He led him to something that wasn't going to last. We too know times when though we are in the will of God, and know so because we are being obedient to the Word of God, we will find things suddenly change and enjoyments evaporate. He was living in the centre of Gods revealed will. Elijah is kept safe by the brook Cherith, until it dries up. Detailed in this book is the timeline of kings that ruled Israel after David's reign, opening with David's death, and God's discipline and grace with the nation of Israel. So Elijah here is put in a 'Cherith' situation and he has to be completely dependent on God - he has got water but he doesn't have anything to eat. You can be the one to help make a difference by purchasing a shirt (coming soon to the blog in a few weeks) or by ordering a downloadable product currently in the store, in which proceeds will go to nonprofits that seek to give a voice to the voiceless. Our relationship with God is not like the army where we are told what to do so we obey, otherwise we are going to be doing 40 press ups or running around a field forever. Had he gone somewhere else, it would not have been where God said. But God always has a way! Think of the obstacles to faith: Intentionally Biblical, Confessional, Presbyterian and Reformed, Church Planting and School of Discipleship, Philippines. For the full chapter, please see Bible Gateway. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. This view merits the preference as the simplest and most natural one, and is shown to be the oldest by Luke 4:25 and James 5:17, where Christ and James both say, that in the time of Ahab it did not rain for three years and six months. And in the same way that God commanded ravens, He would also command a widow to provide for His servant Elijah in yet another remarkable way. Best Review Site for Digital Cameras 1 King 17:2-7. You can only live a certain amount of time without water, but he stayed put. Have we not know this in our own Christian service? He went and did what he was told. From where did the ravens bring meat? Lessons from the brook where Elijah learned to trust God in obscurity and isolation. God was in control, He would not let His servant suffer needlessly. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. Keil and Delitzsch call this the "most simple and natural" understanding: The time given, "the third year," is not to be reckoned, as the Rabbins, Clericus, Thenius, and others assume, from the commencement of the drought, but from the event last mentioned, namely, the sojourn of Elijah at Zarephath. This is the very land that Jezebel was having the prophets of God killed for not worshiping the demon Baal. God instructs Elijah to hide near the brook Cherith, where the ravens would feed him. 1 Kings 17:2-4 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: (3) Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. It is against this background that now we consider v.2-6, in which we see Elijah in response to Gods instruction leaving the kings presence and going to the Brook Cherith. Elijah and the Brook Cherith (2 of 5) Series: Bible Brooks Ken Trivette 1 Kings 17:1-7 Outline 1. What are we to do with a dried up brook? But according to the actual account in the Old Testament the drought was not even a full three years. It would have been a tragedy for the prophet to remain longer in the wilderness. We need to be watching what He is doing and attentive to what our Father is asking of us. 'Let's draw aside to a quiet place'. But when we find that God is better than His Word our faith grows and we advance to further feats of faith and service. He would go to Mt Carmel and achieve great things for God, but first he needed an education so God sends him to Cherith and to Zarapeth. in 1 Kings 17:2 and 3 we read: And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith that is before Jordan. According to 1 Kings 17:2-7, Elijah departed to some place along this brook after he had announced the coming drought to King Ahab of Israel.The expression "before Jordan" (KJV) is not clear as to which side of that river was . But birds carrying food wouldve aroused no interest. Even with those things that never come clear to us we can still trust His goodness in them; we can rest in the confidence that God is doing and always does what is right. In the dynamics of divine Providence, Elijah was scheduled to experience another miracle in another place. He can only talk about what had happened with God now that will keep the fleshly pride down! Could you observe air-drag on an ISS spacewalk? God rises up Elijah, a Tishbite (a resident of Tishbe), to be a prophet to Israel. When the streams of provision turn into trickles 1 Kings 17:7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Elijah orders the people to execute the prophets of Baal at Brook Kishon. NEW CAMPAIGN SHIRTS ARE HERE! All we can be sure of is that he must have been more than two rears, out of the three and a haft, at Zare-phath. Our brook can be health or prosperity, or perhaps a relationship that is not going well. God is disciplining Israel with a drought. One of them was that he had 10,000 children, all of which he provided for all by faith and prayer. So this is the second lesson. It is a cutting of all the things of the self-life so that Elijah (and you and I) can be used of God. He was amazing because his God is amazing! 1. In this God was teaching Elijah to trust Him contrary to sight. How do cessationists interpret James 5:13-18? Did his songs of worship grower weaker as the water rolled less noisily across the rocky bed? Australian . Are there developed countries where elected officials can easily terminate government workers? It is the very essence of faith to take hold of those truths and to trust implicitly in the wisdom and goodness of God especially when to our limited human wisdom and perspective everything seems to be absolutely irrational and totally out of Gods control. But God will not share His glory, so Elijah is told to go to a lonely place. There was a famine in Canaan. I hope you have seen also how God in such times brings our greatest good out of our worst disasters. God rises up Elijah, a Tishbite (a resident of Tishbe), to be a prophet to Israel. Now Elijah, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, livesthe God I servethere will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word! (1 Kings 17:1 NLT), Later on, IN THE THIRD YEAR of the drought, the LORD said to Elijah, Go and present yourself to King Ahab. VERSES: 1 Kings 17:1-7 MEMORY VERSE: 1 Kings 17:4 ".thou shalt drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there." BOOK TO REMEMBER: Song of Solomon.Write "Song Of Solomon" on small slips of paper and hand out at the end of class. So it was in this context that Elijah came to speak forth the word of judgement in the presence of Ahab. In the Bible, the brook Cherith was the place God sent Elijah to be sustained by God during the severe drought brought on Israel in the time of King Ahab. And He is doing it in the same general way as He did with His Son. 5. There are two common ways to explain this: In both cases, it's important to note that the text does not actually say "in the third year of the drought." Zarephath was the second waiting place for Elijah, where the training, testing, and refining would be even more intense. On a purely physical level, it functions (unlike the Jordan) as a place far away and hidden from King Ahab who was seeking Elijah's life because of the drought. It is what John later spoke of when in exile on Patmos he revealed that yet he had sweet communion with His Lord. A normal person can walk around 3 miles per hour, so that would be 30-36 miles a day. So we should not run off and we can only ask 'am I in the place where God wants me to be' You can only say that for yourself before God. But you also see this other principle here of a brook that is drying up and he doesn't move because it is part of what God is doing with his character. The brook that had provided him so much nourishment and tranquility had dried up and God was pressing him forward. (4) You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there.". It will want to be where you are and will desire to be doing what you are doing. Now that the history of Israel has been recapped, 1 Kings 17 will be better understood. When our actions are regulated by the Word of God and our lives are lived in the centre of His will, we have nothing whatsoever to fear. An example of provision from the life of a great saint. He just watches me intently and I cannot get into the car without his beady eyes on me! This lesson plan is next in the series following Elijah confronts Ahab . Moderate. Sometimes you see a dog that is really unruly (some people can't even let their dog off the leash without spending a couple of hours chasing it around the park before they can catch it!) 65% off Any Hat Pack at AlphaDefenseGear.com 1 Alpha Defense logo hat + 3 face shields just $29.99! We respond to God out of relationship. God had spoken to this nation. The prophet Elijah hid himself on the banks of the Cherith and was fed by ravens during the early . Remember, in verse 1, Elijah confronted King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. But it's not acting out of fear. 1Kings 17:4. This is a miracle because ravens eat meat so they actually bring Elijah something that they would normally partake of themselves! What God teaches Elijah, and us, at brook Cherith. zar'-e-fath (tsarephath; Sarepta): The Sidonian town in which Elijah was entertained by a widow after he left the brook Cherith (1 Kings 17:9).Obadiah refers to it as a Canaanite (probably meaning Phoenicia) town (Obadiah 1:20).It appears in the Greek form Sarepta in Luke 4:26 (the King James Version), and is said to be in the land of Sidon. British. Even in the letters to the 7 churches of Revelation this warning is given, a warning we do well to take seriously as a church (cf 2:5)! I read about George Mueller during the week and I thought this man is unbelievable. As such he was not yet right for the Lords service. There he drinks from its waters and is miraculously fed each morning and evening by ravens. The fact is that God leads His servants one step at a time. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook. Elijah was not running away, he was being removed. We will continue with that next time and glean from the lessons that can be learnt there. Birds of prey more likely to take meat from him (including of his bones) than to feed him. Sometimes God has to force us into it. God provided for Elijah here by using . C. LESSONS LEARNED BESIDE THE BROOK. Have you not from time to time seen such changes happening in your life? Weve challenged the king, lets challenge the prophets of Baal next!.. We like to be in the middle of things. God had commanded and Elijah went and did what he was told. Elijah told the current king (Ahab) that there will be a drought in the land of Israel. It is a place where you are completely cut off and are totally dependent upon God and His resources. 1 Kings Chapter 17. The Lord told Elijah, the man of God, to go down to the brook Cherith, east of the Jordan, where he could drink of the brook, and the ravens would bring him food. Heres Elijah by a brook, day by day seeing a diminishing water flow. The acquisition of spiritual power is impossible unless we hide ourselves from men and from ourselves in some gorge where we may absorb the power of the eternal God (Martin). That is always the result when we rely on our own resources: trouble! What is the origin and basis of stare decisis? Ahab went along with her in everything she proposed, even setting up an idol in the house of Baal in Samaria. 3. Do you remember the story of His disciples when they went out to preach and did all these wonderful miracles and came back to Him really glorying in all that had happened? He led him to a place of provision, but that provision wasn't going to last. Let us never presume that we will always have the opportunities we now have. Login . (1 Vote) Very easy. It is actually at the crisis point when there is nothing left that the Word of the Lord came to him. 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