Last time we watched the rain fall as a result of the people turning back to the one true God. Now we turn confidently to the next chapter in the story of the people of Israel.
Unfortunately we all make mistakes . . . .
Read 1 Kings 19:1-4
1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”
3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”
We don’t know how long Ahab stopped to eat or Elijah waited for the cloud. As it was already past ‘the time for the evening sacrifice’ some people may have returned home immediately while others took part in the slaughter of the priests of Baal, however it’s most likely that Ahab’s party were the first to bring news of what had happened to the palace in Jezreel.
The torrential rain was a fitting conclusion to that eventful day. The king and the prophet would have been soaked to the skin by the time they both reached Jezreel. While Ahab was received at the palace by Jezebel, Elijah probably stopped at the palace gate, waiting for others to return who might offer him shelter and food.
All day long the queen had been wondering what had been happening on Mount Carmel. She had desperately hoped that Baal had triumphed; and when she saw the rain clouds racing across the sky, she was relieved that there was obviously a result. But still she waited fretfully. Finally, probably around midnight, she heard a commotion, the door opened and Ahab entered. ‘Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the Prophets with the sword.’
Did Ahab make a good reporter? Was he biased?
What mention was there of what God had done?
Jezebel was incensed. She was like a tigress robbed of her young. It seems that Ahab's temperament was totally materialistic; if the palace supplies were maintained, and the horses and mules were cared for, he was content. He couldn’t understand people becoming so passionate about religion. In his judgement there was not much to choose between God and Baal. His philosophy was take life easy; eat, drink and be merry. Now the rain had come the problem was solved.
Not so with Jezebel. She was as fanatical as he was indifferent. Crafty, unscrupulous, scheming and thoroughly evil, she sought to mould Ahab to her mind.
To Jezebel this was a major crisis and she knew she had to act quickly. If this national reformation were permitted to spread, it would sweep away before it all that she had spent her life striving for. She must strike, and strike at once. So that very night, amid the violence of the storm, v2: ‘she sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the Gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them." ’
That message tells us something of Jezebel's nature.
Did she really want him dead?
What would the death of Elijah actually achieve?
He would become a Martyr and the people would turn against Jezebel and Ahab.
If she had really wanted him dead the messenger would have been told to kill him there and then. And killing people who got in her way was not a problem for Jezebel (remember Naboth’s vineyard? – we'll study that later). Instead she controlled her fury and contented herself with threats, in the middle of the night, when Elijah was already exhausted, which were designed to cause him to run in fear. This would in turn discredit him in the eyes of his new converts, and she would be free to repair the havoc he had caused. Sadly, in this she was only too successful.
Is this a method often used by the devil in his attacks on Christians?
Do worries and fears planted in our hearts and minds actually do us more harm than the things we are afraid of?
How often does the thing we worry about ever actually cause us trouble?
How often is the outcome as bad as we feared?
It is a fact that in times of war, those people living on the outskirts of the war zone, who may hear but never experience any fighting, can suffer from severe psychological disorders caused by constant worry. Those who are in the thick of it, while perhaps suffering physically, are much better able to withstand the mental strain. Our minds will inevitably imagine things to be worse than they are. The devil knows this, and is not slow to take advantage of any fear we may have.
Elijah's presence in the nation of Israel had never been needed so much as now. The eradication of evil had commenced, and the people were in a mood to carry it through to the end. The people probably had by now associated the terrible effects of the three-year drought with their own apostasy and were in no mood for any more of that. The tide had turned, and God’s Spirit had convicted people of the error of their past ways. Now they were in the mood to follow Elijah in a new work of reformation and reconstruction.
From what we have seen of Elijah, we should have expected that he would receive Jezebel’s message with the contempt it deserved, or at the very most perhaps lay it before God. He might have taken comfort from Psalm 31:20 and been encouraged that ‘In the shelter of your presence you hide them from the intrigues of men, in your dwelling you keep them safe from accusing tongues.’ But instead of this, we are told (and imagine how the writer must have felt as he recorded this) in verse 3: ‘Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.’
Map Carmel to Sinai
He ran for his life! Taking his servant, and under cover of darkness, he hurried out into the driving storm. His journey took him 100 miles across the hills of Samaria, over the border into Judea, passing Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and so to Beersheba in the extreme south of Judea, where the populated land fades into the Negev desert. (Show on map)
He was safe there, beyond the influence of Jezebel, but even there he felt unsettled. It seems he had become so utterly demoralised and panic stricken that he could not even bear the company of his servant; so, leaving him in Beersheba, he went on alone down the rough track that led through the desert southwards to Sinai.
I doubt that he was running now. More likely the plod of a demoralised lonely man. Now there were no ravens, no Cherith, no Zarephath; no human to offer sympathy; perhaps he also felt that the very presence of God had left him. Finally fatigue and anguish overpowered the last of his strength,
1 Kings 19:3-5
3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep.
What might have happened if Elijah had held his ground?
- The seven thousand believers (1 Kings 19:18) would probably have come out of hiding and encouraged the rest of the people in turning back to God.
- A Godly king might have followed Ahab.
- Perhaps there might even have been a reuniting of North and South in the worship of the one true God.
- And Elijah’s record in scripture would have been saved from the stain of disappointment.
He missed a chance, which never came again. Though God in his mercy treated him lovingly and told him to return, He never again reinstated his servant in quite the position that he had so sadly abandoned.
Do we need to consider this as a warning to ourselves? How easy is it to just turn our back on God for one moment and go our own way, doing or saying something that we immediately regret but which by then has already spoilt our witness or broken relationships that have been built over many months?
Or it may be that we remain silent when we know we should have spoken, and it has damaged our influence for good and put us into a very different position to that which might have been ours, if only we had remained true. Thankfully as children we are always forgiven, but sadly as servants we may never be reinstated or trusted quite as we once were.
What other examples does the Bible have of great men who have failed just where we would have expected them to be strongest?
How about:
- Abraham, who was the father of those who believe; but his faith failed him when he went down to Egypt, and he lied to Pharaoh about his wife. Genesis 12:18-19
- Moses, whose trust in God we would never question, but was prevented by God from entering the Promised Land "because you did not trust in me enough to honour me as holy in the sight of the Israelites". Numbers 20:12
- John was the apostle of love, yet in a moment of intolerance he wanted to call down fire from heaven. Luke 9:54
So Elijah who we might have assumed to have been above human weakness, shows himself to be a man just like us. James 5:17
But it does encourage us to believe the Bible is true! If it had simply been written by human authors without the leading of the Holy Spirit, I’m sure they wouldn’t have spelled out the failures of their greatest heroes in such detail. No artist would deliberately spoil something that had taken many hours to complete.
This is one of the great things about the Bible. It doesn’t try to hide human weakness and because of that we can be encouraged. If God is able to mould his best vessels out of such ordinary clay, He can actually do the same with us. We shouldn’t feel superior as we read about Elijah’s fall – rather we can take comfort from it as we realise we might easily have done just what he did.
What might have been the cause of Elijah’s failure?
1 Kings 19:1-5
1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”
3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep.
How could someone like Elijah fail so spectacularly? One possible explanation is ‘Clinical Depression’. Now anything like that we always find difficult. Anything with the ‘Mental illness’ label we shy away from because it’s often something that we have difficulty understanding. We can accept a broken arm, or toothache, or the flu – but things which affect our mind are harder to come to terms with.
Yet our mind can suffer just like the rest of us and depression is a clearly defined medical condition which responds to treatment. So what is it?
Clinical depression is a serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act. Individuals with clinical depression are unable to function as they used to. Often they lose interest in activities that were once enjoyable to them, and feel sad and hopeless for extended periods of time.
Clinical depression is not the same as feeling sad or depressed for a few days and then feeling better. It can affect your body, mood, thoughts, and behaviour. It can change your eating habits, how you feel and think, your ability to work and study, and how you interact with people.
Clinical depression is not a sign of personal weakness, or a condition that can be willed away. Clinically depressed people cannot "pull themselves together" and get better. In fact, clinical depression often interferes with a person's desire or ability to get help. It is a serious illness that lasts for weeks, months and sometimes years. It may even influence someone to contemplate or attempt suicide.
What are the symptoms? What are the causes? Often with this disease they are linked, but some symptoms are:
- A continuous low mood, which may be worse in the mornings
- A loss of interest or pleasure in activities that you would normally enjoy
- Low self-esteem
- A feeling of isolation or friendlessness
- Feeling fearful
- Feeling helpless or hopeless
- Feeling guilty
- Feeling restless or agitated
- Thoughts about suicide
And some causes are:
- Psychological - there is a natural let-down after victory or the accomplishment of a goal or a large task
- Physical exhaustion
- Mental exhaustion
- Stress
- Traumatic event
- Diagnosis of a life-threatening medical condition
- There can also be spiritual causes
I have to admit that I struggled with this study and the next few. I actually felt a bit depressed! Where was all this leading?
But as we continue we will find that whatever Elijah was thinking, and doing, God was still in control.
