This week, we shall continue the
study of the book of 1 Kings in the Old Testament.
During the long reign of Asa in Judah, Israel entered into a rather tumultuous time with successive changes to the throne. Let’s read from vv. 21-33 and compare these several successive kings of Israel:
(1) Do you remember how Zimri came to power and how long he had reigned? (1 Ki. 16:9-10)
(2) How did his short reign end? (vv. 21-22)
(3) What reason was given for his death in the Bible? (vv. 18-19)
(4) Was Omri any better than Zimri? (vv. 25-26)
(5) Was Ahab any better than Omri? (vv. 30-32)
(6) Of the three, who was worst in the eyes of the Lord? Why?
(7) It appears that in each case, the Bible would use terms like “he did more evil than all those before him” to describe the evil of the king. What is the message that the Bible seeks to convey?
(8) Read Joshua 6:26 about the curse prophesied against Jericho by Joshua:
a. What might be the purpose of the curse?
b. It appears that from the time of Joshua to the time of Ahab, over 500 years had elapsed: What possible reasons might Hiel have to rebuild Jericho?
c. Why didn’t anyone in Israel seek to rebuild Jericho in the past 500+ years?
d. What lesson can we learn from this incident?
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
It was during such a time of evil that we come across one of the greatest prophets of all time—Elijah.
17:1-6—The Call of Elijah
(1) What did God ask Elijah to do? (Gilead likely refers to the land north-east of Jordan, though some scholars think Tishbe could be a town in Galilee; and Ahab’s capital was in Samaria.)
(2) If you were Elijah, would you have hesitated to be God’s messenger? Why or why not?
(3) How does the Apostle James look upon the power of Elijah’s prayer? (Jas. 5:17-18)
(4) While the land would suffer from a severe drought, how did God provide for Elijah and for how long? (vv. 2-6)
(5) What do you think was the most miraculous part of this event?
17:7-16—The First Miracle Did Not Last
(6) How might Elijah feel when his prophecy also caused the brook he depended on for water to dry up? Do you think he might have complained to God? Would you, if you were Elijah?
(7) What did God tell Elijah to do next? He was to travel from the extreme east of Israel to the extreme west — to Sidon in the land of the Gentiles, and he would receive provisions from a widow. Did it make any sense?
(8) How might you have responded to this plan of God?
(9) What did Elijah ask first in v. 10? How did the widow respond?
(10) What did Elijah ask next in v. 11? Why did he split his request into two parts? How did the widow respond to the second part of his request? (v. 12)
(11) Given the dire situation of the widow, why would God send Elijah to her? Why didn’t God use a wealthy family to provide for him?
(12) What did Elijah say to the woman in return?
(13) How do you think this miracle worked? Consider the following:
a. Upon pouring out the flour and the oil, the jar and the jug instantly were filled with flour and oil.
b. Without replenishment, the jar and the jug continued to have a handful of flour and a little oil as before.
(14) What faith was demanded of the woman then?
(15) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) What would have the widow learned from the daily experience of continuous replenishment of flour and oil about (a) Elijah and (b) the God of Israel?
(2) She was obviously grateful for what had happened, that is, until her son died:
a. How did she respond to the death of her son? (v. 18)
b. What does her response reveal about her faith?
(3) What was Elijah’s immediate response to the death of the widow’s son?
(4) Should he have said what he said to the Lord? Why or why not?
(5) How did the widow respond to the resurrection of her son? (v. 24)
(6) What then did she know about Elijah and the Lord before this incident?
(7) Why did it take the death and resurrection of her son to make her truly “know”?
(8) What might this incident mean to Elijah? (See Jesus’ own comment on this incident in Lk. 4:25-26.)
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Since Jesus told us that the drought lasted 3½ years (Lk. 4:25), the “third year” likely refers to the time Elijah spent in Sidon.
(1) During these three and a half years of severe drought, what should King Ahab do?
(2) What did he do instead? (v. 10)
(3) How could a person like Obadiah be a “devout believer” after so many generations of wicked monarchs in Israel?
(4) Since Obadiah was a “devout believer” in the Lord and given the wickedness of the king he served, consider the following:
a. Why did he not oppose the king but continue to serve under him?
b. Why did he not cross over to the side of Judah like many priests and Levites had done? (2 Chr. 11:13-14)
c. For what reason(s) did he choose to stay and serve King Ahab? (v. 13)
(5) Do you think Ahab knew of Obadiah’s God-fearing character?
(6) Why did he continue to use and trust Obadiah?
(7) In Obadiah’s mind, why did King Ahab fail to find Elijah? (v. 12)
(8) As the famine was severe in Samaria, what did King Ahab decide to do and why? (v. 5)
(9) Can you see what Ahab was most interested in?
(10) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) How did dare Ahab accuse Elijah as the troublemaker?
a. Did he not know it was all God’s doing?
b. What did he hope to achieve by intimidating God’s servant?
c. Did he succeed?
(2) From the counter-accusation of Elijah, how widespread was the sin of idolatry? (Note that Baal was the principal god of the Phoenicians and Canaanites, the worship of which had its principal seat in Tyre, while Asherah was their female deity.)
(3) Why would Ahab oblige to Elijah’s command?
(4) How did Elijah challenge the people and why did they say nothing? (v. 21)
(5) Why did Elijah emphasize to the people (likely the leaders or representatives of the ten tribes) that he was “the only one of the Lord’s prophets left”? (v. 22)
(6) From a human perspective, who would certainly end up the loser in this encounter?
(7) Since God was the one who called Elijah to confront Ahab (18:1), this scheme was obviously inspired by God:
a. How was Elijah going to prove the Lord is God?
b. Can we duplicate this miracle today?
c. How then can we prove to the world that Jesus is God?
(8) Why did Elijah let the prophets of Baal choose which bull to use for their sacrifice first?
(9) While Baal’s prophets prayed, yelled and danced to no avail:
a. Did they really expect Baal to answer?
b. What might they think would happen as a worst-case scenario?
(10) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
18:26-29—The Prayer of the Pagans
(1) Describe how the prophets of Baal prayed.
(2) Why did they pray like that?
(3) As much as Elijah was taunting them, what wrong assumptions about God might underlie the pagan’s prayer?
(4) Did the prophets of Baal really expect Baal to hear their prayers? Why?
18:30-37—The Prayer of Elijah
(5) What did the “ruined” altar say about the spiritual condition of Israel?
(6) How did Elijah rebuild the ruined altar? (vv. 31-32)
(7) Why did he purposely drench the wood and the offering with water?
(8) Study the words of Elijah’s prayer and divide it into meaningful parts.
(9) How did it differ from that of the prophets of Baal?
18:38-46—God Answers Prayer
(10) How did the people react to the fire from heaven? What might be lacking in their response?
(11) Shouldn’t Elijah command the people to kill King Ahab too? Why or why not?
(12) From vv. 41-46, Elijah demonstrated his faith in God:
a. In what way(s) did Elijah show his great faith in God?
b. In what way(s) did Elijah show the struggle of his faith, just like you and me?
(13) What lesson should King Ahab have learned from this incident?
(14) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) After having witnessed the miraculous power of God at Mount Carmel, what should King Ahab have done?
(2) Upon hearing the same story and the killing of all prophets of Baal:
a. How should Jezebel feel?
b. What should she have done?
c. What did she do? (v. 2)
d. What kind of a person was Jezebel?
(3) What was Elijah’s immediate reaction to the threat?
a. Why did Jezebel threaten to kill Elijah?
b. Should she not simply send people to kill him, instead of forewarning him?
c. Why then should Elijah be afraid and run for his life after such a tremendous victory?
d. What then did this victory mean to Elijah?
e. What’s wrong with him?
(4) Travelling from Jezreel in the north to Beersheba in the deep south was a very long journey, and with the one day journey into the wilderness, Elijah should have had a lot of time to reflect on several things:
a. How God had answered his powerful prayers causing rain to stop and to fall again — What kind of God has He proved to be to Elijah?
b. How God miraculously provided for him at Kerith Ravine through ravens (17:5-6) and through a poor gentile widow in Sidon (17:15-16) — What kind of God has He proved to be to Elijah?
c. What happened at Mount Carmel just a few days or weeks ago? — What kind of God has He proved to be to Elijah?
(5) In what ways did he consider himself “not better” than his ancestors?
(6) Was it the real reason for asking to die? Why or why not?
(7) Did he really want to die?
(8) How did God respond to his request? (vv. 5, 7) Why?
(9) How would you describe Elijah’s condition at that time, physically, emotionally and spiritually?
(10) If he was too tired even to think after being refreshed by the angel, what might have gone through his mind in the next forty days and what might be the purpose of going all the way to Horeb, “the mountain of God” (Exod. 3:1)?
(11) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?