NL Elijah sermon

Today we hear of the famous prophet Elijah the Tishbite.  Elijah was a prophet during a time of deep seated idolatry within the Jewish people.  The land was divided, and the leadership was corrupt and unethical.  So much so, that the names of the king and queen that reigned through 1 Kings have become synonymous with evil….Ahab and Jezebel.

We read in in 1 Kings that “Ahab son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord (and more to provoke the anger of the Lord) than all who were before him”.  Among other things, King Ahab married a woman from outside the faith and she was a fanatical devotee of Ba’al and through her King Ahab and thus Isreal, began to worship God, and Ba’al and indeed another foreign deity, Asherah.

This was a problem, as I’m sure that you recall the covenant that God made with Abraham, which Israel had such trouble keeping.  So God sent the prophets to reminded Israel over and again.  “Obay my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people.  Walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.”

 In the book of Kings this was not being lived out at all and the chaos and violence in Kings is attributed by the author of Kings to that breaking of the covenant.   So, God sent the prophets to call the people and especially the leadership back to righteous relationship with God.   The prophet Elijah was one of those, and in his own words, he was a zealous prophet of the Lord.

 

We first meet Elijah the Tishbite in 1 Kings 17 when the word of the Lord came to Elijah and called him to reproach Ahab for the sins of idolatry, among others.  Despite knowing of the tendency of Jezebel to kill prophets of the Lord, Elijah obediently went and prophesied to the King   “As the Lord lives there will be neither dew or rain for years, except by the word of God.” 

Then to keep him safe from Jezebel, the Lord sent Elijah to safety to live by a brook of clean water where he was miraculously cared for by God via ravens who brought Elijah bread and meat.  He stayed there until the drought had dried up that brook. Then the Lord sent Elijah into the shelter of a widow from Zerephath.  Now due to the drought, the woman was nearly out of food when Elijah showed up and asked the woman provide him with bread and water.

 “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering  a couple of sticks that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” 

However, we read that she did as Elijah had asked, showing her faith and hospitality and Elijah stayed with them through the years of drought.  As a blessing for her faithfulness, God ensured her jar of meal was never empty, nor the jug of oil depleted.  Indeed, when her son became ill and died; Elijah prayed to God and the boy’s life was restored.

The drought continued and in the third year of the drought God spoke once again to Elijah and commanded him return to Ahab and tell him the drought would end soon. 

“When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” 18 Elijah answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals. 19 Now therefore have all Israel assemble for me at Mount Carmel, with the four hundred fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

Now comes the most famous and extraordinary feat in the book of Kings.  The faithful and zealous man of God commanded all the people of Israel to gather at Mount Carmel for a what can only be described as a showdown.

“Elijah then came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him, but if Baal, then follow him.” The people did not answer him a word.”

So, Elijah had two bulls provided, one for the false prophets and one for himself.  Wood and stone were gathered and briers were prepared for a sacrifice.  Elijah called out to the people:  “call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord; the god who answers by fire is indeed God.” All the people answered, “Well spoken!””

We read that the false prophets went first.

“they called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, crying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice and no answer. At noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud! Surely he is a god; either he is meditating, or he has wandered away, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” 28 …, but there was no voice, no answer, and no response. Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come closer to me,” and all the people came closer to him. … He said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.”… so that the water ran all around the altar and filled the trench also with water.

the prophet Elijah came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, … Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust and even licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord indeed is God; the Lord indeed is God.” 40 Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape.” Then they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and killed them there.”

That ended the drought, but that was not the end of Ahab and Jezebel’s reign.  When King Ahab told Jezebel what had occurred and how her favored prophets had been slaughtered, she swore to have Elijah killed that same way, so he fled in terror.

Elijah “went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. … Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.”

He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking 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 sound of sheer silence.

15 Then the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; … and you shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place.

          It is interesting because I believe that this is the only time a prophet was anointed while the former prophet was still alive.  Elijah was being replaced and was to train up his own successor.  Which begs the question why?  Elijah had shown Ahab and Jezebel that God was Lord above all others…and shown so zealously and with great drama.  Yet, the next encounter God has with Elijah is not one of congratulations or triumph, rather it seems more like a lesson. 

          God manifests before Elijah in mighty and awesome shows of power…but God choses to speak from the silence. Perhaps Elijah had been too zealous in his mocking, too keen on the drama, too extreme in how he dealt with the false prophets?  I don’t know what lesson Elijah learnt that day, but what we do know is that he was told Elisha was to be anointed as God’s chosen prophet.

          And that great show of strength and power, the proof that God was lord of all, the massacre of so many of Jezebel’s favoured prophets did little to stem the injustices and evil that came from her and Ahab.  Ahab and Jezebel continued to war, kill and steal dealing out injustice for their own desires; even killing their neighbour Naboth for his vineyard.

So, God sent Elijah back to them to prophesy a final warning

Thus says the Lord: Have you killed and also taken possession? You shall say to him: Thus says the Lord: In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs will also lick up your blood.”

Also concerning Jezebel the Lord said: The dogs shall eat Jezebel within the bounds of Jezreel.

 (Indeed, there was no one like Ahab, who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord, urged on by his wife Jezebel. 26 He acted most abominably in going after idols, as the Amorites had done, whom the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.)

And so it came to be.  And for a time Elijah continued as a prophet and a mentor to Elisha, until we read that God called Elijah to himself, again in a highly dramatic fashion.

“Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal… “ As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven.”

Thus, Elijah departed this Earth alive and was taken straight up to God.  There are only two such events in all the biblical pages, so Elijah holds a very special place among the prophets.  Jewish people believed that Elijah will come again to announce the Messiah’s imminent arrival, even today this belief continues and at Passover many faithful Jews will set a place for Elijah and leave the door open hoping that this will be the year the Messiah is announced.

For Christians, we hear of Elijah again in the New Testament.  John the Baptist is questioned in the gospels about whether he is Elijah returned; and when Jesus enters the transfiguration one of the people he speaks to is the prophet Elijah.

 

 

So, Elijah continues to hold a respected role as a true and zealous prophet for God and as has technically never died, perhaps he does continues his work.  Perhaps in awesome drama or perhaps in silence; either way Elijah holds a unique spot of all the prophets and people of God throughout the bible.  In any event, Elijah truly was a prophet full of zeal and faith, obedient in treacherous times and an inspiration for millennia of faithful people.  So, with Elijah we give thanks that we have been named people of God, and through his inspiration may we always be faithful, especially in times when leadership isn’t.  Being brave and true, following the Lord of the covenant and listening always for the powerful voice that speaks in the silence.

amen