?The voice of God was in the small still voice?God speaking
to the heart!? I don?t know how many times I?ve heard this well-intentioned interpretation.
In fact, I?ve heard the metaphor used enough times on Oprah (?listen to your
small and still inner voice?) that it makes me slightly ill. Too often we see
people circling key verses and making a theological playground out of the Word
of God.
of
the Law was given. Horeb was the place where the children of
had provoked God to wrath by rising up, making a false god and worshipping it.
God prepared to wipe them out for their sin?but He showed mercy.
Elijah, after being strengthened with sleep and refreshment,
pours his heart out to the Lord and now, instead of standing on a mountain and
pleading for
devotion, he?s pleading against them. When the Lord asks ?What are you doing
here, Elijah??, Elijah gives his defense.
He had stood before the people and God in chapter 18, offering
up a sacrifice and irrefutable proof that God is the Living God of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob and what the leaders of the Jews (if not the people) decided to
do was gather together and conspire to kill the Lord?s prophet. ?They have
forsaken Your covenant, Lord, they have torn down Your altars and killed Your
prophets with the sword?and now they seek my life!?
This is a serious charge and we would be wise to understand
it. They have not only ignored, but they have left behind and abandoned the
covenant they made with the Living God who rescued them out of
The very purpose of their redemption abandoned. They have not only abandoned
the altars where they would offer sacrifice in worship and for their sins, but
they have torn them down, disparaging the Lord?s provision. They then dared to
raise the sword and slay the forerunners of God?s warnings, slaying them to a
man, according to Elijah?s perception. Now they sought him, even in light of three
years and six months of irrefutable proofs.
In response, heralds go out before the Lord as a procession
of the majesty which was following behind. The shuddering of the earth and a
raging fire and the blowing wind announcing who comes behind is no small
sovereign but The Sovereign Lord speaking in a small still voice.
It is a frightening thing when God stops yelling to get the
attention of men. When God decides to speak in soft, calm tones let men beware
for what does the Lord say in that small still voice? Was it sweet words of
comfort? No. The Lord pronounced the most sweeping judgment that
had (at that time) ever seen.
Elijah was to anoint Hazael as king over
(
Hazael would harrow
being the very scalpel of the Sovereign God as He divvied up portions of
Hazael would continually be a thorn in
side as the Lord implemented His fiery judgment. Hazael who would one be cruel in his excesses, to the point of ripping apart pregnant women and dashing children against rocks (2 Kings 8:8-15)
Elijah was also to anoint Jehu as King of Israel. This is
the man who would come into
and slay the Baal worshippers by inviting them to a feast for Baal, locking
them all in a temple and burning the place down. This is the wild man who in one
of his many excesses slays the house of Ahab down to near extinction yet doesn’t remove certain high places.
Lastly, Elijah is to anoint Elisha as prophet in Elijah?s
place. The Lord then mandated that whoever escapes from the wrath of Hazael and
Jehu would be put to death by Elisha.
As the Lord makes this fearsome proclamation, he lets Elijah
in on a little secret?that there are 7,000 in
which the Lord has left, which have not bowed the knees to Baal nor kissed his
dead lips.
The Holy Spirit, speaking through the apostle Paul would later
remind us of this passage. ?Has God rejected His people,? Paul will ask, ?or do
you not know what the Scripture says about Elijah how he pleads with God
against
Paul draws a comparison to this historical reality and says that there is a
remnant of Jews, according to God?s gracious decision to save them.
But on what basis? Is it of works? Not at all but purely by
God?s grace. Is it to seal up the rest of
and damn them all to hell? Is it to show how God only elects the few? Why have
they ?been given a spirit of stupor and eyes that don?t see and ears that don?t
hear?? So they could receive sweeping judgment and be killed?
Rather that they can be shut up in disobedience so that God may
show mercy. When God made that great proclamation of judgment to Elijah we
don?t see it coming into play until 2 Kings Chapters 8 and 9. During this
interval of time we see the ministry of Elisha going about, God still working
calling the people in His grace and mercy, illuminating lives?salvation even
coming to gentiles. You see, the funny thing about mercy is that a person who
says they deserve it can?t receive it?only those who realize that they need it
can receive mercy.
Paul gives us a bit of insight into mercy and how it?s
received. He was chosen to be an apostle in this tremendous ministry of grace
even though he was formerly a blasphemer and persecutor of Christ. But why was
he shown mercy? Because of God?s sovereign choice, someone would say. But Paul
tells us it was because he did all this in unbelief?and God wanted to have an
example of His mercy and grace for all to see. ?If Paul of Tarsus can receive
mercy?so can you sinners!?
So note this passage highlighting Elijah?s life?sweeping
judgment announced in the small still voice and sweeping judgment not
instituted for a period of time. In the interval we see Elisha working in the
ministry of grace and mercy of God.
-r-
Extra Credit: Find out how many times Elisha raised the sword as underscored by
God.
1 Kings 19; Romans 11; 1 Tim 1:12-16
Horeb: Ex. 3:1; 17; 33; Deut. 1; 4:10, 15; 5:2; 9:8; 29:1
Hazael: 1 Kin. 19:15. 2 Kin. 8 ; 9:14; 10:32, 33; 12:17, 18; 13:3, 22, 24; 2 Chr. 22:5, 6.
Jehu: 1 Kin. 16:1, 7, 12; 19:16, 17; 2 Kin. 9, 10; 15:12; 2 Chr. 19:2; 20:34; 22:8
Elijah: The Place
Elijah: The Proclamation
Elijah: The Performance