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“Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time’” (1 Kgs 19:2).
You would think the famine would have gotten her
attention, and considered how easily Elijah turned off and on the water from
above! But Jezebel was hell-bent on Baal. Do you think she was piqued by
being humiliated on a national level? For sure, you don’t successfully suppress
this kind of news; it spreads like wildfire – “Did you hear what happened up on
Mt Carmel?” For 3.5 years they couldn’t find the hide or hair of Elijah, but now
Jezy knew he was in town and how to get a message to him. She had a plethora of
spies to do her bidding. She was putting Elijah on notice that he would be dead
within 24 hours. Elijah didn’t expect a counter-offensive, if any, so soon.
The devil (the spiritual force behind Baal) lost a skirmish up there on Mt
Carmel, but he simply moved on for another opportunity for a demonic foothold
and control. Often, Satan usually mounts a quick counter-offensive after losing
a battle. The lost are flesh and blood; the spiritual creatures of darkness
are eternal and will never die; they just keep coming back. They are free to
roam until the time of judgment. They can be flushed out of a place or
prohibited access, but they are everywhere like mosquitoes, and they mean to draw blood one way or another. The problem is you
can’t see or hear them usually until it's too late, but they are out there. Thankfully, demons are
outnumbered by the good angels 2 to l, and more importantly, God’s sovereignty
rules over their activities. They can do no more than allowed. Eventually, they
will be confined forever in the lake of fire, but until then, they will
continue to play havoc on the souls of unsuspecting humans, lost or saved. They
went after Elijah through Jezebel!
Elijah was apparently counting on a ripple
effect of revival throughout the Northern Kingdom; he was wrong. He assumed that he had
struck a blow to the heart of Baal worship in Israel, but the “heart” was still
beating in the winter palace. He failed to anticipate the depth of Jezebel’s
resilience and resolve. Elijah expected her to capitulate rather than
retaliate. The dynamics of the situation radically changed for Elijah. It was raining outside, but inside there were dark ominous clouds brewing over Elijah's head. A different kind of storm was heading his way.
If she sent this communiqué to him; she knew
his whereabouts. This message meant that he couldn’t count on Ahab to protect
him. His change of heart on Mt Carmel was worthless. He would just play dumb and claim that he
was unaware of her nefarious plans. Baal worship was big business; there were
profits to be made peddling the Baal religion in the Northern Kingdom. The rain
was back, and would give religious and commercial enterprises a boost to the
economy; doom and gloom would be lifted; profits would soar; things could
return to normal with Elijah out of the way. So I am thinking King Ahab is
grinning from ear to ear and consoling his wife at the same time over Jezebel’s
outrage and humiliation. Elijah’s death could prove to be convenient and useful
to him after all. “It’s okay, Jez; we will deal with that mean prophet of
Yahweh tomorrow; we will show him who’s the boss.”
Come to think of it, after Elijah's
disappearance, Ahab and Jezebel could have spun this tragic event on Mt Carmel
as Baal manipulating Yahweh into exposing corruption among the ranks of the
prophets of Baal, and allowing Yahweh’s servant Elijah to do his dirty work for
him. That would be a plausible explanation as to why Baal didn’t show up on Mt
Carmel and the prophets of Baal were killed; Baal was cleaning house! The
famine was a direct result of corrupt prophets, and where was the prophet of
Yahweh now? Naturally, I am speculating in this regard. There must have been
some kind of public spin after the Baal disaster because Ahab was able to
surround himself with 400 false prophets in his royal court (1 Kgs 22:6-7, 8).
These speculations above are simply that, but
Elijah’s reaction to Jezebel’s threat is no educated guess,
“And when he saw that [the message, added], he arose, and
went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his
servant there” (1 Kgs 19:3).
Before commenting on this verse, I was not
completely accurate when I said Elijah was alone on Mt Carmel facing the false
prophets; there was his unknown servant. He was as courageous as Elijah by
simply being there supporting him (1 Kgs 18:42-43); his survival depended upon
Elijah’s survival. When Elijah went south, he parted from his servant at
Beersheba, the southernmost boundary of Judah about ~150 miles away from
Jezreel beyond Jezebel’s reach. He didn’t want his servant to pay for his
failures. Elijah probably thought his fate was to die in the wilderness (but we
know that is flesh-talking). Self-pity naturally oozes forth when the
circumstances of life expand beyond God’s ability or seemingly indifference; at least we think that way
when we are in that spiritual state. Leaving his servant behind in
Beersheba was a tender moment of grace and mercy from a distraught prophet of
Yahweh who felt like a failure. If you are feeling pity for Elijah right about
now, just remember when he reaches Horeb, he was convinced that he did the
right thing in escaping for his life….
When we take our eyes off the LORD, we lose
sight of who He is; Elijah ran because He believed God was either not going to
protect him or unable to protect him from the likes of Jezebel. This is a major
problem in losing sight of God because our behavior no longer reflects who He
really is but what God is not; we are in some sense redefining who God is.
God is not all-powerful; therefore, I run because He is not all-powerful, for
example. Trust only what you see and obey your instincts! What happened to
trusting and obeying no matter what (cf. Job 13:15)?
Let’s recount some of Elijah’s past
experiences before his courage failed, and he ran out of fear for his life. The
weather conditions changed for the worse after his warning to Ahab in Samaria
(1 Kgs 17:1); he was fed by the ravens at wadi Cherith (1 Kgs 17:4); in
Zarephath, the bin of flour or the jar of oil were never used up during the 3.5
years of famine (1 Kgs 17:14); He brought back to life the widow’s son who had
died (1 Kgs 17:21-22); He called fire down from heaven to consume the sacrifice
on Mt Carmel (1 Kgs 18:37-38); the
hearts of the fickle and fearful were turned to Yahweh on Mt Carmel (1 Kgs
18:39-40). The rain returned when he prayed on Mt Carmel (1 Kgs 18:42, 45); and
he outran Ahab’s chariot heading for Jezreel with God’s help (1 Kgs 18:46).
Who would have suspected a man with such a
spiritual resume would give in to fearing a person more than God Himself? The
spiritual reality is that God supported Elijah all along the way to experience
some pretty amazing things. How quickly we forget God’s goodness to us when we
get sidetracked by some looming obstacle in our path. Why are we bent on
challenging God’s sovereignty and expecting Him to prove Himself at every turn?
How can the creature tell the Creator why is this so? Is it because we have a
“what have you done for me lately” mentality? We hang with God as long as
things go our way? Too often we bolt because things are not turning out like we thought they should;
sounds to me like one of those fence riders up on Mt Carmel (1 Kgs 18:21a).
Elijah needed to be reminded, “If the LORD is God, follow Him!” "Don’t
flee! You believe Yahweh is God right? Doesn’t your name mean that?” How often do we not live up to being a “Christian?”
What changed his spiritual calculus of
Yahweh? How could God go from being all-powerful to powerless in dealing with the circumstances confronting Elijah? God
has no limitations, and He is the same eternally; He cannot change. When we
take our eyes off the LORD, it is unexplainable why He changes, or so we think
He does. Our belief in God is not tested by what we think we know, but by how we respond to
what we know to be true of Him where the rubber meets the road, and there are a lot
of different surfaces along the way in service to Him. Blessing results from obedience; we
pattern our lifestyle based on who God is, not on what He is not or the way we
think He should be. He is immutable, and it is our responsibility to learn and
to understand and to pattern our lives in our thinking and behavior after the
Being behind the immutability as revealed in the Scriptures, that great and wonderful Book that collects a whole lot of dust at the house.
How do we explain the intermittent outburst of
sinful behavior in our lives? Why do we keep sinning over the same secret sin,
asking forgiveness like a broken record? Why do we lose sight of God in the
crucible? Why do we experience those “God is not on the throne” moments in our
lives when God's goodness is so evident in our lives, and we trash Him in our
rebellion? In this spiritual turmoil and storm within our souls, the sovereignty
of God is criticized by our attitude and leaks out in our behavior. It is best revealed when things hit the fan! Our worldview becomes all about us, and we feel
compelled to get away as far as possible from the imposition putting pressure
on us. So we flee. If only we could stop just for a moment and recall Peter's words to Jesus' question, “Will you leave Me, too?” “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68).
“How long will you falter between two
opinions?” This is a very good question we need to ask ourselves! If Yahweh is
God, follow Him; if He is not, flee.” Ah, we flee because Yahweh is not the God we think He ought to be in
the madness of the moment. Can you see just how rich the grace and mercy of God
are toward us pitiful believers who think we can serve and please God in our
flesh, insulting His Majesty and right to rule? Can we not see how damaging one
brief “God is not on the throne” moment will send us scurrying to a place where we
don’t belong?
We never read of Elijah crying out to God for help; he ran instead! He prayed for a dead boy, and he prayed for rain, and he prayed to die under the broom tree while on the run. When we take our eyes off the LORD, we think prayer is helpful for others but not us? Please read these next words ever so carefully because it is of vital importance to all of us. It is impossible for us to take our eyes off the LORD and to think we can stay put in the will of God. Isaiah’s words are a great source of comfort right about now (Isa 26:3; also see Isa 31:1; 1 Chr 5:20; 2 Chr 13:18; 16:8; Psa 9:10; Jer 17:7-8; Rom 4:21). <><
We never read of Elijah crying out to God for help; he ran instead! He prayed for a dead boy, and he prayed for rain, and he prayed to die under the broom tree while on the run. When we take our eyes off the LORD, we think prayer is helpful for others but not us? Please read these next words ever so carefully because it is of vital importance to all of us. It is impossible for us to take our eyes off the LORD and to think we can stay put in the will of God. Isaiah’s words are a great source of comfort right about now (Isa 26:3; also see Isa 31:1; 1 Chr 5:20; 2 Chr 13:18; 16:8; Psa 9:10; Jer 17:7-8; Rom 4:21). <><
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