After all, Elijah is the first and arguably the greatest of the Old Testament prophets.  Who better to carry us across the threshold of a new season?  Why, so great was Elijah, that our Hebrew forbears believed that when the Messiah came, he would come in the person of Elijah. And, indeed, nine centuries later, many mistake Jesus as Elijah returned. 

What I am telling you is, Elijah stands at the top of the Old Testament prophetic tradition.  He is the prototype prophet, sent not so much to reassure us as to rock us out of our waywardness, sent not so much to comfort us as to confront us with our bad    choices, send not so much to defend us as   to defeat us when we stand against God.

It is for our own good that we listen to Elijah.

The story of Elijah takes place during the reign of King Ahab, 874-853 B.C, in the northern kingdom of Israel, during that confusing period of Hebrew history when the twelve tribes are split, ten tribes to the north in what is called Israel, and two tribes to the south in what is called Judah.  Elijah is like us.  He us up north, during the reign of Ahab.

We know much about Ahab, for history is written about kings and their conquests.  By secular standards, King Ahab was considered a successful king, for he commanded a mighty military and ruled a relatively vast and wealthy empire.

Ahab's father, King Omri, was considered even greater, for it was under Omri's rule that Israel grew in wealth and might, a consequence of a cunning foreign policy with the King of Phoenicia.

However, when you read the stories of the successful kings in the Bible, like Omri and Ahab, they don't come off so great. In fact, the books of I & II Kings read like a minority report, dissenting from the secular version of history.

The biblical version reports that kings Omri and Ahab "sinned against the Lord more than any of their predecessors," which, I've got to tell you, was no small feat in that competition, and "did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel,  than all the  kings of Israel before them."  Wow!  That's got to be worthy of gold at the world games of infamy.

Get this.  The great sin of Omri and Ahab, according to Hebrew history, was the politically expedient treaty with Phoenicia which made Israel great according to secular history.  Again, biblical and secular views of history are different.

The alliance between Phoenicia and Israel was sealed, as was the custom, with a marriage between the two royal households, therefore wedding the two nations to one another, with King Omri's son, Ahab, marrying the King of Phoenicia's daughter, Jezebel, a name that will forever after live in infamy.   We can thank I Kings for this.  You read the story and you get the impression the biblical author does not hold Jezebel in high regard.

In fact, the author blames most of the nation's troubles on Jezebel, which is not quite fair. The fact is when you sign a treaty with another nation you have to compromise, right?  You have to give up something in order to get something.  We know this.  Baseball managers tell us this all the time after they trade away our favorite ball player.  You have to give up something in order to get something.  It's a trade.

I can imagine the negotiations to seal the deal between Israel and Phoenicia.  Omri, King of Israel, says to Ashbaal, King of Phoenicia, "What would it take to have the protection of your navy?"  Phoenicia, located where Lebanon is today, was noted for its navy,  which ruled the Mediterranean.  "What would it take for your nautical protection?"

King Ashbaal of Phoenicia responds, "We would be pleased to protect you if your tall and handsome son, Ahab, would marry my least attractive daughter, Jezebel, so that she might make something of her life by becoming Queen of Israel.  Otherwise I fear I will be stuck with her painted face forever."  Which is actually what Jezebel means, "painted lady."  And that's not a

pretty portrait.

Omri replies, "All right, that's a deal, if (Omri sensing the weak handshake of Ashbaal) you'll throw in some of your chariots."   Phoenicia had nice iron works as well and was also known for its fine chariots. 

Ashbaal (still the wily Arab horse trader) counteroffers, "O.K., alright, we'll give you the chariots, as well, if you will let Jezebel take some of the priests of our religion, Baal, with her into your land.  How many chariots would you like?  450? It's a deal...for 450 priests!"

And this  is how Jezebel and the 450 priests of Baal wound up in Israel, so I surmise.

In truth, most of the people of Israel did not mind having Jezebel as queen.  Neither did they complain about the priests of Baal, the pagan shrines they constructed nor the idolatry they promoted.  It was understood, religion and politics mixed.  If the price for a politically

astute treaty was the worship of idols, if the cost of securing one's borders came at the

expense of diminishing one's beliefs, hey, then it was worth it, a small price to pay for protection.  After all,  what harm could come of it?

In the Bible God answers this question in the person of the prophet.  In the post Jezebel trade, it is the prophet Elijah who appears out of nowhere, or Tishbe in Gilead to be exact, though we know not where Tishbe is, to tell the people what harm can come from trading religion for politics, values for profits, and commitment for expediency.

Religion is not something you make reference to when it is convenient, and forget when it is inconvenient.  Religion is not something you pay attention to when you are desperate, and ignore when you are doing fine.  Religion is not something you pull out when you need something, and put away when you have it all.  Religion is worshiping God, the Creator of the world, the Ruler of all people, the Judge of every nation, whose first command is, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

Everybody in Israel knew this.  They had all been to Hebrew school.  Every parent taught his or her child the commandments, beginning with #1.  They had just forgotten it, left it aside to attend to their growing prosperity, left it behind as they bargained for better deals, left it fallow as they followed their own thing.  They just forgot, got too busy.  Can you believe it?

Elijah is sent to the people of God to remind them "God is still speaking."  Elijah and his successors in the prophetic tradition are sent by God to reveal to the children of God that God has ways of reminding us when we have forgotten about God.  The first way is to send a prophet.

Let's see, how might God catch their attention this time?  Oh, how about a drought?  If the prophet announces a drought.  This land was subject to drought.  The people knew about drought.  Yes, a drought might drop them to their knees with some of the bigger questions of life - and death - upon their lips.  Yes, a drought will due this time.

So Elijah appears to King Ahab, out of nowhere, and says to the King, the first words out of his mouth in the Bible, "As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain in Israel for the next three years."

Well, pleased to meet you Elijah.  Understand, he is not presenting the drought as a meteorological problem, but as a theological problem.  The drought is to remind us that there is no God but Yahweh,  and on God and God alone are we dependent for all living things, not human treaties that contradict our covenant with God.

According to Elijah, the drought is the judgment of God upon Israel for worshiping Baal.  By the way, there is an irony in this judgment, for Baal is a fertility god, said to guarantee healthy harvests.  However, the result of bowing down to Baal is to suck sand, not thresh wheat. 

Baal is bad.  Got it?

So here is the prophet's purpose.  To put in our face the reality of our deeds.  If we choose to ignore God, God will leave us to the consequences of our own deeds.  Do you here me?  If we choose to ignore God, God will leave us to the consequences of our own deeds. 

Well, who wants to hear this?   We don't want to be reminded that there are consequences to our actions.  We don't want to be reminded that the quality of the decisions we make as individuals is going to effect the quality of life in the society as a whole.  We don't want to be reminded that we have social responsibilities as well as personal rights.

We don't want to be reminded of these things, darn those  prophets, anyway.  A prophet is someone who won't let us forget.  Did you know, a prophet doesn't tell us anything we don't already know?  A prophet tells us what we long have known but no longer find convenient to remember.

This is the mission on which God sends the prophet Elijah.  Elijah goes, reluctantly.  All prophets go reluctantly.  They know what happens when you stand up against the king, and move against the tide of public preferences.  But Elijah goes, and as prophesied, drought ensues.

Then one day, near three years into the drought, word comes to Elijah again, saying, "Go now to King Ahab and tell him what he wants to hear, that I will send rain upon the earth."  So Elijah, who has been until now hiding from the King's wrath, heads to the palace. 

Ahab, upon seeing Elijah, greets him, "So there you are, you worst troublemaker in all of Israel." So typical, isn't it?  Ahab, instead of taking responsibility, blames it on the messenger.   Elijah responds to Ahab, "I have not troubled Israel, you have, and your father's house,  by forsaking God's commandments and following Baal." 

What, do you think there are no consequences to your actions?  You want to blame me for pointing them out.  Shoot the messenger.  Look, you're the king, and there are consequences to your bad choices.

This is the prophetic contribution to the biblical understanding of history.  Many of the problems we face are the consequences of our own bad choices.  If we choose to worship idols, bad things will happen.

If we worship the fertility god of rain, we will get drought.  If we worship the high of drugs, we will be brought low.  If we worship the entertainment of television, we will become brain dead.

If we worship material wealth, we will impoverish our souls.  If we worship winning, we will be more aware of losing.  If we worship ourselves, we will diminish ourselves.

Therefore Elijah says to King Ahab, "I am not the problem.  The reason for the drought in Israel is that you worship a rain god."  Then he says, "Don't you remember the first Commandment, thou shalt have no other gods before me?  You're Jewish, for crying out loud, a king no less.  You ought to know such things!"

Ahab just shakes his head incredulous that anyone in this day and age could be so naive as to not know where real power and authority lie.  But Elijah, God being his helper, will neither retreat nor retract, but instead, in front of Ahab and everybody, for all of Israel has gathered for this public showdown, puts it plainly before the pathetic king and the people of God, in one of the greatest lines in sacred scripture:

"How long will go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow God; but if Baal, then follow Baal."

God sent the prophet Elijah to the people of Israel to get them to make a decision.  God gives us the freedom to choose what our life and world will be.  History is the result of human choices.  It is not the result of fate.  It is the result of faith - or lack of faith.  We are not trapped in some bedeviled destiny.  Not in the Bible.  We are free to choose.

As the Deuteronomist puts it, in a familiar formula, "I have set before you this day both life and death.  Therefore, choose life."

God rules history by putting choices before us.  God puts before us "alternative futures," if you will, and calls us to decide which future we will live.  We have the freedom and the power to choose.

This is the good news of biblical revelation.  We are not victims.  However, we must live with the consequences of what we choose.  This is God's judgment on human history, that we have to live with our consequences.

But not alone.  Instead of leaving us alone to the consequences of our bad choices, God chooses to share our pain.   This is the message from the cross.  Amazingly, God shares our pain that we created by turning away from God, that we might realize God's love and therefore set aside our idols and turn back to God.

Praise God, we do not have to live forever with the consequences of our bad choices, for God comes to us and forgives our sins, and invites us again to new life.  It begins here in I Kings, with the story of Elijah, where Elijah says to the children of Israel,

"How long will go limping with two different opinions?   If the Lord is God, follow God; but if Baal,  then follow Baal."

The story concludes with Elijah climbing atop Mt. Carmel with his servant.  There he sits, placing his head between his knees, as if daring not to look.  Then he asks his servant to look out from their mountain perch across the Mediterranean Sea, to see if he can see any signs of rain.

Elijah asks, "What do you see?"  "Nothing," replies the servant.  Elijah, again, "What do you see?"  "Nothing." Six times Elijah asks, and six times the same answer, "Nope, nothing."  Sometimes we wait with the faith.

Until finally on the seventh time the servant says,  "I see a cloud the size of a man's fist rising in the distant horizon."   Like the rainbow, the cloud the size of a man's fist is a sign. 

The sign of God's covenant, that if God's people will again choose life, God will rain down grace abundantly.

The drought is ended.   Elijah advices Ahab to get in his chariot and ride for cover, for the downpour is about to begin.  Ahab rides, and Elijah runs with the wind, for the mighty Lord of salvation is about to enter Hebrew history again.  Praise God!

"How long will you go limping...?"

 AMEN