Beyond Babylon: Elijah

As per the tradition, which I love, on the Last Night of Summer each staffer (and video guy) gives one single word (or more. or wombo.) to each other staffer (and video guy).

As per the tradition, it was great and filling.

As per the unusual, I switched a couple of my words for the others at the very moment which I wrote them. One of these words was assigned to Jake, my brother in Christ. His word was changed to "Elijah." It was fitting, is fitting (and Spirit-led, as I later found out.) But as I keep seeing my list, and thinking about the words I gave the others, Elijah kept coming up. I realized that I knew very few details of his life, although I could tell you his character(istics) easily. That needed fixing. (As does my knowledge of many Bible things. Isaac is next, I think. I gave that one to Lanier.)

(I like parentheses a lot evidently.)

So. Here's a summary of what I learned:

he commanded no dew or rain until he said so
God told him to live beside a brook, from which he drank. And ravens brought him bread and meat every morning and evening
when the brook dried up, God convinced a poor widow woman with a son to provide for him

He did this by multiplying her sparse supply of flour and oil until the rains came

he revived her dead son
he was a very bold man, in his words to Ahab and Jezebel and to the people at large

one that convicted me: 1 Kings 18:21

called down fire on Mt. Carmel (duh)
he ran faster than Ahab and Jezebel rode in chariots to Jezreel
he ran for his life (or literally his 'soul'), away from Jezebel's threat

he wished for death

an angel of the Lord came to him twice and gave him food and drink "because the journey is too great" for him.

the second dose of this food gave him strength enough for 40 days and nights while he traveled to Horeb, the mountain of God

on this mountain, he experienced the Lord passing by

I love this passage- 1 Kings 19:11-12

Elisha was his servant/disciple/pseudo-descendant
Elijah was a true prophet of many things, like the death of Ahab, and remained bold in his speech
There are long periods where the Lord did not speak through/to Elijah, but may have used others such as Micaiah
he evidently made a habit of sitting on mountaintops in the presence of an angel of the Lord

In my head I see this as a reverse Transfiguration kind of thing, see Mark 9

he called down fire two more times, on two captains and their groups of fifty men each
he parted the waters of the Jordan with his mantle so that he and Elisha could walk across on dry ground
a chariot of fire and horses of fire went between he and Elisha, then he was caught up by a whirlwind to heaven