Sermon Tone Analysis

*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.