Wed 22nd July – 1 Kings 18:15-19

Wed 22^nd July  –  Read 1 Kings 18:15-19

V15:  Elijah, in absolute conviction that he is in the hands of the living God, tells Obadiah he will see Ahab this day. His God is ” the Lord of hosts” – sometimes rendered ” the Lord of the heavenly armies”- , the Almighty God whose full resources and power are beyond our imagining! This God is our God – may our confidence be like Elijah’s!

V16:  Obadiah argues no longer, he goes to find Ahab, and indeed Ahab comes to meet Elijah. Under God’s hand it is not the despotic king who is in command of all that happens here, but the humble servant of the Lord, as events will go on to show.

V17-18:  At once Ahab blames Elijah as ” the troubler of Israel”. God’s people will often be the subject of abuse and false accusation for their faith and witness ( See Matthew 10 v25.) But Elijah at once lays the blame for bringing this time of judgement upon Israel where it truly lies, with Ahab and his equally godless predecessors, who have led Israel into the worship of false gods. “The Baals” here is a general term for these false gods, where later in the chapter “Baal” is the “proper name” of the chief Canaanite god, a god of fire and thunder.

V19:  Elijah, with God’s spirit clearly directing him and giving him an authority which cannot be resisted, tells Ahab to summon the people of Israel to Mount Carmel – a “high place” which at this time is one of the centres of false worship, in defiance of God, and perhaps seen as “sacred” to Baal! And to summon the prophets of Baal and of other false gods, who appear to be favourites of Jezebel. A great contest between truth and falsehood is about to be set up!