CHAPTER 7: THE

PROPHETS(PART 1)

Ms. Kenny

Religion 9

March 2014

LET’S RECAP! In Hebrew history when the people of Israel

cried for a king, the Lord sent Samuel to anoint Saul as the first king over Israel.

After Saul died David became king and he was the greatest king over Israel, he made Israel a strong nation following the Lord.

After David died, his son Solomon became king and he made Israel wealthy and famous among all the nations of the world.

Solomon's one mistake was that he married foreign wives. These women brought their foreign gods and idols into Israel, and it was not long before idolatry spread throughout Israel.

THE KINGDOM SPLITS When Solomon died the kingdom was

split in two, the Northern Kingdom consisted of ten of the tribes and was called Israel, and the Southern Kingdom consisted of two of the tribes and was called Judah.

BAD KINGS From this point onward almost

every king was an idol worshipper. In fact every king in the North was

evil, but in the Southern Kingdom of Judah some of the kings followed the Lord, and when they brought the people back to God the nation prospered.

But when they disobeyed the Lord great problems would arise.

PROPHETS It was during this time that God raised

up certain "prophets" who were His mouthpieces.

They would speak out against their sin and idolatry and would continually warn of God's judgment.

Some of the prophets spoke out in the North and some in the South, but God was faithfully warning them of certain catastrophe if they would not turn to him.

NORTHERN KINGDOM Finally in 722 BC the Assyrians came

down and conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel and took the ten tribes away never to be seen again.

The prophets had continually warned them but the judgment finally came.

SOUTHERN KINGDOM The Southern Kingdom had continued to

follow the Lord, but they finally turned away from God and became totally corrupt.

In 586 BC the Babylonians came and destroyed Jerusalem and carried the Jews away to Babylon.

God continued to send prophets to encourage the Hebrews that their captivity would only last 70 years.

KINGDOMSNorth: ISRAEL – 10 tribes – 722 BC fall to Assyrians

South:JUDAH – 2 tribes – 586 BC fall to Babylonians

A MESSIAH The prophets also gave a message of

hope that one day God would send His Messiah, who would not only save the Hebrews but the whole world.

Their message was that their real bondage and captivity was to spiritual powers that cannot be seen, and God Himself would come as a man and die, so that death would "Passover" anyone who believes, and break their spiritual captivity.

WHAT IS A PROPHET? one who utters divinely inspired revelations

often capitalized : the writer of one of the prophetic books of the Bible

capitalized : one regarded by a group of followers as the final authoritative revealer of God's will (i.e. Muhammad, the Prophet of Allah)

one gifted with more than ordinary spiritual and moral insight; especially : an inspired poet

one who foretells future events : predictor an effective or leading spokesman for a cause,

doctrine, or group a spiritual seer Other ideas…

THE KINGDOM BREAKS UP As things started to go downhill rapidly

for Israel, prophets emerged. They were not incredibly popular, and even risked their lives to condemn the moral laxity of kings and the decadence of their people.

The prophets became the conscience of the people. Prophets were called by God, and warned the people that they had strayed from true worship and forgotten their role of witness to the Lord before the nations.

NON-WRITING PROPHETS(TALES COLLECTED AND PASSED ALONG OVER TIME)

Moses – chosen Hebrew who receives God’s Law

Eli – priest whom raises Samuel

Samuel – rejected Saul’s flawed kingship and anointed David

Nathan – denounced David’s adultery

ElijahElisha

WRITING PROPHETS(have books in the Bible with their own names):Amos – a herdsmanHosea – a betrayed husbandIsaiah – of Jerusalem, confidant and counselor of kings

Micah – devotee of the poor

CONQUERING & EXILE Because the people did not listen to the

warnings of the prophets or follow God’s Law, both kingdoms were conquered and forced into exile.

Two Kingdoms: Israel and Judah

SOUTH: REHOBOAM After Solomon dies, his son Rehoboam becomes

king. The North sets a condition for accepting Rehoboam:

he must not oppress them as his father did. The elders of the court agree and advise the young king to be a servant to his people, not a slave driver. But Rehoboam instead heeds the counsel of his young comrades, who call for more brutality, and the northern tribes reject him.

Thus, all Israel is divided into 2 kingdoms: Israel in the North and Judah in the South.

The unifying work of David is destroyed in only 2 generations.

Rehoboam continues the royal line of the house of David in the south.

NORTH: JEROBOAM The rebel Jeroboam is declared king in

the north, and immediately breaks the Law of God by enshrining 2 golden calves, one at Dan the other at Bethel.

Jeroboam raised up non-Levite priests to offer sacrifices in the north, hoping to keep his people from going south to Jerusalem to worship, where they might rekindle their loyalty to the house of David.

His strategy fails, as his dynasty only briefly outlives him.

WHY GOLDEN CALVES?

Jeroboam sought to please everyone by building the golden calves.

For the Canaanites, a golden calf is a symbol of Baal, their fertility god.

For the Israelites, the calves can serve as a throne for an invisible God.

It caters to both peoples, and keeps them away from having to go to Jerusalem to worship.

Obviously a bad idea to us!!!!!!!!!

The Wicked Kings of the North After Jeroboam, there is a string of

violent deaths. To overthrow the king, it is common to

assassinate the king and his whole family.

The 6th king Omri builds Samaria – a splendid capital city.

He is succeeded by his son Ahab. Ahab marries Jezebel – a wicked woman and pagan, and they become the villains in the stories about the prophets Elijah and Elisha.

A STRATEGIC MARRIAGE? Marriages between two

different peoples were ways of building protective alliances against hostile empires.

Jezebel was Phoenician, and this gained military strength for Israel by adding Phoenicia (Western Canaanites).

The cost for Israel was that Baal replaced God in the people’s worship.

ELIJAH & ELISHA IN THE NORTH The purpose of the stories in the Books

of Kings about Elijah and Elisha – especially for the exiles in Babylon – was to show that when God spoke through the prophets, he expected Israel to listen, or else!

Elijah & Elisha – historical figures who tangled with Ahab & Jezebel

Elijah & Elisha – prophesized from the reigns of the kings of Israel from Ahab to Joash – about 874-796 B.C.

Elijah Nourished by a Starving Widow

Elijah opens with God’s sending him to tell King Ahab that he will be punished by a terrible drought, because Queen Jezebel had ordered all the prophets of Israel to be killed.

Elijah is sent to hide by a stream where ravens will feed him. When the stream runs dry, he is sent to a Phonecian town (Zarepath) where a widow will care for him.

Upon arriving, Elijah sees the woman and asks her for water and a crust of bread. She only has enough flour and oil to make a barley cake for herself and her son before they die of starvation.

Elijah promises God’s help if she will divide the cake with him. She does, and after the drought is over, her jar of flour and jug of oil are never empty. (1 Kings 17:1-16)

Elijah Nourished by a Starving Widow…cont’d

Although the woman has only enough flour and oil for a barley cake for herself and her son, she believes Elijah when he promises God’s help if she shares the cake. Having trusted that God will provide whatever is needed, the woman never goes hungry again.

Elijah performed many other miracles too, including healing. Jesus refers to Elijah’s work in the New Testament (e.g. Luke 4:20-30).

Victory over the Prophets of Baal

Elijah remains with the widow of Zarepath until God sends him back to Ahab’s court.

Elijah is blamed for the drought, and in response challenges Baal to produce rain.

Then Elijah builds an altar to the Lord. He digs a trench around it with water and builds a fire.

He kills a bull for sacrifice, and has the people drench it with water.

He calls on God’s power, and fire comes down to consume everything.

Unfaithful people fall to the ground to worship the God of Israel.

Then Elijah has the prophets of Baal killed. (1Kings 18:17-40)

AFTER THE VICTORY… Jezebel gets angry at

Elijah’s victory over the prophets of Baal, and threatens his life.

Elijah flees to the desert, where an angel tells him to journey to Horeb (Mount Sinai).

He takes shelter in a cave, and mourns the people who have all abandoned God.

God tells Elijah he will reveal himself to him, and to go outside.

READ 1 KINGS 19:11-18…

WHAT DID GOD USE

TO REVEAL HIMSELF TO ELIJAH IN THIS

PASSAGE?

GOD IN THE BREEZE God then sends Elijah back to work, reminding

him that there are still 7,000 Israelites who have remained faithful.

Question:What can we take away from the way

God reveals himself to Elijah? Answer:

God’s Presence in the Small and Ordinary God’s strength doesn’t always come in a big, showy

way. We may not find God’s power in big, obvious successes or triumphs but in his quiet movement in our everyday.

Condemning Ahab’s Greed for a Vineyard

King Ahab wants a man Naboth’s vineyard. The land is on Naboth’s ancestral ground, and he refuses to give it up.

Ahab complains to Jezebel about it, who has Naboth framed and stoned to death.

Because property of a condemned person reverts to the king, Ahab gets his vineyard in an underhanded, nasty operation.

God sends Elijah to curse Ahab. Elijah foretells of the end of Ahab, Jezebel, and their royal line. All of these things eventually happen. (1 Kings 21:1-29; 22:29-38)

FREE TO CHOOSE We have free will, freedom to

make decisions to be good or bad.

Even though evil is in the world, good does prevail.

Evil is self-destructive, while good multiplies.

For example, we don’t commonly recognize villains like Ahab, but we can all think of saints who did good in their lives, and have affected our lives – sometimes centuries or millennia later!

OFF IN A CHARIOT OF FIRE

Elijah knows his life is over. He goes to the Jordan River with Elisha, a devoted follower. There, Elijah parts the water with his cloak, and the two cross over the river.

Elisha asks for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit.

A flaming chariot with fiery horses comes between the two, and Elijah disappears in a whirlwind.

Elisha watches and cries out. He tears his cloak in half, strikes the

river, and returns across the riverbed.

For 3 days, a community of prophets of the region search for Elijah but fail to find him.

ELIJAH AT THE TRANSFIGURATION

This story gave rise to the belief that Elijah would return to announce the coming of a Messiah.

There are references about Elijah in the New Testament.

One example states that John the Baptist has “the spirit and power of Elijah.”

In the gospels, Elijah appears at the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ (Luke 1:13,17; John 1:19-21; Luke 9:28-33).

Transfiguration by Lodovico Carracci, 1594, depicting Elijah, Jesus, and Moses with the three apostles.

ELISHA’S MIRACLES Elisha’s story is an unbroken succession of wonders. He

follows in his mentor’s (Elijah) footsteps.

Elisha:1) Purifies Jericho’s water supply, which has been causing

death and miscarriages2) Helps a widow avoid selling her children to pay her debts3) Blesses a childless couple, and they have a son, which he

later revives through a type of artificial respiration4) Purifies poisoned stew and multiplies loaves of bread to

make enough for a hundred people5) Becomes known for healing powers (i.e. curing Naaman

of leprosy by having him wash in the Jordan 7 times)6) Is buried with another man, who springs back to life when

he touches Elisha’s body

MULTIPLYING LOAVES & HEALING THE SICK

Miracles in the Bible aren’t supposed to be seen as “divine tricks.”

Instead, they are supposed to represent God’s loving concern for people.