Would you like to read James McNaught’s novel Sinking Sand”? click here: Sinking Sand
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
1 Kings 18:17–20, “And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim. Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table. So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel.”
Ahab and Elijah soon had their face to face meeting. Ahab was very angry and was in no mood to listen to Elijah. Ahab blamed Elijah for the drought because the prophet prayed that the Lord would bring the drought so that Israel would be brought to their knees in repentance before the Lord. Ahab told Elijah that he was the man who was the source of all Israel’s troubles. Hundreds of years before this, Simeon and Levi, two of Jacob’s sons, slaughtered an entire township of people in revenge for the rape of their sister. Jacob accused these two men of troubling him. (Gen 34:30, “And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.”) A person who troubles another person, or nation, is someone who destroys their peace and their ability to live in peace with their neighbours. Much later Achan troubled Israel when he stole some plunder from Jericho even though the Lord commanded that everything be destroyed. (Josh 7:25, “And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.”) Ahab accused Elijah of destroying Israel’ ability to live at peace with their neighbours and be successful as a kingdom in the region. Elijah told Ahab that the king was responsible for the problems rather than himself. After all, Ahab led Israel further into sin and further away from the Lord their God. Elijah told Ahab that he wanted to meet him in a confrontation to see whose God was the most powerful. They arranged to meet at Mount Carmel. Mount Carmel was on the Mediterranean Coast overlooking the sea.
No comments:
Post a Comment