The Ministry of Elijah: An Introduction

Introduction

The Ministry of Elijah

Today, we begin a study of the ministry of the prophet Elijah. When we you open to , we find Elijah coming onto the national scene of Israel without much information on him and a seemingly abrupt declaration of God’s judgement.

An Introduction to Elijah’s Ministry

As you begin reading , this question should come to mind, “How did Israel get to this point?” The answer to that question is found by turning back in your Bible to when Solomon was still in . A brief recollection of , we provide a better understanding of Israel’s spiritual condition at the time Elijah began his and will help you better understand Elijah’s ministry.

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Introduction: Today, we launch out on a study of the ministry of the prophet Elijah. I thought about jumping right into where Elijah comes onto the scene. As I began reading , this question kept coming to mind, “How did Israel get to this point.” So I started flipping backwards in my Bible to when Solomon was still king and began reading there in chapter 11. As I read chapters 11-17, I gained a better understanding of Israel’s spiritual condition at the time Elijah came on the scene and it better helped me understand Elijah’s ministry.

Now, I know that for some, reading 1st and 2nd Kings ranks right up there with reading through 1st and 2nd Chronicles and Leviticus. But I’d like to take this journey through with you in order to help us all have a better understanding of what had taken place and what was going on in Israel when Elijah first approached Ahab in . I think this will help better understand the first recorded actions of Elijah, what God was using Elijah to teach Israel, and the purpose of Elijah’s ministry in general.

Background

United Kingdom

United Kingdom, is in reference to the time of the reign of Saul, David, and Solomon ().

All of Israel was united as one kingdom. In , the division of the nation is being prophesied. Solomon reigned as king in Israel for 40 years and did many great things for Israel and for the Lord.

In , the Temple is being built and when you get to chapter 8, the Ark of the Covenant is brought into the newly constructed Temple and the Shekinah glory of the Lord fills the Temple. Solomon preaches a sermon to the people and dedicates the Temple to the Lord.

Afterward, the wealth of Israel continues to increase to the point that silver was as common in Israel as a stone.

When we come to chapter 11, there is a shift in the story and Solomon’s weaknesses come into full view.

Between 10:29 and 11:1, Solomon directly disobeyed the Lord’s commandment for kings given in .

But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. 17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

Solomon’s disobedience as king began the decline of the people of Israel.

He proceeded to marry the daughter of Pharaoh in Egypt and women of Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and the Hittites. All of which were Canaan enemies of Israel and worshippers of false gods.

These weren’t some insignificant little gods that sat on the shelf at home. These were gods whose worship was abhorrent!

Verse 5 & 7 Meaning of Names of the gods worshipped in Israel:[1]

Ashtoreth - goddess of sex and fertility whose worship involved licentious rites and worship of the stars.

Molech (aka Milcom) – worship involved human sacrifices, especially children, which was strictly prohibited by the Law (; )

Chemosh – worship was equally cruel and licentious.

He built a place of sacrifice for his wives to worship Molech and Chemosh, which means they were likely practicing the sacrifice of children under Solomon’s watch.

Because of his sin, God tells Solomon that the kingdom would be rent from him.

I’m going to take the kingdom from you, Solomon, not while you’re alive for David’s sake, but it will be rent from your son.

is where Jeroboam comes on the scene. Jeroboam was an Ephrathite (of the tribe of Ephraim – the strongest of the tribes in Northern Israel). He is the son of a widow and he worked for Solomon. Solomon saw him as industrious and put him over the house of Joseph (the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh).

Verses 29-40 explain what is about to happen.

Jeroboam’s new garment is ripped by Ahijah the prophet. He tells Jeroboam to take ten pieces and this signifies that Jeroboam would become king over those ten tribes and the other two (Judah and Benjamin), often referred to as because of the small size of the tribe of Benjamin, would remain under the rule of the house of David.

At the end of chapter 11, Solomon dies and the division of the kingdom begins.

Divided Kingdom

In chapter 12, Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, goes to Shechem be made king by Israel. Israel approaches Rehoboam and says, if you will loosen the yoke (the burden of taxes, etc.) that you father put upon us, we will serve you. Rehoboam seeks advice from his father’s wise men and then from his friends. The wise men recommend he do as the people as but his friends tell him to make the burden stronger. He listens to his friends.

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Just as the prophet Ahijah had prophesied to Jeroboam, he became king over the Northern Kingdom consisting of the 10 northern tribes and Rehoboam became king over the two remaining tribes. The Northern Kingdom was known as Israel and the southern kingdom was known Judah.

SEE MAP

Then Jeroboam begins to draw the hearts of the people of Israel away from the Lord.

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He builds two calves and told Israel that these were the gods that brought them out of Israel (sound familiar to what Aaron and the people did the wilderness)?

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This sin would cause the house of Jeroboam to be cut off from ruling in Israel.

In chapter 14:19, Jeroboam dies after reigning for 22 years and his son, Nadab, becomes king. In chapter 15:26, we see that Nadab followed in his father’s ways and did evil in the sight of the Lord and caused Israel to sin.

In verses 25-31, the prophecy of Ahijah that Jeroboam’s seed would be cut off from the throne is fulfilled.

Baasha kills Nadab, after reigning only 2 years, and becomes king in his stead but 15:34 tells what his reign was like.

In chapter 16, the same prophecy that Jeroboam’s seed would be removed from and never again sit upon the throne of Israel was prophesied of Baasha. Baasha reigned over Israel for 24 years.

Elah, Baasha’s son, then begins to reign. He reigns for two years before Zimri, the captain of half of his chariots, stages a coup by getting Baasha drunk and then kills him (16:9-10). Zimri, to prevent retaliation from his coup, has all of Baasha’s family killed, again fulfilling the prophecy that Baasha’s family would not sit on the throne of Israel again.

Zimri declares himself king but that didn’t last long…in fact, it only last 7 days. Omri, the captain of the host of the armies of Israel hears what Zimri did to the king and the people made Omri the king. He besieged Tirzah, where Zimri was, to take the throne from him. Zimri burns the palace and then kills himself knowing he had lost.

This then sets off a 4 to 6 year period of civil war amongst the ten northern tribes with half the tribes following Omri and the other half following Tibni. (Nothing else is known of Tibni.)

Omri eventually overpowers Tibni and begins to reign over the entire Northern Kingdom. He reigned for 12 years and tells us what his reign was like.

He did worse than all that had come before him. He led Israel deeper and deeper into sin.

So, over a period of 51 years, the Northern Kingdom, Israel, because of death and revolt, has 8 different kings

LIST OF KINGS

Omri dies and his son, Ahab, becomes king over Israel. tells us about Ahab’s reign.

Ahab leads Israel into more sin than his father, Omri, had. And up until this point, Omri was the worst king that Israel had had.

Ahab now leads Israel into the worship of Baal. Baal, when used in reference to foreign gods, means lord. Ahab is not just leading in the worship of other gods, now he is saying that Baal is lord.

This is the Israel that Elijah comes to deal with. He is coming as the prophet of the Lord to a people that had turned their backs on God and were worshipping Baal and the other gods of the Caananites.

Application:

Now, you may be thinking, “Thanks for the history lesson on Israel, the Northern Kingdom. But what on earth does that mean to me?”

Let me share with you one point of application from all of this.

Parents, your sins today, can and will affect your children tomorrow. The sin that you live in today could be the sin that your children live in tomorrow and take much further.

And spouses and as parents, you can’t sit there and think that you can handle your sin and it won’t get out of control. Nobody else will get hurt by it. That’s where you are wrong. It will hurt you now and your family later because children often fall into the same sins as their fathers and often worse.

Get right with the Lord today so that you and your spouse and children may experience the blessings of the Lord upon you all.

[1] Constable, T. L. (1985). 1 Kings. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 508). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.