“At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “‘Shout louder!”’ he said. “‘Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.”
~ 1 Kings 18:27
Hi James and Ellen,
Are you troublers? Ahab called Elijah a troubler. A troubler is a troublemaker. Ahab for twenty-one years reigned as king over God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the northern part of the land area that had kept the name Israel that God told them that they would always have to live in as their very own land if . . . this land area was also called Samaria. Ahab’s wife was Jezebel. Jezebel wanted to see eradicated all the mouthpieces or spokesmen who God was using to warn His specially chosen guys and gals who were living in Israel – or Samaria, to stop worshipping inanimate, manmade Baal idol gods that were handmade out of a piece of wood, a chunk of rock, molten metal and wet clay. Obadiah was one of the good guys at this time – which was somewhere around 2850 years ago. Obadiah had the job of overseeing a palace. This palace – which was in Jezreel, was where Ahab and Jezebel called home. Jezreel was a town located on the southern edge of the Issachar tribal clan land area. When Jezebel began to purge from the land area of Israel – or Samaria, all of God’s prophets or mouthpieces or spokesmen by murdering them, Obadiah took it upon himself to hide a hundred of these guys in two caves. Obadiah would take food and water to these guys who he had hidden. Elijah was possibly the most outspoken voice for God throughout the land area of Israel – or Samaria, during this time. Ahab was not happy at all with what Elijah was saying; Ahab just could never find Elijah to shut him up once and for all. To compound things, it had not rained in the northern land area – Israel or Samaria, for about three years. God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the northern land area – Israel or Samaria, were running out of food to eat and places to take their horses and mules to graze. 1 Kings 18 was written with the backdrop of a famine, an angry king and an in your face troubler for God.
It is another hot, fiery day. Grass has completed dried up. Horses and mules have nothing to eat. Ahab and Obadiah have split up to go in two directions to check some valleys and springs to find out if there is still grass growing in these places. Obadiah meets up with Elijah. Elijah wants to meet up with Ahab. Obadiah is skeptical as to what might happen. Obadiah knows Ahab’s intense dislike for Elijah. Elijah does meet up with Ahab. Elijah challenges Ahab to a sacrificing contest. Mount Carmel is picked as the place to have this sacrificing context. Elijah tells Ahab that he can use 450 Baal prophets along with 400 Asherah prophets to make their sacrifices to Baal. The Baal prophets kill one of the two bulls that had been gotten to be used in this sacrificing contest. The Baal prophets cut up the bull and put the pieces on their altar. The winner of the sacrificing contest would be who between the Baal prophets and Elijah would have his god/God send fire to burn the sacrifice. When your grandmaa and grandpaa were the administrators of the rural resident training center that was located in Concepción, Ñuflo de Chávez in Bolivia, your grandpaa would schedule early morning devotional times. The devotional times were to always begin promptly at six in the morning. The only day when there was not an early morning devotional time was Sunday. During the early morning devotional times, your grandpaa would ask the Centro de Capacitación – or training center, students to do different things. During one two week time slot, your grandpaa scheduled different pairs of students along with their wives and even their kids – if their kids wanted to be a part of what their dads and mas were doing, to act out a real life incident that was recorded in the Bible. One pair of students – along with their wives and some of their kids, really got into acting out this real life event – using real water and real fire. Your grandpaa will never forget this devotional time. One of the students, the two wives and some of their kids went around and around the altar that they had made – waving their arms, jumping up and down and pretending that they were cutting themselves with their swords and with their spears while the other student – who was playing Elijah, read verse 27, “At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “‘Shout louder!”’ he said. “‘Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.”’ No matter how frenetic or crazy that the Baal prophets acted, nothing happened – the guys could never get their Baal to catch on fire their bull sacrifice offering.
Now it is Elijah’s turn to see if his God would send fire from heaven to burn up his sacrifice offering. Elijah first reconstructs the alter. Elijah constructs his altar using exactly twelve stones. Each stone of the twelve stones represents one of the tribal clans that made up the original nation of God’s specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group’s guys and gals. Elijah now digs a trench around his altar. The trench that Elijah digs around his altar is deep enough to hold two seahs or 3.32 dry gallons of seed. Elijah now puts wood on his altar, cuts up the bull that is killed, places pieces of bull meat on the wood that is on his altar and pours four large jars of water all over the altar getting everything – including the wood and meat, sopping wet. Elijah now pours eight more large jars of water all over everything. Elijah even fills up the trench with water. Now it is Elijah’s turn to call on His God to burn his sacrifice. God not only sends fire from heaven to burn Elijah’s sacrifice, God burns the wood and stones and even the soil and water around the altar. When Ahab’s guys who are there get past freaking out at what they have just seen happen, Elijah takes the 450 Baal prophets to the Kishon Valley and kills them. Elijah than tells Ahab to head for his palace and to begin feasting as it is going to soon begin raining. Your grandmaa and grandpaa hope that you will never find yourselves pitted in a contest with your Father God because you will never win against Him.
1 Kings 18 (499)