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Elijah
Uprooting Evil From the Land
by Jerold Aust
Ancient Israel was sliding ever more
swiftly into abject paganism. Weak King Ahab and his cruel wife, Jezebel, were burying
Israel under a suffocating mantle of evil. God sent Elijah to reverse this disastrous
descent into heathenism.
One day, as Elijah confronted the king, Ahab asked sarcastically: "Is that you, O
troubler of Israel?" Elijah coolly responded to Ahab's insult: "I have not troubled
Israel, but you and your father's house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments
of the Lord and have followed the Baals (false gods)."
Courageous Elijah followed with a direct challenge to the king: "Now therefore, send
and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets
of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table" (1 Kings 18:17-20). Ahab did as Elijah asked and gathered the false prophets on Mount
Carmel.
It is remarkable that Ahab responded in this manner to Elijah's challenge. As the
events unfold, we see the prophets of Baal behaving like sheep being led to slaughter.
Israel's Immorality
In Elijah's day Israel had willingly fallen into a vortex of evil. The nation
had turned to idol worship. God's people had forgotten the one true God who, generations
earlier, had repeatedly delivered them from their troubles. Much of their attitude
was attributable to Israel's morally weak king, Ahab, and his overbearing pagan queen,
Jezebel.
Elijah the Tishbite, a faithful prophet of the true God, had early in his life learned
the fear of God. His calling was to fight against idolatry and injustice, protesting
a corrupt society. His sudden, direct pronouncements and his abrupt appearances and
disappearances created an air of mystery.
Ahab had cemented a political alliance between Israel and Phoenicia by marrying Jezebel,
daughter of the Phoenician king. The consequences for Israel were to prove disastrous.
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Elijah: