OT Lesson 30 The Coming of Elijah

Text: 1 Kings chapters 17 - 19

Supplemental Text: The Fourth Thousand Years chapter 13

BYU Lecture 35:  At the peak of the apostate administration of king Ahab of Israel and his gentile wife Jezebel, there suddenly appeared at the royal palace in Samaria a man who dared to risk his very life by coming to deliver a cursing message to the king. This man was the prophet Elijah.

Elijah comes suddenly on the pages of history but his background is obscure. We do know he had the keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood and the Sealing Powers. This included the power to seal the heavens against rain, which is what he did in the chambers of King Ahab.

The Lord warned Elijah to hide from Ahab and Jezabel who had soldiers scouring the land to find and kill him. He hid in a desolate place relying on a small brook for water and ravens who brought him bread and meat. As the drought worsened, the brook failed and the Lord sent him to a widow in Zarephath. Here, she was preparing a last meal for her and her son before she died, when Elijah asked her for food. Remarkably, this humble widow gave him the last of her morsels. As a result, Elijah blessed her that her barrel of meal and cruise of oil would never empty until the rains came again. But soon her son tragically died and Elijah was permitted by God to raise him back to life.

The Lord sends Elijah to meet with King Ahab and demand an assembly of 3 groups: 1) The leaders of Israel; 2) The priests of Baal; and 3) The priests of Ashtoreth (who ultimately never dared to show up). Here he held a contest at the alter to show whose God was truly God. The priests of Baal failed miserably, but the Lord brought fire from heaven and consumed the alter and destroyed all the priests of Baal. And the Lord sent rain.

Rather than rejoice and reform, Jezebel was outraged at the death of the priests and put a bounty on the head of Elijah. Discouraged at the wickedness of the stubborn leaders, Ezekial flees clear down to Mt. Sinai. Here he felt rejected and a failure and asked to die. But the Lord visited Elijah and told him to return to Israel, for there were 7,000 righteous that needed leadership. Rejoicing, Elijah returns to the mission field in Israel.