Elijah the Tishbite Chapter 1

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Elijah The Tishbite Chapter 1

I Obadiah, a follower of the true God, and governor of the household of King Ahab, seventh king of Israel, have determined the importance of recording certain strange events, miracles and occurrences, with hopes and prayers that future generations of Israel may learn valued lessons from these dark times and know forevermore to never again distance themselves from the one true God of all creation. For I bore witness to these events and knew the persons involved, and having such first hand knowledge of these things, and knowing their importance to our people’s future, how could I think the Lord my God would expect less of me?
It was long before the age of kings came upon us, yea, even before the time when our Lord God formed our people into a mighty nation, during the age of our great forefather Abraham that God made it known unto him that his descendants would be forever set aside as a people special and peculiar unto God, and that in the seed of Abraham all people of the earth would come to be blessed by obedience and faith unto our mighty God. But as the generations passed, our people would forever fail to remain obedient and loyal to Him, straying blindly into the worship of false gods that though nonexistent and powerless, were detestably evil as they detracted from the worship of the true God. The worship of these false gods came to be known by our rulers and many times even practiced and encouraged by kings who would come to establish the worship of idols as the normal practice for our people, eventually passing on such evil practice as a blasphemous inheritance to kings that came to succeed them in their rule over our people.
Such was the sad case with King Ahab, whom I served with great loyalty as governor of the household and palace in our capital city of Samaria. For it had now been since the time of Jeroboam, who rebelled against wise Solomon, that the kings of Israel turned away from their God to follow after the worship of detestable idols. And before Ahab ruled his apostate father, King Omri, who did more evil before the eyes of God than any of our kings which came before his time. But yet did King Ahab come to make even more evil than his father, and thereby came to anger our God even more so than King Omri or any of the kings that came before. For it was Ahab that continued to bow wantonly before idols, and who married the beautiful Phoenician princess Queen Jezebel, a worshipper of the false god Baal. And in order to please his wife, it came to pass that Ahab built a temple in Samaria to Baal, and erected a wooden image to the false goddess Asherah. And it was King Ahab that forsook the curse of Joshua and permitted that Hiel rebuild the city of Jericho with the evil sacrifice his first-born son to commemorate the beginning of the construction and the sacrifice of his youngest son to commemorate the completion. And it was King Ahab, whom in order to please his wife Queen Jezebel came to order the slaughter of the school of God’s prophets of God, of which I, Obadiah was secretly a member thereof.
For I was a minor and poorly gifted student in that school of the prophets whilst also serving as the governor of the household and palace of apostate King Ahab and his wife Queen Jezebel. And it was through this association with the school of the prophets that I came to know of the strange cave dweller called Elijah the Tishbite, from the distant, eastern land of Gilead who was sent by our God to call forth our king and people from the false idols of Baal, back to the righteous worship of our true God. It may be, I sometimes ponder, that our God placed me in that peculiar position by intent, determining that I would be both servant of the apostate king on the one hand and student to Elijah, the prophet of God on the other, bearing witness to both at the same time so that there may be first hand account to these great events so as to record them for the reading and learning of generations to follow. It is this suspicion that drives me to record the events of those days, that I may at last be of some meaningful service to my God.
So it came to pass after the slaughter of the school of the prophets had been ordered, after many were already murdered and many more still hunted in the wilderness of Israel, that strange Elijah arrived without announcement at the palace of the king in the early hours of the evening as the moon was still low on the horizon. My king’s dinner was just finished and he was drinking wine alone in the courtyard of his private room when I was told of the arrival of an unnamed vagabond from the wilderness, demanding to speak with the king. Though common procedure would have been to send the person away with generous portions of food, I was nearby the palace gate so in keeping with common practice, I ordered that food be brought but went to gate myself anyway, discovering that it was Elijah while still distant enough that neither he nor the worrisome guards saw me approaching from the shadowed hallway of the palace.
“I bear word for the king,” I heard him say in response to questions from Beerah, the captain of King Ahab’s guard, “words for King Ahab’s ears only.”
“The king’s business is done for the day!” snapped an assistant to Beerah. I slowed my approach and paused in the shadows, midway between two oil lamps decorating the wall of the palace, watching Beerah from my shadowed vantage point as he paced a slow circle of intimidation around Elijah, studying him with caution and suspicion.
Elijah shook his head stubbornly as I knew he would whilst the breeze from the open gate behind him gently blew his long, black hair forward, partially obscuring his brown, weather beaten face. He spoke calmly and deliberately, in a voice that I recognized from gatherings of the prophets, “These words are not for tomorrow, they are important.”
“What are your words!” shouted impatient Beerah, loudly enough to send faint echoes back from the long, dark corridors of the palace.
“Beerah,” I called out, stepping quickly into the light thrown out by the lamps on the walls, “send a man to bring the king. Do it on my authority if you wish.”
“You know this man?” he demanded, “This beggar from the wilderness?”
“I know of him Beerah,” I cautiously answered, being something less than honest as I drew near them.
I found out with certainty that day that I am not as brave a man as I would like to be. I had never faced real hazard before that day and even then, my hazard was not imminent, but merely immediate enough to intimidate me. I didn’t yet know the reason for Elijah’s sudden appearance but I knew his feelings about the King and that they were not good. I knew also that he would not hide his feelings from the king and that to reveal to Beerah all that I knew of Elijah would be to invite the suspicions of the king and his guard onto myself, and to my shame I was not able to act with such courage. For Elijah was a master of the school of the prophets, which stood condemned and hunted by the king and queen, and I was secretly a member of this group. And though I had never spoken to him, I had heard Elijah speak many times at our gatherings before the group was condemned. Unlike me he was a bold man, and the truest of the prophets, with a spirit that was kindled by the indwelling presence of the living God. I knew with great certainty from the moment I saw him in the palace, that his time with King Ahab be a meeting of confrontation, which would bid gravely for anyone associated with him.
Elijah glanced down the corridor at me as I approached and though I sensed in my heart that he recognized me from the gatherings of the prophets, I gave him neither greeting nor acknowledgement, as a man braver than myself might have done. To my shame I looked downward as if he were a stranger or merely someone whom I had heard about instead of someone I had listened to intently at the meetings of the prophets. I was nearly certain that he would recognize me and fearful that he would expose me in calling me by name or greeting me personally but he looked away from me instead, accepting my lack of courage silently.
Elijah was a man who bore the untamed and unkempt appearance of many like him who lived in the caves of the harsh wilderness, most of whom were much feared and shunned by others as men not fit for normal society, whose minds were strange and worked contrary to that which was normal. He was average in height and not especially robust but yet was he strong in appearance, leanly muscled and seeming to be a man of great energy. His hair hung below the length of his shoulders, often falling before his eyes, was almost never brushed, and black in color as also was his thick, untrimmed beard. His skin was the darkest brown in color from living constantly beneath the sun and black hair grew more thickly than on most men from his chest, back and legs, giving him an even rougher, more beast like appearance than others who lived in the harsh wilderness surrounding Samaria. The clothing Elijah wore were mere animal skins made into a course, primitive kind of leather to form a long sleeveless garment that hung loosely from his shoulders to his knees, tied at the waist with an old, frayed cord. An average person might easily dismiss him as a vagabond from a distance but upon greater closeness would have second thoughts, as Elijah’s eyes were sharp and alert and his form was not malnourished, and neither did he carry himself as a man of hopeless existence. He wore the clothes of a vagabond but bore the disciplined air of intent about him, as if he knew himself purposed for something greater than what his appearance suggested. One might wonder upon looking into his strange, darkly brown eyes if his purpose was sane or mad, but one would certainly not suspect the listless or directionless life of a simple vagabond.
Beerah completed his slowly paced circle around Elijah as I neared and turned his questioning, hostile eyes onto me.
“He is called Elijah,” I explained, hoping to give of the appearance of knowing much less about him than I actually did, “I believe he comes from the eastern land of Gilead, beyond the River Jordan.”
Elijah remained motionless but for his intense, watchful eyes, shifting them from Beerah to myself as I spoke, again bringing worry to me that he might reveal my association with the school of the prophets, of which he was a master.
After a long and anxious moment Elijah finally nodded his head in agreement, “From near the city of Tishbe, at the Brook of Kerith,” he added, “but how did you know my home without knowing me?”
My heart relaxed at his words. I could tell by his intent stare into my eyes that he did remember me from those many meetings with the other prophets. I did not know if he sensed my fear at being exposed and was reacting in consideration of that, or if he decided for his own reasons to not reveal my identity. I suppose it was even possible that Elijah thought it was I who failed to recognize him since the meetings of the prophets were normally in the evening hours by firelight but regardless, my identity was apparently secure with him.
The man I’d sent earlier for food arrived behind us, standing silently to the side and holding a large silver tray, which bore bread, fruits and wine.
Beerah sneered at Elijah sarcastically as he plucked a pomegranate from the tray and held it close to the strange prophet’s face, “Were you sent by your king in such fine garments to beg food?” he asked mockingly.
Elijah raised his hand quickly and forcefully knocked the pomegranate away from his face, “Not for food,” he said plainly, “for no more than a word in the ear of your king.”
The irritated voice of King Ahab echoing down the corridor, accompanied by the heavier footsteps of his accompanying guard cut off Beerah before he could respond to Elijah’s unexpected boldness.
“A beggar!” I heard him complain indignantly. “I am summoned to hear the words of a beggar come to my gate?”
Beerah stepped away from Elijah glancing at me coldly, seeming to fight back a smile that might have mocked my earlier order to bring the king. Elijah glanced at me also, perceiving my anxiousness at the king’s anger, but remaining silent for now.
“On your authority Obadiah?” shouted Ahab indignantly.
From the dark corridor I saw the king emerge into the light thrown by the oil lamps mounted on the walls. His evening robe was maroon colored but plain in comparison to the richly embroidered and decorated robes that he wore during daytime hours and more loosely fitted for greater comfort and relaxation. Ahab was a bit shorter than most men, round faced and portly without being obviously heavy. His hair and thin beard were well groomed with gray hairs having replaced almost half of the darker black hairs of his younger days.
Wine sloshed carelessly from the top of his goblet as he came to a stop just a few paces short of Elijah, eyeing him indignantly with Beerah and I standing between the two of them at either side, “You summon me on the demands of a beggar?” he shouted angrily without taking his eyes from Elijah, “Why?”
“Ahab!” shouted Elijah suddenly.
The prophets strong voice echoed slightly against the corridors of the palace and Beerah’s soldierly grip was instantly upon the hilt of his sword. The guard beside Ahab stepped forward, and from near the open gate behind Elijah, two more guards advanced quickly, swords drawn, stopping less than an arms reach from Elijah, who seemed to either not notice or not care about their threatening reaction. The king stared back at Elijah, through the strands of hair that fell past the prophet’s heavy eyebrows, into the flickering firelight that reflected off the wetness of the prophets dark eyes.
“By the life of the Lord God of all Israel, before whom I now stand,” continued Elijah boldly, “there shall be no dew nor rain on the land for these years forthcoming, except according to my word, King Ahab!”
King Ahab was silent for a long, tense moment of time, taken aback as he was not used to men behaving boldly in his presence. He frowned contemptuously back at the prophet and silently raised his wine to his lips. Beerah and the guards stood as statues, frozen and tensely waiting, either for orders from the king or movement from the prophet Elijah, who glared back fearlessly into the contemptuous eyes of King Ahab.
“You come as a vagabond to threaten draught upon my kingdom?” growled Ahab. “What madman sent you with this threat? Where did you-“
“No!” shouted Elijah. “This kingdom is of people and land that belong only to God, not to you King Ahab!”
“Who are you!” shouted the king.
“It matters not Ahab! Heed my words and-“
Ahab suddenly flung his goblet angrily through the air, missing the head of Elijah and sending it out the gate of the palace, splattering wine onto the faces of Beerah and one of the two guards to the rear of Elijah. The prophet ducked downward instinctively, pushing away the guard positioned behind him and spinning around on one foot, launching himself toward the gate in a mad dash and breaking headlong into the cool nighttime air, sprinting madly toward the land’s distant horizon before the guards were able to react.
“Take him!” shouted Ahab, lunging forward to push Beerah toward the gate. “Take horses and return him to me alive!”
I stepped back quickly as the guards near the gate rushed for horses in compliance with the king’s orders. Beerah stopped suddenly, pausing just outside the gate and jabbing his finger at me, “Speak to this man my king! Ask questions of him!” he shouted hurriedly, “For he knows this person’s name to be Elijah! Obadiah knows-”
“Elijah?” shouted the king. “That man is the one called Elijah!”
Beerah stopped pointing at me and dropped his hand as confusion came over his face. “You know of this name, my king?”
“Capture him Beerah!” shouted the king. “Take him alive and return him to me!”
Beerah disappeared out the gate of the palace as the sound of pounding hooves came to our ears. Three of the king’s guard approached on horseback, one of them leading Beerah’s horse close behind. The king stepped forward toward the gate, eyeing me sideways with suspicious menace as Beerah mounted his beast and vanished quickly into the forefront of an ever-lengthening cloud of dust behind left by the frantic pounding of the hooves of the four beasts. I looked away from the kings stare and fell in beside him as he continued through the gate, feeling his eyes heavy on me and knowing that my life was now suddenly endangered. The recognition in Ahab’s voice upon hearing Elijah’s name was apparent. The king knew something of Elijah and now realized that I also had some type of knowledge of him.
I bent down and picked up the bejeweled goblet that Ahab had cast at Elijah’s face. Distantly, beyond the horses, I saw a running speck that was Elijah, moving ever closer to the horizon, illuminated by the bright light of the full moon still resting low in the sky. I knew the riders mounted on those horses could also see Elijah and I knew well the fleetness of horses over that of a man. I also knew with certainty though, that no matter how fast these guards might speed their beasts in useless pursuit, Elijah the Tishbite would never be captured.


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Of God and Men...

The Fall….

In the days of the first age, after our God’s creation of the heavens and the earth, when the hearts of the first children of God yet lived peacefully within the good and righteous will of the Creator, there came an evil deceiver unto their midst. Cast down from the heavens above for his rebellion before the Creator, he stood convicted and damned by his own defiance before the One God of all the universe, before the One whose authority and righteousness judgment could not be challenged. Bitter in his cursed position and now certain of his impotent weakness before the Creator God which he had challenged, he found himself unable to wreck vengeance against He that he had so foolishly set his lot against. And thus did it then come to pass that this deceiver called Satan, did first cast his vengeful eyes upon the man and the woman whom God had granted dominion over the earth.
“For I now know that to challenge God shall be of no avail,” spoke the heart of the evil one. “But yet may I torment the Creator for time. If only I can turn the hearts of His creations away from their Creator, to bring them unto myself, and unto the same damnation which awaits me. Thus shall God not forget my wrath, for though I be damned myself, so shall all that He created be damned at my side.”
And thus did the deceiver, the adversary of God come unto the people of God, to tempt them and turn their hearts to him with lies of how they themselves may know the things of good and evil, of how they themselves may be like unto God and how they themselves may be equal to God. For it was by such same prideful arrogance against God that the adversary himself now stood judged and damned.
“And what crueler revenge,” thought the evil one unto himself, “than to turn the people of God away from Him by use of the selfsame sin for which I myself now stand condemned?”
It came to pass then, that the people of God fell, and turned their hearts unto the lies of the adversary, making for a great chasm between the Holy Spirit of God and the man and woman who He had created. For they had foolishly strove against the will of God and though His mighty will could not be overcome, yet could His people freely separate themselves from the will of their creator. But soon did their separation became a woeful thing unto them for without the Spirit of God upon them, they became less than they had been before, they became carnal creatures, fallen closer to the level of the beasts of the field while yet possessing knowledge and wisdom far beyond the beasts. They were more than the beasts could be for yet did they know God, but they were less than what they once were for no longer were they with God. No longer were they immortal and as such, the fear of death came upon them, with knowledge of passing time as days and years brought them ever closer to an end which their minds had never before perceived.
It grieved their Creator God also that His creations had strayed from the presence of His mighty Spirit and so, in His righteous judgment did He forever lay a curse upon deceiver which had led His people astray, and cursed also the carnal existence which the man and woman had strayed into so that they would forever forward strive to return the greatness of the their Creator God. And thus, it was from that time forward that the women of the earth would forever birth sons and daughters in pain. And the men would survive only by the sweat of their brow and the hard labor of their hands, as no longer would the earth, now cursed also with the sin of men, yield up it’s food with ease, but only through strife and struggle against the earth would men now gain it’s fruits. But in His great mercy and grace did God Himself make the work of sacrifice to cover the sins of His people whom He still loved, slaying two beasts, that the man and woman may use the skins thereof to hide the shame and nakedness which they had not perceived of before.

The aftermath….

Such were the events that brought low the state of men, making their spirit only a mere shadow of it’s former strength and thereby leaving their fleshy carnality of greater dominance and power. Thus was born the never ending war that rages deep within the heart of all men, that war which causes the spirit of men to reach upward toward the realm of God, whilst also causing the heart of men to reach downward toward the realm of the flesh. And though the man and the woman struggled mightily to return nearer to their almighty God, yet did the sin of their youth pass to the children that the woman did bear, making need that men carry forth with sacrifice to their God, as sin and death had become the common state of men, so that even by the time of the next generation of men, did they already begin to shed the blood, yea even the lives of their brethren.
It came to pass then, that he which shed the first life of his brother was forever banished with his wives from the company of men, and came to sojourn eastward whereupon he would build the first city of the fallen, carnal realm. And his people would come to be called the Sons of Men, whilst those afore him which cast their eyes upon the Creator would be known as the Sons of God. In this way was good and evil made manifest and apparent upon the face of the earth, as those that were good struggled mightily to remain with the heart and Spirit of God, whilst those that were evil sought only the ways of men and struggled to remain within the carnal ways of the fallen realm. Thus was the way by which the fallen civilization of men came to become strong and predominant upon the earth for the Sons of Men came to build many more cities and draw boundaries and borders upon the world by which they would separate peoples into nations to be ruled by kings. And they came to learn the making of weapons for war and establish weights and measures and monies and laws of men by which the people of the world be ruled over. And in time, as the generations passed from one to another did even the Sons of God become tempted and entangled unto the ways of the Sons of Men, thus empowering the ways of men and the ways of the carnal realm upon the earth over the ways of God, until there was no longer any difference in the eyes of the Creator between the Sons of God and the Sons of Men. For all men had come to be as beasts driven only the desires of the flesh, failing to seek or perceive the ways of God, living only according to the rule of their selfish hearts. Until the end of the fist age of men, when the righteous and holy will of God determined to destroy the world of men.
For the end of flesh is now before me,” spoke the Creator, “as it was through flesh that violence came upon the earth.”
So it was that the Creator commanded the one named Noah to build a great vessel of the sea in which to seek refuge and provide safety for the beast of the field so that a remnant would be saved from the destruction to come. And in time, God called down the rains from the heavens and brought forth the great fountains of the seas to cover the earth in a great flood of water until all flesh on the earth came to be destroyed whilst the vessel of Noah remained safe above the waters until coming to rest safely upon the mountains of the northern regions. And when the waters were retracted Noah made pleasing sacrifice unto the Creator until He said in His heart, “Though the hearts and thoughts of men be always evil, never again shall I destroy all that lives upon the earth. For while the earth which I created yet exists shall seedtimes and harvest, shall cold and heat, shall winters and summers shall days and night never cease to exist.
Thus did the first age of men come to pass. For God gave the fear of men unto all the beasts of the field and commanded that Noah replenish and multiply upon the earth.

The second age….

Many generations of men came to pass and as in the days of old, they welcomed evil into their hearts, turning again to the ways of the carnal realm, forming again the nations of the first age, the mightiest of which came to be in the eastern land of Shinar.
“Let us build a great city unto ourselves that our fame may be well known of throughout all the lands,” they said to one another, “and in the midst of the great city shall we build a mighty tower of such greatness that it may reach unto the heavens above the earth.”
In such way came much knowledge to the sons of men for the building of great things, came the learning of the great numbers and great feats of mathematic calculations so that men came to learn many things before the time appointed by God. For it is a woeful thing that a man’s knowledge of things of the carnal realm become greater than his wisdom of Godly things of the spiritual realm.
“See that they all work as one,” said the Creator, “as they have one language for all men and behold now what they are already able to construct, so that in times to come nothing which they propose shall be too great for them to achieve.
So it came to pass that God confused the language of men, making for many different languages so that no longer could one man understand the words of the next. In this way did God cause them to leave of their quest and cause men to scatter themselves, each man gathering unto others which spoke in the tongue familiar to himself. For in his wisdom, God had determined that the knowledge of men would grow slowly, lest man harm himself, yea even bring destruction unto his own neighbor as a babe with the flint and stone of his father might burn himself with fire and yea, even destroy the village of his own birth.
The generations passed and the sons of men again descended into great evil. And it came to pas that one named Terah from the wealthy city of Ur of the Chaldees traveled with his sons, Abram, and his grandson Lot with their wives to the Land of Canaan, pausing to dwell along the way in the city of Haran, whereat God spoke to the one called Abram. For it was determined by God that Abram would be destined to become a forefather to a people that would be forever special unto Himself, set aside from other peoples of the world of men, but yet living amongst them. And that in Abram, in ages yet undawned, all peoples of the world would come to be blessed.
And the Word of God was a mighty thing upon the heart of Abram, stronger and more powerful than the things of the fallen, carnal world. For thus did Abram first learn to perceive that which could not be touched, to believe in that which could not be seen, and to obey that which could not be understood. In this way did faith in God enter into the world, for against the senses of carnal men did Abram come to obey the voice of God and leave behind the city of Haran, to leave behind the his family and the great wealth thereof, taking with him one named Lot who was his nephew and with them, their wives and the children of Lot, sojourning southward into the land of Canaan, which came to be promised by God as an inheritance unto Abram. And again did the Word of God prevail strongly upon the heart of Abram, and Abram believed in his heart all that God would come to tell him, until a time came when God counted the faithful belief of Abram as righteousness before His eyes so that in this way, men might again have the favor of God upon their lives.