Today’s Devotion
Topic: A Passionate Prophet Vrs His Evil King (Part 11)
(Self Assessment 211)
Background: The prophets of baal called on their god and danced around the altar they made, from morning to noon; yet without response.
Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time of the evening sacrifice. Still without response. As a matter of fact, no one answered and no one paid attention.
Baal has failed to prove himself as God. Will Jehovah prove Himself supreme through Elijah’s sacrifice? Can He and will He answer by fire?
For answers to these and more, let us zoom straight into today’s Bible discussion.
Text: 1 Kings 18: 30- 34
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”
34 “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again. “Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench. Amen
Questions:
1. According to verse 30 Elijah chose to repair the altar of the Lord which had been torn down and not necessarily built a new altar from scratch.
a) What do think was the reason for this and it’s significance?
b) Again, why do you think Elijah gathered the people around him, to bring their attention unto He repairing the torn- down altar of the Lord before the sacrifice began?
2. A careful read of verse 31 reveals that Elijah was not just building an altar nor repairing the broken one. He was doing something of high spiritual essence:
a) Why would the picking of the twelves stones to represent the tribes of Israel matter in this context?
b) Elijah also remembered and stood on Jehovah’s spoken word to Jacob when He changed the latter’s name to Israel with a prophecy that He (Jehovah) would build a nation for Himself through the twelve sons of Israel. Why in your opinion, was it necessary for Elijah to situate his actions in the spoken word and ancient prophecy?
3. Kindly read verse 32 again.
a. Why in your opinion is the bible indicating to us that: “with the stones, Elijah built an altar IN THE NAME OF THE LORD.”?
b. What does it mean to say Elijah built an altar in the name of the Lord?
c. How is building the altar in the name of the Lord very important and useful to this contest?
4. According to the same verse (32) through 35, Elijah dug a large trench around the altar.
a. Now that Elijah’s altar requires a trench, does it suggest he premeditated pouring water on his offering even before building the altar? If so, how is this act different from a show off?
b. When Elijah asked that both wood and offering be soaked in water over and over again, what was he trying to prove and why was that relevant to the challenge or contest?
5. What have you learnt from today’s discussion?
Kindly share your answers with us through this same social media platform (WhatsApp/Facebook). We also learn a lot from what you share.
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