1 Kings 18.41-46
1 KINGS 41-46
A. THE CURSE
1. The Curse
Elijah declares the judgement of God: “there shall not be dew nor rain these years…” [17:1].
a. The Nation
The nation was given over to Baalism: “Ahab did evil in the sight of the Lord more…” [16:30].
§ Baalism: “he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal…” [16:32].
§ Yahweh: “the altar of the Lord broken down” [18:30].
b. God’s Judgement
God’s threatened judgement: “The Lord’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven that there be no rain…” [Deu.11:17].
§ Duration: “word of the Lord came…in the third year” [18:1]; “rained not for three years and six months” [Jam.5:17].
§ Devastation: “peradventure we may find grass to save the horses…” [18:5].
2. The Repentance
The people repented: “they fell on their faces, and they said, The Lord, he is the God…” [18:39].
§ The grace of God: “fire of the Lord fell, and consumed…” [18:38].
§ The evidence of the presence of God; the evidence of worship, offering, and offerer being accepted by the Lord: “there came a fire out from heaven before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar…” [Lev.9:24].
3. The Promise
God’s promise to Elijah: “Go, show yourself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth” [18:1].
§ Solomon’s prayer: “when heaven is shut up and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray towards this place and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when you afflict them: then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin…” [8:35-36].
Application.
The condition for the Lord’s blessing to return:
§ The grace of God; the repentance of the people; the promise.
§ Promise: “if my people…shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn form their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven…” [2Chr.7:14].
B. ELIJAH’S PRAYER >>> CONTRAST AHAB AND ELIJAH
1. Place
Elijah’s location: “Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel…” [18:42].
§ עָלָ֨ה - “went up” [18:42], qal perfect,
a. Fire
Elijah goes to the place of God’s revelation and confirmation: “sent…gathered…unto Mount Carmel” [18:20].
§ Elijah’s prayer: “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known…” [18:36].
§ God’s demonstration of his being: “then the fire of the Lord fell…” [18:38].
b. Descent
Elijah had descended from Mount Carmel to rid the people of Baalism: “take the prophets…brought them down to the brook Kishon…” [18:40].
§ God’s law: “thou shalt utterly smite the inhabitants of that city…” [Deu.13:15-16].
§ Everything: “there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to your hand…” [Deu.13:17].
§ ~derIAYw - “brought them down” [18:40], hiphil imperfect, ‘to go down’; ‘to descend’;
Application.
Elijah goes back up the mountain where the ‘God of fire’ revealed himself.
§ Faith is always God-directed and Christ-centred: ‘where God came down’ in the “fire” [18:38].
§ The parallel between Mount Carmel and the sacrifice and Calvary and the Sacrifice.
§ עֲלֵ֖ה - “go up” [18:41], qal imperative,
§ אֱכֹ֣ל וּשְׁתֵ֑ה – “eat and drink” [18:41], qal imperatives,
2. Prayer
Elijah goes up to Mount Carmel in order to pray:
a. Posture of Humility
Posture of humility: “he cast himself down upon the earth…” [18:42].
§ יִּגְהַ֣ר - “cast” [18:42], ‘to crouch’; ‘to bow down and stretch out’;
§ בֵּ֥ין בִּרְ֯כָּֽו - “between his knees” [18:42],
§ Elijah adopts a position of total surrender before God; prayer is a confession of helplessness.
i. Prayer
The epistle of James makes it clear that this was the posture of prayer: “Elijah…prayed earnestly that it might rain…” [Jam.5:17-18].
b. Signal
Signal to pray: “there is the sound of abundance of rain” [18:41].
§ קֹ֖ול - “sound” [18:41], ‘any type of noise that breaks the sound waves and so enters the perception of the hearing’;
§ הֲמֹ֥ון - “abundance” [18:41], ‘large amount’
§ Faith sees and faith hears what unbelief does not: “eye has not seen, nor ear heard…” [2Cor.2:8].
§ Whatever we hear with the ear of faith passes through area of impossibility: “rained not for three years and six months” [Jam.5:17]
i. Focus
Prayer focuses on the promise of God: “I will send rain upon the earth” [18:1].
§ Solomon’s prayer: “when heaven is shut up and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray towards this place and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when you afflict them: then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin…” [8:35-36].
c. Prayer = Channel
Prayer is God’s appointed channel through which God works his will: it is what we call the end and the means.
§ Mediatorial role: “Ask of me so that I may give you…” [Psa.2:8].
§ God wills to send rain; God wills to send rain in answer to Elijah’s prayer: “Ask, and it shall be given unto you…” [Mat.6].
§ We take God’s promises and turn them into prayers in order that the promises may come to pass.
Application.
No matter what has happened; no matter what we have done, we have no claim!
§ The sinner: “standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven…” [Luk.18:13].
§ First: ‘the sound from heaven heard by faith’.
§ Elijah has the ear of faith: “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” [Heb.11:1].
§ Command: “Seek the Lord while he is to be found; call upon him whilst he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts…” [Isa.55:6].
§ Promise: “he will have mercy upon him…for he will abundantly pardon” [Isa.55:7].
3. Testing
a. Expectation
Faith in the promise is tested: “Go up now and look toward the sea” [18:43].
§ עֲלֵֽה־נָא - “go up” [18:43], qal imperative,
§ הַבֵּ֣ט - “look” [18:43], hiphil imperative, ‘use perception of sight to detect objects’;
§ Expectation at Jericho: “they compassed the city seven times…” [Jos.6:16]; “at the seventh time, Shout, for the Lord has given you the city…” [6:17].
b. Information
Information: “he went…said, There is nothing…” [18:43].
§ אֵ֣ין - “nothing” [18:43], ‘none, nothing, nought’;
§ מְא֑וּמָה – ‘something’; ‘anything’;
i. The Testing
Agonising wait: “go again seven times” [18:43].
§ שֻׁ֖ב - “go” [18:43], qal imperative, ‘to turn, return’;
ii. The Answer
The sign of rain: “behold, there arises a little cloud out of the sea…” [18:44].
§ עָ֛ב - “cloud” [18:44], ‘mass of moisture suspended in the air’;
§ עֹלָ֣ה – “arises” [18:44], qal participle, ‘to ascend’;
§ קְטַנָּ֥ה - “little” [18:44], ‘small’; ‘insignificant’;
Application.
Power of prayer: “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” [Jam.5:16].
§ Note: James intends us to see an analogy between the sickness of a believer restored to health and the deadness of the land brought back to life and fruitfulness.
§ The believer learns in the waiting times not in the possessing times.
§ Secondly: ‘the heavens closed despite faith’.
C. GRACE
1. Faith
a. The Response of Faith
Faith recognises the little things by trusting: “Go up, say to Ahab…that the rain stop thee not” [18:44].
§ יַעַצָרְכָ֖ה - “stop” [18:44], qal imperfect, ‘to restrain’; ‘to hold back’;
§ Abundance: “there was a great rain…” [18:45].
§ Rain meant a reversal of famine and new life: “that we lose not all the beasts” [18:5].
b. The Result of Faith
This was as a result of faith: “it came to pass in the meanwhile…” [18:45].
§ עַד־כֹּ֣ה - “meanwhile” [18:45], ‘during this time’;
§ When faith is working: praying; worshipping; reading;
2. Elijah
a. Action of God
Impact on Elijah: “the hand of the Lord was on Elijah…” [18:46].
§ יַד־יְהוָ֗ה - “hand of the Lord” [18:46], representative of the Lord’s power: “That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty…” [Jos.4:24]; “Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save…” [Isa.59:1].
§ אֶל־אֵ֣לִיָּ֔הוּ - “on Elijah” [18:46], ‘motion to’; ‘direction towards’;
§ The supernatural strength with which God endowed him to accomplish superhuman feats.
b. Impact
Elijah is full of energy: “he girded up his loins and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel” [18:46].
§ יָּ֙רָץ֙ - “ran” [18:46],
§ “Jezreel” [18:46] – Ahab’s summer residence and approximately 16 miles from Mount Carmel.
Application.
3. Ahab
Note what Ahab receives on the day in which God “came down in fire” [18:38] at Mount Carmel:
§ He had seen the reality of Yahweh proven: “the fire of the Lord fell…” [18:38]; “The Lord, he is the God…” [18:39].
§ He had the blessings of Yahweh restored: “Get thee up, eat and drink…” [18:41]; “the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain…” [18:45].
a. Appeal Extended
Thirdly, the appeal of Yahweh is extended: “before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel” [18:46].
§ לִפְנֵ֣י אַחְאָ֔ב - “before” [18:46], ‘in front of’; ‘to the face of’;
§ עַד־בֹּאֲכָ֖ה - “to the entrance” [18:46], ‘to the going into’;
b. Offices
We should consider Elijah and Ahab primarily in their respective offices: prophet and king.
§ Yahweh is putting before Ahab an offer, a demand, and a decision.
§ The fact that Elijah runs before Ahab as a herald or forerunner suggests that Yahweh’s prophet may be a servant rather than an opponent of the king: “are you the one who troubles Israel?” [18:17].
§ If Elijah is “before” Ahab it means that Ahab is following Elijah. This is the restoration of the proper order in Jerusalem: the king follows the prophet. The word of prophecy must show the king the path to follow. Royal power must seek prophetic direction.
c. Decision
All this leaves Ahab with a decision. The people had faced one that day [18:21]; now it was Ahab’s turn.
§ What a momentous day it had been for the king! How his head must have reeled with the thoughts of the contest: the pitiful screams of Baal's helpless priests, the calm yet awe-inspiring petition of Elijah, the terrifying and spectacular holocaust that followed, the repentance of the people, and the execution of the pagan prophets! As Ahab rode along through the gathering downpour, the spirit-empowered prophet through whom God had effected his great triumph ran ahead of the royal chariot like a specter.
Application.
Thirdly: ‘the heavens open in answer to faith’.
§ Sin and rebellion had shut up heaven; the revelation of God’s grace, repentance and prayer have caused the heavens to open again.