Elijah the Prophet

n this Lesson, we will learn about the lifeof the Prophet Elijah, one of the greatest

servants of God of all time. His ministrytook place during the early- to mid-800sB.C. It was marked by a number of dramat-ic miracles, as you will see. Elijah was theforerunner, in type, of two other men,whose ministries came shortly before theFirst and Second Comings of Jesus Christ.

To review, after the Kingdom of Israelwas split in two, Jeroboam led the northerntribes, called the house of Israel, in adownhill slide into idolatry. Most of thekings who followed him, such as Baasha,Zimri and Omri, followed his terribleexample.

Ahab and Jezebel

After Omri’s death, his son Ahab took thethrone of Israel. What kind of ruler was he?Write out I Kings 16:33:_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ahab proved to be the worst king thatIsrael ever had. After he became king, hemarried a Zidonian princess named Jezebel,disobeying God’s instructions to marrywithin the Israelite tribes. The Zidoniansworshiped false gods, and Jezebel influ-enced her husband to lead Israel further intopaganism and idolatry. A devoted worship-per of Baal, she fiercely persecuted the ser-vants of the true God, even sending a group

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Elijahthe Prophet

1 Children’s Bible LessonIllustrations by Paula Rondeau

of soldiers to murder God’s prophets. Ahaballowed her wicked deeds. Ahab also builta temple and altar to Baal in Samaria, thecapital of Israel. This was a terrible offenseagainst God.

Just as Jezebel influenced Ahab, as kingand queen, they influenced the wholenation of Israel. Groups of people, whethera team, a business, a family or a nation (afamily grown large) reflect the character of

their leaders. This has been proventhroughout history.

Elijah Prophesies Drought

The sins that filled the nation, from theleaders to the citizens, had greatly angeredGod. He decided to punish Israel for itsown good. Since God always warns Hispeople before He punishes them, He sent

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Elijah to warn King Ahab and the rest of thecountry.

Elijah lived in Gilead, and was one ofthe few in Israel who remained faithful tothe Eternal. God instructed him to go toAhab to deliver a message from Him. Elijahobeyed, and set out for the capital.

When he arrived at the palace, he boldlyapproached the king, and stated, “As theLORD God of Israel lives, before whom Istand, there shall not be dew nor rain theseyears, except at my word.”

As he turned to leave the palace, Godinstructed him to flee to the Brook Cherith,a tributary of the Jordan River. There, Godwould provide for him. Again, Elijahobeyed—trusting God.

As Elijah had prophesied, the droughtbegan. When the normal rainy season wasdry, Ahab remembered what Elijah said. Hiseyes narrowed into angry slits.

God Protects andProvides for Elijah

At the Brook Cherith, God miraculouslyprovided for Elijah, sending ravens to bringhim meat and bread each morning and

evening. God provided for him justas He does for His people today.He drank from the brook itself,until the drought caused the flow ofwater to stop.

Then, God told Elijah to leavefor Zarephath, a city in Zidon,which was a hundred miles northof Samaria. God said that He hadcommanded a widow to providefor him there. When he arrived,

Elijah found a widow gathering sticks nearthe city gate. He asked her to get him a cupof water, and then for a morsel of bread. Sheanswered, “As the LORD your God lives, Ido not have bread, only a handful of flour ina bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I amgathering a couple of sticks that I may go inand prepare it for myself and my son, thatwe may eat it, and die.”

Elijah reassured her that, if she fulfilledhis request, God would miraculously provide

for her as well: “Thus says the LORD God ofIsrael: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up,nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the daythe LORD sends rain on the earth.”

And the result? Turn to I Kings 17:15and fill in the blanks. “So she ______________ and did ________________ to the_______ of Elijah; and she and her_______________ ______ for _________days.”

God honored the woman’s willingnessto help His servant Elijah. The prophetstayed in an upper room at her house, andboth the woman and her son were savedfrom starvation during this time of drought.

Another Dramatic Miracle

After Elijah lived with them for sometime, the widow’s son became seri-ously ill. I Kings 17:17 tells howgrave his condition was: “And his___________ was __________ thatthere was ___ __________________ in him.” The widow assumedthat her son’s illness and death was aresult of her sins, and that somehowElijah had caused it! It seems that shehad forgotten the miraculous bless-ings that had been given to her. Asshe held her son in her arms, Elijahsaid, “Give me your son.”

Elijah was not sure exactly whyGod allowed the widow’s son to die,but he knew that God had the powerto bring him back to physical life, ifit was His will. He brought the boyup to the room where he was staying,laid him on his bed, and stretched

himself over the boy’s body three times. Hethen called out to the Eternal, “Please letthis child’s breath come in to him again”(verse 21). God answered Elijah’s prayer—the widow’s son began to breathe again, hiseyes opened, and his limp arms and legsbegin to move! Elijah brought him downfrom the upper room to his mother, and saidto her, “Look, your son is alive!”

The widow was thrilled to have her sonback. She embraced her son, and looked atElijah with tears of joy in her eyes, saying,“Now by this I know that you are a man ofGod, and that the word of the LORD in yourmouth is the truth” (verse 24). She learned

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valuable lessons from this difficult trial, andat the end came to the right conclusion—that God’s true servants speak and teach thetruth!

After sharing lodging and food with thewidow for many months, Elijah was told by

God that the drought would be ending soon.We can find the length of the drought in theNew Testament: “Elijah was a man with anature like ours, and he prayed earnestlythat it would not rain; and it did not rain onthe land for three years and six months”

(James 5:17). After this long without rain,the ground was parched and cracked. Riversand streams had dried up. Crops had failedseason after season. Trees were dying andwithering; animals were succumbing todehydration and disease; and the grass andother plants were brittle and brown. Peoplein the land had to conserve water carefully,drinking only enough to survive. At thistime, God determined that the punishmentwas enough.

Elijah Faces Ahab Again

God told Elijah to travel to Samaria onceagain, to tell Ahab that the drought wouldbe over shortly. While Elijah was makingthis trip, Ahab and his chief stewardObadiah were traveling though the land insearch of pasture where the king’s mulesand horses could feed. The king and his ser-vant separated into two companies, eachleading a group of men who scouted forgrass not killed by the drought.

Despite that he served in the palace of awicked king, Obadiah feared and worshipedthe Eternal. He had recently demonstratedhis dedication to God by protecting onehundred of His prophets from the murder-ous Jezebel’s plot to kill all His servants. Indefiance of the wicked queen—his master’swife—and at the risk of execution, he hidthem in a cave and provided food and waterfor them.

As Obadiah searched for good land, hemet Elijah. Obadiah bowed and asked, “Areyou my lord Elijah?” Elijah answered, “Iam. Go tell your master Ahab that I amhere.” However, Obadiah was afraid to do

this. He feared that, after he told Ahab thatElijah was there, God would transportElijah to a distant place to protect him. Ifthis happened, Ahab would assume thatObadiah had lied to him—and would puthim to death.

However, Elijah reassured Obadiah thathe would show himself to Ahab. SoObadiah told Ahab where Elijah was, andAhab hurried to meet him.

As Ahab approached Elijah, he said in acutting, angry tone, “So, is that you, Elijah?The one who troubles Israel?” Elijahanswered fearlessly: “I have not troubledIsrael, but you and your father’s house have,in that you have forsaken the commandmentsof the Eternal and have followed Baal.”

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This stinging rebukeinfuriated Ahab. Theking was not accustomedto opposition from any-one. But he held back,remembering that Elijahprophesied the droughtthat had crippled Israelfor years.

Showdown With FalseProphets

Elijah then continued,issuing a bold challenge:“Now therefore, send andgather all Israel to me onMount Carmel, the fourhundred and fiftyprophets of Baal, and thefour hundred prophets ofAsherah [a Canaanitegoddess whose name isrelated to the wordEaster], who eat at Jezebel’s table” (I Kings18:19).

Ahab laughed, and agreed to send them.He thought, “Elijah is hopelessly outnum-bered. The priests of Asherah will call ontheir goddess and overpower him.” Ahabnot only sent for the 400 prophets, but alsocalled for all of the people of Israel to wit-ness the event.

When the prophets and the crowdarrived at Mount Carmel, Elijah called out achallenge to the Israelites as well. Write outthe challenge, found in I Kings 18:21:______________________________________________________________________

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Elijah then laid down a final challengefor the false prophets: “All of you prophets,prepare a sacrifice to your god. I will pre-pare a sacrifice for the Eternal. Do not lighta fire under the sacrifice. Rather, call out toyour god to accept your sacrifice, I will callout to God. Whoever answers is the trueGod!” The crowd of Israelites answered, “Itis well spoken” (verse 24).

Elijah smiled at the prophets of Asherahand said, “You can go first.” They preparedtheir sacrifice, slaughtering a bull. Thenthey began to dance wildly around the altar,singing and chanting, even leaping onto thealtar, crying, “O Baal, hear us!”

There was no response from their god.Elijah sat nearby, occasionally shaking

his head. When noon arrived, and theprophets had been making this commotionfor hours on end, he began to mock them:“____ aloud: for he is a ____; either he is_________, or he is _________, or he is ona ______________________, or_______________________ he_________, and must beawaked” (I Kings 18:27). Thismade the false prophets evenmore desperate. They evenbegan to cut themselves, perhapsthinking that the sight of theirblood would get Baal’s atten-tion. But it was to no avail.

God Settles the Matter

Then Elijah turned away from thebloody spectacle and called thepeople to come near to him. Hebegan to repair the Eternal’s oldaltar. He took 12 stones, each onerepresenting a tribe of Israel, andused them to solidify the altar. Heslaughtered a bull and placed iton the altar. Then he dug a trencharound it. He instructed onlook-ers to fill four buckets with waterand drench both the sacrifice andthe wood, making it much harder

to light a fire under it. The people looked on,puzzled by Elijah’s actions. Then he hadthem empty another four buckets on thealtar—and then a third time!

Elijah then bowed his head and gave abrief prayer. He did not shout, dance, or hurthimself. His prayer is found in I Kings18:36-37: “LORD God of Abraham, Isaac,and Israel, let it be known this day that Youare God in Israel and I am Your servant, andthat I have done all these things at Yourword. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that thispeople may know that You are the LORD

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God, and that You have turned their heartsback to You again.”

Write out verse 38 to find out what hap-pened next: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Notice that even the stones were burntup—this was no ordinary fire! The peopleresponded with awe, saying, “The Eternal,He is God! The Eternal, He is God!” Elijahsaid, “Seize the false prophets! Don’t letany of them escape!” Elijah then executedthem at the Brook Kishon, according toGod’s instructions in Deuteronomy 13:5.

God, through Elijah, had offered dramat-ic proof that the Eternal is the only real God,and that the gods of the false prophets didnot exist. God was also showing theIsraelites that only leaders who served Himshould be followed.

The Drought Ends

Elijah looked over at Ahab, and said, “Eatand drink; there will soon be an abundanceof rain.” Ahab, who now took Elijah’swords more seriously, followed his instruc-tions.

While Ahab ate, Elijah went to the top ofMount Carmel and kneeled on the ground,his face between his knees, and began topray for rain. He sent a servant to look to thesea for any sign of a rain cloud. He returned,saying, “There is nothing.” The skyremained clear and blue.

However, this did not cause Elijah todoubt. He prayed again, and once again senthis servant to watch the skies. The servantreported, “The sky is still clear!” Seventimes Elijah prayed and then waited for theservant’s observation. Finally, after the sev-enth prayer, the servant said, “Now there isa small cloud over the sea, and it is shapedlike a man’s hand” (I Kings 18:44).

Though this tiny cloud did not look likeit could produce any rain, Elijah knew thatGod had answered his prayer. He sent amessage along to Ahab: “Get in your chari-ot and ride, before you get caught in thestorm!” The little cloud was quicklyexpanding into large, dark thunderclouds.Finally, after a full 42 months, the droughtwas over. A heavy, soaking rain was on itsway.

Ahab hurried to his chariot and set outtoward Jezreel, roughly 20 miles fromMount Carmel. Elijah also left for Jezreel,but on foot. Through another miracle fromGod, Elijah actually outran the horse-drawnchariot, and arrived at Jezreel before Ahab!

As the many miracles that God per-formed during his life demonstrate, Elijahwas a great and unusual servant of theEternal. He trusted in God for protectionand guidance, and was willing to standnearly alone in doing what is right.

Would the nation of Israel rememberElijah’s message, and learn lessons from hisexample?

In the next Lesson, we will learn moreabout Elijah, his successor and the remain-ing years in the reign of Ahab and Jezebel.

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BIBLE MEMORY: I Kings 17:24

Published by The Restored Church of God.Printed in the USA; All Rights ReservedCopyright © 2006

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Place the miracles in the correct time sequence.

A - Widow’s son brought back to life

B - Elijah outruns Ahab’s chariot

C - God uses ravens to feed Elijah

D - Elijah’s prayer for rain answered

E - Fire from heaven consumes Elijah’s sacrifice

F - The widow’s oil and flour last three-and-a-half years

TIMELINE ACTIVITY