1 Reis 17

1 Reis 17

Morgan - And Elijah the Tishbite.—1 Kings 17.1. This sudden introduction of Elijah is in itself suggestive of the startling and dramatic way in which he broke in on the national life of the kingdom of Israel. To this day there are doubts as to his nationality and parentage. He came like a bolt from the blue; or, more accurately, he flamed like a lightning flash upon the prevailing darkness. His coming was the initiation of a new method in the Divine government, that of prophetic authority. There had been prophets before, but with the appearance of Elijah the office was elevated to one of supreme national importance. From that point onward the prophet was superior to the king. Presently kings arose whose hearts were set upon reform, but their work was directed by the prophets of God, through whom the Divine will was made known. The very first words of Elijah declared his authority. He affirmed that Jehovah the God of Israel lived; and he announced the fact that in the message he was about to deliver he spoke as the messenger of the enthroned Jehovah. The Divine action in thus sending Elijah was arresting. All earthly authority and protection were swept aside as being unnecessary. In simplest ways God protected His messenger, and provided for him. Thus God does break in upon human affairs, and assert Himself ever and anon, by some messenger. Men may refuse the message, and persecute the messenger; but the word he speaks is the word of Jehovah, and it is the word by which men live or die according to their response to it. Robert Morgan - Chickens and Spiders and Dogs - Borrow From this Verse John Brenz, friend of Martin Luther, remembered this verse from 1 Kings while hiding from the Spanish Cavalry. Emperor Charles V repeatedly tried to assassinate him, and on one occasion Brenz barely heard of the plot in time to grab a loaf of bread and duck into his neighbor’s hayloft. There he hid fourteen days. The bread was quickly gone, but the Lord sent a hen who showed up and laid an egg each day for fourteen days. In this way, Brenz was kept alive. On the fifteenth day the chicken didn’t come, and the reformer wondered what he would do. But from the street below came the cries, “The cavalrymen are gone at last.” In a similar way, a dog provided for the needs of another reformer, John Craig, who was arrested during the Inquisition. On the eve of his scheduled execution, Craig escaped, but while fleeing through the Italian backcountry, he ran out of food and money. Suddenly a dog approached him, a purse in its mouth. Craig tried to drive the animal away, but the dog persisted in bringing the purse to Craig. In it was enough money to take him to freedom. Here’s one more story. Robert Bruce of Scotland was running for his life, fleeing persecutors. He ducked into a small cave, and a spider immediately appeared and spun a web over the opening. Bruce’s pursuers fanned across the landscape, knowing he was near. Two of them approached the cave, and one of the men started to go in. The other one stopped him, saying, “He could never have gotten in there without breaking that spider’s web.” Bruce breathed this prayer, “O God, I thank Thee that in the tiny bowels of a spider you can place for me a shelter.” Ravens, chickens, dogs, spiders, and creatures great and small—as Jesus once said of a donkey, the Master has need of them. Charles Swindoll - SPECIAL PEOPLE FOR SPECIAL TIMES Read 1 Kings 16:29–17:1 see Great Days with the Great Lives: Daily Insight from Great ... - Page 153 God looks for special people at difficult times. God needed a special man to shine the light in the blackness of those days. But God didn’t find him in the palace or the court. He didn’t find him walking around with his head down in the school of the prophets. He didn’t even find him in the homes of the ordinary people. God found him in Tishbeh, of all places. A man who would stand in the gap couldn’t be suave or slick; he had to be rugged—soft-hearted with a tough hide. God looked for somebody who had the backbone to stand alone. Someone who had the courage to say, “That’s wrong!” Someone who could stand toe to toe with an idolatrous king and his wicked wife and proclaim, “God is God.” And I searched for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. (Ezekiel 22:30) In our culture—our schools, our offices and factories, our lunchrooms and boardrooms, our halls of ivy and our halls of justice—we need men and women of God, including young people of God. We need respected professionals, athletes, homemakers, teachers, public figures, and private citizens who will promote the things of God, who will stand alone—stand tall, stand firm, stand strong! How’s your stature? How’s your integrity? Have you corrupted your principles just to stay in business? To get a good grade? To make the team? To be with the “in” crowd? To earn the next rank or promotion? Have you winked at language or behavior that a few years ago would have horrified you? Are you, right now, compromising morally because you don’t want to be considered a prude? Those who find comfort in the court of Ahab can never bring themselves to stand in the gap with Elijah. 1 Kings 17:2 The word of the LORD came to him, saying, 1Ki 12:22 1Ch 17:3 Jer 7:1 11:1 18:1 Ho 1:1,2 1 Kings 17 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries GOD SPEAKS TO HIS PROPHET The word of the LORD came to him, saying - The word of the LORD is God's revelation to Elijah. Exactly how God communicated to His prophet is not stated. Clearly the phrase the word of the LORD is a key element in chapter 17, for it appears 5x in 24 verses (1Ki 17:2, 5, 8, 16, 24 and 1Ki 17:14 is God actually speaking the Word). Lacey rightly emphasizes that "It was Elijah’s personal knowledge of, and relationship with, the Lord that enabled the Lord to speak to him."....He knew the Lord and the Lord knew him. Undoubtedly, the Lord had the same confidence in Elijah that he had had in Abraham concerning the disclosure of the impending judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah: “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?… For I know him” (Gen 18:17, 19). The Lord does not reveal His will to those in whom He has no confidence. (What the Bible Teaches – 1 and 2 Kings.) THOUGHT - How is your communion with Jehovah? Do you ever experience His Spirit "speaking" (not literally of course) to you through the Word as you spend time with Him in the morning? Perhaps you need to do some personal inventory as suggested by Psalm 66:18. "If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear." (cf Ps 139:23-24) 1 Kings 17:3 “Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. hide: 1Ki 22:25 Ps 31:20 83:3 Jer 36:19,26 Joh 8:59 Ac 17:14 Heb 11:38 Rev 12:6,14 1 Kings 17 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Possible Location of Cherith Brook (ESV Study Bible) (Click to Enlarge) GO EAST YOUNG MAN! Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide (cathar/satar; Lxx - krupto) yourself by the brook Cherith (see map above for possible location), which is east of the Jordan - On the map above while the location of the brook Cherith is not known with absolute certainty, it is depicted as almost directly east of Samaria, the city which is where Elijah may have addressed Ahab. God gives Elijah 3 specific instructions. Note that there is no record of a reply from Ahab after Elijah gives him the bad news of the drought. God's sending Ahab to a relatively secluded place would have thwarted any efforts by Ahab to get rid of the troubler of Israel (1Ki 18:17) (But see Lacey's comment below). I love Warren Wiersbe's comment - "Go, hide yourself!" was God's command, and three years later the command would be, "Go, show yourself!" By leaving his public ministry, Elijah created a second "drought" in the land—an absence of the Word of the Lord (cf Amos 8:11). God's Word was to the Jewish people like the rain from heaven (Dt. 32:2; Isa. 55:10): it was essential to their spiritual lives, it was refreshing, and only the Lord could give it. The silence of God's servant was a judgment from God (Ps. 74:9), for not to hear God's living Word is to forfeit life itself (Ps. 28:1). (Bible Exposition Commentary) David