T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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Alone, solemnly, he prepares th e bul lock for sacrifice. At th e tim e of th e evening sacri fice E lijah prayed to th e God of A bra ham , Isaac and Jacob, confessed his faith in Jehovah, acknowledged God’s Word,’ plead for th e re tu rn of Israel to th e Lord. The a lta r itself was a confession of th e sin of th e people. God honored E lijah ’s faith and the fire fell and all was consumed— the sacrifice, tlm wood, th e stones, the dust and the w ater in th e trench. W hat a rebuke to unbelief! W hat hum iliation for Ahab! W hat retrib u tion for the false prophets! The wonderful victory for God on Mount Carmel perhaps inspired E lijah w ith hope th a t Ahab m ight change his ways, bu t Ahab had reported to Jeze bel all th a t E lijah had done, and she was hot w ith w rath and swore th a t she would have the life of th e prophet. E lijah was filled w ith fear and fled from h er for his life. How could a man who had faced ' Israel and Baal flee from a woman? The influences which operated to bring about th is condition were many. In th e first place, E lijah, in th is emer gency, failed to call upon God. He was bold when in communion w ith the Lord, as w itness his words to Ahab: “As th e Lord liveth before whom I stand .” But his eyes for th e tim e seemed to be off from God and on Jezebel, like P eter (Matt. 14:30)'. “B u t w h e n h e sa w th e w in d b o iste ro u s , h e w a s a f ra id ; an d , b e g in n in g to s in k h e cried , s a y in g , L o rd , sa v e m e.” Then, E lijah was self-conscious and th is made him self-confident. He be gan to associate th e victory w ith him self, thu s detracting from God’s glory. It is n o t th e in strum en t bu t th e hand th a t uses it th a t does the work. It was thu s th a t Moses failed a t Meribah (Num. 20 :10 ). “A nd M oses a n d A aro n g a th e r e d th e co n g r e g a tio n to g e th e r b e fo re th e ro c k , a n d h e sa id u n to th e m i H e a r n o w y e re b e ls, m u s t w e fe tc h y o u w a te r :o u t o f th e ro c k ? ” (C f. v. 10, “I, ev en I,’’ 2 C or. 12s 7-».)
ing, he appears before th e king, as Melchizedek appeared to Abram, Moses to P haraoh, and John th e B aptist to Herod, and delivers his message, “ I have come to sh u t up th e heavens!” H aving delivered his message, he obeys God’s command and hides him self a t the brook Cherith where God had made provision fo r him , during the predicted tim e of famine. From Cherith, he goes to Z arephath, where God had commanded a widow woman to feed him (1 Ki. 17:9) from h er own scanty store. During th is tim e oc curred the incident of th e raising of th e son of the widow w om in from the dead. Three years and six months passed and th en God sent E lijah to meet Ahab who, when found, greeted him w ith these words: “ A rt thou he th a t troub leth Israel?” Note E lijah 's an swer: “I h a v e n o t tro u b le d I s r a e l; b u t th o u a n d th y f a th e r ’s h o u se , in t h a t y e h av e f o rs a k e n th e c o m m a n d m e n ts o f th e L o rd a n d h a v e fo llo w ed B a alim . N ow , therefore*" se n d , a n d g a th e r to m e a ll I s r a e l u n to M o u n t C a rm el a n d th e p ro p h e ts o f B a a l fo u r h u n d re d a n d fifty , a n d th e p ro p h e ts o f th e g ro v e fo u r h u n d re d w h ic h e a t a t Je z e b e l’s ta b le .” (2) EL IJAH ’S PUBLIC TESTI MONY FOR JEHOVAH. Ahab accepted the challenge and or dered th e people to assemble a t Mount Carmel, w ith th e prophets oif Baal. Then E lijah issued his challenge to th e people, “ If the Lord be God, fol low H im ; and if Baal, th en follow him ,” proposing th e following test: Two altars were to be erected, two sacrifices prepared, and the god th a t answered by fire was to be acknowl edged as God. The challenge was accepted and the priests of Baal prepared th e ir a ltar and sacrifice, calling upon th e ir god all day long, w ithout avail. Then E lijah called th e people n ear and re paired th e a lta r of th e Lord, tak ing care to avoid any appearance of sleight- of-hand. The te st was to be above suspicion. It was to be convincing.
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