Elijah Meets Ahab
Ahab had demanded that whoever found Elijah would not only capture the prophet, but deliver him alive to the king. In spite of this order, Obadiah went to the king empty-handed.
Perhaps Obadiah still feared the worst, but that is where God stepped in. Ahab didn’t carry through with his dire threats against anyone who found, but failed to deliver, the prophet. Instead, undergoing what can only be described as a miraculous attitude adjustment, he went out to meet Elijah.
This fact is truly significant. In those days especially, kings didn’t go out to meet their subjects. The king sits on his throne, and people come to see him. But God worked on Ahab’s heart. Discarding his pomp and throne room, Ahab went out to find the prophet.
God’s people today can experience the same type of success that Obadiah did. Whenever we take a stand for the truth, we can be sure that miraculous events will be set in motion in the lives of people around us. This is why we shouldn’t wait for others to decide for the truth. When the Holy Spirit convicts us, we must act upon His orders immediately. God will take care of the others.
When Ahab finally did meet Elijah, it was the first time in about three years that the two had met face to face. And though Ahab had humbled himself enough to go out and find the prophet, he wasn’t at all ready to admit that he, as king, might be at fault for the famine. Instead, he set out to blame the three and a half years of famine on Elijah before even saying “Hello.”
“Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” the king wanted to know (verse 17).
Like a spoiled brat, Ahab wanted to blame the consequences of his actions on everyone but himself. The blame game is nothing new, of course. Adam and Eve played it first in the Garden of Eden, and it has been played ever since.
We humans like to blame everyone else for the consequence of our choices. If we can’t blame Satan, we blame God Himself. If we can’t blame God, we blame the church pastor or elder. If we can’t blame them, we turn on church members. If there are no church members to blame, we blame our parents or teachers. After we blame all these, we blame our repressed memories. And if all that fails, we can still blame our genes.
Then, after blaming everyone and everything but ourselves, we demand that others accept us the way we are. Anything else would be “judgmental”. When it comes to the blame game, modern culture is only a few years behind King Ahab, who suffered this madness, this blaming philosophy which is somehow viewed as enlightened. But though the world sees pointing fingers as a sign of maturity, Elijah was not fooled. Refusing to accept Ahab’s pagan philosophy, he called sin by it’s right name.
“I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father’s house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and have followed Baal.” (verse 18)
We may call our failings “mistakes”. We may even call them “immaturity”. But Elijah knew the right name for King Ahab’s failing. It was sin. Sin by any other name is still sin, a transgression of God’s holy law.
Elijah didn’t bother with politically correct terms. Ahab needed to hear the straight message. The nation’s path of sin was started by Jeroboam, the first King of Israel. Seven kings followed, each leading Israel into deeper and deeper sin. But Ahab and Jezebel outdid them all, and they were the cause of the drought, both spiritual and physical, plaguing the land of Israel.
Elijah was not a troubler of Israel. Yet in our generation, anyone who stands for truth, who speaks truth, is seen as a “troubler of Israel”. We have different names for them, of course. We call them “radical”, “controversial”, “ultra-conservative” or even the “rabid right.” They are “fundamentalists,” “not team players”, or even “divisive”. We have many names for people with the courage to stand up for truth. Unfortunately, most are not meant to be compliments. This may actually be good, however. For it’s when men begin to speak well of us that we need to question whether or not we are mere Obadiahs.
Obadiah lived and worked in the house of Ahab and Jezebel, yet he was never accused of being a “troubler of Israel.” When Ahab saw Elijah, however, those were the first words out of the king’s mouth. “You–you troubler of Israel–you!”
My friends, those who think being a Christian is a popularity contest are sadly mistaken. Anyone who stands for the truth also places himself in Satan’s immediate path of attack. The devil doesn’t waste stones on dead Christians. Fruitful trees, however, are his very favorite target.
If your life is rosy, then, and everything is going quite splendid, it would be worthwhile to ask if you’re living right. For all who live godly lives, standing faithfully in their lot, will indeed suffer great persecution.
Getting back to our story, however, we find Elijah confronting Ahab. Turning the tables on the accusing king, Elijah issued the Lord’s command in terms that must have reminded Ahab who really was the monarch, and who was his servant.
“Bring your four hundred and fifty priests of Baal, four hundred prophets of Baal, the whole nation of Israel, and their gods to the top of Mount Carmel,” the prophet ordered. Ahab was afraid. On this one man depended not only rain, but his life and the lives of his people. Even the wicked and rebellious king dared not disobey. There was really no other choice.
And so Ahab made haste to rally the people, together with the eight-hundred and fifty priests and prophets of Baal, to the top of Mount Carmel. We are not told what Elijah did while the king rounded up his subjects. But we do know that the people arrived, and probably with as much speed was was possible in those days.
Adapted from a sermon by Dr. Samuel Pipim. Published online by permission. Copyright ©2008 Cari Haus.
