God Prepares Elijah
1 KINGS 17:2-7
Elijah lived in God’s presence: “before whom I stand…” [17:1].
§ His reputation was one who proclaimed: “Elijah” - ‘My God is Yahweh’; and “Tishbite” - ‘he has sent me to bring people captive to him’.
§ He was challenging the worldview of his day by attacking its theological centre: “as the Lord God of Israel lives…there shall not be dew nor rain…” [17:1].
§ He did so on the basis of God’s word: “according to my word…” [17:1; Deu.11].
He was sensitive to God’s word and direction: “the word of the Lord came unto him saying…” [17:3].
§ There were lessons that Elijah learned there that he couldn’t have learned anywhere else. Before Carmel must come Cherith!
A. THE COMMUNICATION
1. The Command
The word of the Lord: “get thee hence, and turn eastward…” [17:3].
§ לֵ֣ךְ - “get thee hence” [17:3], qal imperative, ‘to walk, travel, journey’;
§ וּפָנִ֥יתָ - “turn” [17:3], qal perfect, ‘non-linear pivoting motion to make change of direction’;
a. Samaria
Elijah was in the presence of Ahab: “Elijah…said unto Ahab…” [17:1].
§ Ahab was in Samaria: “Ahab reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria” [16:32]; “built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built…Samaria” [16:24].
b. Cherith
The destination: “by the brook Cherith…” [17:3].
§ נַ֣חַל - “brook” [17:3], ‘river, torrent, valley’; ‘noun usually refers to a dry river bed or ravine which in the rainy season becomes a raging torrent’.
§ כְּרִ֔ית - “Cherith” [17:3], one of the many brooks that carried water from the mountains of the east in the rainy season into the River Jordan and down into the Red Sea.
§ עַל־פְּנֵ֥י - “before” [17:3], literally ‘on the face of’; ‘above’; ‘beyond’;
2. The Purpose – A Humiliating Calling
Elijah was commanded to go to Cherith: “hide yourself by the brook…” [17:3].
§ נִסְתַּרְתָּ - “hide” [17:3], niphal perfect, from seter ‘to cover, hide, conceal’; ‘secrecy’; ‘not being able to be known’; reflexive term- what one does to and for oneself; ‘deliberate and decisive choice’; main idea is ‘to be absent, out of sight’; “For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me…” [Psa.27:5].
a. Separation 1 – ‘From’
In the idea of separation there is ‘distance from’: “I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce…” [Jer.3:8].
§ Elijah was separated from Ahab and Jezebel; separated from danger: “cut off the prophets…” [18:4]; separated from their influence.
b. Separation 2 – ‘To’
In the idea of separation there is ‘movement to’:
§ Separation to God: “come out from among them and be separate…” [2Cor.6].
§ Israel: “you shall be a holy nation…” [Exo.19]. testing and preparing for future ministry.
c. Separation 3 – ‘For’.
In the idea of separation there is ‘purpose’:
§ כְּרִ֔ית - “Cherith” [17:3], from the verb crt ‘to cut’, ‘a cutting’; separation/divorce: “then let him write her a bill of divorcement…” [Deu.24:1]; divorced from the world, and married to God and his Word.
§ A place where God can refine us; chisel away on our character and cut the world out of our hearts’; make us what God wants us to be.
Application.
3. The Test of Guidance
a. The Need
Our great and constant need of the guidance of God: “for my thoughts are not your thoughts…” [Isa.55:8-9].
§ Our basic orientation and attitude towards life. Do we “trust in the Lord with all our hearts…” [Pro.3:5-6], or to we turn to our own strategies: “lean upon our own understanding” [Pro.3:5-6].
§ Illustration – Indian walking in New York City along with a friend, a resident in that city.
o ‘Wait, I hear a cricket!’ How can you in down town New York? Searched street after street until he found the cricket
o He reached into his pocket and took out a handful of change; Now watch! He dropped the coins – every head turned around.
b. The Mystery
There is the mystery of God’s guidance: “by the brook Cherith…” [17:3].
§ God’s way may not be what we would choose: “for my thoughts are not your thoughts…” [Isa.55:8-9].
§ It is perplexing: Elijah was a prophet with God’s Word, living in times of national decay, but God did not tell him to go and preach!
§ He told Elijah to go and hide at an insignificant brook outside of the kingdom of promise; a lonely outpost in a foreign country, isolated from his friends and family.
Application.
Preparation for the ongoing battle with Baal
§ To be ‘used by God’ we need ‘to meet with God’: “Be still, and know that I am God…” [Psa.46:10].
B. THE TEST OF OBEDIENCE
1. Promise of God’s Supply
The promise of God’s provision: “it shall be that thou shalt drink…” [17:4-5].
a. The Drying Brook
The first part of the promise: “and it shall be that thou shalt drink…” [17:4].
§ תִּשְׁתֶּ֑ה - “drink” [17:4], qal imperfect, necessary for survival: “my strength is dried up like a potsherd; my tongue cleaves to the roof of my mouth” [Psa.22:15]; “He shall drink of the brook in the way; therefore shall he lift up the head” [Psa.110:7].
§ הַנַּ֣חַל - “brook” [17:4], ‘the brook whose water supply depended on the rain falling on the mountains’.
§ This was to be a temporary supply: “there shall not be dew or rain…” [17:1].
b. The Ravens
The second part of the promise: “I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there” [17:4].
§ צִוִּ֔יתִי - “commanded” [17:4], piel perfect, God’s empowering, creative, and activating word: “Let there be light, and there was light” [Gen.1:2]; “I have made the earth, and created man upon it; I have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded” [Isa.45:12].
§ הָעֹרְבִ֣ים - “ravens” [17:4], first mentioned in Noah’s time [Gen.8:7];
§ לְכַלְכֶּלְךָ – “to feed you” [17:4], primary meaning is ‘to contain as does a vessel’; ‘to nourish’; ‘to sustain’;
§ They are birds that tend to neglect their own young and do not feed them at times.
i. Ceremonially Unclean
The “raven” is in the unclean class as far as Israel is concerned: “These are they which shall be an abomination among the fowls, they shall not be eaten: the eagle…every raven after his kind…” [Lev.11:13-15].
§ The “raven” is usually associated with God’s judgement: “But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness…” [Isa.34:11].
ii. Unnatural Action
The raven survives by the providence of God: “He gives to the young ravens which cry…” [Psa.147:9].
§ The raven lives on dead meat: “the eye that mocks at his father, and despises to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out” [Pro.30:17].
§ בָשָׂר - “flesh” [17:6], any biological life, human or animal, with a focus on the substance of that life: “to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life…” [Gen.6:17].
c. Locational Significance
The promise has a locational significance: “feed you there” [17:4].
§ שָֽׁם - “there” [17:4], ‘in that place’; a locational significance >>> only in that place!!!!!!!!
§ Also can have a directive force: then, at that time.
§ The place of God’s appointment is the place of God’s provision.
Application
Are we where God wants us to be?
§ Unlikely sources; questionable sources;
§ There are no limits to what God can do, and His tools are limitless.
2. The Test of Obedience
a. Response
The response to God’s command: “so he went and did…” [17:5-6].
§ יֵּ֥לֶךְ - “went” [17:5], ‘to travel, journey’;
§ יַּ֖עַשׂ - “did” [17:4], ‘to do’; ‘to make’;
§ כִּדְבַ֣ר - “according” [17:5], ‘just as’; ‘like as’;
§ יֵּ֙שֶׁב - “dwelt” [17:5], ‘to sit, remain, settle’;
§ No hesitation; no questioning; no bargaining; no fleeces.
b. Promise
The experience of the promise: “and the ravens brought him bread and flesh…” [17:6].
§ God’s promise never fails: “faithful is he that promised…” [Heb.10:23].
§ Daily reminders: “his compassions fail not; they are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness…” [Lam.3:22-23].
Application
God’s Word was a conquering Word > willing to obey
§ He went the way of the Lord with expectation and freedom & there was enough for every day
§ No arguments: across the Jordan is out of the land of promise; ravens are unclean birds according to God’s Word; I will be useless there;
C. THE TEST OF THE DRIED UP BROOK
1. The Provision Fails?
a. Providence
In the ‘happenings of life’ the dried up brook: “after a while, the brook dried up…” [17:7].
§ מִקֵּ֥ץ יָמִ֖ים - “after a while” [17:7], literally ‘at the end of days’; after a specific period of time;
b. End of the Provision
The brook that God had promised as a source of water dried up: “the brook dried up…” [17:7].
§ יִּיבַ֣שׁ - “dried up” [17:7], qal imperfect, ‘to be dry’; ‘to wither’; a process;
§ גֶ֖שֶׁם - “rain” [17:7], ‘the natural occurrence of watering the earth’.
§ כִּ֛י - “because” [17:7], as a result of Elijah’s prayer: “he prayed that it might not rain; and it rained not…three years and six months” [Jam.5:17].
§ Elijah must have known that this would happen!
2. The Test
The question: ‘Is God the object of our devotion or is it in what he supplies?’
a. The Promise of God
The brook was the provision of God’s promise: “thou shalt drink of the brook…” [17:4].
§ Elijah did not just wake up one morning and suddenly find everything gone! Day after day he saw the brook dwindling in its water supply and he knew what was coming!
i. The Challenge / Voices
The voices: If you are the prophet…why is your brook going dry?
§ Psalmist: “does his promise fail forever more?” [Psa.77:8]; “Has the Lord forgotten to be gracious?” [77:9].
§ Where is your God, Elijah: “my tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?” [Psa.42:3].
b. The Plan of God
God has a purpose in our “brook drying up…” [17:7].
i. Dependence
First of all, so that we learn to “by faith” [Rom.1:17].
§ We need to understanding that we cannot live on the promise but on the promiser; we cannot value benefits more than the Benefactor.
ii. Undeserving-ness
We need to understands that God is “righteous” and that the sinner is undeserving:
§ A sinner does not deserve water in “the brook” [17:4].
§ God makes us empty-handed so that we lean upon him
Application.
The challenge: challenges the very genuineness of his task
§ So God gets all the glory!
§ God ‘cuts’ everything from Elijah so that he will cling on God alone by grace
§ In that way God will ‘make us what He wants us to be’.
§ Usefulness at Mount Carmel depends in this time of isolation
§ Effective witness is dependent upon…………blessing > obedience > God’s Word