More than good stories
In two weeks I'll be preaching a series of eight sermons drawn from the stories of Elijah and Elisha in Kings. The Elijah and Elisha narratives are located in the last few chapters of 1st Kings and first few chapters of 2nd Kings. In context they provide a rather dramatic break from the usual pattern. Much of what we find in these two books (actually 1st and 2nd Kings are one book in the Hebrew scriptures) follows a very predictable pattern. "King _______ reigned for 14 years in Israel. His mother's name was ________ and he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Then he slept with his fathers and was buried." With such a pattern the writer(s) of Kings goes through the lineage of all the various kings of Israel and Judah. One of the good cues to identifying something important in scripture is to look for where a pattern breaks down. The pattern breaks down between 1 Kings 17 and 2 Kings 13.
This long body of material is devoted to the ministry of two of the most enigmatic and powerful of Israel's prophets. Though they left no written books in their name as did Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc., Elijah and his successor Elisha stand tall in the history of the Hebrew people. These chapters can be read and enjoyed for the rich stories and adventures- fire from heaven, dead being raised to life, hidden armies that protect the man of God, a leper who is cleansed, and even an axe head that floats! However, we can do more with them. Set in their context, they would have had a much different meaning than they may have for us.
Active in the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the 800s B.C., these two prophets confront the evil King Ahab, his wife Jezebel, and their successors. At issue was nothing less than whom Israel would worship. As early as King Solomon, he was criticized for marrying a woman who worshiped the Canaanite goddess Astarte. Elements of this pagan worship were tolerated to varying extents in both Israel and Judah for over a century until King Omri in Israel arranged a marriage between his son Ahab and the daughter of King Ethbaal of Sidon. When Ahab came to power, Jezebel became the "power behind the throne," and under her influence, worship of the Canaanite pantheon essentially becoming the state religion Israel. These narratives, more than mere "cool stories," are nothing less than a long polemic or judgment against false worship. They are a warning against adopting too much from the world around us.
As we journey through some of the great stories of the Old Testament, some of which I bet you've not read before, be attentive to allusions to these Canaanite deities. The ruler of the Canaanite gods was El. This is a rather generic term for "god" in the Semitic languages, as evidenced by frequent use of the term to refer to the God of Israel as "El" or its plural "Elohim." The Muslim "Allah" is itself an Arabic form of the same word. El's wife/consort is "Asherah" who is the mother of the gods. She is referred to numerous times in the Old Testament, particularly in reference to the practice of worshiping her on the tops of high hills. The most active of the major gods is Ba'al who is a god of fertility. He is frequently pictured with a lightning bold in one hand and a club in the other. Ba'al's home is in the clouds where he hurls lightning and sends rain on the earth. You'll remember the reference to Ba'al in the name of Jezebel's father. A female companion of Ba'al is Anat a headstrong maiden who revels in blood and war. She sometimes is seen wearing a belt with human hands dangling from it. Another major goddess is Astarte, which is sometimes spelled Ashtoreth in the Old Testament. She was goddess of sexual love and war, roles similar to Anat, so the two deities may have originally been one. A rival to Ba'al is Yam, the god of the sea. We could almost think of him as being a Canaanite equivalent to Neptune or Poseidon. There is a subtle reference to him in 1 Kings 15 where a King Abijam (literally "my father is yam") reigns over Judah. The mortal enemy of Ba'al is Mot- the bringer of death, and ruler of the underworld. In fact, two of the cycles of stories of this pantheon in Canaan center around a war between Ba'al and Mot, where Ba'al is eventually killed. With the help of Anat and El, he comes back to life thus setting in motion in ancient Canaanite thought the repeated cycle of life/fertility and death that we see each year with the change of seasons.
In these chapters of Kings God's mighty prophets are shown as being stronger than the supposed foreign gods of Canaan whom the Israelites have begun to worship. Here we see illustrated the Israelite belief that the Israelite king was to image God and rule for God. He was not above question, was always subject to rebuke from God or his prophet, and there were dire consequences if he failed in this role. I encourage you to tune in to see what happens when God meets "gods," when the anointed prophet of God meets "gods," and when the prophet issue the radical call for the people to choose whom they will worship.
This long body of material is devoted to the ministry of two of the most enigmatic and powerful of Israel's prophets. Though they left no written books in their name as did Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc., Elijah and his successor Elisha stand tall in the history of the Hebrew people. These chapters can be read and enjoyed for the rich stories and adventures- fire from heaven, dead being raised to life, hidden armies that protect the man of God, a leper who is cleansed, and even an axe head that floats! However, we can do more with them. Set in their context, they would have had a much different meaning than they may have for us.
Active in the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the 800s B.C., these two prophets confront the evil King Ahab, his wife Jezebel, and their successors. At issue was nothing less than whom Israel would worship. As early as King Solomon, he was criticized for marrying a woman who worshiped the Canaanite goddess Astarte. Elements of this pagan worship were tolerated to varying extents in both Israel and Judah for over a century until King Omri in Israel arranged a marriage between his son Ahab and the daughter of King Ethbaal of Sidon. When Ahab came to power, Jezebel became the "power behind the throne," and under her influence, worship of the Canaanite pantheon essentially becoming the state religion Israel. These narratives, more than mere "cool stories," are nothing less than a long polemic or judgment against false worship. They are a warning against adopting too much from the world around us.
As we journey through some of the great stories of the Old Testament, some of which I bet you've not read before, be attentive to allusions to these Canaanite deities. The ruler of the Canaanite gods was El. This is a rather generic term for "god" in the Semitic languages, as evidenced by frequent use of the term to refer to the God of Israel as "El" or its plural "Elohim." The Muslim "Allah" is itself an Arabic form of the same word. El's wife/consort is "Asherah" who is the mother of the gods. She is referred to numerous times in the Old Testament, particularly in reference to the practice of worshiping her on the tops of high hills. The most active of the major gods is Ba'al who is a god of fertility. He is frequently pictured with a lightning bold in one hand and a club in the other. Ba'al's home is in the clouds where he hurls lightning and sends rain on the earth. You'll remember the reference to Ba'al in the name of Jezebel's father. A female companion of Ba'al is Anat a headstrong maiden who revels in blood and war. She sometimes is seen wearing a belt with human hands dangling from it. Another major goddess is Astarte, which is sometimes spelled Ashtoreth in the Old Testament. She was goddess of sexual love and war, roles similar to Anat, so the two deities may have originally been one. A rival to Ba'al is Yam, the god of the sea. We could almost think of him as being a Canaanite equivalent to Neptune or Poseidon. There is a subtle reference to him in 1 Kings 15 where a King Abijam (literally "my father is yam") reigns over Judah. The mortal enemy of Ba'al is Mot- the bringer of death, and ruler of the underworld. In fact, two of the cycles of stories of this pantheon in Canaan center around a war between Ba'al and Mot, where Ba'al is eventually killed. With the help of Anat and El, he comes back to life thus setting in motion in ancient Canaanite thought the repeated cycle of life/fertility and death that we see each year with the change of seasons.
In these chapters of Kings God's mighty prophets are shown as being stronger than the supposed foreign gods of Canaan whom the Israelites have begun to worship. Here we see illustrated the Israelite belief that the Israelite king was to image God and rule for God. He was not above question, was always subject to rebuke from God or his prophet, and there were dire consequences if he failed in this role. I encourage you to tune in to see what happens when God meets "gods," when the anointed prophet of God meets "gods," and when the prophet issue the radical call for the people to choose whom they will worship.
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