1 Kings 19 – 20 part 13
In our last lesson we were introduced to Elijah, Ahab and
his wife Jezebel. Ahab was the king of
Kings 19:1 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
Now we need to remember
that Elijah had just finished showing all kinds of courage and confidence when
he faced off with those 450 prophets but now his is tired and he is losing his
confidence. When he receives the message that Jezebel is going to have him
killed he runs for his life and hides himself in remote location and he just
begs God to let him die. Elijah just didn’t have any ambition left in him and
so he wanted to give up. But, notice what happens next.
1 Kings 19:5 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
Even though Elijah was
ready to give up and didn’t think he had anything left in him God knew that he
could do more and so God provided for him giving him food and water by the hand
of this angel. Elijah used this food and water to walk another 40 days just to
hide a little bit better. This time he hid in a cave and God wants to know why
are here? Elijah gives God what he thinks is a good answer for being hidden.
Elijah believes that he is the only prophet left that loves God and that
everyone else has turned against the Lord and wants him dead. So, He sees no
good reason to leave this private protected cave. But watch what God does in
response to this in,
1 Kings 19:11 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
This was God’s way of
showing Elijah that he could press on and face the enemies of God. He shows him
the three miracles of wind, earth and fire which shows the power that he can
bring forth to destroy his enemies but God himself wasn’t in those events.
Instead He revealed himself to Elijah in very soft voice. Now many different
meanings could be seen from this event but I personally see that God is showing
his power in the 3 miracles and he is showing his loving care to Elijah as he
whispers to Him.
Then we see Elijah
showing his respect for God by wrapping his face with his mantel. Once again
God ask him again why are you here and once again Elijah gives the same answer
but watch what God says next.
1 Kings 19:15 Then
the LORD said to him: "Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of
God gives Elijah 3 task
to perform. He is to anoint Hazael king of
One thing I think we can
learn from this is just how important for us to have goals in our life. If we
don’t have a goal to strive for then most likely we will end up like Elijah and
start having self pity for ourselves. As we set our goals for what we want to
do for God we need to make sure they are attainable goals or we will find
ourselves discouraged once again. It also important that we don’t make our
goals so easy that there is no challenge or we will never grow. Let me give you
a few examples. 1. You could set a goal of reading your 2 chapters a day of
your Bible. 2 You could try and invite 3 people a week to church. When you meet
your goals set new ones so that you always have something to work toward and
remind yourself that God is with you and you can draw strength from him.
We also see that God
reveals to Elijah that he is not alone in this world because there are 7000
other people who are faithful to God as well. Sometimes Christians feel Elijah
does. They think that they are the only ones that are going through a difficult
time and so they start to lose hope. But, just like Elijah we need to realize
that there are other Christians out there that have been and are currently
going through whatever difficulty we are going through. This is exactly what
Peter tells us in,
1 Peter 5:8 Be
sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring
lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9
Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are
experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal
glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish,
strengthen, and settle you.
Not
only are there other Christians that have suffered the way we have we are
suppose to use these difficult times to strengthen our faith in God. Elijah was
certainly empowered by this thought and so should we.
1 Kings 19:19 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.
Here we see Elisha
working and being chosen by God. Elijah is just the messenger that is why he
tells him go back again for what have I done to you? Elisha will be next major
voice for God when Elijah is gone. So, Elijah has one of his goals out the way.
1 Kings 20:1 Now
Ben-Hadad the king of
In these verses we learn
some more about Ahab’s characteristics. Ahab doesn’t appear to be a very strong
king as he was willing to cave in at Ben-Hadad’s first request. Could you
imagine willingly giving up your wives and children to your enemy just because
they threatened you? Now I could understand giving up gold and silver to avoid
the attach but not your family yet that is exactly what Ahab was willing to do.
Well, Ben-Hadad allows his greed to get to him which will lead to his downfall.
He was probably thinking well, if he is not going to put up a fight with my
first request then I will ask for more but this time Ahab would not agree with
the additional request and so Ben-Hadad swears an oath to his false Gods to
total destroy
1 Kings 20:13
Suddenly a prophet approached Ahab king of
Here we see God showing
both Ben- Hadad and his people and Ahab himself that he is the only true God
and if you are on his side victory will be yours. Ben-Hadad and these other
kings were drunker than skunks and over confident. With God’s help this small
group of men under king Ahab was able to defeat these men and drive them out.
You know this had to be humiliating to the Syrians. This should have been proof
to King Ahab that God was in control.
1 Kings 20:22 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." 23 Then the servants of the king
of
Well, Syrians do believe
that God helped Ahab win but they think he is just a God of the hills and that
his power could not reach into the plains. So, they decided to try their luck
at fighting the Israelites in the open field.
1 Kings 20:26 So it
was, in the spring of the year, that Ben-Hadad mustered the Syrians and went up
to Aphek to fight against
Once again these 2 foes
face off and once again Ahab has the assurance from this unnamed man of God
that the Syrians will be defeated which will once again prove that God is Lord
over all. Just as the man of God said
1 Kings 20:31 Then
his servants said to him, "Look now, we have heard that the kings of the
house of
Ben-Hadad’s people
decided to submit themselves to Ahab and appeal to his mercy and sure enough
Ahab decides to be merciful and even calls Ben-Hadad his brother. There is only
major problem with all of this and that is God wanted these people dead. Ahab
is making the same mistake that Saul had done in reign as king. Based on his
own wisdom he decided to show mercy and not destroy what God said to destroy
and because this God is not pleased with Ahab’s action. This is pointed out in
our next verses.
1 Kings 20:35 Now a
certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his neighbor by the word of the
LORD, "Strike me, please." And the man refused to strike him. 36 Then he said to him,
"Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, surely, as soon as you
depart from me, a lion shall kill you." And as soon as he left him, a lion
found him and killed him. 37
And he found another man, and said, "Strike me, please." So the man
struck him, inflicting a wound. 38
Then the prophet departed and waited for the king by the road, and disguised
himself with a bandage over his eyes. 39
Now as the king passed by, he cried out to the king and said, "Your
servant went out into the midst of the battle; and there, a man came over and
brought a man to me, and said, 'Guard this man; if by any means he is missing,
your life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of
silver.' 40 "While your
servant was busy here and there, he was gone." Then the king of
Once again we have God
using his prophet in an usual way to make a very vivid picture of his
displeasure in Ahab’s actions. A person can never accuse God of having no
variety in delivering his messages and judgments. The basic message from this
prophet is that Ahab should not have shown mercy when it wasn’t his to give. It
was his duty to destroy this man and his people. Ahab condemned himself and
We can learn great lesson
from this today and this is that we should submit to God’s commands and not try
to substitute them with what we think should be done because God’s way is the
only way if want to make it to heaven.
As Jeremiah said, Jeremiah 10:23
O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who
walks to direct his own steps