In 1 Kings 17.17-24 we have the story of how Elijah raised the widow’s son from the dead. In grief she says, “What do I have to do with you, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my iniquity to remembrance, and to put my son to death.” She indirectly blamed Elijah for the death of her son, and directly blamed herself for some unnamed sin she had. Whatever she did, the guilt still haunted her. She is also saying that it would have been better had they never met.
But Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.” Then he took her from her bosom and carried him up to the room that was provided for him and laid him on his own bed to be alone. He called out to Yehovah because the Lord led him there and so Elijah puts the remedy for this situation on the Lord. Elijah stretched himself out on the child three times. There is no precedent for doing this in the Scriptures, but it is not the technique that is the issue. It was the faith of Elijah in Yehovah that is the issue. He asks the Lord to restore the child’s life. Elisha would imitate this in 2 Kings 4.34. Yehovah heard the prayer of faith by Elijah and the child revived. Elijah took the child and gave him back to his mother. As a result, she is convinced that Yehovah is the one true God. This is the first instance in the Scriptures of someone being raised from the dead, and this incident may be referred to in Heb 11.35.
In 1 Kings 18.1-46 we learn about Elijah’s battle with the prophets of Baal and Asherah. The word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year (three and half years-Jam 5.17) that he was to show himself to Ahab, and God would send rain on the land, ending the drought and famine. Jewish tradition says this was around Passover, and others say it was in Tishri. But this is very eschatological.
We know that two witnesses will appear in the birth-pains (Tribulation period), one personifying Elijah and the other Moses. They will not literally be Elijah and Moses, but two individuals with the same calling and anointing, or in other words, “cut out of the same cloth.” The two witnesses will preach for the first half of the Birth-pains, or three and a half years (1260 days, 42 months, a time, times and half a time,etc). They will be killed by the False Messiah at the exact halfway point of the birth-pains, which is Nisan 10. They will also be battling false prophets.
Jezebel has been killing the prophets of Yehovah and a man who was over the household of Ahab named Obadiah hid a hundred prophets of Yehovah in a cave. Now, these men were not “prophetic” with the extraordinary prophetic office, but they were devoted to Yehovah and preached, taught, prayed and sang (1 Sam 10.10-12). Obadiah meets Elijah and he is afraid that if he tells Ahab he saw Elijah, and Elijah disappears again, that Ahab will punish Obadiah. But Elijah tells him he will meet with Ahab “today.”
When Ahab saw Elijah he called him “the troubler of Israel.” This is because he opposed Baal worship and withheld the rain (by God’s order and power) for three and a half years. But Elijah said the trouble was caused by Ahab because he had forsaken the Torah, and drought is the result of that (Deut 28.23-24). He wants Ahab to assemble all Israel to Mount Carmel, along with 450 prophets of Baal, and 400 prophets of Asherah. The Baal/Asherah scenario portrayed a husband and wife imagery in paganism.
So, everyone came together and Elijah asks them, “How long will you hesitate between two opinions (the word in Hebrew for “opinions” is “sidim” meaning “thresholds” and this alludes to concepts found in what is called the “Threshold Covenant.” See Isa 6.4 notes)? If Yehovah is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him.” The Hebrew word for “hesitate” is “pasach” and it has the same root as the word “pesach” or Passover. It means to “leap over” (the threshold). They were worshiping Baal and Asherah and calling it the worship of Yehovah. However, the people don’t answer Elijah.
Elijah says he alone is left a prophet of Yehovah, but Baal’s prophets are 450. It seems that Jezebel did not let the prophets of Asherah attend. Elijah challenges them to a test. Two bulls were to be brought, then the prophets of Baal could choose one, and Elijah would take the other bull. Then they were to cut their bull up and place it on some wood , but put no fire under it. Elijah would prepare the other bull the same way. After that, they were to call on the name of their god, and Elijah would call on the name of Yehovah, and the God who answers by fire, he is God.
So the prophets of Baal took a bull and prepared it, but put no fire under it. Then they began to call on Baal from morning till noon, the hottest part of the day. They leaped about the altar they had made. The word “leap” is the word “pasach” and the same word used in verse 21. All the while Elijah is mocking them and said they should call louder because their god was busy, or using the restroom, or perhaps he is on a journey visiting, or he is sleeping and needs to be awakened. After hearing this, they cried louder and louder. They began to cut themselves, which is against the Torah (Lev 19.28, 21.5-6; Deut 14.1).
When midday was past, they kept going till the time of the evening Tamid (about 3 p.m.) and nothing happened. Then Elijah told the people to come near, and he repaired the altar of Yehovah, possibly built by Saul in 1 Sam 15.12. He took twelve stones for the twelve tribes and said, “Israel shall be your name.” Although the twelve tribes have a divided state, they should have been united in the true worship of Yehovah.
He made a trench around the altar and divided the bull and arranged the pieces on the altar. He then said four pitchers should be filled with water. Now remember this was a drought, so they had to go down the mountain to get some water, and then carry it back up the mountain. They did this three times. This was to drive home the point to everyone that this was a drought. Then the water was poured over the offering and on the wood. He also filled the trench he made around the altar.
Then at the time of the evening Tamid offering called the “hour of prayer” (Num 28.1-8; Dan 9.21; Acts 3.1), Elijah prayed and wanted it known that Yehovah was the God of Israel, and that Elijah was his servant and that he had done all these things at the Lord’s direction. He wanted Yehovah to answer him and show the people that he was God, and to turn the hearts of the people away from idolatry. The prophets of Baal were sincere, they had passion, commitment, devotion and they worshiped. However, they did not have a God who could answer by fire.
Fire descended from the Lord, and this is an established sign of Elijah (2 Kings 1.9-15; Luke 9.54; Rev 11.5) and consumed the bull, the wood, the stones and licked up the water. When the people saw that, they fell on their faces and said, “Yehovah, he is God; Yehovah, he is God.” Then Elijah said, “Seize the prophets of Baal” (the prophets of Asherah didn’t come) and they brought them to brook Kishon and killed them. This was probably where they got the water from.
Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go eat and drink; for there is the sound of the roar of a heavy shower (wind).” So Ahab went to refresh himself, but Elijah went back up to the top of Mount Carmel. He crouched down on the earth, and put his face between his knees. This is an allusion to the birth-pains and being in labor. Woman giving birth took this position. As we have mentioned before, this could have happened in the month of Tishri due to the heavy shower coming, and the position Elijah takes here. We know that the fall festivals of Yom Teruah (Rosh Ha Shanah), Yom Kippur and Sukkot teach the birth-pains of the Messiah and the coming of Yeshua.
He tells his servant to “look toward the sea” (west, over the Mediterranean Sea) where the rains come. He is told there is nothing, but he went back seven times as Elijah prayed. This alludes to the 7000 year plan of God, but also to the seven years of the birth-pains. On the seventh time, he said a cloud about the size of man’s hand is coming from the sea. This is also very eschatological. Messiah is called the “son of the clouds” (Dan 7.13, Jude 14; Matt 24.30), and “hand” is another term for the Messiah. Zeroah means “arm” (Isa 53.1) and this includes the area from the hand to the elbow. The root for “Zeroah” is “zara” meaning “seed” (Gen 3.15). He tells his servant to tell Ahab to prepare his chariot and go down so the rain does not bog down his wheels.
So it came about that the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy shower (the early rains of Tishri). This is also a picture of the coming of Messiah. Joel 2.23 says, “For he has given you the early rain (in the fall month of Tishri) for your vindication. And he has poured down for you the rain, the early and latter (in the spring month of Nisan) in the first month.” In Hebrew, the “early rain” is “moray” and means “a teacher.” In the Dead Sea Scrolls it says, “Teacher of righteousness.” This is a clear allusion to the Messiah, and James interprets it that way in James 5.7-8.
The Lord gave Elijah unusual strength and courage and he gathered his garment and ran ahead of Ahab’s chariot to Jezreel (about 20 miles). This was to show he bore no ill will for Ahab. The Haftorah reading for the Torah portion called “Pinchas” (Num 25.10-30.1) starts in 1 Kings 18.46 and goes to 19.21. Pinchas, as you remember, showed exceptional zeal for the Lord in the Torah portion, and it connects with the zeal of Elijah in the Haftorah.
We will pick up with 1 Kings 19.1-21 in Part 17.
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