Elijah: Prophet of Courage

KEY VERSE: “Elijah came unto all the people, and said, Now long halt ye between two opinions? If the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.” —I Kings 18:21

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: I Kings 18:17, 18

ELIJAH PROVED HIMSELF to be a faithful and courageous prophet of God in the days of King Ahab and his pagan queen, Jezebel, who together were no doubt the most wicked rulers of the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel. The Bible introduces the prophet as Elijah the Tishbite, an inhabitant of Gilead; aside from this we are given no information. Elijah’s name is fittingly said to mean, “My God is Jehovah.”

Because the kings of Israel had turned to the heathen worship of Baal, Elijah appeared before King Ahab to announce God’s decree that a drought was coming as a punishment upon their nation. The prophet said, “There shall not be dew nor rain, these years, but according to my word.” Angered at this, Ahab determined to kill Elijah. But the Lord protected his servant, telling him to abide by the brook, Cherith, near Jordan. God said he would “drink of the brook and be fed by the ravens.” (I Kings 17:4-6) Later the Lord provided a widow woman to sustain Elijah.”—vss. 9-15

Fully three years later the Lord directed Elijah, to tell Ahab that he would soon send rain again. And so Elijah approached Ahab to propose a test to demonstrate to the people that Jehovah was the true God. (I Kings 18:1,2) Ahab was to summon all 450 prophets of Baal to prepare a sacrifice to Baal. Two bullocks were to be provided by the people; the prophets of Baal should choose one, and Elijah would take the other. “Then, Elijah came unto all the people and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.”—vs. 21

Then Elijah continued: “Call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord”; the God that answers by sending fire, to light the wood is the true God. All the people agreed, and the test began. The prophets of Baal prepared their bullock, but placed no fire under it; they cried unto Baal from morning until noon: “Baal, hear us.” But there was no reply of any kind. Vainly the people waited for a response from their god. Elijah courageously called out to them, “He is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.” But there was “neither voice nor any answer.”—vss. 25-29

Now came Elijah’s opportunity. He put the wood upon the altar, laid the bullock on the altar and said, “Fill four barrels with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.” This they did the second and the third time, even to filling the trench around the altar with water. Then Elijah said, “Hear me O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God. Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it they fell on their faces and they said, The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God.” This was a great victory for Jehovah! The long drought was broken that very day, and Elijah directed that all the prophets of Baal should be slain.—vss. 30-40

Men today still worship false gods—although different from those encountered by Elijah. But the Apostle Paul assures us all evil will be forever abolished in Christ’s millennial kingdom, soon to be established in the earth. God “desires all men to be saved and to come to an accurate knowledge of the truth.”—I Tim. 2:4; Acts 4:12, Wilson’s Diaglott

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