Prophets and Kings
by Ellen G. White
Chapter 9: Elijah the Tishbite
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As Elijah saw Israel going deeper and deeper into idolatry,
his soul was distressed and his indignation aroused.
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Review and Herald Publ. Assoc. |
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Among the mountains of Gilead, east of the Jordan, there
dwelt in the days of Ahab a man of faith and prayer whose fearless ministry was
destined to check the rapid spread of apostasy in Israel. Far removed from any
city of renown, and occupying no high station in life, Elijah the Tishbite
nevertheless entered upon his mission confident in God's purpose to prepare the
way before him and to give him abundant success. The word of faith and power
was upon his lips, and his whole life was devoted to the work of reform. His
was the voice of one crying in the wilderness to rebuke sin and press back the
tide of evil. And while he came to the people as a reprover of sin, his message
offered the balm of Gilead to the sin-sick souls of all who desired to be
healed. {PK 119.1}
As Elijah saw Israel going deeper and deeper into idolatry,
his soul was distressed and his indignation aroused. God had done great things
for His people. He had delivered [120] them from bondage and given them
"the lands of the heathen, . . . that they might observe His
statutes, and keep His laws." Psalm 105:44, 45. But the beneficent designs
of Jehovah were now well-nigh forgotten. Unbelief was fast separating the
chosen nation from the Source of their strength. Viewing this apostasy from his
mountain retreat, Elijah was overwhelmed with sorrow. In anguish of soul he
besought God to arrest the once-favored people in their wicked course, to visit
them with judgments, if need be, that they might be led to see in its true
light their departure from Heaven. He longed to see them brought to repentance
before they should go to such lengths in evil-doing as to provoke the Lord to
destroy them utterly. {PK
119.2}
Elijah's prayer was answered. Oft-repeated appeals,
remonstrances, and warnings had failed to bring Israel to repentance. The time
had come when God must speak to them by means of judgments. Inasmuch as the
worshipers of Baal claimed that the treasures of heaven, the dew and the rain,
came not from Jehovah, but from the ruling forces of nature, and that it was
through the creative energy of the sun that the earth was enriched and made to
bring forth abundantly, the curse of God was to rest heavily upon the polluted
land. The apostate tribes of Israel were to be shown the folly of trusting to
the power of Baal for temporal blessings. Until they should turn to God with
repentance, and acknowledge Him as the source of all blessing, there should
fall upon the land neither dew nor rain. {PK 120.1}
To Elijah was entrusted the mission of delivering to Ahab
Heaven's message of judgment. He did not seek to [121] be the
Lord's messenger; the word of the Lord came to him. And jealous for the honor
of God's cause, he did not hesitate to obey the divine summons, though to obey
seemed to invite swift destruction at the hand of the wicked king. The prophet
set out at once and traveled night and day until he reached Samaria. At the
palace he solicited no admission, nor waited to be formally announced. Clad in
the coarse garments usually worn by the prophets of that time, he passed the
guards, apparently unnoticed, and stood for a moment before the astonished
king. {PK 120.2}
Elijah made no apology for his abrupt appearance. A Greater
than the ruler of Israel had commissioned him to speak; and, lifting his hand
toward heaven, he solemnly affirmed by the living God that the judgments of the
Most High were about to fall upon Israel. "As the Lord God of Israel
liveth, before whom I stand," he declared, "there shall not be dew
nor rain these years, but according to my word." {PK 121.1}
It was only by the exercise of strong faith in the unfailing
power of God's word that Elijah delivered his message. Had he not possessed
implicit confidence in the One whom he served, he would never have appeared
before Ahab. On his way to Samaria, Elijah had passed by ever-flowing streams,
hills covered with verdure, and stately forests that seemed beyond the reach of
drought. Everything on which the eye rested was clothed with beauty. The
prophet might have wondered how the streams that had never ceased their flow
could become dry, or how those hills and valleys could be burned with drought.
But he gave no place to [122] unbelief. He fully believed that
God would humble apostate Israel, and that through judgments they would be
brought to repentance. The fiat of Heaven had gone forth; God's word could not
fail; and at the peril of his life Elijah fearlessly fulfilled his commission.
Like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, the message of impending judgment fell
upon the ears of the wicked king; but before Ahab could recover from his
astonishment, or frame a reply, Elijah disappeared as abruptly as he had come,
without waiting to witness the effect of his message. And the Lord went before
him, [123]
making plain the way. "Turn thee eastward," the prophet was bidden,
"and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall
be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed
thee." {PK 121.2}
The king made diligent inquiry, but the prophet was not to
be found. Queen Jezebel, angered over the message that had locked up the
treasures of heaven, lost no time in conferring with the priests of Baal, who
united with her in cursing the prophet and in defying the wrath of Jehovah. But
notwithstanding their desire to find him who had uttered the word of woe, they
were destined to meet with disappointment. Nor could they conceal from others a
knowledge of the judgment pronounced in consequence of the prevailing apostasy.
Tidings of Elijah's denunciation of the sins of Israel, and of his prophecy of
swift-coming punishment, quickly spread throughout the land. The fears of some
were aroused, but in general the heavenly message was received with scorn and
ridicule. {PK 123.1}
The prophet's words went into immediate effect. Those who
were at first inclined to scoff at the thought of calamity, soon had occasion
for serious reflection; for after a few months the earth, unrefreshed by dew or
rain, became dry, and vegetation withered. As time passed, streams that had
never been known to fail began to decrease, and brooks began to dry up. Yet the
people were urged by their leaders to have confidence in the power of Baal and
to set aside as idle words the prophecy of Elijah. The priests still insisted
that it was through the power of Baal that the showers of rain fell. Fear not
the God of Elijah, nor tremble at [124] His word, they urged, it is Baal
that brings forth the harvest in its season and provides for man and beast. {PK 123.2}
God's message to Ahab gave Jezebel and her priests and all
the followers of Baal and Ashtoreth opportunity to test the power of their gods,
and, if possible, to prove the word of Elijah false. Against the assurances of
hundreds of idolatrous priests, the prophecy of Elijah stood alone. If,
notwithstanding the prophet's declaration, Baal could still give dew and rain,
causing the streams to continue to flow and vegetation to flourish, then let
the king of Israel worship him and the people say that he is God. {PK 124.1}
Determined to keep the people in deception, the priests of
Baal continue to offer sacrifices to their gods and to call upon them night and
day to refresh the earth. With costly offerings the priests attempt to appease
the anger of their gods; with a zeal and a perseverance worthy of a better
cause they linger round their pagan altars and pray earnestly for rain. Night
after night, throughout the doomed land, their cries and entreaties arise. But
no clouds appear in the heavens by day to hide the burning rays of the sun. No
dew or rain refreshes the thirsty earth. The word of Jehovah stands unchanged
by anything the priests of Baal can do. {PK 124.2}
A year passes, and yet there is no rain. The earth is
parched as if with fire. The scorching heat of the sun destroys what little
vegetation has survived. Streams dry up, and lowing herds and bleating flocks
wander hither and thither in distress. Once-flourishing fields have become like
burning desert sands, a desolate waste. The groves dedicated to idol worship
are leafless; the forest trees, gaunt skeletons [125] of
nature, afford no shade. The air is dry and suffocating; dust storms blind the
eyes and nearly stop the breath. Once-prosperous cities and villages have
become places of mourning. Hunger and thirst are telling upon man and beast
with fearful mortality. Famine, with all its horror, comes closer and still
closer. {PK 124.3}
Yet notwithstanding these evidences of God's power, Israel
repented not, nor learned the lesson that God would have them learn. They did
not see that He who created nature controls her laws, and can make of them
instruments of blessing or of destruction. Proudhearted, enamored of [126]
their false worship, they were unwilling to humble themselves under the mighty
hand of God, and they began to cast about for some other cause to which to
attribute their sufferings. {PK
125.1}
Jezebel utterly refused to recognize the drought as a
judgment from Jehovah. Unyielding in her determination to defy the God of
heaven, she, with nearly the whole of Israel, united in denouncing Elijah as
the cause of all their misery. Had he not borne testimony against their forms
of worship? If only he could be put out of the way, she argued, the anger of
their gods would be appeased, and their troubles would end. {PK 126.1}
Urged on by the queen, Ahab instituted a most diligent
search for the hiding place of the prophet. To the surrounding nations, far and
near, he sent messengers to seek for the man whom he hated, yet feared; and in
his anxiety to make the search as thorough as possible, he required of these
kingdoms and nations an oath that they knew nothing of the whereabouts of the prophet.
But the search was in vain. The prophet was safe from the malice of the king
whose sins had brought upon the land the denunciation of an offended God. {PK 126.2}
Failing in her efforts against Elijah, Jezebel determined to
avenge herself by slaying all the prophets of Jehovah in Israel. Not one should
be left alive. The infuriated woman carried out her purpose in the massacre of
many of God's servants. Not all, however, perished. Obadiah, the governor of
Ahab's house, yet faithful to God, "took an hundred prophets," and at
the risk of his own life, "hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with
bread and water." 1 Kings 18:4. [127] {PK 126.3}
The second year of famine passed, and still the pitiless
heavens gave no sign of rain. Drought and famine continued their devastation
throughout the kingdom. Fathers and mothers, powerless to relieve the
sufferings of their children, were forced to see them die. Yet still apostate
Israel refused to humble their hearts before God and continued to murmur against
the man by whose word these terrible judgments had been brought upon them. They
seemed unable to discern in their suffering and distress a call to repentance,
a divine interposition to save them from taking the fatal step beyond the
boundary of Heaven's forgiveness. {PK 127.1}
The apostasy of Israel was an evil more dreadful than all
the multiplied horrors of famine. God was seeking to free the people from their
delusion and lead them to understand their accountability to the One to whom
they owed their life and all things. He was trying to help them to recover
their lost faith, and He must needs bring upon them great affliction. {PK 127.2}
"Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?
saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and
live?" "Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have
transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O
house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith
the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." "Turn ye, turn
ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" Ezekiel
18:23, 31, 32; 33:11. {PK
127.3}
God had sent messengers to Israel, with appeals to return to
their allegiance. Had they heeded these appeals, had [128] they
turned from Baal to the living God, Elijah's message of judgment would never
have been given. But the warnings that might have been a savor of life unto
life had proved to them a savor of death unto death. Their pride had been
wounded, their anger had been aroused against the messengers, and now they
regarded with intense hatred the prophet Elijah. If only he should fall into
their hands, gladly they would deliver him to Jezebel—as if by
silencing his voice they could stay the fulfillment of his words! In the face
of calamity they continued to stand firm in their idolatry. Thus they were
adding to the guilt that had brought the judgments of Heaven upon the land. {PK 127.4}
For stricken Israel there was but one remedy—a
turning away from the sins that had brought upon them the chastening hand of
the Almighty, and a turning to the Lord with full purpose of heart. To them had
been given the assurance, "If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or
if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My
people; if My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and
pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from
heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." 2
Chronicles 7:13, 14. It was to bring to pass this blessed result that God
continued to withhold from them the dew and the rain until a decided
reformation should take place. {PK 128.1}
Click here to read the next chapter:
"The Voice of Stern Rebuke"
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