Zone1 Could the Prophet Elijah have changed the future for the northern kingdom of Israel?

[DennisPTate]

At the Worldwide Church of God Festival of Tabernacles in either 1979 or 1980, a pastor gave a sermon on how perhaps The Prophet Elijah could have altered the future of the Northern Kingdom of Israel -Samaria, if Elijah HAD NOT RAN AWAY FROM Queen Jezebel and her armies?


The Pastor was speculating, but I believe that he was correct and perhaps the reason why the G-d of Abraham spoke to him in a "still small voice" may have had something do with our Creator having a "lump in His throat" as he dealt with the implications of the error that the Prophet Elijah had made?

It is rather surprising to us that our Creator could somehow be "afflicted" along with us humans in our troubles and trials of life.

Isaiah 63:9
In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

The story begins in I Kings 18:

And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.

2;And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria.

3;And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly:

4;For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)
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And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here: and he shall slay me.

15;And Elijah said, As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely shew myself unto him to day.

16;So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him: and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

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And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.

25;And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under.

26;And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.

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And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down.

31;And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name:

32;And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.

33;And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood.

34;And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time.

35;And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.

36;And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word.

37;Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.

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.

39;And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God.

40;And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.

Bible Gateway passage: 1 Kings 18 - King James Version

And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth. And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria. And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the...

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The Pastor speculated that the Prophet Elijah had learned a lot between then and the time of II Kings chapter one but for now we need to review about the Prophet Elijah deciding to run away from Queen Jezebel and her armies.

[I Kings 19]

And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword.

2;Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time.

3;And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there.

4;But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.

5;And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat.
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10;And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.

11;And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:

12;And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

13;And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?

Bible Gateway passage: 1 Kings 19 - King James Version

And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time. And when he saw...

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Please notice that the G-d of Abraham, Creator of heaven and earth asks Elijah the question:

"What doest thou here, Elijah?" [YHWh to Elijah]

The Pastor speculated that Mt. Horeb WAS NOT THE BEST POSSIBLE PLACE FOR THE PROPHET ELIJAH TO BE AT AT THAT MOMENT!

The Pastor speculated that YhWH, The G-d of Abraham had wanted to do a massive miracle for Elijah but instead Elijah had decided to run away from Queen Jezebel and her armies to Mt. Horeb.

The events of II Kings chapter one indicate what sort of miracle G-d had perhaps wanted to perform? I would suggest reading all of I Kings 18 and 19 as well as all of II Kings chapter one to get the full context of the situation.

Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and, behold, he sat on the top of an hill. And he spake unto him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down.

10;And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.

Again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly.

12;And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.

13;And he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight.

14;Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight.

15;And the angel of the Lord said unto Elijah, Go down with him: be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king.

Bible Gateway passage: 2 Kings 1 - King James Version

Then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease. But the angel...

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The WWCG Pastor speculated that G-d had actually wanted to give a new beginning to the Northern Kingdom of Israel - Samaria. He speculated that the 7000 who had NOT bowed their knees to Baal were to become the new leadership of a new and improved northern kingdom of Israel that could have either had a repentant King Ahab and a new Queen, in place of Queen Jezebel, or perhaps G-d had wanted to grant repentance to Queen Jezebel, [we humans cannot fully know the plans of our Creator for us].

Anyway, all of this came back to me as I researched near death experience accounts because they report that the events of the past were not absolutely fixed in stone but we humans were free to make better and wiser and more courageous decisions.

3. A Successful Apocalyptic Prophecy is One That Doesn’t Happen​

The goal of apocalyptic prophecy is to warn people to prevent it from happening. The reason prophecies are given to humanity is to change current trends and change enough people so that the prophecy will be diverted. Well-known prophecies that were foretold to occur around the millennium have not happened. Skeptics point out that this proves these prophecies to be false. But a better understanding of prophecy reveals that either (a) or (b) is true:

(a) The prophecy was successful in permanently diverting the outcome by the raising of the world’s consciousness.

(b) Because the prophecy gives an exact date, the prophecy may still be valid and the date may be wrong.

Prophecies from very credible sources rarely give an exact date. Even Jesus said he didn’t know the date and time when he would return. This should be a lesson to everyone who comes across a prophecy with an exact date.

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