Lessons From Elijah and Elisha
By Alan Toms
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About this ebook
Elijah and Elisha are two of the most significant people in the Old Testament. Alan Toms recounts the major events from their lives and brings out some important lessons today for any Christian who wants to serve God like they did - lessons about faith, trust, obedience, knowing God's will in the ups and downs of life.
CHAPTER ONE: AN INTRODUCTION TO ELIJAH
CHAPTER TWO: AT CHERITH'S BROOK
CHAPTER THREE: IN THE WIDOW'S HOME
CHAPTER FOUR: RAISING THE DEAD
CHAPTER FIVE: AT CARMEL
CHAPTER SIX: PRAYING FOR RAIN
CHAPTER SEVEN: DISCOURAGED
CHAPTER EIGHT: IN THE CAVE AT HOREB
CHAPTER NINE: ANOINTING ELISHA
CHAPTER TEN: AT NABOTH'S VINEYARD
CHAPTER ELEVEN: FROM GILGAL TO JORDAN
CHAPTER TWELVE: ON THE MOUNT OF TRANSFIGURATION
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: AN INTRODUCTION TO ELISHA
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: HEALING THE WATER
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: JUDGEMENT AT BETHEL
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: DIGGING DITCHES
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: THE JAR OF OIL
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: THE GREAT WOMAN OF SHUNEM
CHAPTER NINETEEN: MULTIPLYING BREAD
CHAPTER TWENTY: THE AXE-HEAD RAISED
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: THE UNSEEN HOSTS
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: BOWS AND ARROWS
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Lessons From Elijah and Elisha - Alan Toms
CHAPTER ONE: AN INTRODUCTION TO ELIJAH
The story of Elijah’s public ministry begins in 1 Kings 17, but the Holy Spirit complements the Old Testament through the pen of James - showing that his spiritual experience had a private beginning long before. He prayed
. Men of God must learn to pray privately before they may stand before kings. The man of God whom we see standing before king Ahab had first of all stood before the Lord, the God of Israel (1 Kings 17:1). There he had learnt God’s Word and had prayed according to the will of God. Elijah had prayed according to the Word of God, knowing the scripture, Thou ... shalt not turn aside ... to go after other gods to serve them ... The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, discomfiture and rebuke ... because of the evil of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken Me ... And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust
(Deuteronomy 28:14-24). Thus his prayer was answered with a great famine, as the Lord Jesus Himself described it in Luke 4:25.
We know very little concerning the background of Elijah. Rather, we are caused to consider the Spirit and power
(Luke 1:17) which were manifested in his life. He came from Gilead, possibly from a place called Thesbon (Septuagint), a Tishbite. His tribe presumably would have been Reuben or the eastern half of Manasseh or (I suggest) Gad. Elijah comes to mind when we read Genesis 49:19 and Deuteronomy 33:20-21. His name means Jah is God
and would seem to indicate that God-fearing parents had named him. It was with the truth embodied in his own name that he challenged the people on Mount Carmel: If the LORD be God, follow Him
(1 Kings 18:21).
He was a hairy man and wore a leather girdle (2 Kings 1:8) and a mantle (1 Kings 19:19). He was undoubtedly a physically fit man who could put his face between his knees in prayer (1 Kings 18:42), could run ahead while Ahab rode a distance of some 15 to 20 miles (v.46) after the slaying that day of 850 false prophets (v.40); and on the last day of his earthly life walked perhaps in excess of forty miles from Gilgal to Bethel to Jericho to the Jordan, and beyond perhaps toward the mountains of Moab.
Elijah was raised up by God with a ministry towards the ten northern tribes of Israel. King Ahab was on the throne, a wicked man with perhaps an even more wicked wife, Jezebel. There was none like unto Ahab, which did set himself to do that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. And he did very abominably in following idols
(1 Kings 21:25-26). This woman of Zidon had brought the worship of Baal into common practice and turned the hearts of the people to her idols. Perhaps Elijah would keep the injunction that three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the LORD God
(Exodus 23:17), but we have no record of any of his dealings with Judah or Jerusalem except for one notable exception.
In character Elijah was fearless, although at times he knew what it was to be afraid. During the severe drought he had gone from the brook Cherith which is ‘before’ (east of?) Jordan through to Zarephath which belongeth to Zidon
. Truly a man of God under divine protection, he passed through the breadth of hostile and unbelieving Israel to the very region of Jezebel’s origin. He reverenced God, covering his face in his mantle (19:13) and bowing himself down upon the earth (18:42). He was very jealous for the Lord (19:10,14) and consequently knew the loneliness, isolation, discomfort and suffering of the godly. Himself a man of decision, he called for decisive action by others, saying How long halt ye between two opinions?
(18:21). He poured contempt upon the vain hope of the people who had forsaken the knowledge of the true God (18:27). And yet the man who had stood before the king, before the people, before 850 false prophets carrying knives and lances while he taunted them, went for his life
before the threat of a woman (19:2-3), and gave up hope, longing to die (v.4). Possibly later also he feared when the captains and their companies of fifty men were sent to take him (2 Kings 1:15), and he brought the fire of God down upon them.
Of interest is how this man of God appeared to others. To the widow of Zarephath and to the third captain, Elijah was thou man of God
. To Obadiah who feared the Lord greatly, but apparently secretly, Elijah was thou, my lord Elijah
. To wicked Ahab, he was thou troubler of Israel
and O mine enemy
. Well might any Christian long for a like spiritual stature through the Word of God and through prayer that it should provoke such responses from such diverse persons.
The recorded instances of Elijah’s praying are to be found in James 5:17: that it might not rain
; 1 Kings 17:20-21: let this child’s soul come into him again
; 1 Kings 18:36: that Thou art God in Israel
; 1 Kings 18:42 with James 5:18: he bowed himself down, and he prayed again
; 1 Kings 19:4: that he might die
; 1 Kings 19:10,14 with Romans 11:2: he pleaded with God against Israel
. And there on a sad note the record of his prayer life is ended.
There are many lessons to be learnt by sinner and saint from the stories concerning Elijah, but from the man himself there is a vital lesson to be learnt in 1 Kings 18 and 19. Elijah’s great desire, expressed in prayer (18:37), was to turn the people’s hearts back again. And to this end he worked by fire (v.38) and by sword (v.40). But the messenger with Jezebel’s threat showed that the longed-for national conversion had not occurred and he fled