A PURPOSEFUL LIFE; OLD TESTAMENT STORIES

                                THE RUNAWAY PROPHET PART XXI

"I, Elijah, the prophet of God, have had quite a day.... God has shown Himself to be the true God of Israel.... And all the false prophets of Baal have been dealt with.... Moreover, rain has finally come in answer to my prayer.... I am back home now.... I planned to have a good dinner followed by a good sleep.... My dinner was interrupted though.... I received a note from the palace.... I wondered if it was perhaps a thank you note from king Ahab... But I then realised the note has not been written by king Ahab... The note has been written by queen Jezebel.... It is not a kind note...It is a threatening note.... She is obviously angry with me.... Not too surprising since I have made sure her false prophets will no longer be able to prophesy.... She has not told me she wants to deal with me in the same way that I dealt with her prophets.... I am not quite sure what to do now.... I should go to bed since it is late but I am not sure if I am able to sleep having received this note from queen Jezebel."... Please read the typed out attachment when you will learn that the prophet Elijah receives a note from the palace....


           ATTACHMENT A PURPOSEFUL LIFE; OLD TESTAMENT STORIES

                              THE RUNAWAY PROPHET PART XXI

It has been quite a day for the prophet Elijah. He has shown himself to be a true prophet of God, full of faith and power. Nothing and no-one has been able to stand in his way. It has been a very good day for him. he plans to have a good dinner followed by a good night's sleep.
Ahab, at his return to the palace, tells his wife Jezebel everything that has happened. No doubt, she will have flown into a rage after she had heard that all the prophets of Baal have been killed off for she is a worshipper of Baal and it is through her that Ahab and the people have begun to worship Baal. And now her prophets have been slaughtered by Elijah! It is time for revenge and she knows exactly how she is going to do it: she is going to send a threatening message to this prophet who dared to do what no man in this nation, including her own husband, had dared to do; kill of the prophets of Baal. After having sent her message to the prophet Elijah, she feels much better and settle down for a good night's sleep for tomorrow promises to be a much better day for her with the removal of this prophet.

Elijah is, no doubt, quite surprised to receive a note from the palace at this late hour of the day when he is about to go to bed. His initial thought may well have been that it is a thank you note from the king, inviting him for breakfast at the palace to him his appreciation. However, once he has a good look at the addressee, he realises the note has come from the queen as you can read in I Kings 19:1-2

Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a message to Elijah to say, 'May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow, I do not make your life like that of one of them."

We could say that this is a somewhat frightening message. But surely the prophet will have dismissed it as nonsense. Or has he...?