Fire from the Sky

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This is Day 26 of my 40 day Lenten Blog.

Both Judah and Israel continued to turn against the Lord. When Ahab was on the throne of Israel he married the foreign princess Jezebel who turned Ahab toward the demon god Baal. But God raised up a prophet named Elijah, and Elijah challenged Ahab, that if Baal is more powerful then Ahab should follow Baal, but if the Lord is more powerful then Ahab should follow the Lord.

Then Elijah said to the people, "I am the only prophet left in Israel for the Lord, but Baal had 400 prophets. But I propose a challenge to see who is more powerful, Baal or the Lord." So he challenged the prophets of Baal to sacrifice a bull and then ask Baal to rain fire down to consume the bull. Elijah said he would do the same and sacrifice a bull to the Lord and ask God to rain fire down on it.

So they did, and the priests of Baal called on Baal for hours and hours but nothing happened. To the point where Elijah began to taunt them saying, "call louder for perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened." But no one ever answered.

Elijah then prepared his bull and sacrificed it to the Lord, and though he had the people pour water over it to make sure that it would not light easily, when he called on the Lord fire rained from the sky and consumed the bull. Then the people turned on the priests of Baal and seized them and Elijah killed them all.

Ahab returned to his palace and told his wife Jezebel all that had happened and she sent men after Elijah to kill him. So he fled into the wilderness and the Lord led him to a cave and there Elijah cried to the Lord, "I am all that is left to worship the Lord, everyone else has turned to Baal!" But God assured him that there were more who served Him in Israel.

And God sent Elijah forth and he found the young man Elisha, and Elijah placed his robe on Elisha symbolizing that Elisha would take over his mantel as prophet and Elisha became his disciple. And Elijah went out and was taken up to Heaven in a chariot, but Elisha was given a double portion of his spirit. Elisha performed many signs to prove that he came from God, including curing a general in the Syrian army of leprosy.

King Ahab died in war with the Syrians, but his wife Jezebel had not yet died. Elisha anointed Jehu as king of Israel and when Jehu marched into Samaria, Jezebel called him a murderer and Jehu had her thrown down from the window to her death, and the dogs ate her corpse in the street. Then Jehu slaughtered the worshipers of Baal and returned Israel to the Lord, at least for a time.

Next: Prophesies of the Messiah.

R.C. VanLandingham is a Catholic homeschool dad just trying to make it through this life and into the next! He has written a Christian children's fantasy series about a boy named Peter Puckett!