Elijah, the prophet of fire

Elijah is one of the most impressive prophets in the Bible. He appeared suddenly in a time of great apostasy, when King Ahab and Queen Jezebel were promoting the worship of Baal in Israel. His name, Eliyahu, means “my God is the Lord”, and it sums up his mission: to remind a divided people who the true God is. His story is full of extraordinary miracles, but also of moments of deep human weakness. In the end he did not die: he was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind. Centuries later he appeared beside Jesus on the mount of transfiguration.

A time of idolatry

After the kingdom divided on Solomon’s death, the northern kingdom, Israel, had a succession of kings who turned away from God. The worst was Ahab, who married Jezebel, a princess of Sidon and fervent worshipper of Baal, the Canaanite god of storm and fertility. Ahab built a temple to Baal in Samaria, and Jezebel persecuted and killed the prophets of the Lord. The Bible says Ahab did more evil in the sight of the Lord than all the kings before him (1 Kings 16:30).

“There shall not be rain”

In that setting appears Elijah the Tishbite, of Gilead, without introduction. He stood before Ahab and announced:

“And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”

1 Kings 17:1

It was a direct challenge to Baal, supposedly the god of rain. If Baal was real, let him send rain. For three and a half years it did not rain (James 5:17).

Ravens, a brook and a widow

God sent Elijah to hide by the brook Cherith, east of the Jordan. There he drank from the brook, and the ravens brought him bread and meat morning and evening. When the brook dried up, God sent him to Zarephath, a town of Sidon, in Jezebel’s own homeland, where a widow would feed him.

The widow was gathering sticks to prepare a last meal for herself and her son before they starved. Elijah asked her first to make him a small cake, with God’s promise: “The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.” She obeyed, and so it happened. Later, when the widow’s son fell ill and died, Elijah cried to God, stretched himself upon the child three times, and God restored his life. It is the first resurrection recorded in the Bible.

The challenge on Mount Carmel

In the third year God sent Elijah back to Ahab. The king accused him: “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” Elijah answered that the troubler was Ahab, for forsaking God’s commandments. Then he proposed a public challenge on Mount Carmel: gather all Israel and the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal.

Before the people, Elijah asked:

“And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.”

1 Kings 18:21

The people answered not a word. Elijah proposed that two bulls be prepared for sacrifice, without fire. The prophets of Baal would call on their god, and Elijah would call on the Lord: “the God that answereth by fire, let him be God.” The prophets of Baal cried from morning until noon, “O Baal, hear us!”, but there was no answer. Elijah mocked them: “Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.” They cried louder and cut themselves with knives, but nothing happened.

In the evening Elijah repaired the broken-down altar of the Lord with twelve stones, one for each tribe. He dug a trench around it, laid the wood and the bull, and had water poured over the sacrifice three times, until the trench was full. Then he prayed simply: “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel… Hear me, O Lord, hear me.” The fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the dust and even the water in the trench. All the people fell on their faces and said: “The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God.”

The little cloud and the rain

Afterwards Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, cast himself down on the earth with his face between his knees and prayed. Seven times he sent his servant to look towards the sea. The seventh time the servant said: “Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand.” Soon the heavens grew black and there was a great rain. James uses this episode as an example of the power of prayer: “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain… And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain” (James 5:17-18).

The exhausted prophet

But after the great victory came a crisis. Jezebel swore to kill Elijah, and the prophet who had faced four hundred and fifty prophets fled in terror into the wilderness beyond Beersheba. He sat down under a juniper tree and asked to die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.” He fell asleep.

God did not rebuke him. He sent an angel who touched him and said: “Arise and eat.” At his head was a cake baked on coals and a cruse of water. He ate, drank and lay down again. The angel came back: “Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee.” In the strength of that food he walked forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God. The way God cared for Elijah, with rest, food and company before speaking to him, is a precious lesson about exhaustion and depression.

The still small voice

At Horeb Elijah took refuge in a cave. God asked him: “What doest thou here, Elijah?” Elijah poured out his grief: he had been zealous for God, Israel had forsaken the covenant, and only he was left. God told him to go out and stand on the mount:

“And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.”

1 Kings 19:11-12

God was not in the wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire, but in a still small voice, a gentle whisper. After the spectacular display on Carmel, Elijah learned that God also speaks in silence. God gave him new tasks, revealed that he was not alone, for seven thousand remained who had not bowed to Baal, and told him to anoint Elisha as his successor.

Naboth’s vineyard

Elijah also defended social justice. When Ahab wanted his neighbour Naboth’s vineyard and Naboth refused to sell it because it was his ancestral inheritance, Jezebel arranged a false trial, and Naboth was stoned. Ahab took possession of the vineyard. Then God sent Elijah to confront him: “Hast thou killed, and also taken possession?” God’s prophets denounced not only idolatry but also injustice against the weak.

The chariot of fire

At the end of his ministry, Elijah walked with Elisha from Gilgal to Bethel, to Jericho and to the Jordan. There he struck the waters with his mantle, and they parted. Elisha asked him for a double portion of his spirit. As they went on and talked, a chariot of fire with horses of fire appeared and parted them, “and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11). Elisha cried: “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!”, and took up Elijah’s mantle.

Places in the story

Interesting facts

Lessons for our lives

You cannot serve two masters: you must decide. God provides in unexpected ways. Fervent prayer is powerful. Great servants of God also get exhausted: resting and eating are spiritual. God also speaks in silence. We are never as alone as we think. True faith defends the weak.

On the road to Jesus

The prophet Malachi closed the Old Testament with a promise: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord” (Malachi 4:5). That promise was fulfilled in John the Baptist, who prepared Jesus’ way. On the mount of transfiguration, Elijah appeared with Moses, speaking with Jesus about his departure at Jerusalem (Luke 9:30-31): the Law and the Prophets bore witness to Christ. Jesus, like Elijah, raised a widow’s son (at Nain), multiplied food and fasted forty days. But Jesus is greater: Elijah went up to heaven in a chariot of fire; Jesus rose and ascended by his own power. And he sent not a double portion, but the Holy Spirit himself upon his Church.

In the next episode we will meet Elisha, Elijah’s successor, who received a double portion of his spirit.

Prayer

Lord, you are the God who answers by fire. Keep me from halting between two opinions; I want to follow you alone. When I am weary like Elijah under the juniper tree, care for me and renew my strength. Teach me to hear your still small voice. Give me a faith that prays fervently and defends the weak. Amen.