Elijah the Tishbite
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feared; and in his anxiety to make the search as thorough as possible,
he required of these kingdoms and nations an oath that they knew
nothing of the whereabouts of the prophet. But the search was in vain.
The prophet was safe from the malice of the king whose sins had
brought upon the land the denunciation of an offended God.
Failing in her efforts against Elijah, Jezebel determined to avenge
herself by slaying all the prophets of Jehovah in Israel. Not one should
be left alive. The infuriated woman carried out her purpose in the
massacre of many of God’s servants. Not all, however, perished.
Obadiah, the governor of Ahab’s house, yet faithful to God, “took an
hundred prophets,” and at the risk of his own life, “hid them by fifty in
a cave, and fed them with bread and water.”
1 Kings 18:4
.
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The second year of famine passed, and still the pitiless heavens
gave no sign of rain. Drought and famine continued their devastation
throughout the kingdom. Fathers and mothers, powerless to relieve
the sufferings of their children, were forced to see them die. Yet still
apostate Israel refused to humble their hearts before God and continued
to murmur against the man by whose word these terrible judgments
had been brought upon them. They seemed unable to discern in their
suffering and distress a call to repentance, a divine interposition to
save them from taking the fatal step beyond the boundary of Heaven’s
forgiveness.
The apostasy of Israel was an evil more dreadful than all the mul-
tiplied horrors of famine. God was seeking to free the people from
their delusion and lead them to understand their accountability to the
One to whom they owed their life and all things. He was trying to help
them to recover their lost faith, and He must needs bring upon them
great affliction.
“Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith
the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and
live?” “Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have
transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will
ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him
that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.”
“Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of
Israel?”
Ezekiel 18:23, 31, 32
;
33:11
.
God had sent messengers to Israel, with appeals to return to their
allegiance. Had they heeded these appeals, had they turned from Baal
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