Elijah’s Drought Initiates the Prophetic Response to Ahab’s Misplaced Zeal (17:1–24)

Tishbe in Gilead (17:1). Attempts to identify the prophet’s hometown have thus far been unsuccessful. It must be in the region of Gilead that comprises the highlands east of the Jordan River between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea.

Traditional though unconfirmed site of Tishbe

Todd Bolen/www.BiblePlaces.com

Neither dew nor rain (17:1). Periodic droughts are recorded in antiquity and occur today as well. The eastern seaboard of the Mediterranean receives rainfall from the weakening winter storms of central Europe as they reach the coast of the Holy Land.308 Drought occurs when the dry season extends well beyond its natural cycle of April through September. The effects on agriculture can be surmised by reading the Gezer Calendar, a tenth-century farmer’s almanac that describes the expected agricultural activity of each month.309 The catastrophic nature of this drought is seen in the absence of dew, which is vital to vineyards and trees during the dry summer months.

Elijah, through confronting Ahab in this manner, began the process of neutering Baal, the Canaanite god of storms and fertility. In the myths of Ugarit he is described as the one who waters and provides bread and who defeats the forces of death and famine.310 The confrontation on Mount Carmel was the culmination of this showdown. However, by stopping the rain and dew the prophet effectively rendered impotent both Baal and his priesthood.

Nahal Arnon

Todd Bolen/www.BiblePlaces.com

Kerith Ravine (17:3). The location of this ravine in Transjordan is unknown, but there are several remote canyons with small streams that flow year round. A good example is the deeply eroded stone channel of the Nahal Arnon near the Dead Sea’s eastern shore, opposite the region of Ein Gedi.

Zarephath of Sidon (17:9). The name is preserved in modern Sarafend in Lebanon. The city traded with Egypt in the second millennium B.C. and later suffered defeat at the hand of Assyria.311 Discoveries at the site reflect these historical data.312

Town gate (17:10). The city gate was a center of commerce and civic activity. The poor were more likely to find in this location scraps of food and other useful items.

Handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug (17:12). The woman’s pottery vessels were a small jar and a juglet. Both are attested in archaeological excavation, but the second piece is likely a pilgrim flask associated with agricultural produce and the transport of water and olive oil.313 These vessels were often decorated with concentric lines and geometric patterns of brown or red paint.

Small cake of bread (17:13). The baking of bread is depicted in Egyptian and Assyrian reliefs. After grinding the wheat with a large grinding stone and making the dough, one baked the bread directly on the coals of an open fire or placed it on the floor or walls of a clay conical oven known as a tabun in ethnographic and modern Arab contexts. Evidence of this common daily task is found at most excavated sites in the land of the Bible. Every private home and palace had cone-shaped ovens built from mud, bricks, and clay. Curved bread trays with indentations and holes were used to cool the bread that came out of the oven.314

Upper room (17:19). The typical Israelite house is commonly described as a “four-room house” because it contained open rooms on either side of a central line of pillars and two chambers in the back. A second story, accessible by a ladder, was common as well. This “roof chamber” housed the sleeping quarters, usually one open space with bedding.315

Elijah and Ancient Near Eastern Prophecy

Broadly speaking, prophets in Israel and the ancient Near East were individuals who were compelled by the deity or some other divine power to speak authoritatively to society or the court. In Egypt prophetic speech was associated with the commentary of priests or wise men, whereas in Mesopotamia it was the articulation of interconnected omens and divinations seen in the physical world.

The wide-ranging vocabulary of prophecy at the second millennium city of Mari offers insight into the Israelite prophets. Titles include “answerers” of divine inspiration, “ecstatics” who held trances, and general diviners called nabû, a term identical to the biblical prophet or nābî ʾ.A-50 The prophets of Israel were not necessarily members of a guild and were not dependent on the temple or the court. Rather, they were individuals who conveyed the words of Yahweh with preambles such as “This is what the LORD says,” or “The word of the LORD came to….”A-51 The words themselves could be calls to repentance, predictions of the future, or social and political rebuke.

In the pages of the biblical record, there are a number of different prophetic roles that may be identified. Most prominent is the role that has been labeled “classical prophecy.” The classical prophets are those who have their prophetic oracles gathered into biblical books. Though parallels to some elements of their messages can be found throughout the ancient world, no parallel prophetic role has yet been discovered in the ancient Near East. These classical prophets conducted their prophetic ministry among the people and brought messages of indictment, judgment, instruction, and deliverance or hope.

The second major category is labeled “preclassical prophecy” and is represented in the ministries of recognized prophets such as Moses, Samuel, Elijah, and Elisha. Elijah and Elisha offer the closest parallels to the prophetic institutions as they were known in the rest of the ancient Near East.A-52 The defining aspect of this prophetic role is that the primary audience for the prophetic message is the royal house.

Though Elijah could by no means be considered an official advisor to Ahab and Jezebel, he offers the word of God to the royal house of Israel. Ahab and Jezebel had chosen prophets of Baal and Asherah to be their official advisors. Just as these prophets were identified as those “who eat at Jezebel’s table” (18:19), prophets in the ancient world often enjoyed the patronage of the king. Prophets of the Levant at places such as Emar, Ugarit, and Damascus acted as intermediaries, more often than not handing down favorable words of encouragement to the king.

Statue of Elijah at Muhraqa, the traditional site of the contest with the prophets of Baal

James Emery

A study of the prophetic texts available from the ancient world has shown that these sponsored prophets rarely had anything negative to say about the king or his policies.A-53 Only a couple of examples are extant where these prophets proclaim any indictment or judgment on the king. They more often provide instruction to the king (often regarding cultic actions to be taken) and almost always give support and encouragement to the king in his undertakings. In contrast we find Elijah offering no support at all of the king’s policies. Instead, he has stinging indictments and horrific judgments that he pronounces on the royal house.

Such an adversarial role is unattested in the ancient Near East, though that does not mean such a role did not exist. It must be remembered that most of the literature we have from the ancient world was preserved by the palace and temple. These sources would be less likely to preserve the antagonistic words of any who stood against the throne.

Finally, a message like Elijah’s could only make sense in an Israelite context because his message concerned loyalty to a particular God. In the ancient Near East there were particular gods who wanted more attention from the king, but it was uncommon for the worship of any particular god to be repressed (as Ahab and Jezebel sought to kill prophets of Yahweh) or for one god to be exalted to the exclusion of others (as Elijah became champion for Yahweh’s kingship).

Elijah’s ministry as an activist for religious and political reform does not correspond to the ancient Near Eastern model of prophecy even if some of his speech does. His eccentric dress and dramatic behavior helped to identify him as a prophet, but he was as much of a religious reformer as a classical prophet.A-54 Although he was indeed a spokesperson for Yahweh, he was also a peripheral figure who trumpeted the requirements of traditional Israelite religion and excoriated the leaders of Israel for adopting Canaanite culture.A-55 Unlike the classical prophets of the Bible, whose words were gathered into individual books, and the ancient Near Eastern prophets, who functioned within the constraints of the court or the temple, Elijah was a prophet whose colorful character and life story epitomize the religious and cultural tensions within ninth-century Israel.

Text containing Assyrian king’s request for an oracle to receive guidance from deity

The British Museum; © James C. Martin