Voice of Stern Rebuke
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you, and He shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land
yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land
which the Lord giveth you.”
Deuteronomy 11:10-17
.
“If thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to
observe to do all His commandments and His statutes,” the Israelites
had been warned, “thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and
the earth that is under thee shall be iron. The Lord shall make the rain
of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon
thee, until thou be destroyed.”
Deuteronomy 28:15, 23, 24
.
These were among the wise counsels of Jehovah to ancient Israel.
“Lay up these My words in your heart and in your soul,” He had
commanded His chosen people, “and bind them for a sign upon your
hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall
teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine
house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down,
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and when thou risest up.”
Deuteronomy 11:18, 19
. Plain were these
commands, yet as the centuries passed, and generation after generation
lost sight of the provision made for their spiritual welfare, the ruinous
influences of apostasy threatened to sweep aside every barrier of divine
grace.
Thus it had come to pass that God was now visiting His people with
the severest of His judgments. The prediction of Elijah was meeting
with terrible fulfillment. For three years the messenger of woe was
sought for in city after city and nation after nation. At the mandate
of Ahab, many rulers had given their oath of honor that the strange
prophet could not be found in their dominions. Yet the search was
continued, for Jezebel and the prophets of Baal hated Elijah with a
deadly hatred, and they spared no effort to bring him within reach of
their power. And still there was no rain.
At last, “after many days,” the word of the Lord came to Elijah,
“Go, show thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.”
In obedience to the command, “Elijah went to show himself unto
Ahab.” About the time that the prophet set forth on his journey to
Samaria, Ahab had proposed to Obadiah, the governor of his house-
hold, that they make thorough search for springs and brooks of water,
in the hope of finding pasture for their starving flocks and herds. Even
in the royal court the effect of the long-continued drought was keenly
felt. The king, deeply concerned over the outlook for his household,