Days of Elijah

I've been thinking much about Elijah and hearing his name quite a bit so I looked up everything I could find about him in the Bible and for my own sake, I want to set up a record of his days, because then I think I might see what I need to see. At least I hope so. So here goes.
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1 Kings 17:1-7-As far as I can see, this is the first mention of Elijah. He denounced King Ahab and told him that there would be no rain or dew until he (Elijah) would give the word. (Ahab was an evil king.) Then Elijah went into hiding at God's bidding and was fed bread and meat by ravens morning and evening and drank from the Brook Cherith, which flows from the Jordan River.
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1 Kings 17:8-24-God commanded him to go to Zarephath and stay with a widow who would provide for him. (The brook was drying up.) He found her gathering sticks and asked her for a drink of water and a bit to eat. She told him that she was just about to make a last meal for herself and her son and then they would die. But Elijah told her not to be afraid and said that she should make him a cake of bread first and bring it to him, and then make some for herself and her son. He said that God said that her flour would not be used up nor would her jar of oil run dry until the Lord sent rain on the earth. And that's exactly what happened.
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Then her son died and she was upset with Elijah. He asked for her son and he took him up to his room and laid him on his bed. Then he got upset with God just like she had gotten upset with him. He cried out to God, "O LORD my God, have You also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I lodge, by killing her son?" Then he stretched himself out on the child three times and prayed hard that God would restore the child's soul back to him. And God heard him and the child came back to life and he gave him back to his mother. She said, "Now by this I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth." Wow.
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1 Kings 18:1-40-God told Elijah to present himself to Ahab. (Up until this time, Elijah was the object of an international manhunt ordered by the king.) He met Obadiah who was in charge of Ahab's house and told him to go tell his master that he was here. Obadiah said, "Nothing doing. As soon as I leave to go tell, you'll disappear and then I'll get killed." But Elijah insisted that he really was going to go to Ahab so Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him and Ahab went to meet Elijah. Ahab called Elijah a troublemaker when he saw him but Elijah said," I've not been the troublemaker of Israel. You and your father's house have been the troublemakers because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals. Now go and gather all of Israel together and grab 450 of your Baal prophets and 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table and meet me at Mt. Carmel." And that's exactly what Ahab did. And Elijah came to all of the people and told them they have to make up their minds which God they were going to serve-Baal or the Lord God, but nobody wanted to make a commitment. (Baal was the Canaanite god of storm, rain, and fertility. Ironic, isn't it?) So Elijah said, "I am the only prophet of the Lord left but Baal has 450 prophets so the bulls are going to come from your side of the fence. Cut up your bull and lay it on wood but don't you dare start a fire and I will prepare the other bull the same way. Then you call on your gods and I will call on my God and whichever God reponds by sending fire, then He is God." And they thought that was cool. So they prepared their bull and started crying out to Baal. They leaped about and made complete idiots out of themselves and Elijah made fun of them and said, "Cry louder because maybe he is having deep thoughts or maybe he's on a vacation, or maybe he's sleeping." So they cried until they were hoarse and they were even cutting themselves with knives, and blood was gushing everywhere and still they could not get Baal's attention. This went on for several hours and then Elijah got them to stop and gathered everyone around and said, "Come near to me." Then he fixed the broken down altar of the Lord. (Oh Alleluia. I want to preach now.) He took 12 stones according to the 12 tribes of Israel and built an altar in the name of the Lord and made a big trench around it. He got the wood stacked up and the bull butchered and laid on top of the wood and then he told them to fill up 4 waterpots full of water and pour it on the sacrifice and then he told them to do it a second and a third time and the trench was filled with water. And then He prayed. "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am your servant and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again." And just like that, the fire of God fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and burned up everything including the stones and the dust and all of the water and everyone bowed down and fell on their faces and cried aloud, "The LORD, He is God! The Lord, He is God!" And they meant it. Then Elijah said to them, "Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let any escape!" And so they grabbed them and hauled them down to the Brook Kishon and Elijah executed all 450 of them! What a bloody mess!
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1 Kings 18:41-45-Elijah told Ahab to go ahead and eat with the others because he heard the sound of abundance of rain. So Ahab went ahead and ate and Elijah went up to the top of Mt. Carmel and bowed down with his face between his knees. He sent his servant to go check for rain clouds but the servant said,"Sorry, but there's nothing." Seven times he made him go back and check and finally, on that seventh time, the servant said, "I see a cloud about the size of a man's hand coming out of the sea!" I think he was relieved. So, Elijah sent word to Ahab to get his chariot ready before the rain deterred his travels. Meanwhile, that little man's hand cloud turned into a sky black with clouds and wind and heavy rain and Ahab got out of there as fast as he could and headed towards Jezreel. But guess what? The hand of the Lord came on Elijah and he ran so fast that he passed Ahab in the chariot and beat him to the gates of Jezreel. He ran almost 20 miles and set a world record that has not been beaten to this day!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1 Kings 19-So when Ahab got home he told his wife, Jezebel, that Elijah had killed all of her prophets and it would be an understatement to say that she was rather ticked off at him. She sent a message to him that by this time tomorrow, he would be as dead as those prophets he murdered. And Elijah got scared and ran for his life and went to Beersheba and told his servant to stay there but he himself kept on going. He went a day's journey into the wilderness and rested under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. (He wanted God to let him die even though he didn't want to be killed by Jezebel.) And then he fell asleep and an angel came and made him a nice little cake on some coals. Then the angel woke him up and told him to eat and gave him some water and then he fell asleep again and then the angel woke him up and told him to eat more and he ate and drank and on the strength of that food travelled for forty days and nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God, which was also known as Mt. Sinai, where God had revealed Himself to Moses. Once he got there, he went into cave and spent the night there. And then the Lord came to him and said, "What are you doing here Elijah?" And Elijah said, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life."
Then God told him to go outside and stand on the mountain before Him. The Lord passed by him and so did a great strong wind that tore rocks off the mountain and stuff was flying everywhere but the Lord was not in the wind. Then the ground shook and Elijah had a hard time standing upright, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And then there was a fire and I don't know where that would have come from, but the Lord wasn't in the fire. And after the fire there came a still, small voice. It appears by this time that Elijah had taken refuge back inside his cave because when he heard that still small voice, he wrapped his face in his mantle and came out to the entrance of the cave and that voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" And Elijah said the same thing he had said earlier about working for God and now he was the only one left, etc. etc. and it seems that God wasn't impressed really, with all of that, because He said to him," Return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascas and anoint Hazael as king over Syria, and anoint Jehu the son of Nishi as king over Israel. And anoint Elisha, son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah as prophet in your place. And whoever escapes the sword of Hazael will be killed by Jehu and whoever escapes Jehu's sword will be killed by Elisha." And then He assured Elijah that he was not alone by these wonderful words,"Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and who have not kissed him with their mouths."
And so, God enlarged Elijah's vision and he left that place with new purpose and several jobs to do. He found Elisha who was plowing the fields with 12 oxen and as Elijah walked past him, he threw his mantle on him. Elisha ran after him and asked for some time to say good bye to his parents before he followed him and Elijah acted rather non-chalant and said, "Go back again, for what have I done to you?" So Elisha went back and took a yoke of oxen and had a party with those in his community and said good-bye to his old way of life and then found Elijah and became his servant.
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1 Kings 21-Well, it appears that a man named Naboth had a vineyard that Ahab wanted as a vegetable garden seeing that it was right next to his own palace. But Naboth didn't want to give up something that had been in his family for years and years. So Ahab threw a hissy fit and went home and acted all depressed and wouldn't eat or anything. So his wife came to him and said,"How come you are in such a bad mood and won't eat your food?" And he told her about his dreams for a vegetable garden and how mean old Naboth wouldn't let him have his land so his dreams could be fulfilled. Jezebel said,"Well, are you the king or not? Get up and eat. If it's a vegetable garden you want, it's a vegetable garden you'll get. I'll see to that myself!" And she did. She set Naboth up and had false witnesses testify that Naboth had blasphemed God and the king and poor Naboth was stoned and spoiled brat Ahab got his fresh vegetables. But God saw everything and He is just so He sent Elijah to go meet Ahab in Naboth's old vineyard and tell him his time was up. When Ahab saw Elijah he said,"So, you've found me, my enemy?" And Elijah said,"I have found you alright because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord. You and your kids and your kids kids are going to experience calamity and you are in so much trouble because you have made God really angry." (Only he said it in a more dignified way than I just did.) "And," Elijah continued," The dogs are going to eat up your wife."(And they eventually did.) Well, Ahab actually believed that this would happen since everything Elijah told him before had been accurate, so he tore his clothes and put sackcloths on his body and fasted and mourned and God relented and said He wouldn't bring calamity to Ahab house while Ahab was in power but would wait until his son was in power to bring calamity to Ahab's family line. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
11 Kings 1:1-16-Now from what I can tell, the next time we hear about Elijah is about 15-20 years after his last encounter with Ahab. (My Bible notes say that Elisha was with him 15-20 years before he went up into heaven. Another resource says that Elijah's ministry took place from 865 to 850 B.C.-15 years.) This time, Elijah is confronting Ahaziah, Ahab and Jezebel's wicked son, who was reigning as King over Israel. Ahaziah had taken a bad fall through some lattice and he sent some messengers to a prophet of Baal to see if they could tell him whether or not he would recover. But God sent Elijah instead and he told the messengers that Ahaziah was going to die. They came back to Ahaziah with the news. "What kind of man told you that?" Ahaziah asked them. They said, "A hairy man wearing a leather belt around his waist." "That's Elijah the Tishbite." So the king sent a captain of fifty with his fifty men and they went to find Elijah and there he was on the top of the hill and the captain called out to him,"Man of God, the king says you're to come down." And guess what Elijah says? "If I am a Man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men." And just like that, fire came down and consumed them all. So Ahaziah did it again. And the same thing happened- another Captain with his 50 men were burned up with consuming fire. Now the third captain got the picture; saw the pattern you could say, and when he was sent, he went up and fell on his knees before Elijah and begged for his life and the lives of his soldiers. And the angel of the Lord told Elijah to go with this captain and to not be afraid. And so Elijah gave Ahaziah the word to his face-that because he had inquired of Baal instead of God he would surely die and he did.
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11 Kings 2:1-15-Now somehow, Elisha found out that God was about to take Elijah from this earth and he was determined to follow him and get a blessing. So Elijah told Elisha to stay put while he went to Bethel but he said,"There is no possible way I am leaving you now!" So, they went to Bethel and other prophets came out and said to Elisha,"Are you aware that God is going to take your master from you today?" and he said, "Yes, I know. Be quiet." Then Elijah said that he was going to Jericho and that Elisha should stay put but Elisha refused again and followed him. So the two moved on. When they came to the Jordan river, there were 50 sons of prophets watching them. Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the water and the water rolled up and there was a dry path for them to walk on. After they had crossed the Jordan, Elijah turned to Elisha and said, "Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?" And Elisha said, "Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me." "You have asked a hard thing," replied Elijah,"but if you see me when I am taken away, then you shall receive a double anointing." They went on their way talking and full of expectancy and all of a sudden, a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire and separated the two of them and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And dear Elisha, who loved his master, Elijah, with his very life, saw all of this take place and he cried out, "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!" And he saw Elijah no more. Elisha took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two and then he picked up Elijah's mantel where it had fallen from him and...
but that's another story. You can read more about Elisha in 11 Kings.
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I have been so engrossed in writing these stories that I almost created a flood in our home. The tub water is an inch from the top and I think if I reach in with my arm to pull up the plug it may run over. I guess I'll have to use a yard stick or something. It's too bad I don't have Elijah's mantle. I don't mean any disrespect by that or anything. I could just use a miraculous parting of some water. Well, there are a few other places where Elijah is mentioned and I am going to give direct quotes from the NKJV. I have used some direct quotes from the same source in the stories written above.
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Malachi 4:5,6-"Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD, And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse."

Luke 1:16,17-Prophecy given to Zacharias by an angel regarding his son to be born-John-later known as 'John the Baptist.'-"And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, 'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

Matthew 17:1-4-"Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Lord, is is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
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This is what I see.

Jezebel brought much distress to the land of Israel. It did not satisfy her to see her husband, Ahab, worshiping idols; she also wanted to annihilate all true religion from the land. She brought priests of Baal from her own land to kill all the prophets of the LORD.

The spirit of Jezebel not only promotes evil,
but wants to destroy what is righteous as well.

Elijah's call was to turn the hearts of the people back to God.

John the Baptist call was to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers and to turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God and to turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the just.

Why?

To make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

And that is our calling as well.

To turn the hearts of people back to God
and to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

Because He IS coming again.

And every knee will bow just as knees bowed
after the fire came down in Elijah's day
and consumed the sacrifice.
And every tongue will say, "Jesus Christ is Lord!
"The LORD He is God!"

Oh, to say this willingly and lovingly
with wholesome fear and awe.

Because one way or another,
it will be said.

The LORD loves you.
He wants you.
Turn your heart back to Him.
He waits
And He is good.