Elijah the Tishbite

I) How it started
1K 11.31
1 Kings 11:29-32 MSG
(29) One day Jeroboam was walking down the road out of Jerusalem. Ahijah the prophet of
Shiloh, wearing a brand-new cloak, met him. The two of them were alone on that remote
stretch of road.
(30) Ahijah took off the new cloak that he was wearing and ripped it into twelve pieces.
(31) Then he said to Jeroboam, "Take ten of these pieces for yourself; this is by order of the
GOD of Israel: See what I'm doing--I'm ripping the kingdom out of Solomon's hands and giving
you ten of the tribes.
(32) In honor of my servant David and out of respect for Jerusalem, the city I especially chose,
he will get one tribe.

1) God tears Solomon’s kingdom in parts and gives it to Jeroboam

II) Arrival
1) 1Kings 17.1

And 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.
A) Tishbite
(a) A small town in Gilead, about 20 miles south of Galilee
2) No identified heritage, but a zeal for serving God
3) Extreme boldness to speak directly to the king without any prior introduction
III) After message
1) Hide thyself
A) Saw-thar
(a) Make yourself absent
(b) Differs from hide away (kaw-thar)
Amos 8.11-12
(11) Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land,
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:
(12) And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they
shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.

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 2) God sends him to the brook Cherith
A) Unknown
B) Drank from stream
C) Fed by ravens
(a) Why ravens
(i) Lev 11.15 calls them unclean
(ii) Large intelligent bird, omnivorous, likes carion
(iii) Strong flier
3) Important truth:
A) God leads step by step – steps that require walks of faith
(a) Can he believe in God to provide his needs in a washed out gulley?
(b) Can he trust God to continue to lead him and be beside him and believe God to do
those things he said? "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in
glory by Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:19).
(c) God reveals step by step. Prov 3.5-6
4) When brook ran out, he went to Zarephath
A) Once one level of faith is mastered, you must go on to the next.
B) How long did it take?
(a) Long enough for all crops to dry up
(b) Long enough for all storehouses to be emptied
(c) Long enough for famine to set in
(d) Long enough for the famine to become severe
C) Why did the brook dry up?
(a) Must learn first to rely on God when he is present then to rely when
he is not.
(b) How often we think we are trusting in the Lord, when really we are resting
on comfortable circumstances; and when they become uncomfortable, how
much faith have we?
IV) Zarephath and the widow 1 Kings 17.9
1) First, a test of the prophets patience
A) How long did it take the brook to completely dry up?
B) What if he would have determined a plan himself?

1 Samuel 13:11-12 KJVR (11) And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul
said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou
camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered
themselves together at Michmash; (12) Therefore said I, The Philistines will

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 come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the
LORD: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering.
2) And the word of the Lord came (1 kings 17.8)
3) If God directs us to do something, we must abide until he gives another word. (1
Corinthians 7:20 MSG - Stay where you were when God called your name.
A) Jeremiah 44:16-17 CEV (16) Jeremiah, what do we care if you speak in the LORD's
name? We refuse to listen! (17) We have promised to worship the goddess Astarte, the
Queen of Heaven, and that is exactly what we are going to do. We will burn incense and
offer sacrifices of wine to her, just as we, our ancestors, our kings, and our leaders did
when we lived in Jerusalem and the other towns of Judah. We had plenty of food back
then. We were well off, and nothing bad ever happened to us.
B) Ezekiel 33:30-33 CEV (30) Ezekiel, son of man, the people with you in Babylonia
talk about you when they meet by the city walls or in the doorways of their houses.
They say, "Let's ask Ezekiel what the LORD has said today." (31) So they all come
and listen to you, but they refuse to do what you tell them. They claim to be
faithful, but they are forever trying to cheat others out of their money. (32)
They treat you as though you were merely singing love songs or playing music.
They listen, but don't do anything you say. (33) Soon they will be punished,
just as you warned, and they will know that a prophet has been among them.

4) Located on coast, between Tyre and Sidon, about 100 mile north of Jerusalem in Samaria
A) Off limits to true Jews
B) No place was protected from the drought
5) God exists outside of time
A) When he spoke – “I have commanded” – in God’s mind, because it was his will, it
had already occurred
(a) Do we have problems believing God capable of doing what he says when Gods
believes because he said it, its already done?

B) Why not a rich person, or a person at least well off enough to provide?
(a) If God had used such a person, where would his glory show through?
C) The land that God sent him to was the headquarters of Baal worship and to a gentile.
D) A question of humility
(a) He had to rely on the substance provided by the weakest and most helpless for his
own care.
E) A question of trust
(a) No more information than to go and there is something waiting for you
6) Gods timing
A) God always works both ends of the path
(a) 1 Kings 17.10 – at the gate, the widow woman was there

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7) Must confirm the word
A) Pray thee: naw – a polite form of asking – would you mind?
(a) Notice that we are in a drought – water is gold yet she goes to get him some
(b) The word is beginning to be confirmed, but not quite yet.
B) Ask for a morsel of bread
(a) Did not ask for loaf – just a piece pulled from a loaf
(b) Now she confirms
(i) A small amount of oil (brook of Cherith)
(ii) A small amount of meal (brought by ravens)
(c) The confirmation of faith was enough for him to speak in faith – words that, if
they did not come true, he just sentenced this old woman to death
8) As Thy God liveth
A) She had no faith of her own
B) She had no God that she trusted in but recognized him as a Jew – a person of faith.
9) The next level of faith – now!
A) He first trusted god for faith that would maintain, could he trust him for something
that had to be now or never?
B) 1 King 17.17-18
(a) Had she continued in worshiping Baal?
(b) Childs death was blamed on God because the Man of God was there.
(c) We ought not to be staggered if we meet with sharp afflictions while we are
treading the path of duty. Did not Joseph do so again and again? Did not Daniel?
Above all, did not the Redeemer Himself? —so too with His apostles. "Beloved,
think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some
strange thing happened unto you" (1 Pet. 4:12).
(d) Elijah had to trust that God would work according to his word, even in the face of
those who both blamed him for the problem and had no faith in God to correct the
problem
C) Fervent prayer
(a) In the presence of the woman, he was nothing but faith
(b) In Gods presence, he wrestled with his faith
(c) But, he did not relinquish until one of 2 things happened.
10) Testing is complete, go back home
A) First meets Obadiah
(a) Much to be learned about faithful service, even if master is worthless and
ungodly.
B) Elijah meets Ahab in verse 18.17

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 (a) 1 Kings 18:17 CEV (17) and when he saw him, Ahab shouted, "There you are,
the biggest troublemaker in Israel!"
(i) Scoundrels are usually cowards, afraid or unwilling to accept responsibility
for their own actions
(ii) No discernment of Gods hand
(b) Notice what did not occur
(i) No threat against Elijah
(ii) Nobody takes him prisoner
(c) Elijah’s prophecy had come true
C) Elijah’s response
(a) Men of faith do no respond with anything other than calm trust in God
(b) They reference only God and God’s desires
(c) Notice the difference between the various offices
(i) A Pastors response would have been one of love and fellowship
(ii) The prophets response was law and decision
(d) The prophet gave direction to the king
(i) This is only wise if a true unction from the Lord is provided.
D) From here the story is know
(a) 450 prophets of Baal,
(b) 2 bulls
(c) Baal prophets all day long
(d) Elijah and 63 word prayer: 18.36-37
(e) Elijah recognized that only God could change their minds about who they served
at this point.

11) Questions
A) Elijah’s public display of faith had great impact on the people of that day. Is it good
to have such displays today? Relate this to the coming elections.

B) Was there a time in your life when you stood alone for something you believed in?

C) When was a time you stepped out so far on faith that you could have been successful
only if God intervened?

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When Elijah climbed to the top of the mountain to ask for rain, the Lord did not respond to His servant
immediately. God tested the faith and endurance of Elijah just like He tested the faith and endurance of
Moses when Moses struck the rock. Elijah’s faith did not wane. He kept pressing his petition to the Lord
to send rain. There is an important parallel for all of us in this story. It is our privilege to press our
heartfelt petitions before the Lord and there is good news! God responds. I believe there is a lot of
confusion about the purpose and privilege of prayer among Christians. Here are ten short statements to
consider:

1. Prayer does not entice God to do things that are not in our best interest.

2. Prayer does not give God permission to do things. God is sovereign.

3. Prayer does not nullify the cause and effect laws that God created because of sin.

4. Prayer does not make God love us more.

5. God will not violate the will of another person because of intercessory prayer.

6. The highest motive for prayer is to be used by God, not to use God.

7. God responds in some way to every sincere prayer. Sometimes, it takes a while to figure out how He
is responding or how He responded.

8. God closes His ears to our prayers if we defy the convictions of the Holy Spirit.

9. Frequent prayer changes us, not God. Prayer opens our hearts and minds to the greater and wiser will
of God. Through prayer God gives us strength to better reflect His character of love when we are tested.
Through prayer God gives us courage and peace to trust in His control over matters that are beyond our
control. One of the hardest things to believe is that God is intimately involved when everything is going
wrong in our life. Prayer can transform doubt into trust.

10. Sometimes, in response to a specific petition, God will dramatically alter the natural outcome of an
event to make a statement. (We call these acts of God, "miracles.") But to remain fair to the millions of
suffering people who pray for miracles every day, God does not casually alter the rules which He
ordained by violating the cause and effect rules. If the cause and effect rules were violated frequently in
the universe, there would be unintelligible chaos everywhere! Think about this. If God frequently
violated the cause and effect rules, miracles would not be recognized because no one would know if God
had averted a natural consequence or not. Everything favorable would be a miracle and everything
unfavorable would also be a miracle, so miracles would not have the amazing effect they have on people
today.