Old Testament Scriptural Summaries and Commentary

Old Testament, 1 Kings, chapters 17-19

Gospel Doctrine Class, Sunday School Lesson #28

"After the Fire, a Still Small Voice" 1 Kings 19:12

1 Kings chapter 17 - The prophet Elijah – four miracles

 Elijah, the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead appears before Ahab (see below) and says, “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” (v.17:1).  And he sealed the heavens (first miracle).

 "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"(1 Kings 16:33).

"Nearly nine hundred years before Christ, a prophet appeared in the court of the king of Israel. He is introduced only as 'Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead.'  (We don't know what 'Tishbite' means; we know that 'Gilead' was a wilderness.) He carried with him a sacred authority. He denounced King Ahab, and then he closed the heavens over that wicked land and said there should be no rain. He set no conditions such as 'It won't rain until you repent'; he simply said there should be no rain except 'according to my word.' In plain language, 'It's not going to rain until I say so.'" (Elder Boyd K. Packer, Ordinances, BYU Fireside, Feb. 3, 1980, lds.org.)

And the Lord tells him to hide himself by the brook in Cherith that is before Jordan so he can drink of the brook.  "So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD." And the Lord commanded the ravens to feed him there; and they brought him bread and flesh both morning and evening (second miracle).  After a time the brook dried up because there was no rain. (v. 17:3-7).

 Elder Gordon B. Hinckley said: “There was no arguing. There was no excusing. There was no equivocating. Elijah simply ‘went and did according unto the word of the Lord.’ And he was saved from the terrible calamities that befell those who scoffed and argued and questioned” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1971, 159; or Ensign, Dec. 1971, 123–24).

Then the Lord tells Elijah to go to Zarephath [in the land of Sidon, (Internet Bibleatlas.org)] where a widow woman will sustain him.  And he sees her by the gate of the city. When he calls to her saying, “Bring me, I pray thee a morsel of bread in thine hand.” She tells him she has only a “handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse” that she is preparing for herself and her son that they may eat and die.  Elijah said to her, "Fear not: go and do as thou hast said; but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.”  Elijah assures her, “For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.”   And she did as he ask and they had food for many days.  And the barrel of meal wasted not [stayed full] and the cruse of oil did not fail "according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah" (third miracle) (vv. 17:11-16). 

(See "words of Christ" below; Luke 4:25-26.)

25 But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;

 26 But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow

What can we do to help others who are in need?

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said: “I know we can each do something, however small that act may seem to be. We can pay an honest tithe and give our fast and freewill offerings. … And we can watch for other ways to help. To worthy causes and needy people, we can give time if we don’t have money, and we can give love when our time runs out. We can share the loaves we have and trust God that the cruse of oil will not fail” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1996, 41; or Ensign, May 1996, 31; quoted in Old Testament: Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual, (2001), 134–38).

Now the widow woman’s son gets sick and "there was no breath left in him."  And the widow cried out for help from Elijah.  Elijah carried the boy into the loft where he was staying and laid him on his own bed.  "And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee let this child’s soul come into him again.”  And Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and soul of the child came into him again (fourth miracle).   Then Elijah took him to his mother and said, “See thy son liveth.”  And the woman knew that Elijah was truly a man of God (vv. 17:17-24).

President Ezra Taft Benson taught:

“When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives. Our love of the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the demands on our time, the interests we pursue, and the order of our priorities. …

“May God bless us to put [him] first and, as a result, reap peace in this life and eternal life with a fulness of joy in the life to come” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1988, 3, 6; or Ensign, May 1988, 4, 6; quoted in Old Testament: Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual, (2001), 134–38).

1 Kings chapter 18 - The prophet Elijah proposes a contest

After three years of famine in Samaria because of no rain, the Lord sends Elijah back to king Ahab.  As they see each other, Ahab said to Elijah, “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?"  And he answered, "I have not troubled Israel; but thou and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim” (vv. 18:17-18).  And Elijah tells Ahab to gather all the prophets of Baal (450 of them) and the prophets of the groves (400), and go to Mt. Carmel—"a mountain ridge several miles long that runs from southeast to northwest. Its southeastern slopes are very near the northwestern corner of the great Jezreel Valley, and its northwest edge juts into the Mediterranean on the northern coasts of modern Israel" (OT Student Manual, p. 60) (v. 18: 19). 

Then Elijah speaks to the people asking, “How long halt ye between two opinions?  If the LORD be God follow him; but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word” (v. 18:21). 

"They were halt, they could not walk uprightly; they dreaded Jehovah, and therefore could not totally abandon him; they feared the king and queen, and therefore thought they must embrace the religion of the state. Their conscience forbade them to do the former; their fear of man persuaded them to do the latter; but in neither were they heartily engaged; and at this juncture their minds seemed in equipoise, and they were waiting for a favourable opportunity to make their decision" (Adam Clark, The Holy Bible … with a Commentary and Critical Notes, 2:457; quoted in OT Student Manual, p. 60). 

Elijah proposes a contest to see whose god can cause a fire to burn a cut-up bullock [young bull] placed over wood on an altar.  The prophets of Baal will call on their god to light the fire, and Elijah will call on the Lord to do the same.  The priests of Baal call on the name of Baal from morning until noon and nothing happens.  In desperation they leap on the altar and cut themselves with knives and lancets mingling their own blood with their sacrifice. But again, nothing happens and they continue until evening (vv. 18:25-29). 

Now Elijah takes twelve stones, one for each tribe of Israel and he builds an altar with a trench around it.  Then he puts wood on the altar and cuts up the bullock and lays it on the wood.  Four barrels of water are poured on the bullock and on the wood and it was done a second and third time.  And the trench is filled with water also.  And, Elijah calls on the Lord.  “Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench” (vv. 18:31-38).  And the people said “The LORD, he is God; the LORD he is God” (v. 18:39).  The people and Elijah take all the prophets of Baal to the brook Kishon and slay them with swords (v. 18:40).   And the sound of a great rain from black clouds soon falls on Ahab and he takes his chariot and goes to Jezreel.  "And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel" (vv. 18:41-46).

1 Kings chapter 19 - Elijah hides from Jezebel and goes to Sinai (Horeb)

When Jezebel finds out that Elijah and the people of Israel have been responsible for killing the prophets of Baal, she wants revenge and sends a message to Elijah that he will be dead by the next day (v. 19:2).  So Elijah flees to Beer-sheba and goes into the wilderness.  He is discouraged about his mission and lies under a juniper tree where an angel comes and tells him to arise and eat.  Then it happens a second time and he eats and drinks again to gain strength.  He goes to Mt. Sinai (Horeb), the mount of God, where he fasts [and prays] for forty days and forty nights.  And he leaves and goes to a cave where he lodges.  There, the word of the Lord came to him saying, “What doest thou here, Elijah?” (v. 19:9).   And Elijah laments to the Lord about how evil the children of Israel are in forsaking their covenants and they have “slain thy prophets with the sword.”  And he tells the Lord that even now they are trying to take away his life also (vv. 19:10,14).  The Lord tells him to go and stand on the mount.  As he is standing on the mountain, a great wind comes and breaks the rocks into pieces; then there is an earthquake; and a fire. "And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice" (v. 19:12).

And Elijah goes to converse with the Lord at the mouth of the cave (v. 19:13).  The Lord tells him to go to the wilderness of Damascus and he gives him three assignments.  First, he is to anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: second, Jehu is to be anointed to be king over Israel:  and third, Elisha is to be anointed prophet "in thy room" [in his place]. "And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay."  The Lord also tells Elijah that he is not alone, that seven thousand in Israel are still with him and do not worship Baal (vv. 19: 15-18).   

So Elijah departs from Horeb and finds Elisha plowing a field with twelve oxen.  “And Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him” (v. 19:19).  After a meal with his people, Elisha goes with Elijah and becomes his servant (v.19:21).

Joseph Smith said:

“The spirit, power, and calling of Elijah is, that ye have power to hold the key of the revelations, ordinances, oracles, powers and endowments of the fulness of the Melchizedek Priesthood and of the kingdom of God on the earth; and to receive, obtain, and perform all the ordinances belonging to the kingdom of God, even unto the turning of the hearts of the fathers unto the children, and the hearts of the children unto the fathers, even those who are in heaven. …

“I wish you to understand this subject, for it is important; and if you receive it, this is the spirit of Elijah, that we redeem our dead, and connect ourselves with our fathers which are in heaven, and seal up our dead to come forth in the first resurrection; and here we want the power of Elijah to seal those who dwell on earth to those who dwell in heaven. This is the power of Elijah and the keys of the kingdom of Jehovah” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 337–38; quoted in Old Testament: Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual, (2001), 134–38).