Old Testament Bible Study 1 Kings 18
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Liberty University *
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Religion
Date
Feb 20, 2024
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docx
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BIBL 105
O
LD
T
ESTAMENT
B
IBLE
S
TUDY
T
EMPLATE
I. Observation
A. I have read 1 Kings 17:1; 18:1–46 in both a formal translation (KJV, NKJV, NASB, ESV, or CSB) and a functional translation (NIV, NLT, or NCV). Highlight the correct answer. You can find various Bible translations by searching for them online (
EBS
ch. 16).
o
Yes
o
No
B. Identify the basic elements of the story you are studying (
EBS
chs. 15 & 33).
1.
Main characters: Elijah, Ahab, Obadiah, Prophets of Baal, Prophets of Asherah, The Israelites
2.
Plot: Elijah is told by God to go to Ahad because of the drought. Elijah meets Obadiah and tells him to go and arrange a meeting with Ahab. Elijah challenges The Prophets of Baal to see whose God is real and should be trusted by sending fire down to the altar and burn it. The Prophets of Baal prayed to their God all day, shouted their desperate pleas, and even cut themselves, but their God did not respond. Elijah repairs God’s Alter, digs a trench around it, places the wood on, has water poured on it, and then prays. God sent fire down and consumed everything. Elijah prophesies the end of the drought.
3.
Story structure: Introduction: There was a drought in the land. The Israelites were worshiping other Gods.
God sent Elijah to show them who was God.
Inciting incident: The Israelites were worshiping other Gods through the Prophets of Baal
Rising action: Elijah, directed by God, Challenges the Prophets of Baal to a contest to see
who was worshiping the one and only true God. The prophets of Baal failed.
Climax: Elijah rebuilt and drenched with water Three times. Elijah prayed to God, and God answered Elijah by sending fire down to consume the altar.
Resolution: God shows he is the one and only God. God ends the drought.
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BIBL 105
C. List basic observations about this passage using the Key Questions from EBS
ch. 17.
1.
Who: Elijah
Ahab
Obadiah
Prophets of Baal
Prophets of Asherah
The Israelites
2.
What: There was a drought in the land. God sent Elijah to meet Ahab in order to challenge The Prophets of Baal due to The Israelites were worshiping other Gods. Elijah challenges the Prophets of Ball to have their God send fire down to burn up their offering. The Prophets of Ball prayed to their God all day. They yelled and pleaded with their God to send down fire. They even went as far as cutting themselves. The Prophets of Baal were unable to pray to their Gods for them and have them send fire down to burn their offering. They Failed!
Elijah repaired God’s altar and dug a trench around it. He then placed the wood
and offering on the altar. Elijah had them pour four jars of water on the altar, wood, and offering three times. Water filled the trench. Elijah prayed to God.
God sent down fire and consumed the offering wood and rock Altar as well as all the water. God proved that he is the one and only God, as well as ended the drought.
3.
Where: Samaria
Mount Carmel
The Brook of Kishon
4.
When: 863 BC
During the Rule of King Ahab
During the ministry of Elijah
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BIBL 105
5.
Why: Why did Elijah have four jars of water poured on his sacrifice prior to paying to God?
Why did the people there observing the challenge declare their belief in God immediately after witnessing the miracle?
6.
How: How did Elija’s prayer mean more than those of the Prophets of Baal?
He was praying to the one and only God.
How does God’s miracle of sending fire from heaven to consume Elijah’s offering to strengthen your faith in God’s power?
God shows that no matter what obstacle you place in his way (Drenching the wood and offering with water), he will always be able to do his will.
II. Interpretation
A. Determine the author’s main point. The challenge at Mount Carmel was significant to show the Israelites that there is only one God, and they should only worship him. The Israelites had not headed to the warning that God was giving them with the drought. King Ahab did not keep his people worshiping God, He allowed The Prophets of Baal to take over and lead everyone astray.
God, through Elijah, proved to all that there is only one God. God opened the eyes of the Israelites with the miracle of sending fire from heaven to consume Elijah’s sacrifice. When they saw the miracle of God, they believed at once that God was the true one and only God. God showed mercy to them by ending the drought.
B. Based on your answer above, write out one principle from this passage. God loves us and will forgive us of our sins even when we deliberately turn our back on him. As with myself, God may have to go to the extreme to wake you up as he did by sending fire from Heaven. God wants us to have a close walk with him.
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BIBL 105
III. Correlation
A.
How does this Old Testament narrative fit within the metanarrative of the Bible? Elijah’s challenge at Mount Carmel is a dual narrative of fall and redemption.
The Israelites had turned their backs on God and were living in sin and worshiping the Gods of The Prophets of Baal. This shows that they had fallen away from God and worshiped other Gods—a story of a fall. God had placed the area in a drought to try and make The Israelites understand that they were not following God. However, they were not able to understand why they were suffering. Through Elija giving an offering to God,
God sent down fire to prove that he was the one and only God. Everyone who saw this miracle immediately turned back to God. This would support a story of redemption.
B.
How does your principle fit with the rest of the Scripture? Psalm 103:8-12 tells us that our Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. He does not deal with us according to our
sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are
above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him he also removes our sin/transgression from us as far as the East is From the West. God wants to reward us when we have a close walk/relationship with him. We are told in Deuteronomy 5:33 You shall walk in all the way that the
L
ORD
your God has commanded you, that you may live, and
that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.
C.
How does this Old Testament narrative reflect the person and work of Jesus Christ? Jesus, while here on earth, forgave many people of their sins. He did the same for The Israelites once they were shown the miracle of fire from the sky. Christ did not have to perform such a miracle to show his power. He chose to so that he still loved his people and wanted them to come back to him. He gave them mercy by stopping the drought so they would not suffer any longer. These actions show Christ's love for us as well as his desire for us to walk with him every second of every day. We are the ones who get in the
way of his love, grace, and mercy.
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BIBL 105
IV. Application
A.
The question of duty
We are commanded in Deuteronomy to have no other Gods. I am the LORD your God, who
brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “‘You shall have no other
gods before me. (Duet 5:6-7) We have the duty only to be faithful and follow Christ. Our
heart, mind, and soul should be Christ-focused at all times. In addition, we can see that
prayer is answered. It might not be by fire coming down, but if we look closely, we will be
able to see answers to our everyday prayers. We should pray “without ceasing”. (1 Thess
5:7) We should try to stay in a constant state of prayer. B.
The question of character
Elijah trusted God and followed him as he was told. We should be living the same way, following God’s direction in our lives. Elijah followed God’s instructions with our question or argument. We should strive to be like Elijah and follow God without arguments
or second-guessing God. We can also follow Elijah’s faith/belief in God. You have to have a very rock-solid belief that God will do what he says to challenge others to an altar duel and bombard them with comments about why they are unable to talk to their Gods. We have the kind of faith Elijah had. We should not so harshly challenge folks but have faith that God will answer our prayers. We must remember that we may not always like the answer.
C.
The question of goals
Our Goal should be to have steadfast faith in our Lord and Savior, We should strive to walk
with Christ every second of the day in order to achieve that goal. In addition to our daily walk, we need God's word to assist us in achieving our goals. We must read and study our Bible daily. Go in-depth to understand what God is saying to us. Myself I enjoy going to our pastor’s “Dig Deeper” meetings. We use this time to share our answers to questions in the bulletin about the message that Sunday. Hearing other's perspectives and views can assist in your understanding.
D.
The question of discernment
Separating the truth from lies is a difficult job. If you live in a world with a worldview as the Israelites were doing, you cannot see the difference between right and wrong. You have decided that God is not important, and you can do what feels good to you. God used Elijah to take extreme steps to wake the Israelites up. By surrounding ourselves with those who share a Christian worldview, we can help ourselves from slipping into the feel-good Page 5 of 6
BIBL 105
world around us. We need those other believers as well as good bible study habits and a good prayer life to assist us in knowing God’s truth and how best to live.
V. Teaching
Since I do not get out much, I decided to share this lesson with my wife. We substituted our regular bible study time with “The Challenge of Elijah.” In preparation, I thought I had a leg up being an instructor in the Army for around four years, as well as staying in the training realm for the rest of my career. Well, as they say, you get rusty if you do not keep in practice. I was able to brush off the dust and have a great time. Our minds are amazing to be able to retain things from almost twenty years ago and remember tips and tricks taught long ago.
I like an interactive teaching/learning experience. In doing so, you are able to share your knowledge or the main point of the class with everyone while they are actively participating.
We think of things through the lens of how we see things. Providing others an opportunity to share can have you seeing from a different perspective. You still have to guide the discussion and not let those who have a skewed perception interfere with the class and stray folks away from the proper meaning. My only issue or uncomfortable part of teaching or sharing bible truths is that my current bible knowledge is not where I want it to be. I am counting on these courses with Liberty University to assist me in becoming better prepared and ready to knock it out of the park. After I complete
my Classes with Liberty, I am going into the Contenders Discipleship Initiative (
CDI
). CDI is a
two-year education program offered by Village Missions.
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