1 Kings 20:23-30 - LORD of All Hills and Valleys

1 Kings 20:23-30

The Syrians Again Defeated

23 Then the servants of the king of Syria said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hills. Therefore they were stronger than we; but if we fight against them in the plain, surely we will be stronger than they. 24 So do this thing: Dismiss the kings, each from his position, and put captains in their places; 25 and you shall muster an army like the army that you have lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. Then we will fight against them in the plain; surely we will be stronger than they.”

And he listened to their voice and did so.

26 So it was, in the spring of the year, that Ben-Hadad mustered the Syrians and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel. 27 And the children of Israel were mustered and given provisions, and they went against them. Now the children of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of goats, while the Syrians filled the countryside.

28 Then a man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Because the Syrians have said, “The LORD is God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys,” therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the LORD.’” 29 And they encamped opposite each other for seven days. So it was that on the seventh day the battle was joined; and the children of Israel killed one hundred thousand foot soldiers of the Syrians in one day. 30 But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; then a wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of the men who were left.

And Ben-Hadad fled and went into the city, into an inner chamber.

The LORD is God over all hills and valleys, from the lowest to the highest parts of all creation.  The king of Syria listened to the lies of his subjects to believe otherwise because they imagined Yahweh was only sovereign in the hills and they could defeat His people in the valley of the plains.  They rebuilt an army under this delusion with captains taking the place of the kings who previously led their troops and lost against God’s people.  They made the fatal mistake of underestimating the LORD and attributing the previous strength of Israel’s victory to the men and not to their God who fought the battle for them.  We need this reminder as we contend with the unseen forces (Ephesians 6:12) set against the Lord and His Anointed (Psalm 2:2) whom we fight for the testimony of (Revelation 12:17) the gospel.  When the Syrians attacked in this false assumption of the source of the strength of God’s children, filling the countryside with a massive army, the victory was given by the LORD over them to prove to the enemy that He is indeed the sovereign King over hill and dale, unlimited in power and purpose to deliver and protect His own people.  The same LORD over these hills and valleys fights for us as we engage the enemy with the sword of the Spirit which is the testimony of the word of God’s gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news of the person and work of Christ to set men free from judgment on their sin of unbelief in that power that breaks the chains of the enemy who has us in bondage (Hebrews 2:14-15), captive to doubt and deny the King of kings who is sovereign over all things everywhere.  The truth of God’s power and will to deliver us give us lasting victory over the enemy in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:57) and therefore over death and sin in this powerful grace of our Commander of all battles and wars.  He delivers us no matter where we are, high in protected strongholds or low in fields open to attack by the enemy because the battles (Deuteronomy 3:22, 2 Chronicles 20:15, Revelation 19:15, 16) and victory belongs to Him. 

1 Kings 20:1-22 - Take Note What You Should Do!

1 Kings 20:1-22

Ahab Defeats the Syrians

1 Now Ben-Hadad the king of Syria gathered all his forces together; thirty-two kings were with him, with horses and chariots. And he went up and besieged Samaria, and made war against it. 2 Then he sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel, and said to him, “Thus says Ben-Hadad: 3 ‘Your silver and your gold are mine; your loveliest wives and children are mine.’”

4 And the king of Israel answered and said, “My lord, O king, just as you say, I and all that I have are yours.”

5 Then the messengers came back and said, “Thus speaks Ben-Hadad, saying, ‘Indeed I have sent to you, saying, “You shall deliver to me your silver and your gold, your wives and your children”; 6 but I will send my servants to you tomorrow about this time, and they shall search your house and the houses of your servants. And it shall be, that whatever is pleasant in your eyes, they will put it in their hands and take it.’”

7 So the king of Israel called all the elders of the land, and said, “Notice, please, and see how this man seeks trouble, for he sent to me for my wives, my children, my silver, and my gold; and I did not deny him.”

8 And all the elders and all the people said to him, “Do not listen or consent.”

9 Therefore he said to the messengers of Ben-Hadad, “Tell my lord the king, ‘All that you sent for to your servant the first time I will do, but this thing I cannot do.’”

And the messengers departed and brought back word to him.

10 Then Ben-Hadad sent to him and said, “The gods do so to me, and more also, if enough dust is left of Samaria for a handful for each of the people who follow me.”

11 So the king of Israel answered and said, “Tell him, ‘Let not the one who puts on his armor boast like the one who takes it off.’”

12 And it happened when Ben-Hadad heard this message, as he and the kings were drinking at the command post, that he said to his servants, “Get ready.” And they got ready to attack the city.

13 Suddenly a prophet approached Ahab king of Israel, saying, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand today, and you shall know that I am the LORD.’”

14 So Ahab said, “By whom?”
And he said, “Thus says the LORD: ‘By the young leaders of the provinces.’”
Then he said, “Who will set the battle in order?”
And he answered, “You.”

15 Then he mustered the young leaders of the provinces, and there were two hundred and thirty-two; and after them he mustered all the people, all the children of Israel—seven thousand.

16 So they went out at noon. Meanwhile Ben-Hadad and the thirty-two kings helping him were getting drunk at the command post. 17 The young leaders of the provinces went out first. And Ben-Hadad sent out a patrol, and they told him, saying, “Men are coming out of Samaria!” 18 So he said, “If they have come out for peace, take them alive; and if they have come out for war, take them alive.”

19 Then these young leaders of the provinces went out of the city with the army which followed them. 20 And each one killed his man; so the Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them; and Ben-Hadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with the cavalry. 21 Then the king of Israel went out and attacked the horses and chariots, and killed the Syrians with a great slaughter.

22 And the prophet came to the king of Israel and said to him, “Go, strengthen yourself; take note, and see what you should do, for in the spring of the year the king of Syria will come up against you.”

Ahab king of Israel was threatened by Ben-Hadad the king of Syria as he besieged Samaria, surrounding the city and demanding not only the silver and your gold, but also threatened to take their loveliest wives and children, all that was pleasant in his eyes to possess.  Ahab reluctantly agreed at first out of fear of conquest until wise counsel moved him against the invader.  He sent a message to the Syrian king that he drew the line at the personal request and would only offer the silver and gold, enraging the imminent conqueror.  When Ben-Hadad heard this he threatened to wipe out all of Israel in Samaria, but Ahab answered back, ‘Let not the one who puts on his armor boast like the one who takes it off.’  This meant that he would have to prove his boasting against God’s people in battle.  A nameless prophet assured Ahab that He would give the victory that day over the Syrians so that he and all Israel would know and understand that He is the Omnipotent LORD over all His people and against their common enemies.  Ahab mustered his defense of young leaders and all seven thousand of the people for battle against the thirty-two kings of the enemy with horses and chariots.  They attacked the overconfident drunken Syrian soldiers and sent them all running for their lives in the face of the small but mighty army of God whom they dared oppose with a great slaughter as the Syrian king fled for his life with his cavalry to guard his escape.  The prophet then warned Ahab they would be back to attack them again in the spring to prepare defensive measures for their return.  He told him to take note to see what he should do to be ready.  We who are now in the fray of the good fight of the gospel for the testimony of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 6:10, 1 Timothy 6:12, Revelation 12:11, 17) against apparent odds of a powerful enemy in the heavenly realm (Ephesians 3:10, 6:12), with the assurance of the final prophet above all others (Acts 3:22, 7:37, Hebrews 1:1-2), Jesus Christ who is God’s own divine Son to back the certain victory (1 Corinthians 15:57-58) to come.  We therefore strengthen ourselves in the power and grace of the Lord to engage the enemy and repel him and his hordes until the final day of eternal judgment and the kingdoms of this world are defeated under His rule.  The enemy will then face the fact that his boasting to don his armor must be answered by the fact he will have to take it off in defeat in the end just like the proud Syrian as we don our armor now (Ephesians 6:10-11, 13) in the army of the Lord for the gospel’s sake.  Take note what you should do!

1 Kings 19:1-21 - Following the Still Small Voice

1 Kings 19:1-21

Elijah Escapes from Jezebel

1 And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” 3 And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”

5 Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” 6 Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. 7 And the angel of the LORD came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” 8 So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.

9 And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

10 So he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”

God’s Revelation to Elijah

11 Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

13 So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

14 And he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”

15 Then the LORD said to him: “Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. 16 Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. 17 It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill. 18 Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

Elisha Follows Elijah

19 So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him. 20 And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.”

And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?”

21 So Elisha turned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah, and became his servant.

Elijah wanted to see the glory of the Almighty face to face, but ended up more than satisfied hearing His still small voice after the thundering sounds preceding that moment.  After the prophet had the confrontation with Ahab and the priests of idolatry were executed, Ahab returned and told Jezebel his evil wife all that Elijah had done to her minions.  She threatened Elijah’s life as of a price was put on his head and he would be found dead within a day.  He of course ran to safety into the wilderness, but then sat in self-pity under a tree, wondering how he could have done such a great thing for the LORD and turned His people from sin to Him on Mount Carmel.  He expected safety and reward for all that confrontation, no doubt, yet did not simply rejoice in the fact that he was now suffering for the LORD (Matthew 5:10, Acts 14:22, 2 Timothy 3:12, 1 Peter 4:12, 16) as we do for His Son and the message of repentance from dead works and sin to Him through the gospel now.  Like Jonah before him (Jonah 4:3), Elijah wanted to die because he thought he failed God since he did not see great judgment lead to a great reward of satisfaction for himself.  God demonstrated grace and provision by sending an angel to feed the sulking prophet in the middle of nowhere for forty days and forty nights until he arrived at the mountain of God called Horeb.  There the LORD asked him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”  The prophet bemoaned his sorry state of how he was so zealous for God but failed as he was met with idolatry by the people he was sent to turn in repentance from sin to Him who was their God.  He failed so much in his eyes that he believed all the prophets were killed and he alone was left to bring the message to the people who rejected him and sought to kill him also as Jezebel had promised. God then proceeded to take Elijah out of the cave he had been hiding in to witness the presence of the LORD who protected him.  There was a great stormy wind, an earthquake, and then a blazing fire, but he did not see God in these expressions of power and awe-inspiring displays of His might.  It was the still small voice after these that once more asked him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”  This time he answered with the same words, but with a renewed sense of hope and not self-pitying hopelessness.  He was then given the mission of anointing two kings and then his own successor, Elisha.  He was encouraged by the news that God had reserved seven thousand people in Israel who had not bowed to Baal in idolatry, and that he was not alone as the only one still serving and worshiping God.  This strengthened his resolve to continue to fight the good fight (1 Timothy 6:12, 2 Timothy 4:7) to the end and pass on the torch to the next man of God as we follow his example and Paul’s of discipleship (2 Timothy 2:2) with Timothy.  He found Elisha and invited him as a calling from God, who then followed him.  All because Elijah listened to the still small voice and followed in obedience that trusted and obeyed.  May we continue to do likewise and not demand or expect great fanfare of miracles or accolades for our faithfulness as we serve Him and bear testimony to the gospel of such grace.  We have heard the still small voice of God speak the words of truth (John 1:12-13, Ephesians 1:13, Colossians 1:5, 1 Thessalonians 2:13, James 1:18) in the gospel of repentance and faith to us through His Spirit to our spirits that regenerated us and gave us lasting hope and purpose to trust and live for Him as we follow Him like both Elijah and Elisha did.  

1 Kings 18:20-46 - The LORD, He is God!

1 Kings 18:20-46

Elijah’s Mount Carmel Victory

20 So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. 21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word. 22 Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. 23 Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. 24 Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.”

So all the people answered and said, “It is well spoken.”

25 Now Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.”

26 So they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, “O Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped about the altar which they had made.

27 And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 28 So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. 29 And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention.

30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. 31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name.” 32 Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, “Fill four waterpots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.” 34 Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time; and he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. 35 So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water.

36 And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. 37 Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.”

38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!”

40 And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!” So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed them there.

The Drought Ends

41 Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.” 42 So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees, 43 and said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.”

So he went up and looked, and said, “There is nothing.” And seven times he said, “Go again.”

44 Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, “There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!” So he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.’”

45 Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel. 46 Then the hand of the LORD came upon Elijah; and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

The LORD, He is God!  This cry was not heard for many years under the rule of idolatrous kings, yet was to reverberate through the land of Israel from Mount Carmel after a long drought from hearing and following the word of the LORD.  Evil Ahab had agreed to meet Elijah and so he called all the children of Israel together with the false prophets of the lifeless Baal on Mount Carmel.  The real prophet Elijah confronted the crowd to turn back to the LORD God from the sins they had chosen under misleadership, but they were stone-faced in the face of the confrontation with their God through His messenger.  This response is one dulled by sin as if it were the only way to live, and we see this same response in the ministry of God’s Son on earth as well as times when we bear witness of God’s word in the gospel even today.  The challenge that Elijah presented was for the followers of Baal to call on the name of your gods followed by the only real prophet calling on the name of the LORD.  The proof would be seen by the God who answers by fire.  He is only God who can call down supernatural fire from above as no mere imitation is capable of doing.  The Baal followers went first, crying and pleading into the deaf ears of the air as Elijah mocked them.  He suggested that their false god might be busy and couldn’t be bothered, deep in thought, or that he was asleep, or on a trip somewhere else since he is not almighty and not omnipresent as the true God.  When they vainly wound down these futile efforts, it was time for Elijah to show them the one and only  true God in the sacrifice.  At the end of the day, there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention.  To demonstrate the true power of the real and living God with whom nothing is impossible (1 Chronicles 29:11, Luke 1:37), the prophet had the people construct a stone altar and then had buckets and buckets of water poured over the sacrifice and the fuel for the fire.  He called out to heaven above to the LORD God that He would turn their hearts back to Him again.  Then the Almighty sent down fire from heaven and consumed the acceptable sacrifice along with the very stones of the altar, all the wood, the water, and the very dust left behind.  Only when the crowd saw this miraculous display of power did they fall to their knees and cry out, “The LORD, He is God!  The LORD, He is God!”  Elijah then dealt with the false prophets of the lifeless god of man’s imagination by having them rounded up and executed.  He then prayed for rain (James 5:17) until it poured out from heaven on the land at last after three and a half years of drought for hearing the word of the LORD.  Ahab was sent home and God caught up Elijah like Phillip (Acts 8:39-40) to get there before him for the next event.  The lesson of this passage is to worship God alone and cry out from the heart (1 Corinthians 12:3, Philippians 2:11), “The LORD, He is God!”  For if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus (John 1:1, 14, 1 John 4:2) and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  This is what it means to be truly well spoken.

1 Kings 18:1-19 - Elijah is Here!

1 Kings 18:1-19

Elijah’s Message to Ahab

1 And it came to pass after many days that the word of the LORD came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.”

2 So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab; and there was a severe famine in Samaria. 3 And Ahab had called Obadiah, who was in charge of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly. 4 For so it was, while Jezebel massacred the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah had taken one hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty to a cave, and had fed them with bread and water.) 5 And Ahab had said to Obadiah, “Go into the land to all the springs of water and to all the brooks; perhaps we may find grass to keep the horses and mules alive, so that we will not have to kill any livestock.” 6 So they divided the land between them to explore it; Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.

7 Now as Obadiah was on his way, suddenly Elijah met him; and he recognized him, and fell on his face, and said, “Is that you, my lord Elijah?”

8 And he answered him, “It is I. Go, tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.’”

9 So he said, “How have I sinned, that you are delivering your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me? 10 As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to hunt for you; and when they said, ‘He is not here,’ he took an oath from the kingdom or nation that they could not find you. 11 And now you say, ‘Go, tell your master, “Elijah is here“‘! 12 And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from you, that the Spirit of the LORD will carry you to a place I do not know; so when I go and tell Ahab, and he cannot find you, he will kill me. But I your servant have feared the LORD from my youth. 13 Was it not reported to my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the LORD, how I hid one hundred men of the LORD’s prophets, fifty to a cave, and fed them with bread and water? 14 And now you say, ‘Go, tell your master, “Elijah is here.“‘ He will kill me!”

15 Then Elijah said, “As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely present myself to him today.”

16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

17 Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, ”Is that you, O troubler of Israel?”

18 And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and have followed the Baals. 19 Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

This statement, ‘Elijah is here!’ caused great fear after three and a half years (Luke 4:25) of a severe drought throughout the land.  Obadiah feared the wrath of his master Ahab if he told him where to meet the prophet and he was not there, and Ahab feared the omnipotent LORD God of Elijah who caused the lack of rain and crops to survive for all that time.  The simple statement announcing he was actually going to be there to meet Ahab was unsettling to both.  The further promise to Obadiah that rain would then fall again seemed too good to be true as well.  Though Obadiah was Ahab’s man, he also feared God enough to have hidden one hundred prophets during the scourge of the idolatrous Jezebel, a fact hidden from Ahab but well-known to the LORD of Elijah.  This faithfulness saved his life and caused him to be chosen by the LORD to be the herald of Elijah’s return from exile to bring the good news of the rain to come.  This is a reminder of sorts of the Elijah to come (Matthew 17:12, Mark 9:12, 13) who would call for repentance from sins such as idolatry and herald the coming of the Christ after a forty day exile in the wilderness facing temptation and then arriving with good news of a latter rain (Isaiah 45:8, Joel 2:23, James 5:7-8) to come.  The meeting of Elijah and Ahab was to bring judgment on the idolatry of the evil king and his equally evil wife for their rejection of God’s word and subsequent idolatry and warring against the LORD and His people.  This reminds us of the judgment announced by Jesus Christ against those who continue to reject the good news of repentance from sin and faith towards God (Acts 20:21) and to then experience relief from the drought of being outside the will and grace of the Lord by the presence of His Spirit as living water (John 7:38-39, Joel 2:28, Acts 2:17) to water, cleanse, and nourish the empty soul.  It began with John as Elijah returning to say, ‘I am here!’ as the herald of the Messiah and water for our parched and thirsty souls.  We are called to hear and heed this good news, turning from sin to Christ by faith in His work on the cross with the promise of life beyond the grave through the resurrection of life to come. 

1 Kings 17:17-24 - Certainty of Life from Death

1 Kings 17:17-24

Elijah Revives the Widow’s Son

17 Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman who owned the house became sick. And his sickness was so serious that there was no breath left in him. 18 So she said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?”

19 And he said to her, “Give me your son.” So he took him out of her arms and carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. 20 Then he cried out to the LORD and said, “O LORD my God, have You also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I lodge, by killing her son?” 21 And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the LORD and said, “O LORD my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him.” 22 Then the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived.

23 And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives!”

24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is the truth.”

After Elijah had been staying with the widow and her son for some time, providing them with a seemingly bottomless supply of flour and oil to survive the drought, the boy got sick and apparently died.  The woman was upset with grief and questioned why this man of God came if he could not have kept her son from dying after all they had been through.  Echoes of Jesus hearing the sisters of Lazarus (John 11:21) asking a similar question come to mind after he died and Jesus was not there to keep him from dying.  In both these instances, God raised the dead to life as an act of compassion and also of a future hope of the resurrection to come at the end (John 11:24, 5:24) of time.  The difference was faith in Jesus by Martha compared to the accusations of the widow here against God’s servant; one trusted in God’s will either to give life in the present or in eternity, while the other blamed God in her grief without faith in God’s ability to give life.  Elijah had to cry out three times to God to bring life back to the lifeless boy there until the LORD heard and answered by returning the boy’s soul to him; Jesus as God’s Son simply ordered the soul of Lazarus to return (John 11:41, 42, 43) by a direct divine decree.  When Elijah presented the widow’s son to her alive, she believed that he was a man of God with truth in his mouth; when Jesus presented the brother of Mary and Martha alive after four days in the tomb, they had already had the faith to trust He could do it, but the reality before their eyes to see Lazarus alive before the resurrection (John 11:24) must have bolstered their faith to see (Romans 8:24-25, Hebrews 11:1) him come back to life and have a deeper faith of who Jesus is as more than just a man of God (Acts 26:22, 23) like the prophets of old.  We know from the word of God recorded throughout scripture from beginning to end that the Man of God is the Son of God and that He alone gives life now (John 5:24) and after the grave in the resurrection to come because He told us and proved it by raising Himself first from His own grave to show us He is more than able to do so for us (1 Thessalonians 4:14, 1 Corinthians 15:20-21) as a man of His word of this certain (Titus 1:2, 1 Peter 1:3) promise.  These accounts of the widow’s son and Lazarus and the accompanying promises throughout the scriptures are our certainty of life from death in our souls now and in the rest of our bodies in eternity to come. 

Kings 17:1-16 - God’s Provision in Times of Drought

1 Kings 17:1-16

Elijah Proclaims a Drought

1 And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, ”As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”

2 Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 3 “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 4 And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”

5 So he went and did according to the word of the LORD, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. 7 And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

Elijah and the Widow

8 Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.” 11 And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”

12 So she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”

13 And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. 14 For thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the LORD sends rain on the earth.’”

15 So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. 16 The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke by Elijah.

The prophet Elijah spoke the word of God’s judgment on evil Ahab and the nation that followed his sins of idolatry and rejection of the LORD.  He proclaimed a drought that would seem endless to them and then vanished into the wilderness to find provision by God’s hand through the ravens sent to bring him food by a brook of water that fed the Jordan to nourish and keep him through the dry three and a half years (Luke 4:25) ahead.  We likewise are fed by the providence of God’s provision wherever we go, and especially as we face tribulation for His sake and the word of the gospel.  Elijah stayed there until the brook dried up and the LORD led him to a poor faithful widow living in Zarephath of Sidon on Mediterranean coast north of Tyre and just south of Sidon which is now in modern-day Lebanon.  He stayed with the widow whom God led him to stay with to provide room and board from what nothing she seemed to have.  God provided for her, her son, and him by miraculously giving her an unending supply of flour and oil in bottomless jars, reminiscent of Jesus feeding the five thousand () later.  He provided this as long as necessary until it was time to bring the rain back after such a long time of judgment.  This is an example of God’s provision in times of drought in a physical manner, but we also find it translates into spiritual provision for strength in the midst of trials and tribulations as well, for we partake of the body of Christ as our manna (John 6:32-33, 35, 48-50) to nourish both body and soul.  As it has been famously said, God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply.  We are called to trust and obey equally in the face of opposition in the wilderness and in good times of plenty to (Isaiah 55:1) drink deeply of His goodness of grace and supply our lack in times of need.

1 Kings 16:21-34 - Follow the (Right) Leader

1 Kings 16:21-34

Omri Reigns in Israel

21 Then the people of Israel were divided into two parts: half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king, and half followed Omri. 22 But the people who followed Omri prevailed over the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath. So Tibni died and Omri reigned. 23 In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri became king over Israel, and reigned twelve years. Six years he reigned in Tirzah. 24 And he bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver; then he built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, Samaria, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill. 25 Omri did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and did worse than all who were before him. 26 For he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin, provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their idols.

27 Now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did, and the might that he showed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

28 So Omri rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria. Then Ahab his son reigned in his place.

Ahab Reigns in Israel

29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel; and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. 30 Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him. 31 And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. 32 Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. 33 And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. 34 In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation with Abiram his firstborn, and with his youngest son Segub he set up its gates, according to the word of the LORD, which He had spoken through Joshua the son of Nun.

After all the evil rulers before Omri came and went, you would think that this one would have looked back at their end and turned from idolatrous sin back to Him who reigns on high over all kings, and especially among God’s people.  He did not.  After building ding the city of Samaria, Omri did more evil than those before him as if patterning his life after Jeroboam who showed how to provoke the LORD with such evil sins and leading God’s people to follow him to the divine’s disdain.  When Omri died and passed the torch to his son Ahab, the chain continued to loosen in even more disobedience to God and His word of righteousness and worship.  The first commandment tumbled away and the others followed in their praxis of the Law given to guide them into peace and a lasting relationship with their Creator.  Ahab continued this downward spiral of sin, even marrying Jezebel and serving her false god Baal.  He carved a wooden idol to replace the God of the commandments and rejected the living God of his people whom he also led away from Him.  During this time, Jericho was raised up by a man named Hiel, a city that was supposed to remain in rubble and whose sons were used in its foundation as promised (Joshua 6:26) after the LORD leveled it when He led His people into the promised land now sullied with the sins and consequences they had been warned of.  The sins of the leaders had spread this far to influence complete disobedience to their God.  We must therefore beware of evil influence (1 Corinthians 5:6-7, 15:33) and keep the word of God foremost in our thoughts to guide our right (1 Corinthians 15:34) actions.  We start by choosing to follow the right leader, one who follows the written word (2 Timothy 3:15, Hebrews 13:7) and imitates (1 Corinthians 11:1) the living (John 1:1, Hebrews 4:12) Word. 

1 Kings 16:1-20 - Falling like Royal Dominoes

1 Kings 16:1-20

1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jehu the son of Hanani, against Baasha, saying: 2 “Inasmuch as I lifted you out of the dust and made you ruler over My people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam, and have made My people Israel sin, to provoke Me to anger with their sins, 3 surely I will take away the posterity of Baasha and the posterity of his house, and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. 4 The dogs shall eat whoever belongs to Baasha and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the fields.”

5 Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, what he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 6 So Baasha rested with his fathers and was buried in Tirzah. Then Elah his son reigned in his place.

7 And also the word of the LORD came by the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha and his house, because of all the evil that he did in the sight of the LORD in provoking Him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and because he killed them.

Elah Reigns in Israel

8 In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha became king over Israel, and reigned two years in Tirzah. 9 Now his servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him as he was in Tirzah drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, steward of his house in Tirzah. 10 And Zimri went in and struck him and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place.

11 Then it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he was seated on his throne, that he killed all the household of Baasha; he did not leave him one male, neither of his relatives nor of his friends. 12 Thus Zimri destroyed all the household of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD, which He spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet, 13 for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, by which they had sinned and by which they had made Israel sin, in provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their idols.

14 Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

Zimri Reigns in Israel

15 In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri had reigned in Tirzah seven days. And the people were encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines. 16 Now the people who were encamped heard it said, “Zimri has conspired and also has killed the king.” So all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp. 17 Then Omri and all Israel with him went up from Gibbethon, and they besieged Tirzah. 18 And it happened, when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the citadel of the king’s house and burned the king’s house down upon himself with fire, and died, 19 because of the sins which he had committed in doing evil in the sight of the LORD, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he had committed to make Israel sin.

20 Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and the treason he committed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

The rulers of Israel seemed to fall like royal dominos as many turned from the LORD and His word to continue unrepentant in doing evil and rejecting the good.  Baasha, the successor to Jeroboam’s son Nadab, had been overthrown by Baasha by conspiracy and an apparent attempt to destroy the evil of Nadab but now he also walked in the way of Jeroboam to lead  Israel to sin as well.  The LORD ended Baasha and his family and his evil son Elah briefly took over the throne.  His commander Zimri then conspired against him and killed him, taking his place on Israel’s throne.  He immediately killed all the heirs of Baasha for all his sins as prophetically promised by God to hold them accountable to Him.  But then he was accused of treason and another conspired against him, namely Omri, the commander of the army.  This time the evil king was not killed, for he heard the hoofbeats of judgment coming for him and burned down the king’s house on top of himself in an act of suicide.  Like a line of royal dominoes of evil around the throne of Israel, all these fell by God’s hand of judgment against their unrepentant sins of idolatry and disobedience to all of the LORD commandments.  This is the curse of sin which the Messiah of the Seed of David came as promised to cleanse and atone for eternally by His work and person as the true and righteous King of kings.  We are called to follow His rule in obedience and holiness (Ephesians 4:24, 1 Peter 1:15) and not conspire against the righteous one whose rule cannot be usurped.