Sermon Tone Analysis

*1 KINGS 17:8-16*

Elijah at Cherith: “/the brook dried up/…” [17:7].

* In the sanctuary provided by God: “/provide for you there/…” [17:4].

* Provision?

No word from God!

* Title: Testing & Evangelism – personal ministry in evangelising others.

#.

*THE CALL TO SERVICE  *

*1.        **The Communication *

In the place where the “/brook runs dry/” [17:7] the word of the Lord came to Elijah again: “/arise, go…stay/…” [17:9].

§         ~~Wq - “/arise/” [17:9], qal imperative, ‘take upright position’; ‘move from position of rest’

§         %le - “/go/” [17:9], qal imperative, ‘to travel’; ‘make your journey’; ‘point of departure & destination’;

The servant of God must move on…

*2.        **The Place*

The country: “/to Sidon/…” [17:9].

§         !Adyci - “/Sidon/” [17:9], 100 miles away north of Samaria on the Mediterranean coast.

§         Elijah had to pass through Israel, and travel northwards between Tyre and Sidon.

§         T'b.v;y

- “/stay/” [17:9], qal perfect, ‘to dwell’; ‘to rest’;

*a.        **Smelting Furnace *

The place: “/Zarephath/…” [17:9].

§         ht'p;r>c - “/Zarephath/” [17:9], ‘to melt~/smelt’; ‘to refine~/purify’; ‘to test’; used with reference to “/goldsmiths/” [Neh.3:31].

§         Divine goldsmith: “/I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God/” [Zec.13:9].

*                                                                                                         i.

**Danger *

The birthplace of Jezebel: “/Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians/…” [16:31].

§         Danger: “/Jezebel destroyed the prophets of the Lord/…” [18:3].

*                                                                                                       ii.

**Idolatry  *

This was the heartland of Baalism: “/Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal, and worshipped him/” [16:31].

§         Interestingly, the word p;r>c is used with reference to the making of idols: “/the workman melts a graven image, and the goldsmith spreads it over/…” [Isa.40:19].

*Application*.

Elijah’s trial: directed to the place where he would be despised and hated; the place of danger, in the centre of enemy territory.

*3.

**The Encounter *

Elijah is called from place of /solitude/ to testing in a small important area of ministry.

*a.        **The Instrument > Humbling*

The instrument: “/I have commanded a widow there/…” [17:9].

§         hn"m'l.a

- “/widow/” [17:9], enjoyed the protection of God in the Old Testament: God hears their cry [Exo.22:21-22];

God executes judgement of their behalf [Deu.10:18].

§         Yet ‘a symbol of the loss of economic and social security and protection’; a symbol of need and frailty, obliged to live on charity: “/if I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail/” [Job.31:16].

*b.

**The Power & Sovereignty of God *

The provision: “/I have commanded…to sustain there to sustain you/” [17:9].

§         ytiyWIc - “/commanded/” [17:9], qal perfect, God’s empowering, creative, enabling word.

§         ^l,K.l.k;l - “/provide/” [17:9], basic meaning ‘to calculate’ or ‘to contain’ as in a vessel’; ‘to nourish’; ‘to provide’.

§         ~~v - “/there/” [17:9], ‘in that place’; /locational/ and /directional/.

*Application*.

Elijah’s trial: the humbling prospect of being provided for by the poorest in society.

§         Cherith was an impossible place but God provided: “/I have commanded the ravens/…” [17:4].

§         Elijah has learned that God is faithful: “/So he went…and the ravens brought/…” [17:5-6].

§         God’s provision would come at the hand of a widow; Elijah must walk by faith and not by sight.

§         A major decision: move to another place, another country

 

#.

*FAITH IN THE FURNACE *

*1.        **The Encounter  *

*a.        **Elijah *

Elijah faced with an impossible situation, but God’s command is an empowering Word: “/So he arose and went/…” [17:10].

§         ~~q'Y"w - “/arose/” [17:10],

§         %l,YEw: - “/went/” [17:10],

*b.        **The Widow *

On arrival at Zarephath: “/he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow was there/…” [17:10].

§         ~~v'-hNEh - “/behold there/” [17:10], ‘/locational/ and /directional’/;

§         xt;P - “/gate/” [17:10], from xt;P ‘to open’; ‘to set free’; ‘opening’; ‘doorway’; the “entrance” into the city.

*                                                                                                         i.

**God’s Sovereignty *

The word given to Elijah: “/I have commanded a widow/…” [17:8].

§         ytiyWIc - “/commanded/” [17:9], qal perfect, God’s empowering, creative, enabling word.

§         There is no indication that the “widow” was at the gate because she was aware that God “/commanded/” her!

*Application*

Note that Elijah did not move until the “/word of the Lord came unto him/” [17:8].

The marvel of the /living/ sovereignty of God:

§         Elijah moving to Zarephath in obedience to God

§         The widow at the gate of the city ‘/by chance’/?

§         The widow is in the right place at the right time /on time/.

*2.

**The Communication.

*

*a.        **The Call *

“/Fetch me, I pray thee/…” [17:10].

§         yxiq - “/fetch/” [17:10], qal imperative, ‘to take, acquire, bring’;

§         an"- - “/pray/” [17:10],

§         yxiq.l - “/Bring/” [17:11], qal imperative, ‘to take, acquire, bring’;

*                                                                                                         i.

**The Request *

Request for a little: “/a little water…a morsel of bread/…” [17:11].

§         ~~yIm;-j[;m - “/little water/” 17:10],

§         ~~x,l,-tP - “/morsel of bread/” [17:11].

‘a piece’;

*Application*.

Elijah~/God first; then the widow and her son.

#.

*THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF FAITH *

*1.        **Widow’s Response *

*a.        **Confession of Faith *

Widow’s response: “/As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread/…” [17:12].

*                                                                                                         i.

**A Living Faith *

He is the living God: “/the Lord your God lives/…” [17:12].

§         yx – “/lives/” [17:12], ‘to have life’; energy; vibrancy; dynamic; life-giving.

§         Contrast Baal: “/all other gods are idols dumb, which blinded nations fear/…” [Psa.96:5];

“/they have mouths but they speak not/…” [Psa.115:5ff].

*                                                                                                       ii.

**A Weak Faith *

He is Elijah’s God: “/as the Lord your God lives/…” [17:12].