Elijah The Prophet

Elijah the Prophet

Elijahthe ProphetIn this Lesson, we will learn about the lifeof the Prophet Elijah, one of the greatestservants of God of all time. His ministrytook place during the early- to mid-800sB.C. It was marked by a number of dramatic miracles, as you will see. Elijah was theforerunner, in type, of two other men,whose ministries came shortly before theFirst and Second Comings of Jesus Christ.To review, after the Kingdom of Israelwas split in two, Jeroboam led the northerntribes, called the house of Israel, in adownhill slide into idolatry. Most of thekings who followed him, such as Baasha,Zimri and Omri, followed his terribleexample.Ahab and JezebelAfter Omri’s death, his son Ahab took thethrone of Israel. What kind of ruler was he?Write out I Kings 16:33:Ahab proved to be the worst king thatIsrael ever had. After he became king, hemarried a Zidonian princess named Jezebel,disobeying God’s instructions to marrywithin the Israelite tribes. The Zidoniansworshiped false gods, and Jezebel influenced her husband to lead Israel further intopaganism and idolatry. A devoted worshipper of Baal, she fiercely persecuted the servants of the true God, even sending a group1Illustrations by Paula RondeauChildren’s Bible Lesson

of soldiers to murder God’s prophets. Ahaballowed her wicked deeds. Ahab also builta temple and altar to Baal in Samaria, thecapital of Israel. This was a terrible offenseagainst God.Just as Jezebel influenced Ahab, as kingand queen, they influenced the wholenation of Israel. Groups of people, whethera team, a business, a family or a nation (afamily grown large) reflect the character ofLEVEL 5 / LESSON 7their leaders. This has been proventhroughout history.Elijah Prophesies DroughtThe sins that filled the nation, from theleaders to the citizens, had greatly angeredGod. He decided to punish Israel for itsown good. Since God always warns Hispeople before He punishes them, He sent2

Elijah to warn King Ahab and the rest of thecountry.Elijah lived in Gilead, and was one ofthe few in Israel who remained faithful tothe Eternal. God instructed him to go toAhab to deliver a message from Him. Elijahobeyed, and set out for the capital.When he arrived at the palace, he boldlyapproached the king, and stated, “As theLORD God of Israel lives, before whom Istand, there shall not be dew nor rain theseyears, except at my word.”As he turned to leave the palace, Godinstructed him to flee to the Brook Cherith,a tributary of the Jordan River. There, Godwould provide for him. Again, Elijahobeyed—trusting God.As Elijah had prophesied, the droughtbegan. When the normal rainy season wasdry, Ahab remembered what Elijah said. Hiseyes narrowed into angry slits.evening. God provided for him justas He does for His people today.He drank from the brook itself,until the drought caused the flow ofwater to stop.Then, God told Elijah to leavefor Zarephath, a city in Zidon,which was a hundred miles northof Samaria. God said that He hadcommanded a widow to providefor him there. When he arrived,Elijah found a widow gathering sticks nearthe city gate. He asked her to get him a cupof water, and then for a morsel of bread. Sheanswered, “As the LORD your God lives, Ido not have bread, only a handful of flour ina bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I amgathering a couple of sticks that I may go inand prepare it for myself and my son, thatwe may eat it, and die.”Elijah reassured her that, if she fulfilledhis request, God would miraculously provideGod Protects andProvides for ElijahAt the Brook Cherith, God miraculouslyprovided for Elijah, sending ravens to bringhim meat and bread each morning and3Children’s Bible Lesson

for her as well: “Thus says the LORD God ofIsrael: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up,nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the daythe LORD sends rain on the earth.”And the result? Turn to I Kings 17:15and fill in the blanks. “So sheand did to theof Elijah; and she and herfordays.”God honored the woman’s willingnessto help His servant Elijah. The prophetstayed in an upper room at her house, andboth the woman and her son were savedfrom starvation during this time of drought.himself over the boy’s body three times. Hethen called out to the Eternal, “Please letthis child’s breath come in to him again”(verse 21). God answered Elijah’s prayer—the widow’s son began to breathe again, hiseyes opened, and his limp arms and legsbegin to move! Elijah brought him downfrom the upper room to his mother, and saidto her, “Look, your son is alive!”The widow was thrilled to have her sonback. She embraced her son, and looked atElijah with tears of joy in her eyes, saying,“Now by this I know that you are a man ofGod, and that the word of the LORD in yourmouth is the truth” (verse 24). She learnedAnother Dramatic MiracleAfter Elijah lived with them for sometime, the widow’s son became seriously ill. I Kings 17:17 tells howgrave his condition was: “And hiswas thatthere wasin him.” The widow assumedthat her son’s illness and death was aresult of her sins, and that somehowElijah had caused it! It seems that shehad forgotten the miraculous blessings that had been given to her. Asshe held her son in her arms, Elijahsaid, “Give me your son.”Elijah was not sure exactly whyGod allowed the widow’s son to die,but he knew that God had the powerto bring him back to physical life, ifit was His will. He brought the boyup to the room where he was staying,laid him on his bed, and stretchedLEVEL 5 / LESSON 74

valuable lessons from this difficult trial, andat the end came to the right conclusion—that God’s true servants speak and teach thetruth!After sharing lodging and food with thewidow for many months, Elijah was told by5God that the drought would be ending soon.We can find the length of the drought in theNew Testament: “Elijah was a man with anature like ours, and he prayed earnestlythat it would not rain; and it did not rain onthe land for three years and six months”Children’s Bible Lesson

(James 5:17). After this long without rain,the ground was parched and cracked. Riversand streams had dried up. Crops had failedseason after season. Trees were dying andwithering; animals were succumbing todehydration and disease; and the grass andother plants were brittle and brown. Peoplein the land had to conserve water carefully,drinking only enough to survive. At thistime, God determined that the punishmentwas enough.Elijah Faces Ahab AgainGod told Elijah to travel to Samaria onceagain, to tell Ahab that the drought wouldbe over shortly. While Elijah was makingthis trip, Ahab and his chief stewardObadiah were traveling though the land insearch of pasture where the king’s mulesand horses could feed. The king and his servant separated into two companies, eachleading a group of men who scouted forgrass not killed by the drought.Despite that he served in the palace of awicked king, Obadiah feared and worshipedthe Eternal. He had recently demonstratedhis dedication to God by protecting onehundred of His prophets from the murderous Jezebel’s plot to kill all His servants. Indefiance of the wicked queen—his master’swife—and at the risk of execution, he hidthem in a cave and provided food and waterfor them.As Obadiah searched for good land, hemet Elijah. Obadiah bowed and asked, “Areyou my lord Elijah?” Elijah answered, “Iam. Go tell your master Ahab that I amhere.” However, Obadiah was afraid to doLEVEL 5 / LESSON 7this. He feared that, after he told Ahab thatElijah was there, God would transportElijah to a distant place to protect him. Ifthis happened, Ahab would assume thatObadiah had lied to him—and would puthim to death.However, Elijah reassured Obadiah thathe would show himself to Ahab. SoObadiah told Ahab where Elijah was, andAhab hurried to meet him.As Ahab approached Elijah, he said in acutting, angry tone, “So, is that you, Elijah?The one who troubles Israel?” Elijahanswered fearlessly: “I have not troubledIsrael, but you and your father’s house have,in that you have forsaken the commandmentsof the Eternal and have followed Baal.”6

This stinging rebukeinfuriated Ahab. Theking was not accustomedto opposition from anyone. But he held back,remembering that Elijahprophesied the droughtthat had crippled Israelfor years.Showdown With FalseProphetsElijah then continued,issuing a bold challenge:“Now therefore, send andgather all Israel to me onMount Carmel, the fourhundredandfiftyprophets of Baal, and thefour hundred prophets ofAsherah [a Canaanitegoddess whose name isrelated to the wordEaster], who eat at Jezebel’s table” (I Kings18:19).Ahab laughed, and agreed to send them.He thought, “Elijah is hopelessly outnumbered. The priests of Asherah will call ontheir goddess and overpower him.” Ahabnot only sent for the 400 prophets, but alsocalled for all of the people of Israel to witness the event.When the prophets and the crowdarrived at Mount Carmel, Elijah called out achallenge to the Israelites as well. Write outthe challenge, found in I Kings 18:21:7Elijah then laid down a final challengefor the false prophets: “All of you prophets,prepare a sacrifice to your god. I will prepare a sacrifice for the Eternal. Do not lighta fire under the sacrifice. Rather, call out toyour god to accept your sacrifice, I will callout to God. Whoever answers is the trueGod!” The crowd of Israelites answered, “Itis well spoken” (verse 24).Children’s Bible Lesson

Elijah smiled at the prophets of Asherahand said, “You can go first.” They preparedtheir sacrifice, slaughtering a bull. Thenthey began to dance wildly around the altar,singing and chanting, even leaping onto thealtar, crying, “O Baal, hear us!”There was no response from their god.Elijah sat nearby, occasionally shakinghis head. When noon arrived, and theprophets had been making this commotionfor hours on end, he began to mock them:“ aloud: for he is a ; either he is, or he is , or he is ona , orhe, and must beawaked” (I Kings 18:27). Thismade the false prophets evenmore desperate. They evenbegan to cut themselves, perhapsthinking that the sight of theirblood would get Baal’s attention. But it was to no avail.to light a fire under it. The people looked on,puzzled by Elijah’s actions. Then he hadthem empty another four buckets on thealtar—and then a third time!Elijah then bowed his head and gave abrief prayer. He did not shout, dance, or hurthimself. His prayer is found in I Kings18:36-37: “LORD God of Abraham, Isaac,and Israel, let it be known this day that Youare God in Israel and I am Your servant, andthat I have done all these things at Yourword. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that thispeople may know that You are the LORDGod Settles the MatterThen Elijah turned away from thebloody spectacle and called thepeople to come near to him. Hebegan to repair the Eternal’s oldaltar. He took 12 stones, each onerepresenting a tribe of Israel, andused them to solidify the altar. Heslaughtered a bull and placed iton the altar. Then he dug a trencharound it. He instructed onlookers to fill four buckets with waterand drench both the sacrifice andthe wood, making it much harderLEVEL 5 / LESSON 78