The Triple Response to Israel...Elijah pt 11

https://billrandles.wordpress.com/2021/12/01/gods-triple-response-elijah-pt-11/ ^ | 12-1-21 | Bill Randles

[pastorbillrandles]

And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. 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. Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. ( I Kings 19:16-18)

Elijah the Prophet had come back to Horeb, to the place where the Covenant had first been received. Like Moses He had been placed in the cleft of the Rock and was given a revelation from Jahweh, who passed by the cleft, just as He had in Exodus 34 with Moses.

Elijah had wanted Fire, earthquakes and Storms to fall on intransigent Israel, because it seemed to him that his labor had been in vain, even after Mt Carmel, and the total revelation of the power of God. Yet they had rejected God, the Covenant, snd seemed to be incorrigible.

So the LORD passed by the Prophet, trembling in the cave as a mighty Wind passed, and a Firestorm and an Earthquake, yet “the Lord was not in them”. Eidersheim again,

The storm which rends, the earthquake which shakes all to its foundations, the fire which consumes – these are but His messengers which at most precede His coming. But Jehovah Himself is not in them. When He cometh it is not in these, but in the gentle stilling of them. To learn this was a real, though not an expressed, answer to Elijah’s despondency and to his accusing appeal against Israel, the more touchingly conveyed that, being indirect, like the answer of Jesus to the inquiry of the Baptist, it carried instruction but not rebuke. The mood of both was the same, their doubts, and the reply given to them. It was in effect, See what the LORD really is, purposes, and doeth; and learn reverently to bow and to adore. God is greater, higher, better than appears only in judgment: do thy work, and leave the result to Him – He will make it plain.Eidersheim, Alfred, OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY

Yes the LORD has power over these forces, and can use them to excercise his Judgments. And yes, the fire will fall, the storm is already brewing over the head of Israel, and yes there will be a God sent earthquake that shall shake “everything in the Kingdom that can be shaken”.

But in the meantime, God is speaking, through a still small voice, to whosoever will hear. And quietly, even in apostate Israel, there are people who are hearing and turning.

But in a parallel to what He showed Moses, when He stood in the cleft, God assures Israel that “He will by no means clear the guilty” , therefore

* A man named Hazael was to be anointed King in pagan Syria. He would be used to invade Israel, and make devastating incursions on the Land, such as it had never experienced before, as a judgment on a mostly unrepentant people.

*Jehu, an army officer was to be anointed King in Israel. he would be zealous to execute Divine vengeance on the House of Ahab, and on the entire apparatus of Baal, and those who sympathize with the idolatry.

*Finally a man named Elisha would be used to kindle the fire set by Elijah, and further it, across the Land of Israel. There would be those 7000 who hear the still small voice, and there will consequently be a congregation, a remnant in Israel.

Everyone would be effected one way or the other. If Hazael doesn’t get you Jehu will, and if Jehu doesn’t ‘slay’ you, Elisha will, but one way or the other, God would have his way So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him. And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee? And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him.( I Kings 19:19-21)

Elijah himself only fulfilled the anointing of Elisha, the other two were performed by Elisha(Anointing Hazael) and an unnamed Prophet sent by Elisha (anointing Jehu). But these three were the program of God for Israel; Elisha, Jehu and Hazael.

Elijah came across Elisha, as He plowed, with 11 of his servants, each driving an oxen. The Prophet threw his mantle on the young man, to whom the symbolism was obvious. He was being called to be a disciple of the Prophet.

When He asked only that he be given time to say goodby to his parents, the answer of Elijah seems unduly stern.”Go back again, What have I to do with you?”, but the prophet was only underscoring that it was important that the decision to follow on Elisha’s part be entirely voluntary, and that he be given every “out” and that his service to God be completely freely given.

When Elisha took the plow and the yoke by which he bound his Oxen, and slaughtered the beast, He was “forsaking all” to follow God. Glady did He do so, for he then threw a farewell feast for his friends and family. No turning back, Elisha was now “all in”.

[aces]

All in, in all..s.ile