1 Kings 17 | Notes

Technical Notes:

Comments:

Verse 1 sets the stage for all the events that will transpire over the next few chapters. It establishes the central conflict between the human characters and the deities they represent.

On the one hand, we meet Elijah. Previously unknown, he appears on the scene and immediately has access to the king. The author tells us almost nothing about the man.

He is a Tishbite from Tishbe of Gilead. Even this information, however, gives us little to go on. Archaeologists have never firmly identified a place called Tishbe in Gilead. They may never find one because the words may define Elijah more generally. He may be a "settler among the settlers of Gilead."

We also are not told anything about Elijah's profession. As his story unfolds, we will learn that he is a prophet, but the author leaves Elijah's vocation formally unkown at the beginning.

What we do know about Elijah, however, is critical. His name means "my god is Yahweh," and that is a theological challenge to Ahab.

The other character present in v. 1 is Ahab, the king of Israel. In 1 Kgs 16, the reader learns that Ahab is the most wicked king in Israelite history (cf., 1 Kgs 16:30; "Ahab son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him" [NRSV]).

What made Ahab so wicked? Well, he caused Israel to sin against Yahweh just like Jeroboam (cf., 1 Kgs 12-14) and he introduced Baal worship to Israel after his marriage to the Sidonian princess Jezebel (1 Kgs 16:31-33).

Elijah confronts Ahab with a curse. He declares that the land will have no rain or dew unless Elijah gives the say so.

Elijah chooses this curse for a specific reason. Baal, a Canaanite deity incorporated to Israelite worship by Ahab and Jezebel, was known as a fertility god. Baal was responsible for ensuring the land had sufficient water to grow crops every year.

The inhabitants of Canaan beliefs about Baal corresponded to the agricultural cycle. Baal died every year and was revived in the spring bringing rains that enabled the land to produce food. Whenever the rain ceased, the people assumed that Baal had died and would raise again soon.

Elijah's declaration confronts this worldview. Elijah argues that Yahweh lives and He is the one who controls the waters. As Iain Provan wrties, "It is the Lord, and not Baal, who brings fertility; it is the Lord’s presence in judgment that leads to infertility, rather than his absence in death." (Provan 2012, 132).