Leviticus 19:28 Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD. God immediately answered him by fire, 1 Kings 18:38; 1 Kings 18:38. I see nothing, he said. 18 And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim. Mauled by Money: The Cost of Economic Idolatry, The Bible also teaches us that the wages of our economic idolatry is death. 2. See 2 Kings 2:16. Money becomes a spiritual power that too often uses us rather than the other way around. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. 4. The sailors at this day call it Cape Carmel. Was John the Baptist conceived via an immaculate conception? 46The Lord gave his power to Elijah, who tightened his clothes around him and ran ahead of King Ahab all the way to Jezreel. (1.) 6:9). As he had shown the tenderness of a father to the sons of the prophets, so he showed the reverence of a son to this father of the prophets; and by this made it appear that he did indeed fear God greatly, that he did honour to one that was his extraordinary ambassador and had a great interest in heaven. The central story in the Torah portion is that of the Golden Calf, and thus the story of the haftarah serves as an obvious sequel to this unfortunate episode. And they did it the third time. To demonstrate that he was neither ashamed of, nor afraid for, what he had done, though he knew how Jezebel would resent it, but durst venture himself in the midst of his enemies, as being confident of the Divine power and protection. (Poole), ii. Obadiah feared God greatly; Ahab had sold himself to work wickedness; and both discovered their character by the manner of their address to the prophet. Nederlandstalige Bijbelstudies door Stan Marinussen, Copyright - Enduring Word       |      . His prayer was not long, for he used no vain repetitions, nor thought he should be heard for his much speaking; but it was very grave and composed, and showed his mind to be calm and sedate, and far from the heats and disorders that Baal's prophets were in, 1 Kings 18:36; 1 Kings 18:37. Didnt the prophet trick him? No one answered; no one paid attention (v. 29 ESV). And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. He ordered abundance of water to be poured upon his altar, which he had prepared a trench for the reception of (1 Kings 18:32; 1 Kings 18:32), and, some think, made the altar hollow. "I love Jesus and it is the honor of my life to get to portray him," he said. Elijah was no priest, nor were his attendants Levites. Baal's 450 prophets worked themselves into a frenzy, cutting themselves, dancing, and chanting to their god. Indeed, giving back to God and to his people is part of our DNA, a sign of our family resemblance to our generous Creator. There he spoke with us. This was not as a morning cloud, which passes away (though Israel's goodness was so), but one that produced a plentiful rain (Psalms 68:9), and an earnest of more. And they limped [they hobbled] around the altar that they had made." I don't think those two uses of the word limp or hobble are an accident. He that can give fire can give rain; see Matthew 9:2; Matthew 9:6. "Surely he is a god! Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, since there are many of you; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it ." So they took the bull that was given to them and prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, "O Baal, hear and answer us." Idols had always threatened to steal the love, trust, and service God deserves and demands.By equating greed with idolatry, Paul provocatively told the church they didnt have to go into a rival temple to worship another god. Does God gives us political leaders or do we vote them by choice? ESV - It is an instance of the courage of Elijah that he durst stand alone in the cause of God against such powers and numbers; and the issue encourages all God's witnesses and advocates never to fear the face of man. The manager of God's cause was but one man, lately a poor exile, hardly kept from starving; so that God's cause has nothing to support it but its own right. These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there. 41 And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain. And will a nation change their god?" I. Elijah sent Ahab to eat and drink, for joy that God had now accepted his works, and that rain was coming; see Ecclesiastes 9:7. It was strange that either he did not reform Ahab or Ahab corrupt him; but it seems they were both fixed; he that was filthy would be filthy still, and he that was holy would be holy still. hear us, O Baal! And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, 43 And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. 5:3). Some, we hope, had their hearts thus turned back, but the generality of them were convinced only, not converted, yielded to the truth of God, that he is the God, but consented not to his covenant, that he should be theirs. The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD , saying, Stand in the gate of the LORD 's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD , all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD . First, the Lord was the true God and men were to worship Him. 2. In the book of Acts, we read a most interesting and revealing number. Why did the prophets of Baal cut themselves? What was the result of this fair trial. Not only some Israelites worshipped God and others Baal, but the same Israelites sometimes worshipped one and sometimes the other. Should the explanation in Genesis on how God created plants before the sun affect the understanding of creation? Though ten of the tribes had revolted to Baal, he would look upon them as belonging to God still, by virtue of the ancient covenant with their fathers: and, though those ten were unhappily divided from the other two in civil interest, yet in the worship of the God of Israel they had communion with each other, and they twelve were one. He writes that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil that has led some to wander from the faith and pierce themselves with many griefs (v. 10). But when we worship the idol of money, when our lives are oriented primarily toward earning, getting, and keeping, we become deformed, reflecting not the image of Yahweh, Lord of heaven and earth, but money, the god of me and mine. Show these people that you commanded me to do all these things. They explore six key biblical themes of worship, community, work, equity, creation care, and rest to dig into what the Gospel means for how we use our resources. He also recognized, though, that people in his day faced a new, subtler, and perhaps even stronger temptation: to treat money as an idol like Baal, an idol to worship as a god to get what they wanted. Click to enable/disable _gat_* - Google Analytics Cookie. Micah 6:7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Ahab is the Achan, the troubler, who follows Baalim, those accursed things. Otherwise, the rain will stop him.. 3. 3 And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. When Jezebel was killing all the LORD's . Does My Passion Mean That I'm Being Called? Used by permission of Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group. Probably on that mountain they had an eminent high place, where formerly the pure worship of God had been kept up as well as it could be any where but at Jerusalem. They just added Baal worship to their insurance policy. He will put me to death. He would not make use of theirs, which had been polluted with their prayers to Baal, but, finding the ruins of an altar there, which had formerly been used in the service of the Lord, he chose to repair that (1 Kings 18:30; 1 Kings 18:30), to intimate to them that he was not about to introduce any new religion, but to revive the faith and worship of their fathers' God, and reduce them to their first love, their first works. He causeth vapours to ascend, and maketh lightnings for the rain; for this rain he did both. II. V. Elijah soon obtains from his God an answer by fire. It should seem, he made this diligent search for him, not so much that he might punish him for what he had done in denouncing the judgment as that he might oblige him to undo it again, by recalling the sentence, because he had said it should be according to his word, having such an opinion of him as men foolishly conceive of witches (that, if they can but compel them to bless that which they have bewitched, it will be well again), or such as the king of Moab had of Balaam. "In reconcilable differences (says bishop Hall) nothing more safe than indifferency both of practice and opinion; but, in cases of such necessary hostility as betwixt God and Baal, he that is not with God is against him." [3.] If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain. ), St. Joseph New Catholic Version New Testament. Then Ahab went to meet Elijah. 2 And Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab. That wanting to get rich inevitably causes such destruction? Obadiah recognized Elijah, so he bowed down to the ground and said, Elijah? St. Joseph New Catholic Version New Testament: Pocket Edition - Slightly Imperfect, St. Joseph New Catholic Version New Testament: Pocket Edition. Click to enable/disable Google reCaptcha. Because our material possessions so often seduce us into worshiping them like gods, they pose possibly the preeminent threat to worshiping Jesus. If Ahab had paid the respect to Elijah that he deserved he would have taken him into his chariot, as the eunuch did Philip, that he might honour him before the elders of Israel, and confer with him further about the reformation of the kingdom. Observe his character: He feared the Lord greatly (1 Kings 18:3; 1 Kings 18:3), was not only a good man, but zealously and eminently good; his great place put a lustre upon his goodness, and gave him great opportunities of doing good; and he feared the Lord from his youth (1 Kings 18:12; 1 Kings 18:12), he began betimes to be religious and had continued long. There he set himself, as it were, upon his watch-tower, like the prophet, Habakkuk 2:1. 21Elijah approached the people and said, How long will you not decide between two choices? The Bible states that during the encounter with Elijah the prophets of Baal, "And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them." ( 1 Kings 18:28 ) Where Do We See God's Power over Baal? If the Lord is the true God, follow him, but if Baal is the true God, follow him! But the people said nothing. Pray louder! he said. Psalms 24:6, Thy face, O Jacob!Hosea 12:4. 18During the third year without rain, the Lord spoke his word to Elijah: Go and meet King Ahab, and I will soon send rain. 2So Elijah went to meet Ahab. He hid 100 of them in two caves, when the persecution was hot, and fed them with bread and water,1 Kings 18:4; 1 Kings 18:4. Clarify Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. (Obadiah was a true follower of the Lord. [3.] Even Christ and his apostles were thus misrepresented, Acts 17:6. He did not think it enough to fear God himself, but, having wealth and power wherewith to do it, he thought himself obliged to assist and countenance others that feared God; nor did he think his being kind to them would excuse him from being good himself, but he did both, he both feared God greatly himself and patronised those that feared him likewise. The God who answered by fire, igniting the sacrifice on the altar, was the true God. 732 views, 45 likes, 11 loves, 7 comments, 73 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from : 22 2023 . This happened seven times. But it was utterly false concerning Elijah; so far was he from being an enemy to Israel's welfare that he as the stay of it, the chariots and horsemen of Israel. Obadiah therefore could with a good conscience enjoy the place, and therefore would not decline it, nor give it up, though he foresaw he could not do the good he desired to do in it. (3.) Now in their experiment observe. They covet the precedency, not only for the honour of it, but that, if they can but in the least seem to gain their point, Elijah may not be admitted to make the trial. The other should the explanation in Genesis on how God created plants before the affect. 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