“That’s it; God’s shutting off your water.”

1 Kings 16.29 - 17.1.

Four prophets in the Hebrew scriptures stand out above all the others: Abraham ben Terah, Moses ben Amram, David ben Jesse, and Elijah—we don’t know Elijah’s father’s name, but we know where he’s from. (Or think we do; I’ll explain in a bit.) So we know him as Elijah of Tishbe.

True, you’re gonna find people who want to add other favorite prophets to this list. Or debate whether David counts as a prophet, ’cause he was primarily a king. But these four were big deals because hearing from God led ’em to act, and what they did significantly influenced ancient Israeli history.

We get to the first appearance of Elijah right after the first appearance of Ahab ben Omri, whom the Deuteronomistic Historian considers the very worst of Israel’s kings. Right here, you’ll see why.

1 Kings 16.29- 17.1KWL

29Ahab ben Omri became king over Israel

in the 38th year of Asa, king of Judah.

Ahab ben Omri ruled over Israel

in Samaria for 22 years.

30Ahab ben Omri did evil in the LORD’s eyes,

more than everyone before him.

31It became trivial to walk

in the sins of Jeroboam ben Nabat.

Ahab took the woman Jezebel bat Ethbaal

—he was king of the Sidonians—

and went to enslave himself to the Baal,

and popularize him.

32Ahab erected an altar to Baal

in the house of Baal he built in Samaria.

33Ahab made an Asherah pole.

Ahab added to what he did

to provoke the LORD, god of Israel,

more than all Israel’s kings before him.

34In Ahab’sᴾ day,

Khiyel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho.

With Abiram his firstborn, he established her;

with Segub his youngest he set up her door,

according to the LORD’s word

which he said by the hand of Joshua ben Nun.

1Elijah of Tishbe, a settler in Gilead,

told Ahab, “By the life of the LORD,

God of Israel, whose face I stand before,

for these next years dew and rain

will come only by the word of my mouth.”

And that’s the entirety of our introduction to Elijah. Nothing more about his background other than he comes from Tishbe, which is present-day el-Ishtib, Jordan, also called Tell Mar Elias. about 53km south from Lake Tiberias, in the mountains. There are those who claim תִּשְׁבִּ֜י/tišbí, “Tishbite,” actually means “nomad”—it’s not where he’s from but what he is. Maybe. Very little is known about Tishbe.

Elsewhere in Kings we’re told Elijah is hairy and wore leather, 2Ki 1.8 and from this most Christians assume he was a Nazirite, an ascetic who swore a special vow to abstain from grapes, corpses, and cutting one’s hair. I’m not sure he was Nazirite, because he raised a boy from the dead, and touched him in order to do it, 1Ki 17.19 so that’d break a Nazirite oath. Oh, and don’t forget that glass of wine we leave him in the Passover seder.

Since there’s so little to say about Elijah, let’s back up to Ahab.

The divided kingdom, and bad kings.

Solomon ben David had created a golden age for ancient Israel, but the Deuteronomistic Historian implies he kinda did it on the backs of the poor. (Much like the United States’s own Gilded Age, and to a degree the present day.) So when leaders of the 13 tribes came to Solomon’s son Rehoboam for relief, 1Ki 12.3-4 and Rehoboam said he was only gonna be worse than his father, 1Ki 12.14 the northern tribes rejected him as king, 1Ki 12.16 and Israel was split in two, named for the biggest tribes in their factions: Ephraim in the north, and Judah in the south. (The Historian still refers to Ephraim as “Israel.”)

Ephraim made Jeroboam ben Nebat, one of Solomon’s former administrators, their king. 1Ki 12.20 Out of fear the Israelis of his kingdom might switch loyalty after visiting the LORD’s temple in Jerusalem, 1Ki 12.26-27 Jeroboam went heretic: He set up golden bulls to worship at Dan and Bethel, 1Ki 12.28-29 and told the Israelis to worship at their altars instead. Technically they were still worshiping the LORD, but because they were using golden bulls to represent him, the Historian is entirely sure they really weren’t.

Jeroboam’s family was the third dynasty to rule northern Israel, after Saul’s and David’s. Omri’s was technically the sixth. There’d been a lot of overthrowing and rebellion since Jeroboam. (Contrast this with the fact David’s family never stopped ruling Judah.) Omri overthrew the guy who overthrew the previous king, ruled 12 years, established Samaria as Ephraim’s capital, and sucked as a follower of the LORD. 1Ki 16.25-26 He died in 873BC, and his son Ahab took the throne.

Ahab wasn’t any better than his dad. Worse, according to the Historian, because he wasn’t a heretic; he was an outright pagan. He didn’t even try to follow the LORD; he worshiped “Baal,” which was the title of various Palestinian gods, and since he interacted with the Sidonians it’s likely their god Hadad. Ahab didn’t just revere this Baal Hadad for political reasons; he really worshiped him. He worshiped Baal with the same kind of enthusiasm King David had for the LORD. But way more carnal, ’cause Baalism included ritual sex. Yeah, now you know why Baal was such a temptation for so many Israelis. He never, ever had to answer your prayers; he simply needed pretty priestesses. And, if you swung that way, priests.

Ahab married the daughter of King Ethbaal of Sidon. Flavius Josephus claims Ethbaal was actually a Baalist priest. Ahab installed an altar and temple of Baal in Samaria, with an Asherah pole—a sacred wooden pillar used in the worship of the goddess Asherah, usually depicted as Hadad’s consort.

Ahab also permitted someone to rebuilt Jericho. Joshua ben Nun had cursed anyone who dared try:

Joshua 6.26 KWL

At this time Joshua had the Israelis swear,

saying, “Before the LORD’s face,

the man is cursed who rises up

and rebuilds this city Jericho.

With his firstborn, he will establish her;

with his youngest, he will set up her door.”

This reference to the firstborn and the youngest: If you get the idea these are just prophecies about the re-founder doing construction with his kids, nope. They’re cursed too. Many bibles will insert the words, “at the cost of,” or “with the loss of”—implying they’ll be killed in the construction.

The Septuagint inserted the fulfillment of this curse into the verse. Changed the guy‘s name, but still.

Joshua 6.26 KWL (from LXX)

On that day Joshua made the Israelis swear

before the Lord, saying,

“A curse upon the person who will rebuild this city!

With his firstborn he will establish her,

and with his youngest he will set up her gates.”

And eventually thus did Ozan from Bethel.

With Abiram the firstborn, he established her,

and with the youngest, whom he spared,

he set up her gates.

I’m not sure what “whom he spared” means: Did Abiram get killed, but his brother Segub not get killed? Can’t tell. Cursed either way, though.

Y’might notice in Joshua, the text says this was Joshua’s oath, but in Kings it says the LORD was saying this through Joshua. I find it interesting, anyway.

Politically, a lot of secular historians feel Ahab was actually a good king. He had a successful political marriage; it strengthened ties between Ephraim and Sidon, and it appears he actually got along with Jezebel too. He had material prosperity. His enemies were conquered. He managed to keep from getting overthrown by ambitious generals. Still died in battle, but that’ll happen.

But the Deuteronomistic Historian is absolutely correct: Those things have nothing to do with true success. Ahab, as shown in his interactions with Naboth, had no respect for personal rights and property; he was selfish, immoral, and corrupt. As shown in the way he treated Micaiah, he had no respect for the LORD except as a political pawn—and of course the LORD is nobody’s pawn. He’s correctly recognized by generations of Jews, Christians, and Muslims as the worst king Israel ever had. Yep, worse than Herod.

Enter Elijah.

We don’t know whether Elijah was a wandering prophet or an official prophet. We don’t know how extensively he was connected to the local prophetic school. We don’t know if he was rich or poor—though he had a servant, 1Ki 18.41, 19.3 so he could afford an employee. We don’t know what he did for a living, or if he had family wealth. We know next to nothing about Tishbe. The Historian doesn’t give us anything more. He’s just there, telling Ahab: “For these next years dew and rain will come only by the word of my mouth.”

We don’t know the context in which Elijah said this: Were the two of them in Ahab’s court?—and did Elijah come as a plaintiff, defendant, bystander, herald, what? Did they meet at the city gates? Was Elijah screaming this at Ahab from a distance as the king went to temple?

Elijah didn’t put any conditions on this statement either. He didn’t say, “Stop worshiping Baal and I’ll bring back the rain.” He just said the rain isn’t coming back till he says so. Then he left, and drought came. Super dramatic of him.

’Cause what Elijah was doing here wasn’t demanding repentance. He demanded attention. And when he came back, he absolutely had it. Then he could make his point.

See, as things currently were, after Ahab got finished with his Baal-establishment program, it was really hard to argue the LORD was the strongest god in Ephraim. You could claim the LORD is great until you’re blue in the face, but actions speak louder than words, and nothing gets attention like depriving people of something they absolutely need. Something Baal Hadad—a weather god—was supposed to be the master of!

Perhaps we need to do this more often: We need to demonstrate Jesus is more powerful than any of the other gods people depend upon. Sometimes people honestly don’t know who to follow, and would follow Jesus if they only knew he was there. We don’t need to call them to repent; we just need to show them their gods are powerless, and Jesus is almighty.

And this can be done in the most basic ways. Wanna demonstrate how Mammon is no real god? Make money worth nothing. Make the stock market take a tumble. Make credit lines dry up. Make real estate lose value… Hmm, wonder if somebody’s been praying for this already?