From "The Gospel Journal" April, 2002

     To understand the life of Elijah, it is necessary to consider “the times in which he lived,” which were characterized by major departures from God. The Psalmist spoke of “times of trouble” (Psalms 9:9; 10:1). The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy of “perilous times” (2Timothy 3:1). Paul went on to state that these “perilous times” were created and caused by (1) men with no character (2Timothy 3:2-3); (2) men with no convictions (2Timothy 3:3-5); and (3) men with no conscience (2Timothy 3:6-7). He also described such times as follows: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith...” (1Timothy 4:1).

     Elijah’s time was a time of major departure from the faith, created and caused by men with no character, no convictions, and no conscience. It was apparent from the facts that (1) they rejected God; (2) they disrespected God’s Word; and (3) they neglected the warnings of the Bible.

     Their rejection of God is easily traceable and quite evident: I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life to take it away (1 Kings 19:14).
 

The covenant to which Elijah referred was the Mosaic covenant, which included this commandment from Exodus 20:2-5: I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness

any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and forth generation of them that hate me.

     But even while Moses was on the mount receiving this command, the people below were turning quickly out of the way and corrupting themselves by making and sacrificing to a molten calf. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt (Exodus 32:7-8).

     That which began as a tendency next turned into a trend. After the death of Moses and the time of Joshua, during the time of the judges, we read: And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord; but they did not so (Judges 2:17). A prominent example of such sin is seen in the tribe of Dan. And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. And they set them up Micah’s graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh (Judges 18:30-31). 

     Later on, after Israel divided, this tendency and trend turned into an established tradition in the Northern Kingdom, first, under the reign of Jeroboam I. Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, 0 Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan (1 Kings 12:28-29)

     Then when Ahab, the eighth of Israel’s twenty kings, began to reign, we read: And in the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel: and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years. And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a grove, and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him (1Kings 16:29-33).

     Ahab was on the throne of Israel when Elijah first appears in 1 Kings 17:1. The king had given government sanction and support to Baal worship, having “. ..the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table” (1 Kings 18:19). It was during Ahab’s reign that Elijah said that he stood alone in serving God, as quoted above (1 Kings 19:14). Such was truly a time of major departure in that Israel rejected God. 

     Two examples will suffice to demonstrate that they did not respect God’s Word. First is the example concerning the rebuilding of Jericho. At the beginning of the conquest of Canaan, Joshua first led Israel to destroy Jericho, concerning which we read: And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the Lord, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it (Joshua 6:26). But when we get to the time of Elijah, immediately after reading about the major departures of Ahab, we read: In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun (1 Kings 16:34).

     Another example showing the disrespect of Israel for God’s Word was the setting up of the golden calves of Jeroboam I, especially the one at Dan (1Kings 12:29). One wonders how these could be so readily accepted by the people. How could the people who rebelled against the oppression of Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, not rebel against these obvious sins of Jereboam? Further, how could Ahab, as a later king of Israel, build a temple and an altar to Baal in direct violation of two of God’s ten commandments, and how could the people allow such? The answer to all of these questions is that what Jeroboam and Ahab did had been going on in Dan from the time of the Judges, as already documented. If one tribe of Israel could practice idolatry, why could not the whole nation do it? How true it is that “a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” (1Corinthians 5:6). Such was truly a time of major departure in that there was no respect for God’s Word.

     This neglect is evident in Elijah’s first pronouncement to Ahab: Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word (1 Kings 17:1). Elijah prayed fervently that it might not rain: Elijah was a man subject to like pas- sions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months (James 5:17).

     Why did he pray that it might not rain for three and a half years? The answer is found, first, in the words of Moses spoken in Deuteronomy. And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will send you grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; and then the Lord’s wrath be kindled against 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 11:13-17).

     The answer is also found in the words of Solomon when he dedicated the temple: When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee: if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them: then hear thou in heaven and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance (1Kings 8:35-36). From the time of Moses, through the time of Solomon, and down to the time of Ahab and Elijah, God had warned that, if the people turned aside and served other gods and worshiped them, there would be no rain. Neither king nor people believed God’s warnings, nor did they ever respond in repentance and prayer. Truly the time of Elijah was a time of major departure in that the people neglected the warnings of the Bible.

     We also live in times of major departure. Most have rejected God. In the times of Elijah, the worship of Baal had government sanction and support. Today, such things as humanism, evolution, abortion, and homosexuality are sanctioned and supported by our government while God is being legislated out of our courts, our schools, our homes, and our places of work. God’s Word is not respected. It is not respected in society in general. It is not respected in the so-called world of “Christendom.”  It is not even respected in some churches of Christ in such matters as worship, church discipline, the role of women, and church organization.

     These one-time brethren are totally neglecting the warnings of the Bible. Further, those who sound forth these warnings are, as was Elijah, accused of being “troublemakers” (1Kings 18:17). Accusations of being “self-appointed vigilantes,” of “going to.. .far extremes,” and of  “condemning faithful, godly, gospel preachers” are made against those who oppose sinners and their sins. We are accused of having attitudes of  “vigilantism” and “venom” and of “planting hatred in our brotherhood” when we “mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them” (Romans 16:17). In times like these we need men of character, conviction, and conscience. We need people today who will accept God, respect the Word of God, and will heed the warnings from God. Yes, in times like these we need more Elijahs!

David Watson

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