You’ve Been Reading Elijah Wrong | The Shocking Truth Revealed

We love the spiritual showdown. We love the fire falling down from heaven. We love Elijah as the unstoppable prophet, calling down miracles, but what if I told you that Elijah isn't actually the hero to emulate in this story?

What if you've been reading the story of Elijah versus the prophets of Baal all wrong? And the key to understanding Elijah is actually Moses. And once you see the parallels between these two prophets, you'll understand why Elijah ran away and why his ministry ends so abruptly.

Are you ready? Then let's get into it. Welcome back to Wise Disciple. My name is Nate, and I'm helping you become the effective Christian that you are meant.

To be.

And that entails understanding what really happened with Elijah in the Bible.

Amen.

Make sure to like, sub, and share this one around if it blesses you. All right, before we jump into Mount Carmel, we have to pay attention to the command that sets everything in motion. Watch this. First Kings chapter 18, verse one, after many days, the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year saying, go show yourself to Ahab and I will send rain upon the earth.

Elijah, Ahab, and the Tragedy of Kings

All right, stop right there. Let's zoom all the way out for a moment.

Okay?

The entire story of both first and second Kings is a tragedy. It really is. This is the historical account of the rise and fall of King Solomon, as well as the other kings who came up after him, who all fell away.

Almost all of them fell away and worshiped other gods. That's what I mean. This is not a story with a happy ending. This is the story that explains the split of Israel between the Northern and the Southern.

Kingdoms.

And this tracks the lead up to the fall of Jerusalem and the Babylonian captivity. Much of this story tracks the trajectory of the book of Judges, actually. So if you remember Judges, you have account after account of generations of people going after their own desires, doing what they thought was right in their own eyes, because they rejected God's ways and they became disobedient, right?

That's what happens to Solomon. Solomon becomes King and things start off well. He builds the temple and God dwells in this beautiful location. And then he goes the way of all Kings in and around this time period.

He disobeys the Lord and marries foreign women and worships all of their gods. Look at this. First Kings 11 verse one. Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian and Hittite women from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, you shall not enter into marriage with them.

Neither shall they with you for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods. Solomon clung to these in love. He had 700 wives who were princesses and 300 concubines and his wives turned away his heart for when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord, his God.

Now the Kings that come up after Solomon, they're no different, but what we're seeing in first and second Kings is a pattern of behavior.

All right.

Fast forward to Ahab. This is a King that the scripture says did evil in the side of the Lord. Look at this. This is first Kings 16 verse 30. Ahab, the son of Omri did evil in the side of the Lord more than all who were before.

Him.

He then goes on to marry a woman named Jezebel and worships and serves Baal. As a matter of fact, this situation is so bad that in verse 33, this is what it says. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel to anger than all the Kings of Israel who were before him.

Then we meet Elijah in chapter 17 verse one. And immediately we start noticing that God is giving Elijah commands, right? And Elijah is obeying these commands. And this brings us to chapter 18 verse one.

After many days, the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year saying, go show yourself to Ahab and I will send rain upon the earth. Notice the specific command.

Okay.

There's actually two things here. First, God sends Elijah back to Ahab. Elijah doesn't brainstorm this plan, right? God is the one who initiates this. Can you see that? The second thing is God promises to end the drought, which by the way, I mean, that's a good thing for people in agrarian society, right?

Ending drought, which is causing a famine, like if you continue to read in the land, ending that drought, bringing rain upon a scorched earth, that's actually meant to be.

A good thing.

That's, that's a blessing.

Okay.

So, and for those of us who know the end of the story, you have to ask yourself a question as a good Bible student, what is the point or the goal of God sending Elijah to Ahab? Cause we know what happens, but what is the goal up here in 18 verse one with the command?

I would say the goal or, or, or the point it's, it's, it's reconciliation. It's not spectacle.

Okay.

Now a lot of folks miss this, but you know, it's, it's fundamental to the historical account. God is the one who initiates the meetup here. He speaks to Elijah and Elijah obeys, go present yourself to Ahab and I will end the drought and send rain.

But what we're going to discover is Elijah is going to overstep God's command and God will actually not speak again to Elijah until he reaches the point where he is afraid for his life and he desires death.

Verse 17, when Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, is it you, you troubler of Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but you have and your father's house because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals.

Now, therefore send and gather all Israel to me and Mount Carmel and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table. Ah, wait a second. What happened to ending the drought?

Right?

So what I'm anticipating is those of us, and I did this, you know, when I was in church myself, we would read this part of it because we know what's going to happen. And we were like, Oh yeah, here we go.

Come on, Elijah. Yes, sir.

Bring it.

Right?

We get excited, but I'm just trying to be very careful. What happened to God's command? What happened to ending the drought?

Right?

What happened to obeying the Lord and telling Ahab that rain was coming? Elijah didn't do that somewhere along the way. Now, maybe it was because of Ahab's choice words for Elijah. You, you troubler of Israel, you, right?

Maybe that's when Elijah decided to overstep, we're not told, but he oversteps. So in verses 20 to 25, Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal to a showdown where they will perform a miracle in the power of their God.

And then Elijah will in response, perform a miracle in the power of his God. Wait a second. Wait a second. Does that sound familiar to you? Has this happened before in the Bible? Think about that. Was there a prophet of God who went up against some pagan sorcerers in order to vindicate, vindicate the God of Israel, right?

Maybe in the book of Exodus.

Yep.

That's right. It's Moses, you know, this, this whole scenario is reminiscent of Moses versus the Egyptian magicians in Exodus chapter seven. As a matter of fact, take a look at this. Then the Lord, this is verse eight of chapter seven.

Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, when Pharaoh says to you, prove yourselves by working a miracle, then you shall say to Aaron, take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.

So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did, here it is just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers.

And they, the magicians of Egypt also did the same by their secret arts for each man cast down his staff and they became serpents.

All right.

Now I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on this, but there are two things to notice here in this, in this passage.

Okay.

First, this is a similar situation to what's happening between Elijah and the prophets of Baal, right? But there's also one key difference here, you know, in the Exodus account, the Lord tells Moses and Aaron to do this.

Okay.

Did you see that? He instructs them. When Pharaoh does this, then you do that. When this happens, then you do that thing, right? In first Kings chapter 18, the Lord does not tell Elijah to do that, to do what he does.

Remember, the last thing that the Lord said was to Elijah was, show yourself to Ahab and I'll send rain. That's it. So Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal and they, they cannot perform the task. Look at this.

And they took the bull that was given them and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon saying, Oh, Baal, answer us. But there was no voice and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made.

And at noon, Elijah mocked them saying, cry aloud for he is a God, either he is musing or he's relieving himself or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened. And they try as hard as they can and they injure themselves, but there is no voice and no one answers.

No one pays attention, right? So Elijah, continue reading the story. Elijah gathers together the prophets. Well, first he calls down fire, you know, from heaven, the Lord responds. Then he gathers together the prophets and kills them all.

Okay.

Very dramatic story, right? And like I said, we read, we hear this story in Sunday school. We hear this preached on a Sunday morning. We get excited.

Okay.

This is a very dramatic moment. Let's just pull over for a second.

Okay.

Let's just pull over. Hey, what's going on with the mocking, right? Again, you have to ask, did God tell Elijah to do this? You know, Hey Elijah, uh, I want you to go down and challenge the prophets of Baal, just like I had Moses and Aaron do in Egypt, right?

And this time when they can't perform, I want you to mock them to their face. I want you to suggest that their God is too busy sitting on the toilet to notice. I mean, that's basically what the phrase refers to in the Hebrew.

That's that's what Elijah is suggesting that Baal has taken a dump.

Okay.

Does God tell Elijah to do this? No, no. God never told him to call fire down from heaven. God never told him to mock the prophets. God never told him to create this drama in the first place. This is Elijah at his boldest, brashest, most self-assured.

Richard Patterson and Herman Austell make this point clear in their commentary. They note that what's behind Elijah's actions is pride. Look at this. Elijah was not without blame. God's subsequent tender dealings with his prophet were to bring his spiritual problem to light.

What they're saying is later when God meets Elijah, he's going to do things to bring Elijah's spiritual problem to light. His God-given successes had fostered in Elijah in inordinate pride that had made him take his own importance too seriously.

Moreover, Elijah had come to bask in the glow of the spectacular.

All right.

Now, again, just to be clear, uh, to the commentary here, just want to be fair. The author seemed focused on explaining Elijah's actions, uh, in chapter 19, but I propose to you that this explains his actions in chapter 18 as well.

The clues are there. If we have the eyes to see them, ladies and gentlemen, Elijah is a prophet who expected God to act on his terms. That's who he was in chapter 18. And that's a big problem. Now, is it, uh, something that God, like it's so big that God can't use Elijah to further his own purposes?

Clearly not because God does bring down the fire.

Amen.

Uh, the prophets of Baal are decisively dealt with in that moment. But the point is Elijah has a problem with his thinking. He's doing something for the Lord, but underneath that there is a flaw. There's a problem.

Elijah’s Fear, Self-Trust, and the Lesson of Horeb

And this becomes abundantly clear when Jezebel shows up, watch this first Kings 19 verse one, Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, so may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow, then Elijah was afraid and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah and left his servant there.

Huh?

Right?

It's like, wait, wait, wait, what is this? Is this that same guy?

Right.

That did this now, all of a sudden in chapter 19, he's running away. Afraid for his life, decisively defeated the prophets of Baal, had them all killed, called down fire. Very dramatic. The people were amazed.

Jezebel says, I'm going to kill you. And he runs for his life in fear. And worse than that, he actually wishes death upon himself. Look at this verse four, but he himself went today's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree.

And he asked that he might die saying it is enough now. Oh Lord, take away my life for I'm no better than my father's. Hey, what's going on? Something's wrong here. And the scripture wants us to wrestle with this question.

You know, what is wrong with Elijah?

Right.

By the way, let me acknowledge, you know, so I don't I'm trying to anticipate. Somebody watching this and I don't want to step on anybody's toes here. I'm not at all questioning whether Elijah was a great man of God, that he was absolutely used by God, that he was a prophet of God.

I'm not questioning that. I'm not diminishing any of that at all. So don't hear what I'm not saying. I'm just identifying a question that I believe the Bible wants us all to answer. What's wrong with Elijah?

Because whatever is wrong, didn't just magically appear out of nowhere when Jezebel showed.

Up.

It was there in Elijah going back to chapter 18 and probably before that. Here's another way to answer to ask the question, you know, what kind of person acts this way? Think about that. Is this the response of a man who fully trusts the Lord?

Or is this the response of a man who trusted in himself? In some form or fashion, he trusted in his own ability to create a spectacle and to change people's minds with the power of his witty sarcasm and, you know, and also, yeah, a lot of help from God, right?

I think it's the latter, friends. I think it's that second option. And God is going to send Elijah on a journey in order to correct him. If you continue to read the stories, this is verses 8 to 18, Elijah travels 40 days and 40 nights.

Can you see that? To a mountain called Horeb. Now 40 days, wait a second, 40 days, 40 nights. Does that sound familiar to anybody?

Hmm.

Across scripture, the time or the number of 40 consistently marks a period of testing of evaluation of transition of refinement. You know, there's no accident in the scripture, ladies and gentlemen, 40, the number 40, 40 days, 40 nights.

That's not an accident. Jesus went into the wilderness for a time of testing and temptation for how long? 40 days. The Israelites went out and spied out the land for 40 days. And they actually failed that test.

You remember this, right? The flood in the Bible, 40 days, 40 nights of God's judgment and cleansing. So there's deep scriptural connections to the duration of time that Elijah travels. Guess what else is 40 days and 40 nights?

It's the time that Moses spent up on Mount Sinai. Did you know that? As a matter of fact, guess what Mount Sinai is also known as Mount Horeb. Horeb is Sinai. This is the Mount of God. It's the mountain of Moses.

Now at this point, the parallels are just all over the place. You know, like there's too many of them to ignore.

Okay.

Look at this.

Take a look.

I put together a note here of the parallels between Elijah and Moses. I'm not going to hit every single one of these, but if you want to take a look at these, you press pause or whatever and take a look yourself.

I mean, I encourage you to take a look at these verses, but anyway, both of these, so Elijah and Moses both go to Horeb. That's the mountain of God. Both experienced God passing by. That is theologically significant.

God passing by. It's the same Hebrew verb used for Elijah and for Moses. Both endure 40 day periods that are tied to their ministries.

Okay.

Both confront severe idolatry among God's people, right? Both perform miraculous signs of judgment. Both are replaced by a successor chosen by God. Isn't that interesting? Of course I didn't include this, but you know, Moses and Elijah show up again in the new Testament together, right?

It's at the transfiguration with Jesus Christ. So the parallels are unmistakable and it appears that Moses's issue was also Elijah's issue. So do you remember when Moses was given a directive by God? This was in the wilderness and Moses overstepped and took matters in his own hands.

All right.

This is Numbers chapter 20, verse seven, right? God gave specific instructions. Look at this. The Lord spoke to Moses saying, take the staff and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron, your brother, and tell the rock, what?

Tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. God wanted Moses to speak to the rock and water will come out right now. Is that what Moses did?

Nope.

Moses decided to strike the rock because they were arguing and the Israelites were arguing and complaining with him. Look at this verse 10. Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock.

And he said to them here now, you rebels, shall we bring water for you out of this rock? Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice and water came out abundantly and the congregation drank and their lifestyle is a stock.

All right.

Now look at that. Was this such a huge problem that the Lord could not use Moses in that moment to further his purposes? No, clearly not, right? The water still came out. God's plans were still furthered.

However, Moses did not listen to God's instructions. He overstepped. And because of that, God decided to correct and to punish him. Look at this verse 12. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, because you did not believe in me to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel.

Therefore, you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them. Note that key phrase because you did not believe in me. Guess what? That word in the Hebrew is connected to trust. Because you did not trust me, Moses, because you did not follow my instructions and you did not treat me as the one who can be fully trusted, Moses, you will not enter the promised land.

Now, a moment ago, I asked you, what kind of person runs away in fear and seeks death? Somebody who does not fully trust God, right? Can you see the parallels between Elijah and Moses? I do. It's unmistakable.

They saw similar things. They experienced similar things. They spoke on behalf of the Lord as prophets, but they also suffered from a similar problem. They were too brash, too self-assured, too caught up in their own stuff.

And it caused them to become misaligned from God's intentions.

All right.

Watch how God corrects Elijah. There, he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him and said to him, what are you doing here,.

Elijah?

This is first Kings 19, nine. He said, I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword.

And I, even I only am left to pay attention and they seek my life to take it away. And he said, go out and stand on the Mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broken pieces, the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind and after the wind and earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake and after the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.

And after the fire, the sound of a low whisper, what is going on here? Why isn't the Lord in the huge bombastic loud showy display? And the answer is because that is what Elijah is supposed to learn. God did not tell him to run off and go put on a spectacular show.

God is not in that. He's not in the wind, the earthquake or the fire. What the Lord is teaching Elijah is, you know, the fire is not where I'm leading you. The whisper is where I'm leading you. As it turns out, friends, the fire was not the point.

Faithfulness was the point, right? The Lord is correcting Elijah. Elijah, it seems thought that, you know, uh, with the big grand show of fire coming down from heaven, you know, with the match between Yahweh and Baal, that there would be this massive revival afterwards.

And Jezebel and Ahab, you know what? They're going to repent. They're going to make a kingdom wide proclamation. The people are going to turn from their wicked ways, going to tear down all the other altars.

Things are going to be really good. We're going to worship God again, guys. And guess what? It didn't happen.

Why?

Because God's mission doesn't run on noise and spectacle. It runs on trusting him and his plans only. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

And behold, there came a voice to him and said, what are you doing here, Elijah? That's the second time the Lord asks him that question. By the way, this is very biblical. When God asks a question like this, it's not because he's trying to discover information that he doesn't know about.

It's to help people confess and repent. God did the same thing to Adam and Eve after they sinned. He asked, where are you? It's the same thing here. What are you doing here, Elijah? God knows. God already knows the answer.

Does Elijah know? Has Elijah learned the lesson? It appears the answer is no. Look at what he says. Verse 14. He said, I have been very jealous for the Lord. The God of hosts for the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword.

Here it comes again. And I, even I only am left. And they seek my life to take it away. This is the same answer verbatim as the one he just gave when the Lord asked the question the first time. And did you notice the central focus?

It's actually not the Lord. It's Elijah, right? I mean, yeah, the Lord's there, like the Lord's involved. But Elijah, even Elijah is the only one left that is not forsaken the Lord. Well, as it turns out, that's not true.

God will go on in verses 16 to 18 to, uh, to show that there are others, including Elisha, right? Look at this verse 15. The Lord said to him, well, go return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus.

And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria and Jehu, the son of Nimshi, you shall anoint to be king over Israel. And Elisha, the son of Shaphat of Abel Mahola, you shall anoint to be prophet in your place.

Oops.

And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death. And the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. Yet I will leave 7 ,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.

This is just like what happened to Moses. Numbers chapter 20 tells us that Moses did not believe the Lord and he was ultimately replaced by his successor, Joshua. First Kings right here shows us Elijah did not fully trust the Lord and he is now being replaced by his successor, Elisha.

Do you understand? Now, does any of this diminish Elijah, what he has done, what he has accomplished? I don't think so. In the same way that Moses and his mission is not diminished by what he did to strike the rock, right?

Elijah is not diminished either. If anything, you know, this puts these men in the same company as nearly every major leader in scripture who is not Jesus Christ, right? The sinless son of God, the men of God in the Bible, they succeed, they fail, they learn, and God carries his purposes forward through all of it.

And here's the beautiful part. Elijah doesn't, he doesn't leave, you know, he doesn't exit scripture stage left as a failed prophet. He stands with Moses again, this time on the Mount of Transfiguration, bearing witness to Jesus, the prophet who succeeds where every other prophet fell short.

So yeah, Elijah's story is dramatic and it's bold and it's inspiring, but it's also deeply human. It's also deeply flawed. I don't think we're meant to look at what happened with Elijah and the prophets of Baal and immediately co-sign every single thing that he did.

We need to see the event for what it was. It was a moment that reveals not only Elijah's flaws, but his courage, right? Not only his brashness, but his boldness, you know, we're supposed to recognize the parallels that I've been discussing with you, right?

Between Elijah and Moses for this very reason. And we're also supposed to see God's patience, God's correction, and God's unwavering commitment to accomplish his purposes. Even when his servants are struggling to understand what he's even doing.

What we have to understand, friends, is that the Bible, it often gives us this pattern that we find with Elijah over and over and over again. It's a moment of victory that leads to vulnerability, which leads to moral exposure, which leads to correction, right?

Let me say that again. Vulnerability leads to, or excuse me, victory leads to vulnerability, which leads to moral exposure, which leads to correction. Elijah is a really good example of this. Moses is an example of this.

Guess what? So is Peter. So is David. So is Jonah, right? This is the real story of the prophet Elijah. The fire coming down on Carmel, that wasn't the climax, right? It was the setup. Horeb is the climax.

That's the moment when God reveals that his work doesn't depend on spectacle or bravado or, you know, the zeal of a single prophet. It depends on faithfulness and obedience to him and him alone.

Amen.

And what I love about our God is that he is a gracious and merciful God. This is why Moses and Elijah both show up again, not in their moments of failure, but with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.

The one who succeeds where both of them fell. Jesus is the faithful prophet. He's the one greater than Moses and Elijah. The one who never succumbed to presumption, never lost perspective, never resisted the father's will.

It's not my will, but thy will be done, right? That's the story behind the story. And once you see it, you'll never read Elijah the same way again.

All right. All right.

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