Most are familiar with the narrative in 1 Kings of the prophet Elijah and King Ahab. In 1 Kings 17:1 we read, “And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, ‘As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.” At first glance one might think that Elijah was acting with hubris, making the claim that he could and would control the rain in Israel. This was not so at all.
First, there was a reason Elijah proclaimed this to Ahab. In the previous chapter we read of the ungodliness of this king of Israel. “Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him. And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him” (1 Kings 16:30-33).
Second, immediately after his words to Ahab, God warned Elijah to hide from Ahab to protect his life (cf. 17:2-4) which the man of God immediately did. This indicates clearly that the drought came from God, not Elijah. It was God’s response to the idolatry and ungodliness of Ahab and his wife Jezebel.
These thoughts bring us to chapter 18 in the narrative. Many days had passed. James indicated that it was 3.5 years in total, where it had not rained upon the earth (cf. James 5:17). At this point, Ahab began to search for the prophet, as 18:2 notes “there was a severe famine in Samaria.” Ahab had no need to seek the prophet, as God gave directions to the man of God to present himself before the king. “And it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, ‘Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth’” (Ezekiel 18:1).
You note that it was the Lord who would send the rain. Ezekiel was claiming no intrinsic power, he was merely the mouthpiece of God. With Obadiah’s help, Elijah and Ahab met. Consider their conversation:
“Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, ‘Is that you, O troubler of Israel?’ And he answered, ‘I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and have followed the Baals.’” (1 Kings 18:17-18).
The lesson is a simple one. This was no mere “he said, he said” as each sought to claim the other was at fault. One man was wrong, and the other man was sharing an inspired truth from God. As Elijah said, the trouble came from the sin of King Ahab who had disobeyed God, and began to practice idolatry against Him.
We don’t have the benefit of an inspired account as we wade through our own conflicting stories and claims of fault. However, we can use the conversation between Elijah and Ahab to know the truth of certain situations we may occasionally experience.
When a Christian proclaims a truth of God in an attempt to bring repentance, harm that might come does not have its origin in the one who is seeking to deal with the sin. There are times when division or strife occurs, and the one who points out the sin is the one who is accused of causing that strife. “If you would just hush, and not bring it up, the trouble would go away!”
This is not true, and is not God’s way. Every time sin occurred, God sent someone to deal with it. Moses, the judges of Israel, the prophets — all under the Old Covenant. And in the New Testament writers such as Paul, Peter and John dealt with problems every time they came across them. [The prophet Micaiah, as an example, was greatly mistreated for his stand for what was right. A false prophet of Ahab named Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah opposed Micaiah. “Now Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, ‘Which way did the spirit from the Lord go from me to speak to you?’” (1 Kings 22:24)].
The one who is guilty of troubling Israel or God is the one who is guilty of sin. As Elijah proclaimed to Ahab, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and have followed the Baals” (1 Kings 18:18). Sin must never be overlooked, hidden, rationalized or defended. The stakes are too high. Too often teachers of error object to “mistreatment.” They chafe at the tactics, words or demeanor of the defender of truth.
There is an old country saying that is relevant here. “There are many ways to skin a cat, but the cat is not going to like any of them!” While our words and demeanor must reflect our love of all men, we are to be militant in our defense of truth! The danger of the false teacher is too great to remain quiet (cf. 1 Peter 2). As such, we must “contend earnestly for the faith” (Jude 3).
