Bob Maddox's Blog

1 Kings 19:1-8
Discussion in Church Parlor 9:00 AM
With Bob Maddox

1 Kings 19:1-8
Elijah Flees from Jezebel
Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.’ Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there.

But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.’ Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Get up and eat.’ He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, ‘Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.’ He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

Let’s back up a bit. 1 Kings 18 gives the story of the ending of the terrible drought. Elijah orders Obadiah, a servant of the king to tell Ahab that Elijah was ready for a meeting. Obadiah, a faithful follower of Yahweh, was terrified. If Elijah did not show up at that appointed time, Ahab would surely slay Obadiah. Obadiah then reminded Elijah that when Jezebel set about to kill all the priests of Yahweh, he had hidden one hundred of them in caves to save them from the queen’s massacre. When Elijah assured Obadiah he would show, Obadiah informed the king.

When Ahab saw Elijah, the king declared accusingly, “You are the one who troubles Israel.” Elijah, not at all put down by the king, promptly shot back, “It is not I but you and your house who have brought on this distress.”

This encounter, as with all the conflicts between Ahab and Elijah had nothing to do with the way the king governed the country. In fact, Ahab’s dynasty, the House of Omri, earned decent marks as rulers according to the scanty records of secular history from that era. The prophets of God were not interested in any aspect of governing. Their benchmark was the level of faithfulness to Yahweh. This again points to the ongoing struggle between the prophets of Yahweh and the pluralism of the culture in which they lived. For several hundred years the Yahwhists demanded that the people eschew all other gods and worship only Yahweh.

The time of the Babylonian Exile in the sixth and fifth centuries BCE, about two hundred years after Elijah brought about the final determination on the part of the Jewish scholars that Yahweh alone was God. From that time forward, about 500 BCE, the Jewish people, as a people, came to regard the issue of Yahweh alone as settled. Indeed, some Jewish literature from that exile era says the reason the people of Israel and Judah lost their way came as a result of God’s judgment on them for their lack of faithfulness to Yahweh alone. They had broken the covenant God made with Abraham and had to suffer the consequences. Some contemporary scholars suggest that from the time of the Exile forward, Jewish religious leaders sought to “build a wall” around the laws of God to make sure the Jews did not again break any of the laws or their extensions into everyday life. For instance, if the Jews got in trouble with God for not keeping the Sabbath properly, they began to push to determine what exactly was the Sabbath, what did it mean to keep the Sabbath, how much work could be done on the Sabbath, what comprised getting the “ox out of the ditch” on the Sabbath, etc.?

Elijah told King Ahab to assemble the priests of Baal on Mt. Carmel for a showdown. Carmel is part of a mountain range in the northeast part of Israel near the Mediterranean Sea. Archeologists have provided evidence that human evolution has been underway in that area for maybe a million years. In the 1930’s important finds revealed Neanderthal habitation from thousands of years ago. As a “high place” the people of Yahweh and Baal would have regarded the range as sacred. No one knows exactly on which part of the Carmel range ancient authors thought Elijah and the priests of Baal faced each other.

The Mt. Carmel contest has provided fodder for uncounted sermons across the centuries. As a young student preacher, I had to write a totally forgettable sermon from the Bible’s account of the event. Read the full story again in 1 Kings 18.

Probably the event did not take place exactly as the Bible records it if it occurred at all. Present day Old Testament scholars have generally agreed that the account is ancient without trying to determine its actual historicity. At any rate, it is a terrific story.

Elijah ordered an altar built. They laid a sacrificial bull on the altar. Elijah then goaded the priests of Baal to implore their god to bring down fire and consume the sacrifice. When a full morning of incantations, noisy prayers and even slashing themselves with knives failed to produce the fire, Elijah ordered them to step aside. After dousing the sacrifice with buckets of water to further demonstrate the power of Yahweh over the Baal, Elijah prayed to God. To everyone’s amazement but Elijah, fire crashed from heaven, consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones of the altar and licked up the water in the ditch around the altar.

Since Jezebel had been killing the priests of Yahweh, it was only natural, and surely God’s will that Elijah do the same to her priests. Elijah then never one to slack in his duty to Yahweh rounded up 450 of her priests in a nearby valley and killed them all. So there! No doubt who was boss that day on Mt. Carmel!

The heavenly fire having done its work and the priests of Baal all dead, Elijah began to watch for the rain. At first he could see no sign of the rain. He kept sending his servant up to the lookout to spot the first sign of the rain. Finally, the servant hastened to Elijah and said “I see a cloud the size of a man’s hand coming our way.” “Make haste,” Elijah declared to his servant. “Run for cover, it’s going to flood.” And sure enough that’s exactly what happened. It rained and rained and rained.

Well, that brings us to today’s lesson.

Ahab, totally dismayed and absolutely terrified, raced to Jezebel to report the terrible news. Whereas the Bible portrays Ahab shaking in his boots, Jezebel, tough old broad that she was, recoiled in fury. She sent messengers running to tell Elijah that she would have his head by nightfall.
Elijah ran and ran until he finally collapsed under a broom tree and fell asleep. An angel of God woke him up, provided food and water whereupon he promptly fell back into a deep sleep. A second time the angel work him up, again fed him but this time informed the prophet he would have not more rest until he began his trek toward Mt. Horeb, Mt. Sinai in the desert reaches between Judah and Egypt. Sinai, of course is the mountain of God upon which Moses received the Ten Commandments.

My sermon coming out of this text on Sunday morning is “God’s Wake Up Call.” Understanding our humanity, God provides for rest. God also provides the stuff of life. God also provides life’s grand and small directions. Elijah had done his best to follow the commands of God as he understood them. He spoke truth to power. He demonstrated the power of Yahweh over Baal. Likewise he showed the completely human side of great people like Elijah who know all about fear and depression.

God provides grace and succor in our times of depression and fear. When the Jezebels of the world bear down with all their might on us, fear, even terror come roaring in. Jesus cried out from the cross “My God, why have your forsaken me?” God had nor forsaken Elijah. God had nor forsaken Jesus. And God does not forsake us.

The next part of Elijah’s story finds him in a cave at Mt. Horeb. When God wants to know why Elijah is lurking in a cave, the prophet whines, “I have done everything you told me to do. There’s nothing left. No one is left to help me. I alone remain of those faithful to you.”

Not so, answers the Lord. “Seven thousand remain in Israel, alone, who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

Stop feeling put upon, Elijah. Stop whining that only a handful of people at Westmoreland remain to do the work of God. Look around. We are among a host of people who remain steadfast in doing what God calls us to do.

Our church family has its challenges right now. One and all are making supreme efforts to learn from our most recent past and use the lessons learned as a platform on which to stand to see on our version of Mt. Horeb. But we are not just gazing into the clouds for the mystical mountain. We are joined hip and thigh to get to Horeb. I am so very glad to be part of a community of faith like ours that faces hard times, deals with sticky stuff, refuses to let the negatives pulls us apart and go on to the next challenge.

Even in our fatigue remain alert for God’s wake up call.

I know you will come praying tomorrow for the service. As always we will have good music. Rev. Sung Hwan Cho who has come in care of our church as he begins the process toward becoming a UCC minister will lead the prayers of the people. Others in our fellowship will likewise assist in the service.

You are aware of the called congregational meeting after the service to consider matters related to Rev. Rich Smith’s departure settlement. That’s an important meeting essential to Rev. Smith’s smooth transition to his church in Reno. But even more, it is pivotal to Westmoreland as we begin our own march to Mt. Horeb.

See you in church tomorrow.

Robert L. Maddox