10/12/11
1 kngs 16-19
matt 28
Jumping right into it...
So chapter 16 is basically there to describe a dark time in israel’s history, multiple generations of kings that one after the other got worse and seperate from their God... this is very important later. But reading it, it seems just kind of boring. Ahab is the last king in that line described in 16, and at the end of 16 we meet our man Elijah. The first scene with this dude is him telling the king basically “the next few years, I will be commanding the rain.. so deal with it” haha.. and you can believe his words, if you believe the very next scene (remember, it takes ‘faith’ to hear the spirit in reading scripture.. this story requires it :)) where god tells him to leave there, and go to a brook where he would be fed by ravens... well, he went, and the ravens were waiting with bread and meat! Sweet... If that’s not enough to seal elijah’s trust, i don’t know what would be. The lord sustained him... :)
He leaves the brook, and this next part is just beautiful. The brook dried up “some time later”, and eli (we’ll call him that for short..) went on to meet - just as the lord told him - a widow. I won’t describe it for times sake, but read her words to eli upon their meeting, and how she had nothing, and the lord - as he promised to eli - filled her jars of flour and oil, never making them go empty because of her service to eli... they both enjoyed great benefit from him finding the widow.. who had a young boy (who eli brought back to life and proved his sanction from god to her... lovely). orphans & widows... :)
anyway.. elijah goes on to meet one of the kings respected journeymen (obadiah) who was sent to look for food in the land, there was a famine (i’m realizing now writing this well after reading it how important that is.. he found the answer to the famine on his journey... eli).. he’s described as a ‘devout believer in the lord’. Eli meets him, and their interaction I could write a book about, but for times sake, i move on.. (read it).
Eli’s taken to see the king, who has been looking for eli for years (i’m not certain if he wanted to kill him or not). Eli convinces him that to prove who is lord in israel, they should have a prophecy competition! ha...
So, israel had gotten so messed up that they killed all the lords prophets, only eli remained. But there were to be 450 prophets for Baal (a false god) at this competition...
Stick with me... this is crazy..
In front of israels people, on the mountain of Carmel, they both would slice up a bull, build an alter, and see which god could bring fire and cook the meat.
Well, 1st team up is carmel... and they tried everything, singing, dancing, cutting themselves.. it’s actually a pretty funny scene because elijahs kind of a smart ass, check it out (1kngs18:26-29). “but there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.” their god was false...
Next team... Elijah and his god. Get ready...
His altar he made had 12 stones (12 tribes... very important later.. read on) stacked somehow, then he dug a trench around it..
Three times he told his servants to pour the equivelant of 15 liters over the top of it, wetting it, the wood, the meat, and filling the trench.. Three times... remember that.
He prays to god (beautiful prayer.. 1kngs18:36-37), and the fire is lit. people fell prostrate (haha, funny to imagine a whole city like this, must’ve been a crazy sight god proving himself that way), and worshiped.
Elijah, upon proving himself then had the 450 prophets of ball seized, taken away, and killed... which at first seemed extreme, but after thinking about it i have a different opinion.. wont share for times sake.. ask if interested
moving on...
Elijah now was on a mountain waiting for the rain to come.. (haha i bet he was, he had just promised rain to the king). Anyway, seven times he sends his servant back to the viewpoint to look for a cloud coming.. (Seven times, important later, read on). The seventh time, he sees one.
Eli goes to tell the king, and meets jezebel there who wasn’t happy with him (crazy interaction, read it, i’m movin on..), so eli fled...
He went to the desert, walked tired for a day, and asked the lord to take his life... doubting his calling, saying 'take me lord, I am no better than my ancestors'..
Amidst this doubt & confusion... he woke up to...
... a meal prepared by an angel of the lord :) What a beautiful gift in his time of trouble...
This meal would sustain him for the next 40 days and 40 nights as he wandered through the desert looking for mt horeb (see a pattern?)
After the 40 days, the lord asked him why he was here, “his answer”, and he sent him to the mountain where "the lord was about to pass by"... ??
Now this is crazy... he went to this mountain, and three things happened... read it. summed up...
‘the mtns where eli stood were ripped apart by the wind...
... but the lord was not in the wind
a great earthquake happened...
... but the lord was not in the earthquake
a fire burned everything up...
... but the lord was not in the fire
relate?
Then suddenly, IT ALL STOPPED.
... and eli heard a whisper...
Now, some might interpret that whisper as being from god.. (read it, what do you think?). I think it was of satan, because what it made him do was kinda crazy, pulling his shirt over his face and walking around.. comeon.
Also because after he did that, it says a voice said to him (the voice of god, not a sinister ‘whisper’ that follows the violent wind, earthquake, and fire that ‘the lord was not in’... think about it), ‘what u doin eli?’ - God. haha..
After that, all he had just gone through (forty days & nights traveling the desert, a horrific mountain top experience that ‘the lord was not in’..) his answer is beautiful, and true to his Lord.. click to read.
The lord is happy with him, and sends him back from where he came with the task of anointing two kings (probably important later, but now... elisha :)), and find Elisha, who was to be his successor as prophet.
He found him, and get this... he was in a field plowing it with twelve oxen (12! tribes?!). The scene of him leaving his town to be with elijah is pretty beautiful, if u have time read it (1kngs19:19-21), but i’m movin on..
So, stay with me for how jesus fits in... mth 28, and a talk about #’s..
I saw all these numbers in these chapters (7, 3, 12, 40), and how important those numbers are throughout scripture... off the top of my head I can think of these couple ties... will find more later..
7- creation days... # of times elijah told servant to go back... 7 angels in revelation
12- tribes descended from jacob... stones elijah used... oxen elisha plowed with... jesus’ apostles...
3 - elijah's water pours over alter... jesus’ days dead... # of diseasters brought on elijah.. sooo many more i’m sure
40 - jesus’ days of temptation... moses’ time (40 yrs on mt sinai, 40 yrs in desert)... elijah’s # of days in desert
I’m thinking how to incorporate those numbers (beauuuutiful reminders) into my next tattoo.. :) artists? ideas?
And so now we’ve met elisha... i decided a great name for my boy someday is eli... a combination of two god fearing men who heard his voice with clarity.. elijah & elisha.
I soaked in that section of kings for a bit, then went to read my next chapter in matthew, the last chapter of the book. Get ready...
Jesus came back after three days (in seperation from God.. hell), and appeared to them for forty days...
... so get this, when I was reading matthew, I was like ‘wouldn’t it be great if he was back for 40 days, it would make perfect sense’... I thought this because the other times 40 is referred to in the bible was for times of going into the desert.. Acts 1:3 tells us that jesus was here on earth, giving life after his resurrection, for 40 days.. :)
.. he then went to his disciples ... and to his 11 apostles... originally, 12, before one went sour.
so if you haven’t gotten it by now, the numbers used in these two sections of scripture are blowing my mind..
there are 12 apostles, 12 tribes, one apostle goes corrupt and gives up jesus, israel has gone corrupt, and jesus has come to save and bring life... in glory
The way it happened (happens?) is so important..
... these numbers we will continue to see throughout scripture.. revelation they’re all over the place! and that’s prophecy.. for what is still yet to come.. read it, please. My favorite book...
Matthew ends with the great commission... simply beautiful. If u have time, click :)
So here next time... elisha is being mentored by elijah, and i jump into the first books of mark, also picking through hebrews still...
Rock on! have a blessed, spirit filled day!
:)
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