Today’s passage: 1 Kings 18:1-46
Helpful thoughts:
- To Ahab, a man who loved the Lord and desired the best for him and the nation was a “troubler.”
- A “troubler” is someone who brings misfortune through foolishness. This is how Ahab saw Elijah, which tells us how Ahab saw God.
- From man’s perspective, this may have looked like one man versus 450. In truth, this “contest” was the one true God versus no god at all.
- The execution of the false prophets was according to the law in Deuteronomy 13:1-5.
- It was customary for kings in that time to have runners go ahead of their chariots for security purposes. God miraculously allowed Elijah to catch up and run ahead of this chariot and thereby again show His power and Elijah’s desire to be loyal to God’s people and their king.
Questions to consider:
- Though this is certainly one of the more exciting accounts in the Old Testament, why is it also one of the saddest? Who were these people who had been worshiping these false gods? Who were these people who had been prophets of Baal and were now slain?
- In truth, who was the troubler of Israel? How might Ahab’s posture toward Elijah give us reason to pause if our brother or sister in Christ is bravely calling a problem to our attention? Why is it hard sometimes to listen to loving constructive criticism? When do we truly know we have a loyal friend?
- What would the twelve stones have reminded Israel of? Even though they had separated from Judah as an independent nation, who were they? Whose were they?