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.
At Passover time, I feel a close connection to the death and sacrifice of Yeshua. God gives us millions of chances to repent and come back. That grace and opportunity comes from Yeshua’s sacrifice.
Question: In 1st Kings 17:21–22, where Elijah lies down on the dead child three times and revives him, is this a Messianic reference, and if so, can you tell me it’s significance? —Anna C.
Deep trust in the God of Israel by those new to that trust and separated from God by their former lives is the thread weaved through the accounts of the healing of the Capernaum centurion’s servant, the raising of the Nain widow’s only son, Yokhanan’s message of repentance and the woman who anointed Yeshua with her tears and expensive ointment.
The births of Yokhanan ben Zakharyah (John the Baptist) and Messiah Yeshua are amazing in that they illustrate how God planned throughout time to “pitch His tent” among mankind in a physical way and hadn’t abandoned the work He started in Israel. God foretold of the coming of a herald for the Messiah via the prophet Malachi announced the arrive of that messenger to Yokhanan’s father, a righteous priest in a priesthood led by wicked men. The coming of the herald and the Messiah followed a specific plan. The seven “oracles” in Luke 1-2 show that the same plan God put in place at the beginning of time still was active even at a dark point in Israel’s history.