The drama continues ~
Ahab goes home. Ahab goes home to Jezebel. He has lived through 3 years with no rain -- three years with God proving the impotence of Baal. He has seen the contest that Baal LOST and GOD won. He saw fire come down and consume the ox, the wood, the stone and all the water Elijah had poured out to soak the sacrifice. Then he rode 20 miles in the rain in an open chariot. I am SURE God timed the rain so Ahab would be saturated with fact that God ~ not Baal ~ sends rain. Then Ahab goes home. I suppose that Jezebel had heard before Ahab showed up that her 450 prophets of Baal had been slaughtered...that Ahab had done NOTHING to stop the slaughter. What Ahab says is significant, but, for me, MORE significant is what Ahab does NOT say:
Now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
1 Kings 19:1
Ahab does not tell her all that God had done. Who knows how he couched the story, but he lays all the blame on Elijah and gives God no credit. His heart has not turned to God. If it had he would have told Jezebel that Baal worship was over ~ he would have said, as the people did when the fire fell, "YHWH, He is God!" But he does not. It does seem that the one he 'fears' is Jezebel. Jezebel sends a message to Elijah -- note: Ahab does nothing to stop her. Is he thinking that Elijah made a fool of him and that Jezebel is the perfect "sword" to wield against him? He can appease Jezebel, and get rid of Elijah. ? That is what it sounds like to me.
So Elijah.
He has had a great winning streak! He says no rain and ... there is NO rain for 3 years. He calls for the contest and gets to go all "in your face" with the prophets of Baal. Then he calls down fire from heaven. Then he orders the slaughter of 450 prophets of Baal. So like:
Elijah 4 / Ahab, Jezebel, and prophets of Baal 0!
Jezebel sends Elijah a message:
So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.
1 Kings 19:2
Scripture says "when he saw he arose and went for his life" ... lots of translations say he was afraid:
1 Kings 19:3
And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life
NASU (New American Standard Updated)
And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life
NAS (New American Standard)
Then he was afraid, and he arose and went for his life,
RSV (Revised Standard Version)
Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.
NIV (New International Version)
Interestingly the King James translation gets it right by translating the actual words from Hebrew, and not interpreting...
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.
But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness,
KJV (King James Version)
OK, "when he saw" makes perfect sense to me. Not that I do not think there was some fear -- he went 'for his life' to 'Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah'. If you go look at a map
-- which I HIGHLY recommend --
you will see that Beersheba is a L O N G W A Y away. He goes all the way to the bottom of the kingdom of Judah (the Southern kingdom) to Beersheba and leaves his servant there and then goes out into the wilderness a whole day's journey farther. "when he saw" says to me "when he saw that Jezebel was still really in charge", or "when he saw the Ahab had no intention of repenting", or "when he saw that things had not changed at all". I think Elijah was discouraged -- even more than he was afraid. And he saw that Jezebel would kill him -- because since there was NO repentance in Ahab, Ahab would let her.
If you read commentaries on this passage you will see that the usually give Elijah a LOT of flack:
how dare he be afraid of Jezebel!
...
he had no faith in God, clearly, or he would have stayed
...
WHAT?? he calls fire down from heaven and then runs from a woman??
But lets look at the way God treats him.
Elijah goes out into the wilderness, lays down under a juniper tree and tells God, "It is enough, take my life." God sends and angel who brings him bread and water. Elijah sleeps, and then the angel comes back with more bread and says, "Get up and eat for the journey is too great for you." So, God does not rebuke him, or criticize him ~ he sends an angel with food. It then says that Elijah went "in the strength of the food, 40 days and 40 nights to Horeb the mountain of God". But Horeb is NOT 40 days and night away ~ it is about 200 miles away which would be 7 to 10 days. Is scripture using "40 days and 40 nights" euphemistically? It sure seems that way: It rained 40 days and 40 nights when God flooded the world, Israel wandered 40 years in the wilderness before entering the promised land, Moses stayed on the mountain with God 40 days and 40 nights when God gave the law, and Jesus 40 days and 40 nights when he was tempted by the devil after his baptism. hmmmmmmm
At the mountain Elijah goes into a cave and the Word of the Lord comes to him and says, "What are you doing here, Elijah." Elijah answers him with what sounds like a 13 year old's whiny retort:
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."
1 Kings 19:10
OK...true, but not exactly true -- Elijah was zealous for the Lord : true. The Israelites had rejected the covenant and broken down the altars of God, and put the prophets of God to death : true. But - Elijah was NOT the only one left, we know that ~ remember, Obadiah was still there, and he had hidden and provided for 100 prophets of God. God clearly knew all this ~ the entire 'send Elijah, stop all rain for 3 years, have a contest and send fire from heaven' plan -- it was GOD'S plan. Again, God does not rebuke or criticize Elijah. Elijah is tremendously discouraged. God responds by coming in person. The cure for a prophet's discouragement...the only real cure for being overwhelmed by discouragement when we minister and see the hardheartedness of the people is the presence of God. God does not just come as "the Word of God" -- He comes Himself. God tells Elijah to go out of the cave and stand on the mountain "in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." And the presence of God does pass by: There is a huge wind, I mean HUGE wind. It rips the mountain apart and shatters rocks, then there is an earthquake, then there is a fire. God is not in any of them ~ and Elijah knows that God is not in any of them. Finally he hears a quiet, small voice. Elijah is still in the cave -- he stays there during the wind, the earthquake and the fire until he hears the voice of God. He knows God so he knows God's voice. That is maybe the hugest point of this whole dramatic story: Elijah knows God so he knows the voice of God. Why the wind, and earthquake and fire? It isn't God 'showing off' or trying to test Elijah -- "Will you think wind is Me, or earthquake, or fire." No -- the presence of God is THERE and creation responds! But Elijah knows GOD and he knows the difference. God asks Elijah again, "What are you doing here?" and Elijah repeats the "I have been zealous for God...blahblahblah" answer. Then God, as it were, tells him to go finish his job. He is to go back to Damascus and anoint Hazael to be the next king of Aram, anoint Jehu to be the next king of Israel , and anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as 'prophet after you'.
It is like God is saying, "OK, I am going to let you 'quit' but I will not take your life. Go finish your job, and as part of finishing the job, I will let you anoint your replacement...and when it is done...".
and the drama continues ~
Now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
1 Kings 19:1
Ahab does not tell her all that God had done. Who knows how he couched the story, but he lays all the blame on Elijah and gives God no credit. His heart has not turned to God. If it had he would have told Jezebel that Baal worship was over ~ he would have said, as the people did when the fire fell, "YHWH, He is God!" But he does not. It does seem that the one he 'fears' is Jezebel. Jezebel sends a message to Elijah -- note: Ahab does nothing to stop her. Is he thinking that Elijah made a fool of him and that Jezebel is the perfect "sword" to wield against him? He can appease Jezebel, and get rid of Elijah. ? That is what it sounds like to me.
So Elijah.
He has had a great winning streak! He says no rain and ... there is NO rain for 3 years. He calls for the contest and gets to go all "in your face" with the prophets of Baal. Then he calls down fire from heaven. Then he orders the slaughter of 450 prophets of Baal. So like:
Elijah 4 / Ahab, Jezebel, and prophets of Baal 0!
Jezebel sends Elijah a message:
So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.
1 Kings 19:2
Scripture says "when he saw he arose and went for his life" ... lots of translations say he was afraid:
1 Kings 19:3
And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life
NASU (New American Standard Updated)
And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life
NAS (New American Standard)
Then he was afraid, and he arose and went for his life,
RSV (Revised Standard Version)
Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.
NIV (New International Version)
Interestingly the King James translation gets it right by translating the actual words from Hebrew, and not interpreting...
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.
But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness,
KJV (King James Version)
OK, "when he saw" makes perfect sense to me. Not that I do not think there was some fear -- he went 'for his life' to 'Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah'. If you go look at a map
-- which I HIGHLY recommend --
you will see that Beersheba is a L O N G W A Y away. He goes all the way to the bottom of the kingdom of Judah (the Southern kingdom) to Beersheba and leaves his servant there and then goes out into the wilderness a whole day's journey farther. "when he saw" says to me "when he saw that Jezebel was still really in charge", or "when he saw the Ahab had no intention of repenting", or "when he saw that things had not changed at all". I think Elijah was discouraged -- even more than he was afraid. And he saw that Jezebel would kill him -- because since there was NO repentance in Ahab, Ahab would let her.
If you read commentaries on this passage you will see that the usually give Elijah a LOT of flack:
how dare he be afraid of Jezebel!
...
he had no faith in God, clearly, or he would have stayed
...
WHAT?? he calls fire down from heaven and then runs from a woman??
But lets look at the way God treats him.
Elijah goes out into the wilderness, lays down under a juniper tree and tells God, "It is enough, take my life." God sends and angel who brings him bread and water. Elijah sleeps, and then the angel comes back with more bread and says, "Get up and eat for the journey is too great for you." So, God does not rebuke him, or criticize him ~ he sends an angel with food. It then says that Elijah went "in the strength of the food, 40 days and 40 nights to Horeb the mountain of God". But Horeb is NOT 40 days and night away ~ it is about 200 miles away which would be 7 to 10 days. Is scripture using "40 days and 40 nights" euphemistically? It sure seems that way: It rained 40 days and 40 nights when God flooded the world, Israel wandered 40 years in the wilderness before entering the promised land, Moses stayed on the mountain with God 40 days and 40 nights when God gave the law, and Jesus 40 days and 40 nights when he was tempted by the devil after his baptism. hmmmmmmm
At the mountain Elijah goes into a cave and the Word of the Lord comes to him and says, "What are you doing here, Elijah." Elijah answers him with what sounds like a 13 year old's whiny retort:
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."
1 Kings 19:10
OK...true, but not exactly true -- Elijah was zealous for the Lord : true. The Israelites had rejected the covenant and broken down the altars of God, and put the prophets of God to death : true. But - Elijah was NOT the only one left, we know that ~ remember, Obadiah was still there, and he had hidden and provided for 100 prophets of God. God clearly knew all this ~ the entire 'send Elijah, stop all rain for 3 years, have a contest and send fire from heaven' plan -- it was GOD'S plan. Again, God does not rebuke or criticize Elijah. Elijah is tremendously discouraged. God responds by coming in person. The cure for a prophet's discouragement...the only real cure for being overwhelmed by discouragement when we minister and see the hardheartedness of the people is the presence of God. God does not just come as "the Word of God" -- He comes Himself. God tells Elijah to go out of the cave and stand on the mountain "in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." And the presence of God does pass by: There is a huge wind, I mean HUGE wind. It rips the mountain apart and shatters rocks, then there is an earthquake, then there is a fire. God is not in any of them ~ and Elijah knows that God is not in any of them. Finally he hears a quiet, small voice. Elijah is still in the cave -- he stays there during the wind, the earthquake and the fire until he hears the voice of God. He knows God so he knows God's voice. That is maybe the hugest point of this whole dramatic story: Elijah knows God so he knows the voice of God. Why the wind, and earthquake and fire? It isn't God 'showing off' or trying to test Elijah -- "Will you think wind is Me, or earthquake, or fire." No -- the presence of God is THERE and creation responds! But Elijah knows GOD and he knows the difference. God asks Elijah again, "What are you doing here?" and Elijah repeats the "I have been zealous for God...blahblahblah" answer. Then God, as it were, tells him to go finish his job. He is to go back to Damascus and anoint Hazael to be the next king of Aram, anoint Jehu to be the next king of Israel , and anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as 'prophet after you'.
It is like God is saying, "OK, I am going to let you 'quit' but I will not take your life. Go finish your job, and as part of finishing the job, I will let you anoint your replacement...and when it is done...".
and the drama continues ~
You're very good. I do have a question, though. Answer the question you raised about 40 days travel when it could be done in 10 days.
ReplyDeleteTHANKS Dennis! Especially from you, high praise. I wish I could specifically answer your question. I suppose I think it IS a wink and a nod to the Moses and Jesus times I mentioned. Elijah WAS being called to the presence of God...
ReplyDeleteThe use of “40 days” in the Bible is significant, then again, it isn’t significant. It is not significant because it isn’t a magical, mystical number that has deeper meaning about the realities hidden in life.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I can uncover, it was a tick in the marking of time, and 40 days is only significant because on the 40th day the sun presents itself slightly different from other days, and this happens every 40th day.
Cycles were important to our ancient ancestors because they gave us a sense of predictability and predictability gives us a sense of peace. The sun sets, the sun rises. Winter comes when everything goes to sleep, then summer comes when everything wakes. Time has a measurement, cycles of 40 days, the 40th day having the significance because it ends one cycle and begins another.
This phrase, 40 days, became a metaphor to indicate significant events or experiences. So Elijah taking 40 days for what he could do in 10, the rain for forty days and nights, Jesus being tested in the desert for forty days relate not in the significance of the numbers of days but in the importance of the event.