seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
1 Kings 17:1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”
2 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: 3 “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.”
5 So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
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Elijah the Tishbite: At this crucial time in the history of Judah and Israel, the Prophet Elijah suddenly appeared. He became the dominant spiritual force in Israel during the dark days of Ahab’s apostasy.
The name Elijah means, Yahweh is my God. In the days when Ahab’s government officially supported the worship of Baal and other gods, even the name of this prophet told the truth.
It was a crucial time in the history of Israel. It looked as if the worship of the true God might be completely eliminated in the northern kingdom. “The land swarmed with the priests of Baal and of the groves — proud of Court favour; glorying in their sudden rise to power; insolent, greedy, licentious, and debased. The fires of persecution were lit, and began to burn with fury” (Meyer).
“The whole land seemed apostate. Of all the thousands of Israel, only seven thousand remained who had not bowed the knee or kissed the hand to Baal. But they were paralysed with fear; and kept so still, that their very existence was unknown by Elijah in the hour of his great loneliness.” (Meyer)
Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith: The drought announced by Elijah in the previous verse was a great threat to the northern kingdom of Israel and the reign of Ahab. Therefore, his life was in danger, and God sent him to the Brook Cherith for his own safety.
God led Elijah one step at a time. He did not tell him to go to Cherith until he first delivered the message to Ahab. He did not tell him to go to Zarephath until the brook dried up at Cherith. God led Elijah by faith, one step at a time, and Elijah followed in faith.
Hide by the Brook Cherith: Through this, God taught Elijah the value of the hidden life. He had just become famous as an adversary of Ahab, so mighty that his prayers could stop the rain. At the moment of his new-found fame, God wanted Elijah to hide and be alone with God. “We must not be surprised, then, if sometimes our Father says: ‘There, child, thou hast had enough of this hurry, and publicity, and excitement; get thee hence, and hide thyself by the brook — hide thyself in the Cherith of the sick chamber; or in the Cherith of disappointed hopes; or in the Cherith of bereavement; or in some solitude from which the crowds have ebbed away’” (Meyer).
“Elijah could not be alone, so long as he had God and himself to converse with. A good man is never less alone, than when alone.” (Trapp)
And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there: The escape to the Brook Cherith was for more than protection. It was also to train Elijah in dependence upon the LORD. In a season of drought, he had to trust that God could keep this brook flowing. He also had to accept food from the ravens, which were unclean animals.
The name Cherith comes from the ancient Hebrew root meaning, to cut away, to cut up or off. This shows that God had some cutting to do in the life of Elijah during this period.
I have commanded the ravens to feed you there: There is an emphasis on the word there. God promised that the ravens would feed Elijah as he stayed at Cherith. Of course, theoretically the ravens could feed him anywhere — but God commanded that it be at Cherith. Elijah perhaps wanted to be somewhere else, or be preaching, or doing anything else. Yet God wanted him there and would provide for him there.
The ravens brought him bread and meat: Every bit of food that came to Elijah came from the beak of an unclean animal. Elijah had to put away his traditional ideas of clean and unclean or he would die of starvation. Through this, God taught Elijah to emphasize the spirit of the law before the letter of the law.
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I skipped ahead again. In Judah, the king is consistent. Asa was the king of Judah all the way through chapters 15-17.
The king of Israel, however, changed a few times during these chapters and every king Israel crowned, whether by blood or by war, was worse than the first. They all worshipped any "god" they could make up. This had been going on for decades by the time we read chapter 17.
And then they started worshipping Baal.
That was enough foolishness for God.
That's when God brought in Elijah. Elijah wasn't going to be their new king. Elijah was a prophet with some really bad news for Israel. Elijah was going to warn them about the drought that God was going to send.
Elijah was like a weatherman predicting a drought. I wonder... was that as bad as predicting global warming?
According to the commentary, this was not a job Elijah applied for.
Irael's king Ahab is the villain.
Elijah didn't grow up thinking he would be a prophet. God made him prophet.
There might have been a few people in the town who would side with Elijah but everyone else would be treating the temples like singles bars. They might as well have been in the street, robbing and raping, in the name of their bestest buddy Ahab and his god Baal.
Elijah couldn't just ride into town and tell the people they were doing wrong. After all, they had been doing this for decades... and the bossman, Ahab, was buying the drinks and bringing in the prostitutes, male and female. Yep, that's how it was... orgies, rapes, riots, and king swapping was the norm in Israel while Asa and the people of Judah were still worshipping the one true living God.
Elijah had some really, really, bad news.
Elijah had to hide. That's how bad the news was.
Elijah had to depend on the scraps dropped from the beaks of birds of prey for food and the last of the water from the brook, while the people of Israel held tight to their foodie rules from Moses while worshipping Baal in the temple.
A horrible drought was coming... and Elijah was the one tasked with telling king Ahab and his Baal worshipping priests and the children of Jacob.
Elijah brought horrible news to Northern Israel!
Horrible news for Israel!
