Elijah: The Prophet of Fire

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Previously on the Chosen People. With the death of rio Boam, the house of David was diminished. Meanwhile, in the Northern Kingdom, the house of Jeroboam was doomed. And though the fathers had gone astray from the Lord, it was their sons who would drive their kingdoms to ruin. For Omri was not just a soldier. He was a builder, a strategist, a king who would leave a lasting mark. It would be in his son Ahab, a name that would become legend, a name that would become a curse. For it was said of him he did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any who came before him. 00:00:48 Speaker 2: He and his queen. 00:00:49 Speaker 1: Jezebel would shape the world to their liking. 00:00:57 Speaker 3: The drought it didn't scare him. It pointed him to the truth. Shelloh, my friends, from here in the holy land of Israel, i'm l extein with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, and welcome to the Chosen People. When a prophet disappears into the wilderness, what happens next? In One King's Chapter seventeen, Elijah speaks a word that splits the sky and then vanishes. No spotlight, no applause, only a command from God and a long road into obscurity. Where does faith go when the fire hasn't fallen yet? Where does obedience lead when the trail ends in thirst? Today we find Elijah before Mount Carmel, before the crowds of people, before the miracle everyone remembers. Today, Elijah is a man shaped by birds, by famine, by a widow who's run out of options. Today is where his story begins. 00:02:02 Speaker 1: The throne room of Samaria reeked of indulgence, roasted meat dripping fat onto polished stone, the too sweet stench of overripe fruit left half eaten on golden trays, the scent of a kingdom that had long since stopped fearing Yahweh. The air was warm, humid, with breath and laughter, and the lazy murmur of priests who knew their prayers were more performance than devotion. Ahab, king of Israel, lounged at the center of it all, sprawled in his throne like a man who had never known hunger, whose hands had never known the weight of real labour, whose problems had always been someone else's to solve. He smirked at the latest toaster, bal his fingers tapping absently against his goblet. Then the doors slammed open with a crack. A priest's voice wavered mid incantation, a musician's liar string snapped, goblets rattled against platters. For a single, stretched moment, the court was frozen in tableaux, wine, spilling, hands hesitating, heads turning, And there in the doorway stood Elijah, the prophet of Fire. His words had already burned their way through the land, they said. When he spoke, men felt their ribs tighten, like they breathed in smoke. When he prayed, the wind changed now here. He was standing in the doorway like something torn straight out of the wilderness. His cloak was travel stained, his skin roughened by sun and wind. His hands were empty. He carried no sword or scroll. He didn't need such tools to command the room. He had the voice the gods hesitated. No one wanted to be the first to stop him. Elijah walked forward without hurry, his eyes scanning the throne room like a man weighing the worth of every soul in it. Ahab watched him approach, one brow arching smirk deepening. 00:04:25 Speaker 4: Well, if it isn't the prophet of fire, tell me. 00:04:36 Speaker 5: Have you come to burn. 00:04:38 Speaker 4: Down my palace? 00:04:39 Speaker 6: Did you simply get lost on the way back to whatever god forsaken cave you crawled out of. 00:04:46 Speaker 2: I've come with a message from God. 00:04:51 Speaker 7: In which God would that be? Elijah? 00:04:54 Speaker 2: There are many the God of Israel, the God whom you do abandoned, the God your father's knew before you sold their birthright for foreign dows low way. 00:05:11 Speaker 6: I'm not in the mood, Elijah. Scurry back to your hovel in the woods. 00:05:17 Speaker 2: Here the judgment of Yahweh, there will be no dew, no rain, not even a whisper of moisture upon this land until I say otherwise. 00:05:28 Speaker 1: The words hit like a hammer against stone. A hab smirk twitched, the torches flickered somewhere in the back of the room. A servant swallowed audibly. A priest of bow shifted in his robes, hands tightening around his staff. Then they have laughed. 00:05:49 Speaker 6: You say there will be no rain? 00:05:52 Speaker 5: You a wandering zeeb from the wilderness. Do you think the heavens will obey you with rivers dry up because you make threats? In you always name God? Do you think I'm like my father? 00:06:08 Speaker 4: Do you think I'm some weakneed fool who. 00:06:12 Speaker 5: Trembles at the ramblings of a desert rat. 00:06:15 Speaker 6: Do you think I fear your God? 00:06:21 Speaker 4: You should? Should I? 00:06:25 Speaker 1: Elijah's eyes flicked, just for a moment, toward the hulking, golden statue of Baal behind the throne, grotesque and unmoving. 00:06:36 Speaker 7: Aheb. 00:06:37 Speaker 2: You call the Lord my god, but you know very well he is your god, to the god of your fathers, the god you prayed to when you were a boy, before your body grew fat and your mind grew polluted with lies that reek like the dung of camels. 00:06:56 Speaker 8: Now look at you, to a god who cannot speak, who cannot move, who cannot even keep his own priests from bleeding all over his. 00:07:07 Speaker 2: Altars, crying out for a voice that never answers. 00:07:13 Speaker 1: One of the Baal priests shifted uncomfortably. Elijah took a slow step forward. 00:07:20 Speaker 2: What you will learn when the rivers crack into dust, when your fields shrivel and die, when the sky above you is as unyielding as iron, you will know that it is not bail who commands the rain. 00:07:37 Speaker 1: Elijah let the words settle. He wanted King Ahab to feel the weight of them wrap around his throat like the first signs of thirst. And then, slowly, deliberately, Elijah's mouth curled into something resembling a smirk. 00:07:55 Speaker 2: Perhaps you should ask your queen, But the. 00:08:00 Speaker 1: Reaction was instant. Ahab's amusement vanished. The room was suddenly too still, too tense. Every breath held a baal. Priest shifted his grip on his staff, knuckles paling. The torches flickered lower, as though even the flames knew better than to burn too loudly when she was mentioned. Queen Jezebel was not presents, but her presence permeated every room. Everyone knew her power, how it coiled around Ahab's decisions like a serpent. Her whispers carried more weight than the voices of a hundred advisers careful profits. 00:08:45 Speaker 2: Why if rig you'll hear enough? 00:08:50 Speaker 1: Ahab stood, His voice cracked through the silence like a whip. The goblets on the table clattered as his sudden movement sent a tremor through the stone beneath them. Everyone flinched. 00:09:04 Speaker 5: I should have had you executed for speaking against my queen. 00:09:10 Speaker 2: You cannot kill what yaweh think? 00:09:13 Speaker 7: We'll see about that. 00:09:17 Speaker 1: The words rang hollow, the rage was real, but something else had settled over the room, now, something older, something heavier than Ahab's anger. Elijah had spoken, and the words were no longer his. Without another word, the prophet turned on his heel and walked away. He left the palace behind, left the torches and the murmurs, and the barely contained fury of a king whose power was already slipping through his fingers. Left the last echoes of laughter still hanging in the air, now tainted with something colder. And as the door slammed shut behind him, the silence in Ahab's court deepened, and the king's rage began to boil into malice. The moment the words left his mouth, the minute the last syllable of his prophecy burned through the air of Ahab's court like a dying ember. Elijah heard Yahue's voice. Not thunder, not wind, not the crack of fire, just one word. 00:10:32 Speaker 9: Run. 00:10:33 Speaker 1: It hid like a hammer in his chest, urgent, undeniable. He didn't think, he didn't question. He ran through the palace gates before the weight of his words had fully landed through the market streets, past the smell of spice and livestock and human sweat, past merchants, barking prices, and children darting between carts. He ran until the shouts of guards faded behind him, and Samaria's walls were a distant stain on the horizon. The wilderness swallowed him whole. His feet tore over dry ground, his breath turned ragged, the heat clawed at his skin. He ran until his legs burned, until his vision blurred, until the adrenaline drained from his blood and left only the hollow ache of a man who had just declared war on an entire kingdom. He had expected fire, thunder, the heavens shaking. Instead, he had received one command and the sound of his own heartbeat pounding in his ears. By the time he reached the waddy Kerith, his limbs were useless things, barely able to drag him to the brook. He collapsed by the water's edge, plunged his face into the stream, and drank deep. The cold hid his tongue like mercy. He drank until his stomach crackumped, then rolled onto his back, gasping, staring up at the sky that was still for now blue. The wind whispered through the reeds, the water murmured over smooth stone. But Jahweh was silent. 00:12:17 Speaker 2: Well, here I am. 00:12:20 Speaker 1: The wind shifted her pressure, not weight, but presence settled over him, familiar and vast, her voice deep enough to make his ribs tremble, hummed through the marrow of his bones. 00:12:38 Speaker 2: Here you are, Lord, This is the great mission. 00:12:43 Speaker 9: This is the work of a prophet. 00:12:46 Speaker 2: I declared judgment over a king, and now I'm leaving like an exile. 00:12:50 Speaker 7: Her declared judgment. You did round, you did obeaed you have. 00:12:58 Speaker 1: Elijah sat up, brushing dirt from his cloak, frowning toward the sky. 00:13:05 Speaker 2: And what now do I stay here? Whatever? For a time until the brook is no more? 00:13:14 Speaker 1: Elijah tensed. The voice of Jahueh carried no urgency, no worry, only the certainty of a truth that had already been set into motion. 00:13:26 Speaker 10: Let the brook will bray. It is as you have said, no rain, no do, and so no book there shall be. 00:13:39 Speaker 1: Elijah exhaled, sharply, rubbing his hands over his face. 00:13:44 Speaker 2: Wonderful you could have led me somewhere, be the well I. 00:13:49 Speaker 7: Lead where I lead, Elijah. Abraham knew this, Moses knew this. You will learn faith. Trust. 00:14:02 Speaker 1: Elijah scoffed, but said nothing. Then came the sound a sharp cowing. Elijah frowned, looking up ravens, three of them circling, dipping lower. His stomach twisted, not with hunger, though he felt it gnawing at his ribs, but with something colder. He had a feeling about what was coming next, and he didn't like it. The birds flapped down onto the rocks near him, their claws clutching scraps of meat, torn and red crusts of bread half mangled by their beaks. They dropped the food unceremoniously, then hopped back, clicking their beaks, watching him like a jury waiting for a verdict. Elijah stared, you're got to beginning me eat. 00:14:56 Speaker 2: The ravens, so they are. You send manna to our father's bread from heaven and to me, unclean scavengers. 00:15:07 Speaker 9: This is a great provision. 00:15:09 Speaker 7: Does it not? Feel your stomach the same? 00:15:12 Speaker 1: Elijah dragged a hand down his face, muttering under his breath. The ravens cowed louder, hopping closer, impatient, his gut clenched. Ravens, unclean, vile creatures feeding on carrion, feasting on the dead, and now feeding him. He pressed his lips together, then sighed through his nose. 00:15:39 Speaker 2: Well, if this is my fate. 00:15:43 Speaker 1: He picked up a piece of bread, brushed off the dirt, and took a bite. Elijah silently noticed it somehow tasted much better than it looked. The ravens flapped their wings, seeming satisfied. The Lord said nothing, but Elia I just swore he was watching. Days passed. Elijah drank from the brook, ate what the ravens brought, and let his body recover from the journey. He still spoke, though his words were now for God alone. At first it was bitter, muttered complaints in the dark, then slow acceptance. By the fourth day he had stopped doubting the birds. By the seventh, he expected them. He did not ask where the food came from, if it was stolen from the table of the wicked, or plucked from the hands of a dying beast. 00:16:40 Speaker 7: It came. 00:16:42 Speaker 1: That was enough. But then one morning the brook was different. He crouched beside it, cup the water in his hands, drank and frowned. It tasted the same, but the sound had changed. He listened. The rush of water over stone was less, just barely, but enough. Elijah stilled. The next day the brook had decreased more. The reeds that had once swayed in the current now leaned dry against the bank. By the fifth day, the trickle of water had grown thin. He tried rationing, drinking only when the sun reached its highest, but the cracks in the riverbed deepened. The brook was dying, and the Lord was silent. Elijah sat on the ground, staring at the vanishing stream. His fingers dug absently into the dirt. 00:17:40 Speaker 2: So this is the plan. I thought I was supposed to be your prophet. I thought you sent me here to provide. But I see now I'm just waiting to watch the brook run dry? Aren't I make it last? You could split a rock, make rivers flow in the desert. You did it for Moses. I could, but you no. 00:18:14 Speaker 1: Elijah exhaled slowly. What have you learned, Elijah? He was quiet for a long time. 00:18:22 Speaker 2: Then the brook isn't thisissles? 00:18:30 Speaker 1: You're the last of the water trickled over stone. Elijah wiped the sweat from his brow and closed his eyes. 00:18:40 Speaker 7: Good rise, go to Zeabeth. There a widow awaits. 00:18:48 Speaker 1: Elijah opened his eyes. The brook was dry, the sky empty, but he was not afraid. Zaraphath was on its last breath. The drought had sunk its claws into the land, and it wasn't letting go. People shuffled through the streets with hollow eyes, their ribs showing beneath worn tunics. The market stores were mostly empty, just a few shriveled vegetables, some desperate merchants haggling over things that would have been worthless a year ago. Baal's priests stood on the street corners, their voices hoarse from shouting prayers to a god that wasn't answering. The smell of burnt sacrifices clung to the air. Animals mostly for now, but Elijah had heard the whispers. They were running out of livestock, and when that happened, Baal would demand more. Elijah pulled his cloak tighter around him and walked through the streets, keeping his head low. He shouldn't have been there. Zaraphath belonged to Jezebel. 00:20:03 Speaker 7: Her father had ruled. 00:20:05 Speaker 1: This place and her priests ran it. Now, if they knew who he was, they'd drag him straight to her, But the Lord had sent him here to find a widow. Elijah searched for a long while. Then he found her outside the city, crouched near a pile of brittle twigs, her son at her side. The boy was small, maybe seven, his face smudged with dust, his ribs showing beneath his tunic. He clung to her sleeve, eyes darting between Elijah and the road, like he was used to men showing up and taking things. The woman was thin, her movements slow, careful, like she was rationing her own strength. When she looked up, there was no curiosity in her face, just exhaustion. 00:20:56 Speaker 2: Oh there, my lady, would you were. 00:21:00 Speaker 9: A little water. 00:21:02 Speaker 1: She stiffened her fingers, tightening around the bundle of sticks, but she stood without argument. Water was precious, but not impossible. Her mother had always taught her to show hospitality to the stranger. She turned toward the well and e piso bretto. The widow stopped cold. The boy clung tighter to her, his small hands gripping her robe. Slowly, she turned back, and this time there was something sharp in her face, something tired and angry. 00:21:39 Speaker 2: Lessen, sir, I swear on the Lord your God. I don't have any bread, just a handful of flour, a little oil. 00:21:49 Speaker 9: That's it. 00:21:51 Speaker 3: I was gathering these sticks to make one mass meal for me and my boy before. 00:21:57 Speaker 9: Before sleep and don't wake up again. 00:22:03 Speaker 1: Elijah's throat felt tight. He had seen hunger before, but this, this was surrender. 00:22:11 Speaker 2: Such a dire outlook. Don't be afraid, my child, Your way sees your struggle. 00:22:19 Speaker 6: Uh. 00:22:20 Speaker 1: The words came out softer than he expected. 00:22:24 Speaker 2: Go ahead, make your meal, but first, eh, make me a small love, then one for yourself and your son. Because always says this. The flower will not run out, the oil will not dry up, not until the rain comes. 00:22:46 Speaker 1: The woman stared at Elijah for a long moment, her lips pressed together, her eyes flicking to her son, and. 00:22:54 Speaker 2: Then she moved. 00:22:56 Speaker 7: Why. 00:22:57 Speaker 1: She wasn't quite sure herself. It's air was not because she believed. Not yet after what she had seen, it was too hard to believe in anything any more. Inside the house, she scraped the last of the flower into a bowl. She tipped the jug, watching the final drops of oil slide out. Her hands moved quickly, practiced kneading the dough with the same quiet precision of a woman who had done this a thousand times before. She turned to stoke the fire. Then she turned back and the flower jar wasn't empty. Her breath hitched. The oil jug was heavier. She grabbed it, shaking it lightly. Liquid sloshed like golden honey. Her son tugged on her robe, peering into the jar. 00:23:47 Speaker 9: Ma'am, there's all. 00:23:50 Speaker 1: Her knees nearly gave out. Elijah, standing in the doorway, watched. He smiled gently because he knew he had learned it at the brook. Provision comes not all at once, but as you need it. Weeks passed. The boy, once too weak to play, was running again, his laughter echoing through the small house. The widow smiled more, though sometimes Elijah caught her checking the flower jar when she thought no one was looking. Old habits he understood. But the oil never failed, the flower never ran out. The three of them settled into something strange, something Elijah hadn't known in years family. It happened slowly. The widow stopped calling him the prophet and just started calling him Elijah. He started referring to her as sister, half jokingly at first, until it wasn't a joke anymore. The boy, in the way children know things before adults do, started calling him uncle Elijah, and Elijah didn't correct him. 00:25:10 Speaker 2: Then the fever came. 00:25:12 Speaker 1: It started small, just heat, just a little tiredness. Then the boy stopped eating, stopped moving, his breathing grew shallow, and then one morning he didn't wake up. The house sat in hollow silence. Elijah sat by the fire, fingers wrapped around a clay cup, staring into the embers. 00:25:36 Speaker 2: Then he heard her cry. 00:25:38 Speaker 1: It was the sound of something breaking. The cup slipped from his fingers, shattering on the floor. He turned and she was standing in the doorway. The boy limp in her arms. Her breath was ragged, her eyes red, her whole body shaking. What have you done to MEA's stomach dropped. 00:26:02 Speaker 3: You came here, you. 00:26:03 Speaker 4: Brought your God with you. 00:26:06 Speaker 9: You made me hope, You made me boy. 00:26:09 Speaker 1: No, no, my son, yustid, her hands clenched in the boy's tunic, her fingers curling around the fabric, like she could hold him here, like she could anchor him to life if she just held tight enough. Elijah swallowed hard, his hands curled into fists. This wasn't supposed to happen. He took a step forward. 00:26:39 Speaker 2: Give him to me. 00:26:41 Speaker 1: She hesitated, her whole body tense, then slowly she let him go. Elijah carried the boy upstairs, his heart pounding. He laid him on the bed and shut the door. The air felt heavy pressing down on him. He knelt beside the bed, gripping the edge. 00:27:02 Speaker 2: Yo, what is this silence? 00:27:08 Speaker 9: She trusted you. I trusted you, and now her child? Oh God, the boy, Please Lord, save the boy. 00:27:20 Speaker 1: No answer. Elijah exhaled sharply and leaned over the boy, pressing his hands against the child's still chest. 00:27:30 Speaker 9: Yoey, my God, why have you done this. I know you can change this. I've seen your power. 00:27:39 Speaker 1: Let this boy leave nothing. His breath shook. He stretched himself over the child, forehead to forehead, hands gripping the bed. Please, still nothing. He pulled back, shaking. This couldn't be the end. He wouldn't accept it. He pressed his hands against the boy again, voice breaking your way. 00:28:05 Speaker 9: My God, you are the giver of life. Every every tag is a gift giving by you. You you topple kings. 00:28:15 Speaker 11: You you provide for windows, You send birds to feed old fools. Hi, I ask you to do what only you have the power to do, prelife in this boy as you once did for atom. I know you can I beg you, in your mercy, please bring this child back. 00:28:42 Speaker 1: Suddenly the air shifted, the stillness cracked, and then the boy gasped. Elijah jerked back, eyes wide, watching the color rush back into the boy's cheeks, his chest rising, falling, rising again. 00:28:59 Speaker 2: And then Uncle, Elijah, my boy. 00:29:05 Speaker 9: My boy, thank you, thank you, my boy, my boy. 00:29:16 Speaker 1: Elijah let out of breath. Then he laughed. He scooped the boy into his arms, laughing through the tears. Yahue had not abandoned him, not at the brook, not here, not ever. 00:29:38 Speaker 3: Here we find Elijah, the prophet of God who won't die, out in the wilderness, with the ravens, unclean birds, outcasts of the sky, carriers of death, and yet they bring Elijah life. The Bible doesn't dress this up. The prophet is fed by creatures that belong on the margins, The wilderness shows its teeth, and God, well, he keeps providing, because in our tradition, holiness is never confined to what's expected. Noah's arc was sealed with pitch. The burning bush grew out of common earth. The Angel of the Lord visited Hagar before he ever even spoke to Sarah. This is the rhythm God finds the overlooked and names them sacred. Elijah didn't need banquet halls or grand temples. What he needed was faith. And it's a lesson for us today, isn't it. Provision may come through strange messengers, So don't look away, don't dismiss what looks too small, too wild, too filthy, because it's in this wild, mysterious way that we often find God, just like Elijah. But why exactly does Elijah, the great Biblical figure, find himself in the wilderness. He began his career as a fire harry prophet, and because King Ahab promoted idolatry in his kingdom, Elijah declared that there would be a complete drought as long as the idol worship went on, a very severe punishment from God. But then God sent Elijah first to a cave and then to the home of a poor widow with almost no food or water because of the drought punishment. God performed a miracle there, and the small amount of flour and the oil miraculously replenished themselves for a whole year. But then the widow's son fell ill and died, so Elijah performed another miracle and brought this son back to life. But I still ask why why was Elijah sent to the widow's house in the first place. What does this story have anything to do with Elijah's mission as a prophet of God. Well, here's one idea idolatry. It's a serious sin and is understandable why Elijah declared such a strict punishment on the people. 00:32:04 Speaker 2: A complete drought. 00:32:07 Speaker 3: But God used this story to balance out Elijah's way of thinking, because yes, the Israelites had to be punished, but even with punishment must come compassion, and so God had Elijah perform two miracles, the replenishing of the flower and oil, which saved the lives of the poor widow and her son, and then dramatically reviving the son from death. Those are two acts of ultimate compassion. Maybe Elijah needed to understand that as justified as divine punishment may be, there must also be compassion. The Chosen People believe that Elijah, who according to the Bible never died, will return to announce the ultimate redemption of the world. And how will this redemption, Well, there will be punishment for sin, but in the end, it's God's compassion that will always overwhelm his desire for punishment. That is the very definition of redemption. 00:33:13 Speaker 9: In this story, we. 00:33:15 Speaker 3: Find God teaching his prophet Elijah this most important lesson. Elijah's journey is tangled. That's the best word that I can find for it. Right now, he speaks truth. Then he's gone into a place without maps, without applause, and yet the whole time he's being sculpted. Jewish tradition teaches us of Emuna in Hebrew that means the kind of faith that keeps walking even when the signs fade. That's real faith. And Elijah embodies that, and so does the widow. She bakes bread on a stranger's word with nothing left but dust and oil. You see, faith isn't the absence of fear or doubt. It's the decision to keep going even though we're afraid or have doubts, to kneel by a shrinking brook and eat from a raven's beak, to offer the last of your flower to a man who said his God will provide. Maybe that's you today. Maybe you feel like the widow wording scraps, bracing for the end, or maybe you're Elijah staring at a dry stream. I'm sure of what to do next. I want to tell you something that I believe with all of my heart. 00:34:29 Speaker 9: And it's this. 00:34:31 Speaker 3: You are seen. God's eye is on you in the famine. 00:34:37 Speaker 4: His care does move through. 00:34:39 Speaker 3: Things that you'd never expect. And while we often pray for fire, sometimes God sends feathers. So open your hands, open your eyes, watch the sky, because God is here. He is always here. 00:35:00 Speaker 1: You can listen to the Chosen People with Yle Eckstein ad free by downloading and subscribing to the prey dot com app today. This preydog comproduction is only made possible by our dedicated team of creative talents. Steve Katina, Max Bard, Zach Schllabager and Ben Gammon are the executive producers of The Chosen People with Yile Eckstein, Edited by Alberto Avila, narrated by Paul Coltofianu. Characters are voiced by Jonathan Cotton, Aaron Salvato, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan, Stephen Ringwold, Sylvia Zaradoc, Thomas Copeland Junior, Rosanna Pilcher, and Mitch Leshinsky, and the opening prayer is voiced by John Moore. Music by Andrew Morgan Smith, written by Aaron Salvato bre Rosalie and Chris Baig. Special thanks to Bishop Paulinier, Robin van Ettin, Kayleb Burrows, Jocelyn Fuller, Rabbi Edward Abramson, and the team at International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. You can hear more Prey dot com productions on the Prey dot com app, available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. If you enjoyed The Chosen People with Yile Eckstein, please rate and leave a review.