Elijah..1 Kings 17 -

Some time later, the widow's son becomes ill and he finally stops breathing.   Elijah comes back to the house and the woman says to him, why has this happened to me.  This was her only child and she is heartbroken.  Elijah takes the boy to an upper room and he prays to God for this child's life.   AFter all that Elijah has seen the LORD do for him, he asks the impossible...except that it is not impossible for God.

The child is brought back to life and Elijah takes him down to his mother and says, Look. Your son is alive.    He doesn't chide her or offer her explanations. nothing.  

She doesn't need him to say anything.  She sees that he speaks for God and that God can do anything.   Indeed this is a hint at what is going to happen in the future with the Son of God.

1 Kings 18

1 And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.

2 And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria.

3 And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly:

4 For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)

5 And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts.

6 So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.

7 And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him: and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Art thou that my lord Elijah?

8 And he answered him, I am: go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.

9 And he said, What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me?

10 As the Lord thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not there; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not.

11 And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.

12 And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the Lord from my youth.

13 Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord, how I hid an hundred men of the Lord's prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?

14 And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here: and he shall slay me.

15 And Elijah said, As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely shew myself unto him to day.

16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him: and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

17 And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?

18 And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.

19 Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table.

20 So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel.

21 And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.

22 Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men.

23 Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under:

24 And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.

25 And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under.

26 And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.

27 And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.

28 And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.

29 And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.

30 And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down.

31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name:

32 And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.

33 And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood.

34 And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time.

35 And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.

36 And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word.

37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.

38 Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.

39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God.

40 And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.

41 And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.

42 So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees,

43 And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.

44 And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down that the rain stop thee not.

45 And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.

46 And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

I'd like to know how long Elijah was at Cherith Brook and then how long was he in Zerephath. See update below.

From what i can discern, Elijah was months at Cherith Brook and then the scripture says, 'in the 3rd year of the drought.    The way the israelites and these early people counted time seems to mean that 'in the third year of the drought means it was the third year that Elijah was in Zerephath as the drought was going on.  This drought lasted 3.5 years so this would make sense according to biblical scholars.

update:  Elijah was 18 months in Cherith Brook Hiding all the while from Ahab's men who were continually hunting him.  Of course, Elijah did not know at the time that he was for certain being hunted.

So the LORD tells Elijah to go show himself to Ahab and I will send rain upon the earth.  WHAT??  Ahab has been searching for Elijah to kill him...now he's got to get back on the road and head for Samaria..the capitol of the Northern Kingdom of Israel where the kings of Israel had their home/Palace.

Another 100 mile walk except this time heading closer to the Mediterranean Sea which is important to the story.

Jezebel had brought in hundreds of new priests for her ba'al worship.  She was killing off the prophets of God.  Those that weren't dead already had been hidden by Obadiah...an official in King Ahab's court.  He was also a man of faith.  My question is....is this the same obadiah that prophesied about Edom in the time of Jehoram...incidentally the crown prince/king of Judah who married Athaliah, Jezebel and Ahab's daughter?   The author of the shortest book in the bible....Obadiah?   I can't find absolute confirmation but the time line fits. 855 -840bc.
It is not the same obadiah it appears.
What else was going on in the world at this time?

Ahab/Jezebel time line

http://timeline.biblehistory.com/event/ahab

this looks nice but i can't get the whole page.

http://timeline.biblehistory.com/event/ahab

What else was going on in The World in the 9th Century BC///or the 800 BC?   THIS is what was going on in 850AD.

Torrential rains causing crops to rot in the field followed by terrible winters that freeze the rivers of northern Europe so solid horse carts use the Rhine for a road and then three years of no summers and horrible winters that cause famine and disease cause some Norse to believe that Fimbulwinter, the precursor to Ragnarok, the dreadful apocalyptic end of time and death of the gods, has started. Scientists now believe the climate catastrophe was caused by the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Katla.

850 The "Medieval Warming Period" starts and lasts until 1315AD. The Vikings settle Greenland. English farmers grow grapes for wine. Temperatures rise in Europe and farming does well. The population in Europe swells. WHAT THE HELL??  TEMPS RISE IN EUROPE IN THE 9th century and Farming does well???   Population of Europe swells??!!!  GLOBAL WARMING???????? They told us it would KILL US.   Does warming mean an increase in Population and THAT is why they want to kill us off?????


900s Fall of the Mayan Classic culture. In one of the great mysterious of North America, the Mayan abandon their amazing cities all over Mesoamerica.

As Elijah is travelling on the road to JEZREELm the white palace of Ahab and Jezebel,he runs into Obadiah.   Some believe that This Obadiah is the same obadiah for whom the eponymous book of the bible is named.  That might be more than redundant.    Some say yes, some say no, some totally ignore the matter.

THIS obadiah happened to be one of the King's officials.   Obadiah was on the road because....Ahab says to Obadiah...let's see if we can find some grass and water so that at least some of my horses and mules live through this drought.   Ahab goes in one direction..obadiah goes in the other direction and coincidentally runs into Elijah (there are no coincidences).    Elijah says go tell Ahab that i am coming to meet with him.  Obadiah is reluctant to do this because he fears that if he tells this to Ahab and then Ahab can't find Elijah because the LORD whisks him away to somewhere else, then Ahab will kill Obadiah..cause that is what kings do.

Elijah says.  I WILL Meet with Ahab today.

Obadiah goes and delivers the message.  It appears this is NOT the same obadiah as the author of the eponymous book.   And on top of that...Elijah is not very courteous in the least when speaking with Obadiah, in my opinion.    Perhaps because Elijah is a 'warrior' for God, and Obadiah, who is a believer and follower of God still works in the house of the enemy.   We as christians should not treat other christians poorly. Obadiah carried the message from Elijah to Ahab.   God uses his people in different ways. Obadiah's remarks to Elijah are more courteous than Elijahs.

Ahab GOES OUT to meet Elijah.  And Ahab says to Elijah...is it you you sneaky snake...the trouble of Israel.   Elijah says.  I"m not the trouble...it's you and your queen.  You have brought in Ba'al priests (850 to be exact and they ate at the queen's table*) and you have ignored the laws of God..it's you that has brought this trouble on the people.


Clarification.  450 were ba'al priests
                    400 were Asherah priests

Then Elijah makes this order.

Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table.

20 So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel.

21 And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.

22 Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men.

Elijah felt and believed he was alone. He wasn't.

From Samaria to Mt. Carmel @25 miles..maybe a little less.  How does Elijah get there. Omri put the Northern Kingdom (israel) HQ or palace or capitol if you will in Samaria. I think the first capitol for lack of a better term with Jeroboam was Tirzah? and then it was in Shechem. I'll double check that..then Samaria. Ahab had a winter palace in Jezreel. Ivorywas used quite a bit the info goes.