MEMORY VERSE: “Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel – all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him” (1Kings 19:18, NIV).
What does this mean? One day Elijah called down fire from heaven, and then he ran in terror from a queen who had threatened his life! As we consider this, we wonder, “How can it be?” Apparently Elijah had not yet learned that he needed the strength of others to encourage and help him.
Elijah considered himself “the only one of the Lord’s prophets left”. Tired, discouraged and certain that the Israelites planned to kill him, he desired nothing more than for the Lord to take his life.
The Lord set up a graphic demonstration to teach Elijah a lesson. At Mount Horeb Elijah heard a mighty wind, felt a powerful earthquake and shrank back from a hot fire. But the Lord was in none of these.
The Lord was in a “gentle whisper” that called the prophet out of his cave to confront the haunting question, “What are you doing here, Elijah? While the Lord can and does work with mighty displays of his power, as seen on Mount Carmel, he also quietly persuades men and women to follow him. Elijah didn’t know that God had called 7,000 followers to himself in Israel.
The Lord sent Elijah back the same way he came with a commission to anoint Hazael as king over Aram (Syria), Jehu as king over Israel and Elisha as the next prophet. Elijah carried out only the last task personally. Elisha actually anointed Hazael, and a third prophet was sent by Elisha to anoint Jehu.
While Elijah thought he was alone in serving God, the Lord already had a successor picked out. That successor, Elisha, later presided over an entire company of prophets, sometimes called the “sons of the prophets”. The Lord used all of them to carry out the orders given to Elijah.
What a lesson for Elijah! Not only were there 7,000 who had not bowed to Baal, but there were also others who were capable of carrying out the work. Through their efforts Israel was eventually cleansed – at least temporarily – from Baal worship.
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