1 Kings
Introduction In 1 Kings 18-19 we are introduced to one of the most magical men in the Bible, and to one of the greatest miracles. Along with Moses and Jesus, Elijah is among the great miracle workers of the world. Elijah used miracles to bring Israel up out of shambles, if just for a moment. He also showed extreme faith and perseverance in the face of great odds. But the true character of Elijah lies in his name, which literally means, “Yahweh is my God (Anderson 246).”
Prelude to The Contest
In order to understand chapters 18 and 19 of 1 Kings, one must get some background on its main character. In 1 Kings 17, we are first introduced to Elijah. At the time, Israel is at one of its lowest points. King Ahab and
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Elijah tells Obadiah to go to Ahab and tell him that he wants to meet with him. When the meeting occurs, Ahab refers to Elijah as “the troubler of Israel (1 Kings 18:17).” Elijah responds by saying that Israel has brought the trouble upon themselves by worshiping Baal. This is the first statement of the reason that Elijah has been sent on this mission. Ahab is then instructed to gather all of his people and the “prophets of Baal” at Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:19).
It is at this point that we come to one of the most dramatic events in the entire Old Testament. One man, Elijah, challenges the most powerful king in the land and his prophets to a contest of faith. He declares that the worshipers of Baal will cut a bull into pieces and set it upon the altar of Baal. As the lone representative of Yahweh, Elijah will then cut up a bull and set it upon the altar of Yahweh. The prophets are then to call upon Baal to strike the altar with fire. Elijah will then call upon Yahweh to strike his altar with fire. The true god could then be determined.
The prophets do as instructed and call upon Baal to ignite their altar. They call out and dance, but nothing happened. All the while Elijah is taunting them, asking them why Baal is not responding. The failure of Baal to react is made even more dramatic when one recognizes the fact that Baal is the supposed god of weather,
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Isaiah's commission begins with Isaiah protesting that he is not worthy to see the Lord. He recognizes that he has seen the Lord and worries about the consequences to him because of this sight. "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips,and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty" (Isaiah 6:5). Likewise, Jeremiah protests that he is not worthy after the Lord appoints him as a prophet. Jeremiah says, "Alas, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am too young" (Jeremiah 1:6). These two quotes reveal that both Isaiah and Jeremiah did not believe that they were worthy of seeing the Lord and being His prophet.
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The first reason the prophets of Baal should not have challenged Elijah and God was that they were demanding. The Baal prophets had to go out of their way to grab the attention of the false gods. The prophets had to shout to get them to listen, dance to get them to watch, and call to get them to help. These gods could not comprehend the things the prophets were asking for. Praising the false gods was also very hard to do. The gods called for many sacrifices and many extraordinary deeds that no one could possibly live up to.
The leaders of Israel were struggling to maintain power due to its neighbors. The prophet Isaiah guided Hezekiah by preaching that he should place his trust in God and not Assyrian alliance. However, King Hezekiah was not consistent with his trust in God, which later resulted in the fall of reign. The book of Isaiah can be broken down into three sections. Chapters 1 to 39 represent the call of judgement for the city of Jerusalem. Chapters 40 to 55 represent the prophet Isaiah in exile, and chapters 56 to 66 represent the return from exile to a new Jerusalem. Each section highlights a part of Isaiah’s
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Isaiah’s own children’s names were prophetically significant, meaning that these names highlighted the short and long-term agenda God had in place even at its foundation. E.g. the name “Shear-Jashub” meant: “A remnant would return.” Similar to the New Testament’s name for Christ being Emanuel: “God is with us”.
The book of 1 Samuel, a part of the Old Testament, sparks the dawn of the United Kingdom of Israel by telling of its first king, Saul. Samuel is one of the first talked about pre-literary prophets in the bible perhaps because he anointed the first king of the United Kingdom. He is a prophet by definition because he possessed the ability to converse with the almighty Yahweh. Samuel and Saul are key players to the rise of the kingdom but Saul runs into trouble and disobeys God, which leads him to his own inevitable demise.
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To speak of the Hebrew Scripture is to speak of story, a story stretching from the very beginning of time to only a few centuries before the beginning of the Common Era. It is to speak of richness of content, of purpose and of reality and to engross oneself in an overarching narrative that, depending on your personal convictions, continues to the present day. Within this richness is found a wide variety of different events and experience, told through a series of genre ranging from foundational myth to apocalypse, law giving to poetry, genealogy to wisdom and many more. Within this diversity however, three broad sections can be discerned that speak to a shared purpose and content, these are the sections of Law, Prophecy and Writings. It
It all began when King Ahab, and his deceitful wife Jezebel demanded for their kingdom to worship the false God of Baal. As a result, they ordered all the prophets of the Lord to be put to death. Elijah was the only one to survive this horrible purge and went to confront King Ahab. He told the King that a three-year drought would be brought upon Israel. This was to challenge the people’s false prophet, Baal and eventually teach them a very valuable lesson in whose God was real.