There are few more sublime stories in history than the account of the succeeding events-with the servant of Jehovah and his single attendant on the one hand and the 850 prophets of Baal on the other the altars, the descending fire of Jehovah consuming both sacrifice and altar the rising storm, and the ride across the plain to Jezreel (1 Kings 18). Again Elijah suddenly appears before Ahab. The drought continued, and at last the full horrors of famine, caused by the failure of the crops, descended on Samaria. In this or some other retreat an interval of more than two years must have elapsed. Here in the house of the widow woman Elijah performed the miracles of prolonging the oil and the meal and restored the son of the widow to life after his apparent death (1 Kings 17). There in the hollow of the torrent bed he remained, supported in the miraculous manner with which we are all familiar, until the failing of the brook obliged him to forsake it. 1 Kings 19:2) he was directed to the brook Cherith. Obliged to flee from the vengeance of the king, or more probably of the queen (comp. He suddenly appears before Ahab, prophesies a three-year drought in Israel, and proclaims the vengeance of Jehovah for the apostasy of the king. His introduction, in what we may call the first act of his life, is the most startling description. But in addition to this he occasionally wore the “mantle” or cape of sheepskin which has supplied us with one of our most familiar figures of speech. His ordinary clothing consisted of a girdle of skin round his loins, which he tightened when about to move quickly (1 Kings 18:46). His chief characteristic was his hair, long and thick, and hanging down his back. Of his appearance as he “stood before” Ahab with the suddenness of motion to this day characteristic of the Bedouins from his native hills, we can perhaps realize something from the touches, few but strong, of the narrative. (my God is Jehovah) has been well entitled “the grandest and the most romantic character that Israel ever produced.” “Elijah the Tishbite, … of the inhabitants of Gilead” is literally all that is given us to know of his parentage and locality.
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