Micah is a prophet from Judah, who prophesied about the destruction that would come to Samaria and the northern ten tribes of Israel at the hand of Assyria, and they would be sent into exile (1:16). This happened in 722 BC. He also declared that even though Assyria would come against Jerusalem, the Lord would protect them at this time (5:6), but there would be a day when Babylon would come and demolish Jerusalem and tear down the temple (4:10). That happened in 586 BC. They too would be exiled. Throughout the three oracles of judgment, there were also three oracles of deliverance, which ultimately came through One who was born in Bethlehem (5:2). We know He was Jesus, and through His reign there would be security and peace. The Lord also promised a remnant would also come back to Israel some day (2:12). The key verse of the book is 6:8, "He has showed you, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you. To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." The Lord always cares about how we treat others and how we treat Him. The book ends with a reminder of God's faithfulness to Abraham and Jacob, and because of His faithful love to them, He still has faithful love to us, so we can have hope in the future as well.

The prophet Hosea's life was an object lesson to the nation of Israel. He was called to take a wife who was unfaithful, and after he married her and had children with her, she remained unfaithful. The Lord commanded him to go and buy her back unto himself, and that is what the Lord did for us in the NT when Jesus died on the cross. He rose again on the third day, and as Hosea 6:2 says, "After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will restore us, that we may live in His presence." Another verse of Hosea that referenced Jesus is 11:1, "When Israel was a child, I loved Him, and out of Egypt I called my son." The apostle of Jesus, Matthew shared this verse in 2:15, declaring this referenced when the Lord called Joseph, Mary, and Jesus to come back from Egypt to the Promised Land. This book stresses that the key to obedience to the Lord is to know Him and to acknowledge Him in our lives. We hear the agony of the Lord when He cries out, "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over Israel? (11:8a), yet we also see that judgement is coming because of their unfaithfulness to the Lord, and there is a hint that it comes through the nation of Assyria (14:3).  The last verse of the book gives us hope that even though the nation of the 10 Northern Tribes of Israel were not faithful to the Lord, there was a remnant who was, "Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them." This last verse also asks us which group are we in?

Amos was a shepherd from Judah, whom God sent to Israel, to declare the day of the Lord. The king of Israel was Jeroboam II and the king of Judah was Uzziah, and Amos saw what was going to happen to Israel because of their sin of social injustice and idolatry. It starts off with judgment to the nations around Israel, then 2:4 it says, "This is what the Lord says, 'For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath because...' of idolatry. It was king Solomon that began idolatry in Judah, and they too will reap what they have sown. The rest of the book focused on the sin of Israel, and the Lord told them, "Prepare to meet your God" (4:12). As is the case with the Lord, the purpose of this declaration was also a hope that they would repent and turn back to the Lord. Instead of false worship, he desired justice and righteousness from the people. Amos saw a vision of swarming locust, and Amos pleaded with the Lord, and the Lord relented. Then the next vision was by fire, and again Amos pleaded for mercy, and the Lord relented. Then there was a plumbline, and the Lord said, Israel had crossed it. At the end of chapter 7 there is a little story of the priest at Bethel, Amaziah, but we don't know what kind of a priest. He told Amos to quit speaking and go home, and Amos said he and his family will suffer, and Israel will go into exile. The last vision was a basket of ripe fruit, and "The time is ripe for My people Israel. I will spare them no longer." YET, verse 8, "Yet, I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob, declares the Lord." The Lord will replant Israel in their own land.

Jonah was a prophet of Israel who declared the word of the Lord during the time of Jeroboam II, who reigned around 793-753 BC. Jonah is mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25, and Jesus mentioned him in Matthew 12:38-41 and Luke 11:29-32, saying that the men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment against the people of Israel in Jesus' time, because this non-Jewish city repented and turned to God with just the 1/2 hearted preaching of Jonah, who didn't even want them to repent, and the Jews in Jesus' day heard the word of the Lord from the Mouth of the Lord, JESUS, and they didn't repent. This solidifies that the canonical prophet book of Jonah is a real historic narrative. What we do not know is if Jonah wrote it or if someone else did. If it was Jonah, then he did get right with God, if he did not, then it is a warning of how we ought not to be.Jonah was called by God to go to Nineveh, but instead, Jonah went the opposite direction. He got on a boat heading to Tarshish, but the Lord brought a big wind. The ship was about to break apart, when the sailors found out that the storm was Jonah's fault. Jonah said if they would throw him overboard the storm would stop. My OT professor, Dr. Betts said, Jonah had another option than being thrown over, he could have repented then and there, but no, he would rather die than repent. They threw him over, but he did not die, a big fish swallowed him. It took him three days and nights in the belly of the fish before he was willing to 1/2 heartedly repent. The fish threw him up on dry land, and he went to Nineveh. Instead of preaching repentance, he said, "Yet 40 days and Nineveh will be overthrown." Jonah was so man when the Assyrians repented and God showed mercy and spared the city. He watched until the deadline to see if the Lord would be merciful, and while waiting, the Lord brought Jonah a plant to shade him from this son. This made Jonah happy. The Lord then also appointed a worm to come and eat the plant, causing it to die. This made Jonah mad again. Numerous times the Lord asked Jonah, "Do you have reason to be angry? Jonah never gave a good reason. The story has an open ending. The Lord asked, "Should I not be concerned about this great city?" The Lord was also concerned about Jonah's hard heart.

In this chapter Amaziah was king of Judah, and once he was fully established, he executed the men who killed his father, King Joash. He defeated the Edomites and expanded the southern border of Judah. After that victory, he was prideful, and asked for a face off with Jehoash, king of Israel. Jehoash called the king of Judah a thistle in comparison to Jehoash as a cedar in Lebanon. Amaziah did not head the warning, and the Jehoash of Israel, overcame Judah and they fled. He broke down a part of the wall of Jerusalem, and took the gold, silver, and articles that were in both the temple and the royal palace. He even took hostages and returned to Israel. Amaziah was killed, and his son Uzziah, also known as Azariah became king. During his reign, the border of Judah extended all the way south to the port of Elath which was a waterway connecting to the Red Sea. Jeroboam II became the next king in Israel, and with his leadership, he expanded the southern border into Aram/Syria's boundary to the Dead Sea and up north almost as far as King Solomon did, retaking the city of Damascus and Hamath. It was also during Jeroboam II that the Lord used the prophet Jonah to speak to the king (14:25). The Lord saw the Israelite's suffering, and he raised up Jeroboam II to help them. The chapter ends with Jeroboam's son, Zechariah, succeeding him as king.

This chapter focused on the kingdom of Israel. Jehu was the king that took down Ahab's family, Jezebel, plus the prophets and temple of Baal. Since the king of Israel was also related to Ahab, he also died. Since Jehu brought down the house of Ahab, the Lord promised he would have four generations of descendants sit on the throne of Israel. His first son to become king was Jehoahaz, who reigned around 814-798 BC. Verse 3 tell us the Lord's anger burned against him because of his sin of idolatry, and He allowed the power of Hazael king of Aram and his son to triumph over Israel. It was through an unnamed deliverer they were delivered from Aram. There are two main thoughts, it could have been Assyria, the upcoming world power that attacked Aram from the north, or it could have been Elisha. The second generation of Jehu to sit on the throne was Jehoash, who reigned around 798-782 BC. and he reigned at Elisha's death. Before he died, he told king Jehoash to shoot an arrow through the east window, which faced the nation of Aram. Then he was to hit his arrows on the ground. Jehoash did it three times, which upset Elisha, because that meant the king would only triumph over Aram three times. Elisha said if he would have done it five or six times, he would have overtaken Aram. Elisha died and was buried, and yet the Lord did one more miracle through him. Some Israelites were burying someone, when they spotted Moabite raiders, so they threw him in the grave of Elisha, and the man came to life and stood up on his feet. The chapter ends with Jehoash (descendant #2), defeated Aram three times and recovered the Israelite towns.

These chapters focus of the southern tribes of Judah. After Jehu killed Ahaziah, king of Judah, his mother Athaliah, killed off everyone from the family, and she became king for six years. Thankfully she did not kill off everyone, for Ahaziah's sister, hid her baby brother, Joash, also known as Jehoash. She took him and his nurse to the temple of the Lord to hide until it was time. When he became seven years old, the priest, Jehoiada, first revealed him to the commanders, then during the changing of the guard, when the one group was to leave, they stayed as well and all the soldiers stood around the king and protected him. They were to kill anyone who approached the king. Jehoiada the priest, put the crown on his head, gave him a copy of the covenant, and proclaimed him king. The people rejoiced greatly. When Queen Athaliah heard the noise, she ran to the temple, and saw the king, plus the people's response, and she cried out, "Treason! Treason!" The soldiers removed her from the temple complex and then killed her, and anyone following her. The young king was then taken to the palace and placed on his throne.  One of the great things that king Joash did was repair the temple. When it was in the hands of the priests to do it, it didn't get done, so after twenty-three years, when he was 30, he put the royal secretary and the high priest in charge of the money raised, and it went directly to the workers of the temple. We also learned that since Hazael had taken over the eastern land of Israel, he now planned to take Jerusalem, but King Joash, gave him the silver and gold from the temple treasury and from the palace. Joash reigned for 40 years, and was killed by his officials, and was buried in the City of David with his fathers. His son, Amaziah succeeded him.

These three chapters begin with a story of the Shunamite woman, whose son was brought back to life through Elisha. The Lord brought a famine to the land, and Elisha told to woman to leave for seven years until the famine was over. When she came back, it seems that her elderly husband had died, and so she went to the king to ask for her home and her land back. When she entered into the king's presence, it just so happened that Elisha's servant, Gehazi, was talking with the king about the great things Elisha had done, including bringing this boy back to life. The king graciously gave her not only her home and land, but also all the income from her land since the day she left the country.The rest of these chapters cover the political scene of Israel, Judah, and Aram which is also called Syria. Elisha went to Damascus, and announced that Hazael would be the next king of Aram. The Scriptures tell us that "the man of God began to weep," and when Hazael asked why, he announced it was because Elisha saw the harm that he will bring to the Israelites. That next morning Hazael killed Ben-Hadad and became king. Due to intermarriage between Israel and Judah, they fought battles together, and they were beginning to lose on all sides. Edom from the south rebelled. Libnah from the west rebelled, and then Aram from the north attacked. The heat of the battle was at Ramoth Gilead, and the king of Israel was wounded and ran back to Jezreel in Israel. The king of Judah went to Jezreel to check on him. Queen Jezebel also still lived there. Elisha then sent a prophet to Jehu, one of the commanders, who was stationed at Ramoth Gilead, and there the prophet anointed Jehu as king of Israel, and then ran away. When he told his men what happened, they respected him as king, and announced it with trumpets. Jehu then went to Jezreel and killed the king of Israel. The king of Judah was killed at Megiddo, since he also followed in the idolatrous footsteps of Ahab. Jehu then went to Jezebel, and her servants pushed her out the window, and she died. He then killed all descendants of Ahab, and all the prophets of Baal, plus tore down their temple and their sacred stone.  The Lord told him for all the great things he did, he would have a descendant on the throne for four generations. Jehu's reign was for twenty-eight years, and Jehoahaz his son became king. Verse 32 says, "In those days the Lord began to reduce the size of Israel. Hazael overpowered the Israelites throughout their territory.

These two chapters begin with a miracle of the Lord that was done through Elisha. A company of prophets had grown so large, that they needed to build a bigger place to meet with Elisha, so they asked him to come with them to the Jordan River so they could cut a pole and build a bigger place to live. While doing so, one of the men who had borrowed an iron ax, was chopping, and the ax head fell into the water. He cried out to Elisha to help, and he asked where it went into the water. Elisha cut a stick and threw it into the water, and the ax head floated to the top, and the man grabbed it. The story then switched to a plot of the king of Aram to attack Israel, but the Lord thwarted his plans by revealing to Elisha where he was going to attack. It happened so many times that the king thought he had a mole in his midst, but the men found out that it was because of Elisha of Israel. They found out Elisha was in Dothan, so they surrounded the city one night, and the next morning, Elisha's servant was fearful due to the mighty army. Elisha responded, "Don't be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them" (vs. 16). Elisha prayed his servant's eyes would open, and he then saw the horses and chariots of fire which surrounded Elisha. He then prayed that the Aramean's eyes would be blinded, and he led them to the king of Israel. The king did not know what to do, so Elisha told him not to kill them but feed them and send them on their way back to their master.  There was peace for a while, but then Ben-Hadad brought his entire army and laid siege to Israel's capital, Samaria. It lasted so long that the people were starving to death. There was even a case of cannibalism brought to his attention. At this, the king tore his robes, and went after Elisha, who knew he was coming. He said, that by this time tomorrow, there would be plenty of food, and the king's officer said, "Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?" Well the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of many chariots and horses, and they thought reinforcements were coming with the Hittites and Egyptians, so they ran in fear for their lives and left all they had in their camps. Four lepers who were at the city gate, decided that it would be better to get out of the city and go to the Arameans, because maybe if they surrender, their lives would be spared. When they got into the camp, they saw it was empty of people, but full of goods, so they raided the place, until they felt guilty and decided to tell the king. The king sent out men to check it out, and they found it as the men said. Once the people found out they were free and all that food was outside, they rushed out of the city gate and trampled the man who doubted Elisha. He saw it, but he never tasted it.

Today's lesson covers the story of Naaman the Aramean, who had leprosy. During one of the raids Aram conducted in Israel, they had taken a young girl, who became Naaman's wife's servant. She told her mistress, "If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy!" Naaman got permission to go to Samaria to the king of Israel, and his master sent a letter, "With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy!" The king of Israel did not respond well, and when Elisha heard, he told the king to send Naaman to him, so that he would know there was a prophet in Israel. Naaman came in all his grandeur, and Elisha sent a messenger out to tell him to go to the Jordan and dip seven times, and then he would be cleansed. This made Naaman so mad, because Elisha did not come out himself, plus there was no grand presentation, plus, the Jordan was disgusting, there were better rivers in Damascus. Thankfully, his servants calmed him down and said, "If he would have asked you to do something grand, you would have done it, how much more when all he said was wash and be cleansed." Naaman went to the Jordan and dipped seven times, and he was healed, "like that of a young boy!"He went back to Elisha to say thanks and he declared "Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. Please accept now a gift from your servant" (vs. 15). Elisha would not accept the gift. Naaman then asked to take some of Israel's land, so he could make an altar to Israel's God on Israel's land, then he asked for forgiveness, for in his job, he had to help his master worship at the temple of Rimmon. Elisha said, "Go in peace!" On his way home, Elisha's servant, Gehazi, caught up with Naaman, and lied and said Elisha needed some money and two sets of clothes, because some young men had come to him. Naaman gave even more than requested. Gehazi hid it from Elisha, but he knew, and in return, Gehazi and his descendants would have the leprosy which once plagued Naaman.

Today's lesson covers five miracles from the Lord through Elisha. The first is with a widow whose husband was a prophet. Now that her husband died, a creditor was going to take her two sons to pay their debt. She cried out to Elisha, and he asked, "What do you have in your house?" She only had a little oil, so they were to ask their neighbors for as many jars as possible. They did, and they were able to fill the jars with oil, and when the jugs ran out, so did the oil stop flowing. They were able to pay their debt and live on the rest. The second story, which technically covers two miracles, was about a well-to-do woman, who noticed Elisha would travel by their home often, and she asked her husband if they could feed him. Then she asked if they could set up a room for him to stay when he traveled by. They made a room for him with a bed, table, chair, and lamp. Elisha was so thankful that she asked if he could do anything for her, but she said, she did not need anything. He kept wanting to do something for her, so he asked his servant, Gehazi, and he said, "Well, she has no son, and her husband is old" (vs. 14b). Elisha told her this time next year she would have a child. Instead of being overjoyed, she said, "No, my lord, don't mislead your servant, O man of God!" He did not mislead her and she had a son. The child grew, and then had an incident with his head. He died in his mother's arms. The Shunammite woman put her son on Elisha's bed, and immediately went directly to him. Elisha came to the boy, and prayed and laid on him. He began to get warm. He walked around again, and then laid on top of him again, and he sneezed 7 times and opened his eyes. He gave her back her son. The 4th miracle, Elisha put flour in a pot of deadly stew, and it became edible, and the 5th miracle, had to do with feeding a group of 100 men with just 20 loves of barley bread. A man of Israel, wanted to offer a first fruits offering to the Lord, but since Israel did not have access to the temple in Judah, he offered it to Elisha, a man of God. Elisha told him that the Lord said to feed the people, and they will eat and have leftovers. He did, they did, and there were leftovers!

In this chapter, Elisha is revealed to the kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom, that he is a prophet of the Lord. Joram is now king of Israel, and his brother before him, Ahaziah died after only two years after he found out that the king of Moab was going to stop paying the 100,000 lambs and wool of 100,000 rams (vs. 4). Now that Joram is king, he seeks the king of Judah, Jehoshaphat's assistant in attacking Moab. They take the southern route, and since Edom is a vassal nation of Judah, their king also assists them. They ended up going in a circular fashion, and they ran out of water. It was not until then that King Jehoshaphat asked if there was a prophet of God in the area. An unnamed soldier of Israel knew that Elisha, son of Shephat was there, and that he used to attend to Elijah (vs. 11). They approach Elisha, and he was not to thrilled to see Joram the son of Israel, because he still worshiped idols in his land, but because he respected King Jehoshaphat of Judah, he requested a harpist to come. Once he played, the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha, and he told them to dig ditches because the Lord would provide water even though it would not rain there. The next morning, during the time of morning sacrifice, water came from Edom and took care of their need. The Moabites thought it was blood. Roy L. Honeycutt, Jr. commented that, "the water which came down from the red sandstone hills of Edom shone in the morning sun like blood." At this, the Moabites thought the kings had attacked each other, so they went down to gather the spoils, and they were surprised to see all three armies ready to go. Israel attacked and killed many Moabites. Just as Elisha said, they overthrew every major city they encountered, cut down many trees, stopped up their springs, and ruined every good field with stones." The last verse says that when the king of Moab saw he was losing, he sacrificed his son on a wall, which brought a fury against Israel, and they withdrew and returned to their own land.

As Roy L. Honeycutt said in his commentary of this chapter, "Elisha is Confirmed as Successor to Elijah, and the Confirmation of Elijah's translation." Elijah and Elisha start off at Gilgal, then go to Bethel, and then to Jericho. Each of these places have a company of prophets living there. Each time Elijah tells Elisha to stay there with the prophets, but each time Elisha says, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you!" Also at each city, the prophets told Elisha, "The Lord is going to take your master from you today," and each time Elisha said, "Yes, I know, but don't speak of it!" Then the Lord directed Elijah to go across the Jordan River, so he took his cloak, rolled it up, struck the water with it, the water divided, and they walked over on dry ground. Once across, Elijah asked what he could do for Elisha, and he asked for a double portion of his spirit. Elijah said that was difficult, but if Elisha saw Elijah taken up to heaven, then it would be so. The chariot of fire with horses of fire separated Elisha and Elijah, the the whirlwind took Elijah to heaven. Elisha ripped his clothes in lament, and then picked up Elijah's cloak which had fallen. He took the cloak, struck the river Jordan as Elijah had done and cried out, "Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?" The waters divided and he walked back on dry ground. The 50 prophets of Jericho who had watched the whole thing said, "The Spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha!" They then asked him to heal their water, so Elisha asked them to bring a new bowl and place salt in it. They did, and he threw the salt into the spring, and then said, "This is what the Lord says, 'I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive." Elijah left Jericho and was heading to Bethel, when a large group of at least 42 young males jeered him and kept saying, "Go on up, you baldhead!" Finally, Elisha turned and looked at these youth that did not fear the Lord, and spoke a curse on them. Two bears came out of the woods and mauled them. The chapter ends with Elisha going to Mount Carmel, and then he returned to Samaria, the capital of the Northern Tribes of Israel.

This is Elijah's last recorded confrontation with a king of Israel, Ahaziah.  As Paul R. House said in his commentary, "Elijah delivers his life's message one last time." King Ahaziah was hurt by falling through the lattice of his upper room, and instead of seeking wisdom from the Lord, he sent his messengers to the god of Ekron, a Philistine city. This brought the Lord to send His messenger, an angel, to Elijah, to become his messenger, to go and speak to Ahaziah's messengers on their way to Ekron. Once the kings messengers received the word of the Lord through the Lord's messengers, they went back to the king and told him that because he chose to go to the god of Ekron, instead to the God of Israel, he would die. Well, King Ahaziah knew instantly who sent the word, but he asked, "What kind of man spoke to you?" The messengers answered that he wore a garment of hair with a leather belt around his waist. The king sent a commander with a troop of 50 men to go and get Elijah. They commanded him to go, but he said, "If I am a man of god, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men." The fire came and they were consumed (vs. 9-10). A second group was sent by the king, and they said, "Come down. NOW!" Elijah said the same thing, and fire consumed them too (vs. 11-12). The king sent a third group, with the same message, but thankfully this third commander was wise. He bowed before Elijah, humbled himself, and asked Elijah to respect his life and his men's life. To this the Lord's messenger/angel, told Elijah to go and to not be afraid. He went with the men, and told king Ahaziah that he would die, and verse 17 says, "So he died, according to the word of the Lord that Elijah had spoken." Since Ahaziah did not have any sons, his brother, Joram, succeeded him as king, and he became king in the 2nd year of the reign of king Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah.

This last chapter of 1 Kings ends with the death of king Ahab of Israel. His death was predicted at the end of chapter 21 because in their last battle with Ben-Hadad of Aram, he made a pact with the king instead of killing him, Ben-Hadad promised to give all the cities that used to belong to Israel back, plus Ahab had access to sell trade in Damascus. Since Ahab spared his life, a prophet told Ahab it would be his life for Ben-Hadad's life. In chapter 22 we learned that Ahab and all his sons would be put to death because of what he and Jezebel did in having Naboth killed and taking his vineyard, so Ahab knows it is coming. King Ahab and King of Judah, Jehoshaphat, worked together to take Ramoth Gilead, a border city of Israel and Aram, which obviously Ben-Hadad never gave back to Israel. Israel's prophets told the kings they would succeed, but Jehoshaphat asked if there was a prophet of the Lord that they could ask. He could tell a difference. King Ahab called for Micaiah, which he hated, because this prophet always spoke negatively to Ahab, but they called him anyway. When he came before the kings, he eventually told them the truth, Ahab would die in battle, and the people would scatter to their own homes. Then he added a vision of the Lord sitting on his throne before his hosts, and He asked, "Who will entice Ahab to attack Ramoth Gilead so he will die?" One of them responded, "I'll have his prophets lie to him!" At this, one of Ahab's prophets struck Micaiah who was then taken to prison until the king returned from battle. He cried out as he was taken, "If you ever return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me. Mark my words, all you people!" They went to battle, but Ahab dressed in a disguise, and had Jehoshaphat dressed in his kingly robes. Ben-hadad's men chased Jehoshaphat, but when they realized he was not the King of Israel, they turned the other way. An unnamed bowman, randomly drew his bow, and the arrow struck king Ahab between his armor. He died, and his blood flowed out onto the floor of his chariot, the one he had made a pact with Ben-hadad. Then they cleaned the chariot, so the blood flowed and the dogs licked it up, just like they did for the vineyard owner, Naboth. The Lord kept his word. 1 Kings ends with the new kings of the divided kingdom, Jehoshaphat's son, Jehoram, became king of Judah, and Ahab and Jezebel's son, Ahaziah, became king of Israel, but only for two years because, "He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, because he walked in the ways of his father and mother..."

This chapter focused on king Ahab in the Northern Tribe of Israel. He wanted a beautiful vineyard that was close to his palace, but it belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. Ahab offered to buy it, or replace it with another vineyard, but Naboth refused because it was his inheritance from his father. Ahab sulked, laid in his bed, and refused to eat. His wife, Jezebel, came home and asked what was the matter? When she found out she said, "Is this how you act as King of Israel? Get up and eat! Cheer up. I'll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite." She wrote letters in the name of the king. Had them sealed with the King's and sent them to the leaders in Naboth's village. They made a mock trial and stoned Naboth to death. Queen Jezebel told the king that Naboth was dead, so he could go and take the vineyard. King Ahab went to the vineyard, but the Lord sent Elijah the prophet there too. The Lord told him that Ahab and his family would die, and that Jezebel would be eaten by dogs by the wall of Jezreel. At this news, Ahab humbled himself before the Lord and tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted. When the Lord saw this, he told Ahab that since Ahab humbled himself, the Lord would not allow this to happen until the days of his son.

In this chapter, king Ben-Hadad of Aram, the country north and east of Israel, planned on attacking Samaria, the capital of Israel. He first sent word that if King Ahab would give him their silver and gold and the best of their wives and children, then they would not attack. At first the king of Israel agreed, but then Ben-Hadad added wanted his men to search the palace and the official's houses for anything of value. Ahab met with his officials, and they said, "No! We will fight!" With that word, Ben-Hadad got his men ready for battle. An unnamed prophet of the Lord told Ahab, king of Israel, that He would give that vast army into the king's hand, so that he will KNOW that the Lord is God. The Israelites won, and Ben-Hadad escaped but they suffered heavy losses. His men told them the reason they lost was because the Israel's god was a god of the hills, so next time we fight we need to do it in the valley. When Spring came, they did, but the Lord again fought for Israel, and they won. Ben-Hadad again retreated. His men thought that maybe Ahab would make a pact with them, so they did. Ben-Hadad promised to give back all the cities that first belonged to Israel, and allowed Ahab to set up areas of commerce in Damascus. The end of the chapter, one of the Lord's prophets told Ahab that because he did not kill Ben-Hadad, it would be Ahab's life and Ahab's people who would die. The king of Israel went to his palace, "sullen and angry!"

Queen Jezebel has threatened to kill Elijah so he ran. He left Israel and ran down to Beersheba where the Lord had spoken to Jacob, also known as Israel (Genesis 46:1-4). Elijah left his servant there and then went into the dessert, he cried out to the Lord, "I have had enough, Lord. Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors!" Yet the Lord did not yell at him or even rebuke him, instead an angel of the Lord allowed him to sleep, then he fed him hot bread and water, and then he slept again and ate again. Then Elijah went 40 days and 40 nights to the Mountain of God, where Moses had been (Ex. 3:1-4). Once he arrived he went into a cave and spent the night, and the Lord came to Elijah, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" Elijah gave the Lord his spiel, but again the Lord did not rebuke him for his lack of faith, instead He said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by." This also reminds us of Moses on the Mt. of God when he asked to see the Lord's glory (Ex. 33:19-23). A powerful wind came, then an earthquake, then a fire, but the Lord was not in any of these powerful expressions, instead came a still small voice. God was in the whisper, and Elijah covered his face. The Lord asked again, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" Again the Lord did not rebuke him for his lack of faith, instead he told him to go back, reminded him that the Lord is in control of the affairs of the day, told him he's not alone in his faith, and gave Elijah his successor, Elisha. Elijah means, "The Lord, He is God!" and Elisha means, "God saves!!!"

After three and a half years, the Lord told Elijah to go tell Ahab that He would send rain to the land, so he went and found Obadiah, Ahab's overseer of the palace. We learn that Obadiah fears the Lord and has protected 100 prophets of the Lord from Jezebel who was killing the Lord's prophets. Obadiah was fearful to tell Ahab, thinking that Elijah would hide again, but Elijah gave his word that he would present himself before Ahab this very day. When they met, king Ahab called Elijah, "O troubler of Israel," and Elijah said, "I'm not the troubler, but you are because you have followed the Baals instead of the Lord." Elijah called a meeting with the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah on Mt. Carmel. The test was each would build an altar and sacrifice, and the god who sets it on fire is God. The people agreed, and the prophets of Baal went first. They got it ready and cried out, but no on answered. They cried louder. They cried all morning, but no response. By noon, Elijah began to taunt them, "Cry louder, maybe he's sleeping!" They did and even slashed themselves until their blood flowed, but no answer. At the time of evening sacrifice, Elijah set up the altar of the Lord with 12 stones representing the 12 sons of Judah, also named Israel. He got it all ready, and then he dug a trench around it and pour 12 large jugs of water over the alter and sacrifice. He prayed one simple prayer, "so that these people will know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You are turning their hearts back again." Fire came down from heaven, and the people cried, "The Lord - He is God! The Lord - He is God!" Elijah and the people seized the prophets of Baal and killed them in the Kishon Valley. Elijah told king Ahab to go and eat for the rain is coming. The king left, and Elijah went back to the top of the mountain. He bent down on the ground and put his face between his knees and waited. He kept having his servant look out over the sea to see anything, and on the 7th time, the servant saw a cloud the size of a man's fist coming out of the sea. Elijah sent his servant to tell Ahab to head to Jezreel before the rain stopped him. He did, Ahab did, and Elijah, in the power of the Lord, tucked his cloak in his belt, and ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

Elijah came to king Ahab, the most wicked king of the northern tribes of Israel, and said, "As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except by my word!" This began the showdown between the God of Israel, and Baal and Asherah, the gods of the Phoenicians. Baal was supposed to be the god of storms and rain, but this drought showed that it is the God of Israel that is Lord over the rain. After the announcement, the Lord sent Elijah to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan River, and there the Lord gave him water from the brook, and the Lord sent Ravens to bring Elijah bread and meat to eat both night and day. Once the brook dried up, the Lord sent Elijah to Zarephath of Sidon, and the Lord had commanded a Phoenician woman to provide for Elijah. When he arrived, he asked for water, and she went to fetch some, even though they were in a drought, but then Elijah asked for a small loaf of bread, and she informed him she had none, and was preparing a fire to make her last little bit of bread so she and her son could have their last meal and die. Elijah said if she made the first loaf for him, the Lord would not allow the flour or the oil to run out until it began to rain. She made it, gave the first to Elijah, and the Lord kept His word. While there, her son became sick and died. She asked, "What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?" Elijah did not know what the Lord was doing, but he took the boy's body upstairs and cried out to the Lord 3 times, "O Lord my God, let this boy's life return to him!" He did. Elijah presented her son to the widow and said, "LOOK! your son is alive!" She responded, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth!"