In 1st Kings 22, we read about the final events that lead up to Ahab’s death. For those of us who are trying to walk a righteous life, the mistake and foibles of the unrighteous can still provide us powerful lessons, including the danger of making promises in haste and only listening to part of God’s instruction rather than all of it, but probably the most important lesson from this final chapter of Ahab’s life is that God does not need 400 voices to teach you His truth. He only needs one.
It had been 70 years since Israel had any exposure to the temple in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) and to God. Eliyahu (Elijah) is starting from scratch with them. Eliyahu’s story is God’s message to Israel. It’s all tied together. Eliyahu’s interactions with Ahab and Yezebel (Jezebel) dominate the story but the purpose of these interactions were to teach the people of Israel about God.
We can see here how Israel has progressed in their knowledge of God and His law since Eliyahu started his ministry.
Whether the children of the Northern Tribes had forgotten God on accident or on purpose, the result has been the same: apostasy. Eliyahu (Elijah) had an uphill battle trying to reintroduce God to the children of Israel.
Ahab had a soft-spot for evil, both physical (Ben-Hadad) and spiritual (Yezebel). But as we read later on, Ahab started to learn that God is above him.
Just as God didn’t let the prophet Eliyahu (Elijah) quit from the mission, God doesn’t want us to become discouraged and quit our tasks.
The clash on Mt. Carmel between Eliyahu (Elijah) and the priests of Ba’al was part of bigger clash between a rebellious king of the northern kingdom, Ahab, and his foreign queen, Yezebel (Jezebel), and her false gods.
Among the prophets of the north who Eliyahu saves from the purge of YHWH’s servants was ObidaYah (Obidaiah), possibly the same one who wrote a short book of the Bible.
I love the Shunammite woman’s story the most because her story shows us that this picture of a prophet is not just any one. It’s a shadow of the Prophet, the Messiah. She went out to seek him every time. She asked for nothing in return when she gave him a place to stay, she didn’t even ask for a son.
We can see parts of our own walk in the walk of all three women in 1st Kings 17 and 2nd Kings 4, and we are supposed to.
This chapter recounts a beautiful example of a woman who trusted God. She was not a part of Israel, yet she trusted the God revealed by Israel. She spoke to Eliyahu (Elijah) about “the Lord your God” and she knew that this drought was due to the God of Israel.