Elijah's big showdown and the aftermath

1 Kings chapters 18-19 continue Elijah's story and his ministry against Ahab's idolatry.  He had a refreshing three years living with a widow in Zarephath.  The Lord took care of them while famine raged in northern Israel.  Now, it was time to go on the offensive.  Elijah had to face Ahab.

On the way, he meets Obadiah, an official of Ahab who had secretly hid 700 prophets in caves to protect them from Ahab.  It shows that even when wicked people take over a country, God still rules over them and has his followers in strange places carrying out his will.  He meets with Elijah who tells him to tell Ahab that he is here.  Obadiah fears for his life, but Elijah assures him that God will protect him.

Then, we have the famous showdown between Elijah and Baal's prophets.  They set up altars, and whoever's God answers with fire is the real god.  Baal's prophets slash themselves and cry out to him all day long.  Elijah taunts them saying that perhaps Baal is asleep or he went to the bathroom.  Finally, it's Elijah's turn, and God answers immediately.  It is very obvious that Elijah won because by himself, he had enough power to kill all of Baal's prophets down by the river.

Then queen Jezebel hears about this and threatens to kill Elijah.  He runs away to mount Horeb and wants to kill himself.  It shows that when we succeed in brave things, we still get tired and anxious, ready to give up.  God graciously gave him a timeout with food, sleep and a good pep talk.  He said to stop navel-gazing and go anoint three men.

Notice, two of these three men are not friends of God.  One is Hazael.  He will assassinate the king of Syria, replace him, and kill king Ahab in battle.  God is going to judge Ahab for his continued Baal worship even after the pyrotechnics he saw on Mount Carmel.  The next is Jehu who will kill Jezebel and all of Ahab's descendants including the king of Judah because king Jehoshaphat unwisely gave his son in marriage to on of his daughters.  Then, Jehu will end Baal worship but still continue using the golden calves. 

Finally, he anoints Elisha.  Elisha will succeed Elijah.  Another version of his name is Elishua.  It is the same name as Joshua/Jesus.  Just like Joshua succeeded Moses and led Israel into the promised land and conquered the inhabitants there, and just like John the Baptist gave way to Jesus who is our messiah and will make it possible for us to enter God's kingdom and he will defeat all God's enemies who never repent, Elisha will succeed Elijah.  Northern Israel had become so bankrupt of any true religion that God graciously gave them this ministry to usher them back into the true worship still going on in Jerusalem.  Elisha's ministry reach out to gentiles such as Naaman, bringing them to worship the true God.  And he healed people and at one point even multiplied bread to a crowd.  He was not the Messiah, and one day God did judge the north who never returned to God's true worship.  But he gave them one last chance.

If we are discouraged by our enemies even when we do the best to show them God's love, we have to look to God.  We cannot find encouragement from people who found peace without knowing Christ because there is no true peace.  Their hope is only for this world.  We must look to people like William Cowper, Charles Spurgeon, or Martin Luther who suffered great depression but still clung to the hope of our Lord even in their darkest nights of the soul.  In many cases, their anxiety was not healed.  Even Cowper died doubting God's love.  But God's eternal love carried them all the way home and it can do that for you, too.

Kings: Ahab and Elijah - when following God is lonely

1 Kings 16:29 tells of the beginning of Ahab's reign.  Thus far, he was the most openly wicked king of Israel.  Before him, kings would set up golden calves and say they were worshiping the true God through them.  They weren't.  God's second commandment expressly says not to worship him with images.  But northern Israel was geographically cut off from the true temple and true Christian education. 

Ahab did not even pretend to worship the true God.  He set up a temple for Baal in the capital that he set up in Samaria.  He married Jezebel of Tyre, the center of Baal worship.  And they persecuted anyone who spoke out against them.  Does the world punish people who speak out against the popular gods of our day?  Doesn't the worst strife come from within people who call themselves God's people?

This brings on the ministry of Elijah in chapter 17.  Since Baal was the fertility god, and his followers thought they could get him to send rain if they could influence him and Asherah to have sex by also having sex, Elijah told them that God would not send rain for the next three years unless Elijah asked him to.  This would show that all their religion was based on licentiousness that had no effect.  Their rebellion was in vain.  And since Elijah was speaking against what they really loved, their passions, he lived in exile while God fed him through ravens.

And he escaped to Zarephath where a widow and her son took him in.  He asked her to give him the last of her bread, and as long as he lived with her, her jar did not run out of oil, and she always had bread to eat.  And when her son suddenly died, Elijah revived him.

Does following the Lord make you lonely?  In the state of Georgia, almost everyone thinks that they are Christian, but do they actually follow the Lord?  I came to Christ when I was about 11, and I was very lonely through high school because the people who started out as my friends wanted to follow the world and belong with the popular crowd.  I decided that following the Lord was more important.

Later on, I found my kind of people, but mostly I must be content with loneliness.  I'll quote someone, and if she reads this, she'll know I'm quoting her: "There's Christian, and then there's really Christian."  Really Christian is lonely.  But those who follow the Lord will find him sustaining them with ravens.  And those who stand up for those who follow him will find their oil not running out and their hearts satisfied.  And I simply need to believe that God listens to me when I pray and is for me and not against me.  And I praise God every day for those who stand by me and back me up, providing a visible sign of God's love for me.  And I pray that God will keep them strong, too.

Kings: Baasha, Elah, Zimri, and Omri

1 Kings 15:33-16:7 describe the 24-year reign of Baasha king of Israel.  He had deposed the dynasty of Jeroboam.  The Lord said he would as a judgment on him setting up golden calves to rival the temple in Jerusalem.  Baasha came along and killed his son Nadab, and then he did the same things.  So Jehu son of Hanani came and said that his dynasty would end.

Elah, his son, is described from 16:8-14.  He reigned only two years.  His official Zimri plotted against him and assassinated him.  Then he became king for 7 days.  His reign is described from 16:15-20.  Omri became the commander of the army and set a seige to the city of his palace.  Zimri set his own palace on fire and died, and Omri became king.

In history, Omri set up northern Israel as a world power such as it became known as Omri-land.  In the Bible, he only gets a blip in verses 21-28.  He's more known as being the father of the most notorious evil king of Israel, Ahab. 

Northern Israel was formed as a judgment on Solomon beginning to follow false gods.  Then the northern kings immediately set up false images and said the people could worship the true God through them, which goes against God's commandment against setting up graven images.  And each dynasty was eliminated for doing things only to be followed by another king who did the same things and only made it worse. 

Meanwhile, in the southern kingdom of Judah, they had kings who followed God but also compromised with false forms of worship. 

But each time, God kept his promise.  In the south, he kept David's dynasty going until it became so wicked that he kept his other promise of sending them into exile.  In the north, he kept his promise and send them into exile as none of the kings followed God. 

And as we see leader after leader fail to correct wrongs in society such as abortion and sex trafficking, we may see the same judgments on our countries.  But I sure hope that the only true King, Jesus, comes back before things get worse.  He kept his promises in the BC days.  He will keep his promise to us to send him back to complete his kingdom and end evil and death for all time.  And if you do not come to believe and follow him, then you will be swept away in his judgment, the one we all deserve had it not been for his grace in saving the people of his Church. 

King Nadab - true v. false worship and the irony of God's justice

In 1 Kings 15:25-32, we have the account of King Nadab of the northern kingdom of Israel.  He is Jeroboam's son.  Since Jeroboam apostatized from the true worship of the true God by setting up golden calves to rival the temple in Jerusalem, prophets told him that his dynasty would end. 

Under his son Nadab, the dynasty did end.  Baasha killed Nadab after two years and became the next king of Israel. 

It's interesting that Jeroboam's son bears the same name as a son of Aaron who also was killed instantly when he offered strange fire at the altar in a way that was opposed to what Yahweh commanded.  Both Nadabs prove true the classic Reformed interpretation of God's second commandment to not make graven images to try to worship him.  The classic reformed view is that if a kind of worship is not commanded by God in Scripture, if it has not positive precedent in the Old or New Testaments, then it is to be forbidden. 

God commanded Aaron's sons to offer sacrifices through a kind of fire.  Nadab and Abihu offered a different kind of fire and were killed instantly.  God does not kill other people on the spot who offer a strange kind of worship other than what God commanded, but we must beware that we are not worshiping God the way that the pagans worship their gods. 

The second Nadab is the son of the man who said Israel could worship the true God through images of calves, much like Aaron did when Moses was on Sinai.  God specifically commanded not to worship him through images. 

But here is the irony.  God used Baasha to kill Nadab and end Jeroboam's dynasty, and then Baasha did the same things.  It is up to God to bring judgment by whoever he wants whenever he wants, or to have mercy and save the people from their sins.  But I still can't help thinking why.  Why would God use someone to punish someone else when they do the same things?

Even today, we see political divisions arguing for life when each side demeans life.  Trump says that unborn lives are sacred, and I wholeheartedly agree and that's why I voted for him.  At the same time, foreign families are living in cages at the border.  Then again, the people that speak against having immigrants living in cages at the border are doing nothing about it.  They are only wasting time trying to impeach Trump.  Meanwhile, I vote knowing I can't do anything about the unborn or the immigrants.  I want to find ways to protect all life from conception to natural death.  And I want people to come into the country legally but not be treated as animals while they await legal process. 

I can do nothing but pray and await God to sort things out in his time.  And I also am a hypocrite and don't want to be.  Only by the grace of God go I. 

But ultimately God will bring justice to all people, and he will have mercy by bringing that justice onto Jesus instead of those he saves.  He has mercy on whom he will have mercy.  And both his mercy and justice make no sense at times.

King Asa

1 Kings 15 starting at verse 9 tells of a righteous king of Judah named Asa.  If Abijam, his father, really did repent of his ways and become Abijah, then Asa would have been influenced by that.  He was the first king since Solomon to work at clearing his country of Baal and Asherah worship.  He even removed his grandmother from being queen mother.  He made many reforms.  There's this odd story in the passage where Asa went to war against King Baasha of Israel.  He took treasure from the temple, gave some to the king of Aram to betray Baasha and help defeat him, and the king of Aram did so.  This shows great compromise on Asa's part.

Which should not surprise me when I read 2 Chronicles 14-16 that at this point afterward, Asa would not listen to God's prophets and when he got a serious disease in his feet, he would not trust God but only doctors.  And then he died leaving Jehoshaphat as king, a good but compromised man.

What happened?  Was he man that God saved from his sins but who still became more sinful in his old age through senility?  Was he not truly a follower of God after all?  Nobody but God can say for sure, but God still used him to clear Judah of idolatry.  God can use anybody.  But since Judah and Israel were once one nation, he should never have looked to help from a pagan king in his war against the north.  And instead of repenting and turning from his ways when confronted by the prophet Hanani, he put him in prison. 

It is like in recent days when Joshua Harris defected from the faith.  God used him in many ways to get the church thinking about how best to be pure and faithful to the Lord with our bodies (though he proposed a legalistic way that doesn't really work for our culture), but then he must not have truly followed the Lord or else he wouldn't have defected.  Perhaps he'll return, and perhaps God still saved Asa despite himself.  Doesn't he do the same for me and you?

All the same, true followers of the Lord may backslide, but it won't be permanent, and the Holy Spirit will bring them back to the church in this life.  I hope we can say the same for Asa.

Abijah v. Abijam and staying accountable to true worship

1 Kings 15 introduces us to Abijah, Rehoboam's son and successor to David's throne.  The NIV calls him Abijah to match his story in 2 Chronicles 13.  The ESV calls him Abijam.  Abijah means "my father is YHWH", and Abijam means "my father is the sea."

The 1 Kings account shows a wicked king who followed after the idolatry of his father, and the name Abijam would more reflect the pagan leanings of Rehoboam and his son.  The 2 Chronicles account gives a story of a man who was attacked by Jeroboam but rebuked him and all of northern Israel for turning away from the worship of the true God and setting up golden calves and pretending to worship him.  So which man do we have?  Do we have Abijah who loved God's glory or do we have Abijam who fooled around with idols?

Since both accounts are in the Bible, and the Bible is all true, then both accounts are true somehow, but I'm not sure how.

Just like the Bible shows a Rehoboam who was foolish in his young days and caused the kingdom to split, but then humbled himself when a prophet told him to stop attacking the north, but then still had constant warfare with the north, the inspired Scriptures also show a much compromised Abijah.  Maybe he grew up in a compromised religion where he could worship God one day but then play with the world on other days.  Perhaps when he was older and could no longer take the constant warfare with Jeroboam, he came to his senses and rebuked the other king for his apostasy, much like the thief on the cross who repented and rebuked the other thief for mocking our Savior as he was dying.

In the end, I don't know completely how the two accounts jive, but they do somehow.  Much like how God doesn't always make sense in my life, but I know he's good and that he loves me.  One thing is true.  Judah still had the worship of the true God, and Israel abandoned him but pretended that they still worshiped him.  And that accountability of worshiping God on his terms kept the southern kings on David's throne no matter how much their hearts strayed.  In the same way, we must stay with the God of the Scriptures who sent Jesus to die for our sins.  Our hearts will naturally stray from the path, but if we have the accountability of reading the Bible every day and going to church every week, especially when we don't feel like it, the Holy Spirit will be faithful to guide us back to the right way of worship and living.

Rehoboam concludes: Mixed testimonies

When we are first introduced to Rehoboam, he succeeds his father Solomon to the throne and then the kingdom divides into northern Israel (Ephraim) and southern Judah.  Rehoboam rules the south and tries to wage war against the north to reunite, but a prophet tells him to stop, and he does.  It seems that Rehoboam humbled himself.

However, in the conclusion to his reign in 1 Kings 14, it says that he had constant war with Jeroboam.  Perhaps his repentance was a false repentance, and he had to keep up with the north.  Jeroboam in the north set up golden calves to compete with the temple in Jerusalem in the south.  Then maybe Rehoboam decided that it would be a good idea to set up Asherah poles and sacred stones to bring them back to the south.  Neither king followed the true God who set him up on their thrones.  So God sent Pharaoh Shishak from Egypt who plundered the temple's treasures, and Rehoboam replaced the gold shields with bronze ones and set up guards.

However 2 Chronicles 12:12 says that the southern king did humble himself and that there were true worshipers of God in Judah.  The Lord did not destroy him and kept his line going.

If God had not saved me, my heart would be just as wayward.  It is anyway from time to time.  I go days and years without a spot, and then I make a huge error and either I or somebody else gets the consequences to it, and I have to repent and rethink God's plan for me.  But I rest on God's mercy given through Jesus's blood, and I realize I need to let him work and stop thinking.  But I can't shut down my brain.  I'm setting up my own versions of Asherah poles and golden calves, and I need to stop and obey the Lord.

And then, I see a nation that never truly followed God following him even less, and I have to sit with the faithful ones and call out sin where I see it, but am powerless to turn the tide of depravity all around me.  Lord help us all.  Send Christ soon before things get worse.