The Promise

Elijah Confronts King Ahab

Picture: Elijah Confronts King Ahab 2TC 57.1

This chapter is based on 1 Kings 17:1-7.

Among the mountains east of Jordan there lived a man of faith and prayer whose fearless ministry was to stop the rapid spread of apostasy. Though he occupied no high position in life, Elijah entered on his mission confident that God would give him abundant success. His was the voice of one crying in the wilderness to rebuke sin and press back the tide of evil. And, while he came as a reprover of sin, his message offered comfort to sin-sick souls. 2TC 57.2

As Elijah saw Israel going deeper into idolatry, he became indignant. God had done great things for His people “that they might observe His statutes and keep His laws.” Psalm 105:45. But unbelief was quickly separating the chosen nation from the Source of their strength. Viewing this apostasy from his mountain home, in anguish of soul Elijah called for God to stop the people in their wicked course, to bring judgments on them if need be, that they might come to repentance. 2TC 57.3

Elijah’s prayer was answered. The time had come when God must speak by means of judgments. The worshipers of Baal claimed that dew and rain came from the ruling forces of nature, and that through the creative energy of the sun the earth brought forth abundantly. The apostate tribes of Israel must be shown the foolishness of trusting to Baal for material blessings. Until they turned to God with repentance, neither dew nor rain would fall on the land. 2TC 58.1

God entrusted Elijah with the mission of delivering Heaven’s message of judgment to Ahab. He did not seek to be the Lord’s messenger; the word of the Lord came to him. To obey the divine call seemed to invite swift destruction at the hand of the wicked king, but the prophet set out at once and traveled night and day until he reached the palace. Dressed in the coarse garments usually worn by the prophets, he passed the guards apparently unnoticed and stood for a moment before the astonished king. 2TC 58.2

Elijah made no apology for his abrupt appearance. One greater than the ruler of Israel had commissioned him to speak. “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand,” he declared, “there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.” 2TC 58.3

On his way to Samaria, Elijah had passed by ever-flowing streams and stately forests that seemed beyond the reach of drought. The prophet might have wondered how streams that had never ceased their flow could become dry, or how those hills and valleys could be burned with drought. But he allowed no doubts to linger. God’s word could not fail. Like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, the message of judgment fell on the ears of the wicked king; but before Ahab could recover from his astonishment, Elijah disappeared. And the Lord went before him, making the way plain. “Turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” 2TC 58.4

The king inquired diligently, but the prophet was not to be found. Queen Jezebel, angered over the message that had locked up the treasures of heaven, lost no time in conferring with the priests of Baal, who united in cursing the prophet and defying Jehovah. News quickly spread throughout the land regarding Elijah’s denunciation of Israel’s sins and his prophecy of swift-coming punishment. Some became concerned, but in general the people received the heavenly message with scorn and ridicule. 2TC 59.1

The prophet’s words went into immediate effect. The earth, unrefreshed by dew or rain, became dry, and vegetation withered. Streams never known to fail began to decrease and brooks to dry up. Yet the leaders urged the people to have confidence in Baal and to ignore the prophecy of Elijah as idle words. Do not fear the God of Elijah, they urged. It is Baal who brings the harvest and provides for man and beast. 2TC 59.2

Priests of Baal Keep the People Deceived

Against the assurances of hundreds of idol-worshiping priests, the prophecy of Elijah stood alone: If Baal could still give dew and rain, then let the king of Israel worship him and the people say that he is God. Determined to keep the people in deception, the priests of Baal continued to call on their gods night and day to refresh the earth. With a zeal and perseverance worthy of a better cause they lingered alongside their pagan altars and night after night prayed earnestly for rain. But no clouds appeared in the heavens, no dew or rain refreshed the thirsty earth. 2TC 59.3

A year passed. The scorching heat of the sun destroyed what little vegetation had survived. Streams dried up, and moaning herds and bleating flocks wandered in distress. Once-flourishing fields became like desert sands. The forest trees, gaunt skeletons of nature, afforded no shade. Dust storms blinded the eyes and nearly stopped the breath. Hunger and thirst affected people and animals with fearful mortality. Famine, with all its horrors, came closer and still closer. 2TC 59.4

Yet Israel did not repent or learn the lesson that God wanted them to learn. Proudhearted, fond of their false worship, they began to look around for some other cause to blame for their sufferings. 2TC 60.1

Determined to defy the God of heaven, Jezebel united with nearly all of Israel in denouncing Elijah as the cause of their misery. If only they could put him out of the way, their troubles would end. Urged on by the queen, Ahab began a diligent search for the prophet. He sent messengers to surrounding nations to seek for the man whom he hated, yet feared. In his anxiety he required an oath from these kingdoms that they knew nothing of the prophet’s location. But the search was in vain. The prophet was safe from the malice of the king. 2TC 60.2

When her efforts against Elijah failed, Jezebel determined to kill all the prophets of Jehovah. The infuriated woman massacred many, but not all of them. Obadiah, the governor of Ahab’s house, “had taken one hundred prophets,” and at the risk of his own life had “hidden them, fifty to a cave, and had fed them with bread and water.” 1 Kings 18:4. 2TC 60.3

Drought and Famine for Two Years

The second year passed, and still the merciless heavens gave no sign of rain. Fathers and mothers were forced to see their children die. Yet apostate Israel seemed unable to detect in their suffering a call to repentance, a divine intervention to save them from taking the fatal step beyond the boundary of Heaven’s forgiveness. 2TC 60.4

Israel’s apostasy was an evil more dreadful than all the horrors of famine. God was trying to help His people recover their lost faith, and He had to bring great affliction on them. “‘Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?’ says the Lord God, ‘and not that he should turn from his ways and live?’” “‘I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,’ says the Lord God. ‘Therefore turn and live!’” Ezekiel 18:23, 32. 2TC 60.5

God had sent messengers to Israel, with appeals to return to their loyalty. But they had only become angry with the messengers, and now they regarded the prophet Elijah with intense hatred. If only he would fall into their hands, gladly they would deliver him to Jezebel—as if by silencing his voice they could prevent his words from being fulfilled! 2TC 61.1

For stricken Israel there was only one remedy—turning away from the sins that had brought upon them the Almighty’s correcting hand. God had given them the assurance, “When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:13, 14. To bring about this blessed result, God continued to withhold the dew and the rain until a thorough reformation would take place. 2TC 61.2