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1. Now Ahab the king of Israel dwelt in Samaria, and held the
government for twenty-two years; and made no alteration in the
conduct of the kings that were his predecessors, but only in such
things as were of his own invention for the worse, and in his
most gross wickedness. He imitated them in their wicked courses,
and in their injurious behavior towards God, and more especially
he imitated the transgression of Jeroboam; for he worshipped the
heifers that he had made; and he contrived other absurd objects
of worship besides those heifers: he also took to wife the
daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Tyrians and Sidonians, whose
name was Jezebel, of whom he learned to worship her own gods.
This woman was active and bold, and fell into so great a degree
of impurity and madness, that she built a temple to the god of
the Tyrians, Which they call Belus, and planted a grove of all
sorts of trees; she also appointed priests and false prophets to
this god. The king also himself had many such about him, and so
exceeded in madness and wickedness all [the kings] that went
before him.
2. There was now a prophet of God Almighty, of Thesbon, a country
in Gilead, that came to Ahab, and said to him, that God foretold
he would not send rain nor dew in those years upon the country
but when he should appear. And when he had confirmed this by an
oath, he departed into the southern parts, and made his abode by
a brook, out of which he had water to drink; for as for his food,
ravens brought it to him every day: but when that river was dried
up for want of rain, he came to Zarephath, a city not far from
Sidon and Tyre, for it lay between them, and this at the command
of God, for [God told him] that he should there find a woman who
was a widow that should give him sustenance. So when he was not
far off the city, he saw a woman that labored with her own hands,
gathering of sticks: so God informed him that this was the woman
who was to give him sustenance. So he came and saluted her, and
desired her to bring him some water to drink; but as she was
going so to do, he called to her, and would have her to bring him
a loaf of bread also; whereupon she affirmed upon oath that she
had at home nothing more than one handful of meal, and a little
oil, and that she was going to gather some sticks, that she might
knead it, and make bread for herself and her son; after which,
she said, they must perish, and be consumed by the famine, for
they had nothing for themselves any longer. Hereupon he said, "Go
on with good courage, and hope for better things; and first of
all make me a little cake, and bring it to me, for I foretell to
thee that this vessel of meal and this cruse of oil shall not
fail until God send rain." When the prophet had said this, she
came to him, and made him the before-named cake; of which she had
part for herself, and gave the rest to her son, and to the
prophet also; nor did any thing of this fall until the drought
ceased. Now Menander mentions this drought in his account of the
acts of Ethbaal, king of the Tyrians; where he says thus: "Under
him there was a want of rain from the month Hyperberetmus till
the month Hyperberetmus of the year following; but when he made
supplications, there came great thunders. This Ethbaal built the
city Botrys in Phoenicia, and the city Auza in Libya." By these
words he designed the want of rain that was in the days of Ahab,
for at that time it was that Ethbaal also reigned over the
Tyrians, as Menander informs us.
3. Now this woman, of whom we spake before, that sustained the
prophet, when her son was fallen into a distemper till he gave up
the ghost, and appeared to be dead, came to the prophet weeping,
and beating her breasts with her hands, and sending out such
expressions as her passions dictated to her, and complained to
him that he had come to her to reproach her for her sins, and
that on this account it was that her son was dead. But he bid her
be of good cheer, and deliver her son to him, for that he would
deliver him again to her alive. So when she had delivered her son
up to him, he carried him into an upper room, where he himself
lodged, and laid him down upon the bed, and cried unto God, and
said, that God had not done well, in rewarding the woman who had
entertained him and sustained him, by taking away her son; and he
prayed that he would send again the soul of the child into him,
and bring him to life again. Accordingly God took pity on the
mother, and was willing to gratify the prophet, that he might not
seem to have come to her to do her a mischief, and the child,
beyond all expectation, came to life again. So the mother
returned the prophet thanks, and said she was then clearly
satisfied that God did converse with him.
4. After a little while Elijah came to king Ahab, according to
God's will, to inform him that rain was coming. Now the famine
had seized upon the whole country, and there was a great want of
what was necessary for sustenance, insomuch that it was after the
recovery of the widow's son of Sarepta, God sent not only men
that wanted it, but the earth itself also, which did not produce
enough for the horse and the other beasts of what was useful for
them to feed on, by reason of the drought. So the king called for
Obadiah, who was steward over his cattle, and said to him, that
he would have him go to the fountains of water, and to the
brooks, that if any herbs could be found for them, they might mow
it down, and reserve it for the beasts. And when he had sent
persons all over the habitable earth to discover the prophet
Elijah, and they could not find him, he bade Obadiah accompany
him. So it was resolved they should make a progress, and divide
the ways between them; and Obadiah took one road, and the king
another. Now it happened that the same time when queen Jezebel
slew the prophets, that this Obadiah had hidden a hundred
prophets, and had fed them with nothing but bread and water. But
when Obadiah was alone, and absent from the king, the prophet
Elijah met him; and Obadiah asked him who he was; and when he had
learned it from him, he worshipped him. Elijah then bid him go to
the king, and tell him that I am here ready to wait on him. But
Obadiah replied, "What evil have I done to thee, that thou
sendest me to one who seeketh to kill thee, and hath sought over
all the earth for thee? Or was he so ignorant as not to know that
the king had left no place untouched unto which he had not sent
persons to bring him back, in order, if they could take him, to
have him put to death?" For he told him he was afraid lest God
should appear to him again, and he should go away into another
place; and that when the king should send him for Elijah, and he
should miss of him, and not be able to find him any where upon
earth, he should be put to death. He desired him therefore to
take care of his preservation; and told him how diligently he had
provided for those of his own profession, and had saved a hundred
prophets, when Jezebel slew the rest of them, and had kept them
concealed, and that they had been sustained by him. But Elijah
bade him fear nothing, but go to the king; and he assured him
upon oath that he would certainly show himself to Ahab that very
day.
5. So when Obadiah had informed the king that Elijah was there,
Ahab met him, and asked him, in anger, if he were the man that
afflicted the people of the Hebrews, and was the occasion of the
drought they lay under? But Elijah, without any flattery, said
that he was himself the man, he and his house, which brought such
sad afflictions upon them, and that by introducing strange gods
into their country, and worshipping them, and by leaving their
own, who was the only true God, and having no manner of regard to
him. However, he bade him go his way, and gather together all the
people to him to Mount Carmel, with his own prophets, and those
of his wife, telling him how many there were of them, as also the
prophets of the groves, about four hundred in number. And as all
the men whom Ahab sent for ran away to the forenamed mountain,
the prophet Elijah stood in the midst of them, and said, "How
long will you live thus in uncertainty of mind and opinion?" He
also exhorted them, that in case they esteemed their own country
God to be the true and the only God, they would follow him and
his commandments; but in case they esteemed him to be nothing,
but had an opinion of the strange gods, and that they ought to
worship them, his counsel was, that they should follow them. And
when the multitude made no answer to what he said, Elijah desired
that, for a trial of the power of the strange gods, and of their
own God, he, who was his only prophet, while they had four
hundred, might take a heifer and kill it as a sacrifice, and lay
it upon pieces of wood, and not kindle any fire, and that they
should do the same things, and call upon their own gods to set
the wood on fire; for if that were done, they would thence learn
the nature of the true God. This proposal pleased the people. So
Elijah bade the prophets to choose out a heifer first, and kill
it, and to call on their gods. But when there appeared no effect
of the prayer or invocation of the prophets upon their sacrifice,
Elijah derided them, and bade them call upon their gods with a
loud voice, for they might either be on a journey, or asleep; and
when these prophets had done so from morning till noon, and cut
themselves with swords and lances, according to the customs
of their country, and he was about to offer his sacrifice, he
bade [the prophets] go away, but bade [the people] come near and
observe what he did, lest he should privately hide fire among the
pieces of wood. So, upon the approach of the multitude, he took
twelve stones, one for each tribe of the people of the Hebrews,
and built an altar with them, and dug a very deep trench; and
when he had laid the pieces of wood upon the altar, and upon them
had laid the pieces of the sacrifices, he ordered them to fill
four barrels with the water of the fountain, and to pour it upon
the altar, till it ran over it, and till the trench was filled
with the water poured into it. When he had done this, he began to
pray to God, and to invocate him to make manifest his power to a
people that had already been in an error a long time; upon which
words a fire came on a sudden from heaven in the sight of the
multitude, and fell upon the altar, and consumed the sacrifice,
till the very water was set on fire, and the place was become
dry.
6. Now when the Israelites saw this, they fell down upon the
ground, and worshipped one God, and called him The great and the
only true God; but they called the others mere names, framed by
the evil and vile opinions of men. So they caught their prophets,
and, at the command of Elijah, slew them. Elijah also said to the
king, that he should go to dinner without any further concern,
for that in a little time he would see God send them rain.
Accordingly Ahab went his way. But Elijah went up to the highest
top of Mount Carmel, and sat down upon the ground, and leaned his
head upon his knees, and bade his servant go up to a certain
elevated place, and look towards the sea, and when he should see
a cloud rising any where, he should give him notice of it, for
till that time the air had been clear. When the Servant had gone
up, and had said many times that he saw nothing, at the seventh
time of his going up, he said that he saw a small black thing in
the sky, not larger than a man's foot. When Elijah heard that, he
sent to Ahab, and desired him to go away to the city before the
rain came down. So he came to the city Jezreel; and in a little
time the air was all obscured, and covered with clouds, and a
vehement storm of wind came upon the earth, and with it a great
deal of rain; and the prophet was under a Divine fury, and ran
along with the king's chariot unto Jezreel a city of Izar
[Issaachar].
7. When Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, understood what signs Elijah
had wrought, and how he had slain her prophets, she was angry,
and sent messengers to him, and by them threatened to kill him,
as he had destroyed her prophets. At this Elijah was affrighted,
and fled to the city called Beersheba, which is situate at the
utmost limits of the country belonging to the tribe of Judah,
towards the land of Edom; and there he left his servant, and went
away into the desert. He prayed also that he might die, for that
he was not better than his fathers, nor need he be very desirous
to live, when they were dead; and he lay and slept under a
certain tree; and when somebody awakened him, and he was risen
up, he found food set by him and water: so when he had eaten, and
recovered his strength by that his food, he came to that mountain
which is called Sinai, where it is related that Moses received
his laws from God; and finding there a certain hollow cave, he
entered into it, and continued to make his abode in it. But when
a certain voice came to him, but from whence he knew not, and
asked him, why he was come thither, and had left the city? he
said, that because he had slain the prophets of the foreign gods,
and had persuaded the people that he alone whom they had
worshipped from the beginning was God, he was sought for by the
king's wife to be punished for so doing. And when he had heard
another voice, telling him that he should come out the next day
into the open air, and should thereby know what he was to do, he
came out of the cave the next day accordingly, When he both heard
an earthquake, and saw the bright splendor of a fire; and after a
silence made, a Divine voice exhorted him not to be disturbed
with the circumstances he was in, for that none of his enemies
should have power over him. The voice also commanded him to
return home, and to ordain Jehu, the son of Nimshi, to be king
over their own multitude; and Hazael, of Damascus, to be over the
Syrians; and Elisha, of the city Abel, to be a prophet in his
stead; and that of the impious multitude, some should be slain by
Hazael, and others by Jehu. So Elijah, upon hearing this charge,
returned into the land of the Hebrews. And when he found Elisha,
the son of Shaphat, ploughing, and certain others with him,
driving twelve yoke of oxen, he came to him, and cast his own
garment upon him; upon which Elisha began to prophesy presently,
and leaving his oxen, he followed Elijah. And when he desired
leave to salute his parents, Elijah gave him leave so to do; and
when he had taken his leave of them, he followed him, and became
the disciple and the servant of Elijah all the days of his life.
And thus have I despatched the affairs in which this prophet was
concerned.
8. Now there was one Naboth, of the city Izar, [Jezreel,] who had
a field adjoining to that of the king: the king would have
persuaded him to sell him that his field, which lay so near to
his own lands, at what price he pleased, that he might join them
together, and make them one farm; and if he would not accept of
money for it, he gave him leave to choose any of his other fields
in its stead. But Naboth said he would not do so, but would keep
the possession of that land of his own, which he had by
inheritance from his father. Upon this the king was grieved, as
if he had received an injury, when he could not get another man's
possession, and he would neither wash himself, nor take any food:
and when Jezebel asked him what it was that troubled him, and why
he would neither wash himself, nor eat either dinner or supper,
he related to her the perverseness of Naboth, and how, when he
had made use of gentle words to him, and such as were beneath the
royal authority, he had been affronted, and had not obtained what
he desired. However, she persuaded him not to be cast down at
this accident, but to leave off his grief, and return to the
usual care of his body, for that she would take care to have
Naboth punished; and she immediately sent letters to the rulers
of the Israelites [Jezreelites] in Ahab's name, and commanded
them to fast and to assemble a congregation, and to set Naboth at
the head of them, because he was of an illustrious family, and to
have three bold men ready to bear witness that he had blasphemed
God and the king, and then to stone him, and slay him in that
manner. Accordingly, when Naboth had been thus testified against,
as the queen had written to them, that he had blasphemed against
God and Ahab the king, she desired him to take possession of
Naboth's vineyard on free cost. So Ahab was glad at what had been
done, and rose up immediately from the bed whereon he lay to go
to see Naboth's vineyard; but God had great indignation at it,
and sent Elijah the prophet to the field of Naboth, to speak to
Ahab, and to say to him, that he had slain the true owner of that
field unjustly. And as soon as he came to him, and the king had
said that he might do with him what he pleased, (for he thought
it a reproach to him to be thus caught in his sin,) Elijah said,
that in that very place in which the dead body of Naboth was
eaten by dogs both his own blood and that of his wife's should be
shed, and that all his family should perish, because he had been
so insolently wicked, and had slain a citizen unjustly, and
contrary to the laws of his country. Hereupon Ahab began to be
sorry for the things he had done, and to repent of them; and he
put on sackcloth, and went barefoot and would not touch any
food; he also confessed his sins, and endeavored thus to appease
God. But God said to the prophet, that while Ahab was living he
would put off the punishment of his family, because he repented
of those insolent crimes he had been guilty of, but that still he
would fulfill his threatening under Ahab's son; which message the
prophet delivered to the king.
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