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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness Gal 5:22 |
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Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Saturday, April 25, 2020
Today's Passage : Today's Passage:Israel after Solomon (5) - Elijah Confronts Ahab Bible Verse:1 Kings 18:1-19 "After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.” So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria. And Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. And as Obadiah was on the way, Elijah met him and said, “Go, tell your lord, ‘Behold, Elijah is here.’” And he said, “As soon as I have gone from you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you I know not where. And so, when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me. Has it not been told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred men of the Lord’s prophets by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water? And Elijah said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.” When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals. Now gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.” " Message:
Although the facts are not recorded, 1 Kings makes it clear that Ahab, under the direction of his wife Jezebel, systematically slaughtered the prophets of God. These prophets would have been publicly proclaiming the evil of Jezebel’s idol worship — she was a priestess in the cult of Asherah — and warning of the destruction that God would bring to Israel because of it.
Icon of Elijah, Russia, 15th century
Elijah (Russia, 15th cent.)
The murder of prophets by various kings, in both Israel and Judah, will reappear time and time again in the New Testament as a great blot of sin attributed to the Jewish authorities. Lacking the redemptive power of Christ, the leaders of Israel carry the guilt of these murders.
What we see here, in 1 Kings, will still be a sore subject after Christ’s death: Stephen (Acts 7:51-53) will stand before the Sanhedrin and accuse the priests, right to their faces, of responsibility for the murders of these prophets, and asserting that by crucifying Christ they acted just like their “fathers” — murdering anyone who spoke God’s truth. And in fact, the last prophet, John the Baptist, was killed just as his predecessors were, for much the same reason. (Matthew 14:1-12)
This is why Ahab has been searching for Elijah, and why Elijah has been hiding from him. Jezebel wants him dead. But God has spoken to Elijah and told him that his time has come; he is to present himself to Ahab and show Israel (for the umpteenth time) the power of God, by prophesying the end of the drought.
(For those interested in Revelation, the drought lasted 3 1/2 years (James 5:17); many people tie this directly to Revelation 11:1-13, where two witnesses will come to prophesy for 1,260 days (3 1/2 Jewish years) during a drought.)
Elijah throws down the gauntlet to Ahab. He dares him to assemble the great body of pagan priests whom Jezebel supports at Mount Carmel. There is a confrontation coming! We will see “Elijah vs. Priests of Baal” in the next installment — and it’s a great story.
(The Obadiah in this passage is unrelated to the prophet Obadiah, who lived much later and has a book of the Bible named for him. Today‘s Obadiah is a high-level servant of Ahab, but a secretly righteous and god-fearing man.)
Meditation : Prayer : Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever.....Amen |
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