1 Kings 17.
Christian Friend vol. 19, 1892, p. 197.
The energy of the Spirit of God is often most strikingly displayed in the times of darkest spiritual corruption. It was so in the case of Elijah. At the close of the preceding chapter the awful state of things in connection with the reign of Ahab is briefly presented: "Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him." Not only did he continue in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, but he also went and married a heathen wife; and thereon he adopted the worship of Baal. Full-blown apostasy is therefore seen in Ahab.
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Man may shut God out of his thoughts, but he cannot hide himself from God's eyes. We thus learn, at the very commencement of chap. 17, that God had already lifted His arm to chastise His guilty people, and that His servant went to announce the coming judgment to the apostate king. "As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word." Israel, under the leadership of Ahab and Jezebel, had forsaken the fountain of living waters, and now they should learn, not only that the cisterns, the broken cisterns, which they had hewn for themselves, could hold no water, but also that all the natural sources of life should be dried up under the judgment of God.
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There is no previous mention of Elijah. God had prepared His servant in secret for His work, and then, at the needed moment, he appeared upon the scene. It is always so in the great crises of the history of God's people. When it seems to the eye of unbelief that there is none to guide them any more, none to take them by the hand, and that their condition is hopeless because the enemy has come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord thrusts forth some chosen vessel to raise a standard against the advancing power of the foe. Gideon, Jephthah, Samuel, and David, as well as many more, will be remembered as exemplifications of this principle - a principle which ministers encouragement and hope to believers in every age when cast down and despondent because of prevailing corruptions.
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One thing we are permitted to gather from another scripture of Elijah's previous history. It is that he was a man who walked with God, and was therefore characterised by spiritual power, while maintaining this place of dependence and communion. We thus read in the epistle of James that "Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months." (James 5:17.) There is not a word of this in our chapter; and this accounts for the peculiar introduction of the prophet to our notice. It is not said that he was sent by Jehovah with the message to the king, nor even that he was a prophet; but "Elijah the Tishbite [who was], of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab." With the light afforded by James we may perceive that he had been brought into the knowledge of God's mind through his own exercises of soul, and that he could, on this account, in the assured confidence of his prayers having been heard, proclaim with certainty what was coming upon Israel. If his office was an exalted one, his spiritual condition suited him for it.
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Bearing this in mind, the terms of his announcement become all the more significant. It is not, as before noticed, "Thus says the Lord," but, "As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand." Ahab and his people might refuse the God of their fathers, and choose their own idols; but for faith, and hence for Elijah, Jehovah was still the Lord God of Israel. If the people believed not, God was still faithful, and Elijah reposed on the rock of God's unchanging love and covenant. There is however more: "As the Lord God of Israel lives." Dead idols had usurped His place, and Ahab and Israel were acting as if Jehovah were like to the gods they had made for themselves. In contrast with this, He was for Elijah the living God. And it is a grand thing for the soul when this simple truth has its true place and power.
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The position and service of Elijah are strikingly set forth by the succeeding words - "before whom I stand." From many other scriptures we learn that to stand before another is to place oneself at the other's disposal, to occupy, in fact, the position of a servant. We read, for example, of Gehazi, that, after he had followed Naaman, and obtained from him the talents of silver and the changes of raiment, he went in and "stood before" his master, thus resuming his place of service. Elijah in like manner was characterized by standing before the Lord God of Israel, waiting ever there to do His bidding, even as the angels who do His commandments, hearkening to the voice of His word. And let it be remembered, that Elijah was as much the servant when silently waiting for the indication of his Master's will, as when executing His commissions. As has been written, "They also serve who stand and wait." Blessed position and attitude, for therein are contained the two great principles of the Christian life, viz., dependence and obedience.
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It should also be noticed that the announcement, that there should not be dew nor rain, is connected with the word of Elijah; "but," he added, "according to my word." If Elijah possessed the mind of Jehovah, and communicated it in the power of the Holy Ghost, God would vindicate His own name, and the truth of His servant, by using the one who had proclaimed the judgment to foretell the return of blessing. This is exceedingly beautiful; and it shows, at the same time, how careful the Lord is, in His precious grace, to sustain His servants who go forth in His name to do His bidding. Elijah had pledged the name of the Lord God of Israel, as the living God, to the certain fulfilment of his announcement; and hence Elijah must be the channel through which the cessation of judgment would be revealed. It is the identification of Jehovah with His servant, so that, as the Lord said to His disciples, "He that receives whomsoever I send receives me." This is unspeakable grace on the Lord's part, and a surpassing privilege and responsibility for the servant.
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Whenever God publicly chastises His people, even those that are apart from the sins that have occasioned the discipline share its governmental consequences. Elijah is thus subject to the deprivations which followed upon the drought as well as Ahab. There is however an immense difference. God was against Ahab, and He therefore would cause the king to feel the unmitigated effects of the judicial rod; on the other hand God was for Elijah, and He would consequently sustain His servant, and meet his needs by the ministrations of His favour outside of His own governmental order. This principle is stated in one of the Psalms, "Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him, upon them that hope in His mercy; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine." (Psalm 33:18-19.) And this principle is notably exemplified in the case of Elijah - as seen in the following incidents in our chapter.
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First, however, it may be remarked, that as soon as Elijah's work was, for the moment, done, he is immediately withdrawn from public notice. "The word of the Lord came to him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan." The servant has no importance in himself, nor must he have any in the eyes of others, saving in so far as he is the representative of his Master. When therefore Elijah's special mission was accomplished, he was immediately withdrawn, that, in quiet and retirement, he might again stand before the Lord God of Israel, until he should be sent forth on another errand. Happy it is for the servant who thus understands his place, who seeks nothing for himself, who endeavours at all times to hide himself behind the One who sends him, and who never courts notice or favour on his own account. A true servant ever seeks to attract the attention of those to whom he is sent, not to himself, but to his Master.
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There was probably a twofold object in sending Elijah to hide himself by the brook Cherith. The first was that he might apprehend that the source of all strength for service lay in his being alone with God. The times were difficult, and immense spiritual energy would be needed for his arduous service in the midst of an apostate people. It was therefore absolutely necessary that he should have to do with God in the secret of his own soul, learning what he himself was, and then what God was in all His boundless resources for those who trusted in Him. Secondly, he was to learn his entire dependence on his Master. By the brook of Cherith he was cut off from all visible sources of natural sustainment, and the Lord God of Israel would, by feeding him through the ravens, teach him that He Himself was enough for him in all circumstances. But, as ever, the Lord taught His servant by degrees - as he was able to bear it; for at the beginning there was water in the brook. Then "it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land." The Lord will now prove Elijah by a severer test; but we must reserve this for another occasion, remarking only that the all-sufficiency of God is ever more fully known, in proportion as we learn that this world is a dry and thirsty land where no water is.