1 Kings 18.16-20.
Look for a moment at
Some oddly-dressed prophet from an old tribal religion you don’t practice, shows up and declares the rain will stop till he says otherwise. Then he leaves for parts unknown… and the drought happens. Your god Baal-Hadad, who specializes in weather—his idols even hold a lightning bolt!—can’t undo it. You’re a polytheist—you never believed Elijah’s god isn’t real; he’s just not your favorite. ’Cause the L
As you’re sending messengers to every country round about, the wife starts killing the L
And then Elijah just shows up. Just as you’re scrounging for grass to feed what’s left of your dehydrating, hungry herds.
What do you do in this situation? Right: You cut his bloody head off, mount it on a pole, and display it in Samaria for all to see and fear. This is what happens to those who defy their king. It’s what any good tyrant would do.
Yet somehow Elijah manages to mouth off to Ahab a bit, then orders the king—yep, a subject who could command a king to do stuff, and the king obeyed—to bring 850 of his gods’ prophets to
1 Kings 18.16-20 KWL 16 Obadiah went to give the message to Ahab,- and told him.
- Ahab went to give the message to Elijah.
17 When Ahab happened to see Elijah,- Ahab said to him, “Is this you?¹
- —making trouble for Israel?”
18 Elijah said, “I don’t make trouble for Israel;- that’s you¹ and your¹ father’s house,
- by you² abandoning Y
HWH ’s commands - and walking behind the Baals.
19 Now, reach out:- Bring me, from all Israel, at Mount Karmél,
- 450 of Baal’s prophets,
- and 400 of Asherah’s prophets
- who feed at Jezebel’s table.”
20 Ahab reached out to all Israel’s descedants,- and gathered the prophets at Mount Karmél.
“Jezebel’s table” means Jezebel personally financed them. The king and queen of Sidon were automatically the head priests of Baal-Hadad and Asherah, respectively. If Ahab and Jezebel were duplicating this setup in Ephraim, he’d be in charge of Baal’s worship, which’d include the prophets; she’d be in charge of Asherah’s.
Kharmél was 72km away from the prophets’ comfortable home in Samaria, and a bit of a climb. (I took a bus there; that’s the way to go.) And I’m pretty sure the Baalite prophets had no interest in traveling up a mountain just to hear a solitary prophet of the L
How’d Elijah get away with all this? My guess is after three years of begging Baal to please produce water, any water, Ahab had finally lost patience with his useless god. The L
Charisma? Ulterior motives? Nah.
Years ago I assumed part of what let Elijah get away with challenging Ahab, was a bit of personal charisma. I’ve met people who have this trait: You meet ’em and automatically like them. Unfortunately this lets them get away with a lot of ill behavior; I’ve discovered this trait in certain politicians who seem to always get forgiven by the voters, even when the voters really oughta tar and feather them. Certain pastors likewise use it to get away with sin.
This’d explain why Ahab might want him dead… but then met him and did a 180° turn. This’d also explain why Jezebel, who hadn’t yet met him, still wanted him dead.
But this is all speculation. Elijah could just as well have come across as intimidating, because after all he stopped the rain. It came back on his say-so. The L
And again: Baal’s supposed to be the weather god. Supposed to be who decides whether it rains or not. Supposed to be a god, whom no human should be able to hinder. Yet Elijah was hindering Ahab’s patron god. A human was.
That’s pretty awe-inspiring on its own. That kind of power won’t necessarily stop you from getting your head struck off by an enraged king, who might imagine, “Hmm, once Elijah is dead, Baal won’t be hindered anymore. Better kill him quickly!” Which is why Elijah might’ve had to be personally intimidating, somehow. And he certainly comes across as fearless in standing up to Ahab.
Some Christians have preached Ahab was so secure in his kingship and position, he didn’t smite Elijah because he figured out what he was up to, and figured his prophets could easily take Elijah on. I remind you Ahab had no idea what Elijah was planning. We know, ’cause we have the bible which tells of it. Ahab had no idea this was gonna be a contest and his prophets would lose good and hard.
So... what to take from this story. Obviously Elijah stood up to Ahab fearlessly, and when we have to speak the truth to people in positions of authority, we need to likewise concentrate on telling them the truth rather than fearing for our jobs, lives, status, and so forth. Our possessions must come a distant second to the truth. Otherwise it’s as if we’ve stolen them—we committed fraud to hold onto them.
Elijah doesn’t seem to have possessions, so he’s not risking much. Maybe the rest of us would do well to give up, or at least give up any attachment to, whatever things we own that might likewise get in the way.
Some people, of course, can’t handle the truth. Sometimes they react with violent denial, as Ahab does in another story. Sometimes the truth overwhelms them and gets them to respond, as Ahab does in this story. People aren’t always predictable when it comes to truth. Always best to just side with the truth.
