Against Baal, Elijah won a mighty battle for the Lord in 1 Kgs. 18. In 1 Kgs 16:21-34, the narrator sets the stage for Elijah’s appearance. Israel was divided into two parts. It was a period of political turmoil. “Omri did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did more evil than all who were before him” (v. 25). His son, Ahab, began to rule over Israel in Samaria for twenty-two years. “And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him” (v. 30). Moreover, “And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him” (v. 33). It was a period of apostasy.
Elijah showed up at this time. God participated in Israel’s mess through Elijah’s prophetic intervention. Walter Brueggemann calls Elijah’s prophetic ministry as “an abrupt and decisive interruption of the royal narrative, a pause to consider the prophetic counterforce in Israel’s life.”[1] In 1 Kgs. 17, Elijah’s appearance functions as an intervention and abruption. The worst Israel’s king so far was confronted by the great northern prophet.
Elijah won a mighty battle against Baal in chapter 18. In the narrative, Elijah seemed to dominate Ahab. Ahab only spoke once in this chapter. “When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, ‘Is it you, you troubler of Israel?’ (v. 17) Elijah answered with a prophetic message, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baal” (v. 18). Elijah was not afraid of Ahab. In 1 Kgs 17-18, we can say that Elijah’s ministry was promising—the stage of orientation.
The figure whom Elijah was afraid of is Ahab’s wife, Jezebel. She sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “‘So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.’ Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life…” (19:2-3). Due to Jezebel’s threat, Elijah’s orientation was turned into disorientation. “But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree” (19:4a). The place of wilderness is common in the biblical narrative. It’s in this place of stillness and solitude Elijah got in touch with his egocentric spirituality.
The Lord said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (v.9)
Elijah said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” (v. 10)
If Elijah is a prophetic figure functioning as “an abrupt and decisive interruption of the royal narrative”, then God is Elijah’s abrupt and decisive interruption of his prophetic ministry. The narrator allows Elijah and God to dialogue with one another. Or in the wilderness, Elijah made a space for God. Ruth Haley Barton writes,
“In the midst of the outward busyness of my life there was an inner chaos that was far more disconcerting. It was particularly alarming to realize that even though I had been a Christian for many years, I was struggling with some of the basics of the spiritual life…At first I trivialized my struggle by categorizing it as a sort of early midlife crisis. But the deeper truth was this: even though I had been a Christian for many years I did not know how to love—really. Particularly when love was demanding or inconvenient or interfered with my own desires, I did not know how to die to myself in even the smallest way…There were enormous questions right under the surface of my busy life, questions that could no longer quiet. There were questions about identity and calling. Was there anything truer about me than the externals of gender-related roles and responsibilities? Was there anything more defining than how hard I could work, the level of excellence I could achieve and other people’s assessment of that?”[2]
In 1 Kings 17-18, Elijah might have no time for God and his inner person. In the cave (19:9a), Elijah ended up in this space to receive His grace. And His grace started with Elijah’s solitude and silence in which he realized that he was a great and charming prophet on the surface and yet a capricious Israelite/Christian just like everyone else.
In the dialogue, God patiently asked the same question. Elijah repeated what was in his mind. This same question allows Elijah to look deeper into the same problem.
The Lord said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (v. 13)
Elijah said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” (v. 14)
In the dialogue, God referred to Elijah as the second person. It implies intimacy and understanding. The Lord of hosts said tenderly, “Elijah, what are you doing here? Are you alright? What is bothering you? What are you struggling inside of you?” To the contrary, Elijah addressed God as the third person. It lacks of intimacy. Is it possible that Elijah was filled with gifts but lacked of intimacy with the Giver? Is it possible that Elijah presented himself as a rescuer and savior? “For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant,” but I am the only one to keep it?
Perhaps Elijah was surprised by his own language: “And I, even I only, am left…” We can say that he was egocentric and arrogant. But in front of the Lord, he was authentic. In his prayer/reply, he put off his mask and admitted that he thought he was the only one left. He thought he was the missing piece for Israel. It’s in the wilderness where Elijah can hear God’s message and look through his own illusion.
1 Kgs. 19:18—“Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have now bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” Elijah thought that he was the only one. God said to Elijah, “You are the 7, 001.” This is the reality. Stop dwelling in your own illusive mentality. In the stage of disorientation, it can be a fruitful period, for the self is more sensitive to what is real and what is illusive. We can never make any progress in illusion. We can only move forward bit by bit in reality. “For through that aloneness, that wrestling with the forces of darkness and fragmentation, comes a deeper sense of reality, a purer vision, itself issuing forth in renewed struggle.”[3]
In Elijah’s disorientation, he received his new calling. God said, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to the king over Syria. And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to the king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place” (19:15-16). This is Elijah’s reorientation. His new mission involved two missions: to appoint new kings to rule over Syria and Israel and a new prophet to continue his own ministry.
God let Elijah know that he wasn’t the only one in ministry. Then God used him only to do certain things in ministry. We see that God is first concerned about the person, then the mission. God delays a person’s ministry despite He may delay to fulfill His own mission. As someone said, “In order to progress, we must regress.” Disorientation follows after orientation; disorientation always precedes reorientation. We see this pattern in the Elijah narrative.
In all aspects, we are a lot like Elijah. The New Testament says, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours” (James 5:17a).
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