take me home Lord—good idea but selfish!
• HE IS HONEST Lord I‘ve had enough! V. 4
• HE IS SELF-RIGHTEOUS SOMETIMES HAPPENS AFTER A GT VICTORY!
• WE GET SELF-RIGHTEOUS TOO I’M PULLING MY WEIGHT WHY AREN’T YOU?
• MARRIAGE
• WORK
• CHURCH
•
• fell asleep under a tree.
What she (JEZEBEL) desired was that Elijah and his God be discredited before the new converts who had aided Elijah by executing the prophets of Baal. Without a leader revolutionary movements usually stumble and fall away.
• Just when God needed him the most, the divinely trained prophet was to prove a notable failure!
It has often been asked how a man could experience such divine provision, perform such great miracles, singlehandedly withstand 450 pagan prophets and the king himself, and yet cower before feminine threats. It must be remembered, of course, that Jezebel was anything but a "mere woman." She was of royal blood and every bit a queen. She could be ruthless in pursuing her goals (21:11-15). Her personality was so forceful that even Ahab feared her and was corrupted by her (16:31; 21:25). Both the northern kingdom (16:32-33) and the southern kingdom, through the marriage of her (step) daughter Athaliah to the royal house of Judah (2 Kings 8:16-19; 11:1-20; 2 Chronicles 21:5-7; Ps 45), experienced moral degredation and spiritual degeneracy through her corrupting influence.
Yet Elijah was not without blame. God’s subsequent tender dealings with his prophet were to bring his spiritual problem to light.
• His God-given successes had fostered an inordinate pride (cf. vv. 4, 10, 14) that had made him take his own importance too seriously.
• Moreover Elijah had come to bask in the glow of the spectacular. He may have fully expected that because of what had been accomplished at Mount Carmel, Jezebel would capitulate and pagan worship would come to an end in Israel--all through his influence!
• Whereas the great spectacle had failed to melt Jezebel’s icy heart and, worse, she would take his life, his pride was shattered, and he became a broken man.
• What Elijah needed to learn, God would soon show him (vv. 11-12). God does not always move in the realm of the extraordinary. To live always seeking one "high experience" after another is to have a misdirected zeal. The majority of life’s service is in quiet, routine, humble obedience to God’s will.
Resolution: God meets with Elijah and shows him his glory just as he did with Moses!
Yet here he was, alone and seemingly deserted in this desert wasteland, the very symbol of a wasted life. Yet God would tenderly nourish and lead his prophet to a place where he would get some much needed instruction (cf. Moses, Exod 2:15-3:22; Paul, Gal 1:15-17).
• After a forty-day trek, Elijah found that he had been drawn by divine providence to Mount Sinai, the sacred place of God’s self-disclosure (v. 8).
• NOTICE THIS ELIJAH DOES THE RIGHT THING HERE HE GOES TO “THE MOUNTAIN OF God”
• This is the place where God revealed himself to Moses—and gave the 10 commandments—it’s a holy place! It’s the place of revelation!
• After arriving at Mount Sinai, Elijah located a cave and spent the night
• perhaps only now could he feel safe !
• (v. 9). He may have been in a spot more sacred then he realized. The Hebrew text says, "He came there to the cave," possibly the very "cleft of the rock" where God had placed Moses as his glory passed by (Exod 33:21-23).
• WOW! ELIJAH AND Moses MEET SO TO SPEAK AT THIS CAVE—WITH GOD (THEY WILL SHARE ANOTHER MOMENT WITH JESUS LATER ON…)
God ministers to his physical needs
• an angel touched him get up and eat
• cake of bread and a jar of water
• he ate some of it.
• went to sleep
• angel wakes him again; eat more!
Avoidance and denial—running from his problems—but God chases him down!
travelled 40 days/night to Horeb (the Mt. of God)
a further 200 miles (in 40 days)
Pictured: From Mount Sinai, a panoramic view of the area.
Sinai (Desert of, Mount)- The term Sinai is used 35 times in OT (all but 4 in Pentateuch) and 4 times in NT. Mount Sinai (17 of 35 references) seems to be a specific peak in larger area called Desert of Sinai (13 of 35 references). The latter sometimes referred to as Horeb (17 times OT), but only once is the mountain specifically referred to as Mount Horeb (Exod 33:6). All biblical references are associated with Moses and the giving of the law (Exod 19:2; Num 10:12), save for Elijah’s flight to Horeb (2Kings 19:8).
Site Designation: Many proposals, but traditionally at Jebel Musa (Arabic) in central portion of S Sinai, although Jebel Sin Bisher (W portion of central Sinai) seems to be a viable alternative.
•
• spends the night in a cave there
• word of the Lord comes what are you doing here, Elijah?
• they’re trying to kill me—I’m the only one left!
• pity party… compassion fatigue
God ministers to his spiritual needs
• Elijah, you need to see the glory of the Lord and sense his presence!
• a powerful wind came
• earthquake
• fire
• not God
• then…a gentle whisper and Elijah heard it!
• pulled his coat over his face
• went to the mouth of the cave
The prophet was bidden to take his stand upon the sacred mount; and Yahweh passed by, heralded by tempest, earthquake and thunderstorm (19:9-12). These were Yahweh’s fore-runners only; Yahweh was not in them, but in the “still small voice,” such as the prophets were accustomed to hear within their souls. When Elijah heard the not unfamiliar inner voice, he recognized Yahweh present to hear and answer him. Elijah seems to be seeking to justify his own retreat to the wilderness by the plea that he had been “very jealous,” had done in Yahweh’s cause all that mortal prophet could do, before he fled, yet all in vain! The same people who had forsaken the law and “covenant” of Yahweh, thrown down His altars and slain His prophets, would have allowed the slaughter of Elijah himself at the command of Jezebel; and in him would have perished the last true servant of Yahweh in all the land of Israel (19:13, 14).
Divine compassion passed by Elijah’s complaint in order to give him directions for further work in Yahweh’s cause. Elijah must anoint Hazael to seize the throne of Syria, Israel’s worst enemy among the neighboring powers; Jehu, in like manner, he must anoint to put an end to the dynasty of Ahab and assume the throne of Israel; and Elisha, to be his own successor in the prophetic office. These three, Hazael and his Syrians, Jehu and his followers, even Elisha himself, are to execute further judgments upon the idolaters and the scorners in Israel. Yahweh will leave Himself 7,000 (a round number, a limited but not an excessively small one, conveying a doctrine, like the doctrine of later prophets, of the salvation of a righteous remnant) in Israel, men proof against the judgment because they did not share the sin. If Elijah was rebuked at all, it was only in the contrast between the 7,000 faithful and the one, himself, which he believed to number all the righteous left alive in Israel (1 Ki 19:15-18).
The whispering voice of God reveals God’s presence!
(the presence of God is to be sought over the power of God)
thus you abide in my presence and I will look after the agenda!
Then the same question again what are you doing here Elijah?
• looking for safety—they’re trying to kill me!
• Avoid church they are going to hurt me in church—I’ve been hurt already…disappointed already—so I’m staying home from church!
• Lord “go back the way you came”
• Don’t stay here, Elijah! = return to your proven ways—the truth—the Lord!
• I have a few more assignments for you!
God again dealt graciously with his prophet. He was to go back to the northern kingdom (v. 15), the place where he had veered off the track with God in his spiritual life (cf. Abram, Gen 13:3-4; John Mark, Acts 15:39). Elijah still had work to accomplish for God.
• That task was threefold:
• (1) in the realm of international politics, he was to anoint Hazael to succeed Ben-Hadad, Israel’s perennial adversary in Damascus;
• (2) in national affairs, Jehu was to be anointed as the next king (v. 16); and
• (3) in the spiritual realm, Elisha was to be commissioned as his own successor (cf. God’s instruction to Moses in Num 27:18-23).
The threefold commission was singularly interrelated (v. 17). Jehu’s work would supplement that of Hazael, that is, any who fell to Israel to escape Hazael’s purge would be dealt with by Jehu. In turn those who survived Jehu’s slaughter must face the spiritual judgment of Elisha. To encourage his restored prophet further, God set the record straight: there were yet seven thousand true believers in Israel (v. 18).
• go to the desert of Damascus, anoint 3 people;
• king
• king
• prophet
1. a have a successor Elisha will succeed you as prophet
2. by the way, I have 7000 people who have not bowed down to baal
3. Elisha becomes his attendant (19:21)
CONCLUSIONS ELIJAH IS TAKEN TO HEAVEN! AWESOME! ARE YOU ENVIOUS?
IT WILL HAPPEN TO US TOO!
• ELIJAH SAW THE GLORY OF Jesus ON Mt. OF TRANSFIGURATION! AS THE REP OF THE PROPHETS—HE WAS HELD IN HIGH ESTEEM ! HIS HONESTY DIDN’T RESTRICT HIS MINISTRY—IT ENHANCED IT!
God is provoked by the idolatry
God sends a prophet to the land in the person of Elijah
God sends a drought on the land
God provides food for Elijah and the widow (in Baal territory)
