This post is because of the studying done for Study of the Kingdom – Elijah.  It is in note form and not meant to be complete statements or thoughts.  You, probably, will need your Bible open as you go through this.       

1 Kings

17:7 – the brook dried up.  God changes somethings but lets others run their natural course.  What seems like a trial is really an opportunity.  The brook drying and going to Sidon. 

17:9 – Commanded a widow!  Did she know before Elijah got there?  The ravens were ordered, she was commanded!  This story makes the New Testament in Luke 4:24.

17:13 – a faith action, then a miracle/blessing.

17:18 –   In verse 15 she did as she was told and it started a blessing.  It may have been a year that she enjoyed the miracle.  Illness strikes and both the widow and Elijah are tested/challenged.  She acknowledged the man of God but blamed the source of her blessing.  Had she gotten too comfortable?  She shows a “religious” response – blames God (instead of being thankful), brings up her past, and blames the source of her blessing.

17:24 – miracles reinforced the words of truth that Elijah had brought.  Now she knows!

18:1 – another faith action to bring a miracle. Elijah had to go see Ahab.

Obadiah is a complex character.  His story of faith-in-action is told twice! Usually an indicator of importance. (Elijah has several things that happen twice in his story.)  There was already a myth surrounding Elijah and his ability to “disappear”. 

18:13 How could Elijah know of his story unless God revealed it to him, he was in hiding and it was done in secret.    

18:19 Why Mount Carmel?  Did Jesus ever go to Mount Carmel?  Elisha went back after Elijah was taken.

18: 20b, 24b, 39 The people said, “Nothing; what you say is good; the Lord He is God.”  Maybe a logical progression, but it just sits funny.

18:22 Elijah’s insistence on the fact he is the only one.  This is after Obadiah said he took care of 100 prophets.  He was not alone in serving God, and neither are we.  Paul repeats this story in Romans 11:2 to stress this point.

18:43 Elijah has a servant!  I think he was the widow’s son.

18:44 The cloud is rising.  Yes, that is how it works just you usually cannot see it happening, and then it progresses quickly. 

19:2 Steven Furtick called this an attack when you are in transition.  If Jezebel really had the power to kill him she would have just sent a death squad and not told him it was coming.

19:8 Follows the pattern of the Exodus.  It puts Moses and Elijah or law and prophet together in a similar circumstance.  Miracle food and water, forty days, and meeting God in a cave or cleft of a rock.  Normal travel in that length of time could be 800 to 1600 miles.  The pillar would allow the Children to travel at night.  Ref. Exodus 24:12. Was Elijah hoping he would die on the mountain?

19:11 Wind, earthquake, and fire are similar to what David reports/says in Psalm18 and the idea is also in Psalm 50.  It is also a picture of Law and Grace, harsh then gentle.

19:15 Did Elijah follow the instructions? Probably not!  First, he went to Elisha instead of Damascus.  Elisha had Jehu anointed in 2 Kings 9 and he told Hazel in 2 Kings 8:7. A possible out was that Ahab showed remorse in 1 Kings 21:9.  

19:19 to 21 Elisha is Elijah’s second servant.  He gave up a lot – 12 yoke or 24 oxen was a lot of money.  How big was that plow?  In a straight line, 12 yokes may have been over 100 feet!  That was a huge party with that many cows.  It ended his business.  The cows did not belong to his parents.  Was he married?

Note on Chapter 20. To reinforce that Elijah was not alone there are two unnamed prophets.  They seem to have no connection to Elijah but Ahab knows them and accepts their words.

21:20 Ahab blames everyone but himself and they are them the enemy. 

21:25 + 26 God did carry out the words of Elijah but He showed mercy.

Chapter 22 – Another prophet besides Elijah.  Elijah’s ministry could have been twenty-four years-long – twenty-two years of Ahab’s reign (1 Kings 16:29) and the two years of Ahaziah’s reign 22: 51.  

2 Kings 2

Bethel > Gilgal > Jericho > Jordan This is a reverse trip for Joshua and the children.  It is also the reverse of Jesus going to Jerusalem before His death. 

Elijah, Elisha, and the company of prophets knew he was going to be taken.  I think Elijah knew how he was going.

2:10 Elijah’s statement to Elisha could be – if you see what I see or the way I see.