Elijah - episode 1

Now I know that you are a man of God

In the Specials we tell about two prophets whose stories are in the Books of Kings: Elijah and Elisha his disciple. They operate in the northern kingdom (Israel) in the IX century BC. Since the time of the division of the two Hebrew kingdoms, after King Solomon’s death (see Solomon - episode 2), the dynastic line was often interrupted (according to the Bible because of the idolatry sins: see for example 1Kgs 16,19): Jeroboam’s offspring were massacred by Baasha, Baasha’s son was killed by Zimri. He lasts only «seven days» (1Kgs 16,15) on the throne, being overthrown by «Omri, the captain of the army» (1Kgs 16,16). King Omri inaugurates a period of prosperity and relative peace for Israel, although he is unfaithful to the Lord like his predecessors; Omri will also build the capital of the kingdom, Samaria (1Kgs 16,24). After the twelve years of his reign «Ahab his son reigned in his place. [...] Ahab the son of Omri did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him. It happened, as if it had been a light 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 went and served Baal, and worshiped him. He reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. Ahab made the Asherah; and Ahab did yet more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. In his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho: he laid its foundation with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun» (1Kgs 16,28.30-34). Ahab marries a pagan woman, he is idolatrous and furthermore he disobeys the Lord’s Word, reconstructing the city of Jericho which was destroyed by Joshua (see the posts about Joshua and Rahab), with the aggravating circumstance of two propitiatory human sacrifices. Joshua foretold it: «Cursed be the man before the LORD, who rises up and builds this city Jericho. With the loss of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son shall he set up its gates» (Josh 6,26).
All this disobedience irritates the Lord, who, through Prophet Elijah, sends a terrible punishment: «Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the foreigners of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” And the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “Go away from here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Wadi Cherith, that is near the Jordan. And it shall be that you will drink from the wadi [a stream with water only in the rainy periods]. I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” So he went and did according to the word of the LORD; for he went and lived by the Wadi Cherith, that is near the Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening. And he drank from the wadi. And it happened after a while that the wadi dried up, because there was no rain in the land. The word of the LORD came to him, saying, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” So he got up and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering wood. And he called to her, and said, “Please bring me a little water in a pitcher, that I may drink.” And as she was going to get it, he called to her, and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.” She said, “As the LORD your God lives, I do not have anything baked, except a handful of flour in a jar, and a little oil in a jug. Behold, I am gathering a couple of sticks, that I may go in and bake it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” And Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid. Go and do as you have said. But make me of it a little cake first, and bring it out to me, and afterward make some for yourself and for your son. For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not empty, neither shall the jug of oil be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain on the earth.’”

And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah. And she, and he, and her household, ate for a long time. The jar of flour did not empty, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by Elijah. It happened after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. And she said to Elijah, “What do we have in common, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to memory, and to kill my son!” And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him out of her lap and carried him up into the room where he stayed, and laid him on his own bed. He cried to the LORD, and said, “LORD my God, have you also brought disaster on the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?” And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and called out to the LORD, and said, “LORD my God, please let this child’s soul come into him again.” The LORD listened to the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down out of the room into the house and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives.” And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is the truth.”» (1Kgs 17).
Because of the Lord’s Word, Elijah has to flee abroad: first beyond the Jordan, then in the possessions of the Phoenician city of Sidon, where a foreign widow proves to have more faith in God than the king of Israel. Even Jesus will mention the example of the widow of Zarephath, to criticize the lack of faith of his Nazarene contemporaries (Luke 4,25-26).
Follow of Elijah’s story in the next post.