followHIM - 1 Kings 17-19 -- Part 1 : Dr. Camille F Olson

Episode Date: June 24, 2022

Do the Israelites respond to prophetic and scriptural calls for reform? Dr. Camille Fronk Olson returns to explore the ministry of Elijah, the pantheon of foreign gods, and the purpose of miracles.Please rate and review the podcast!Show Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.co/old-testament/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Executive ProducersDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing & SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Show Notes/TranscriptsJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Rough Video EditorAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsKrystal Roberts: French TranscriptsIgor Willians: Portuguese Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-her-beauty-rise-piano

Welcome to Follow Him, a weekly podcast dedicated to helping individuals and families with their Come Follow Me study. I'm Hank Smith. And I'm John, by the way. We love to learn. We love to laugh. We want to learn and laugh with you. As together, we follow him. Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Follow Him. My name is Hank Smith, I'm your host. I'm here with my still small co-host, John, by the way. John, now that doesn't sound like a compliment, but it is, it is. Well, in the resurrection, I'll be bigger, hopefully. I'm going to have that. I'm going to have those arms in the resurrection.

I'm not in any Arnold Freeburg paintings. That's true. I wouldn't have made the cut. John, there's a great part of our lesson today that talks about a still small voice. And so I thought I'd call you my still small co-host. Now, we are in the book of 1 Kings today, and we have a Bible scholar returning. And I think everyone's excited. Yes, we're all excited. Camille Frank Olson is back.

Thank you so much for coming back. If you didn't hear her first episode, and even if you did, I want to remind you, she's a retired now professor and former chair of Brigham Young University's Department of Ancient Scripture. She's written multiple books on the role of women in the scriptures. In fact, I'm holding my Women of the Old Testament right here. That's not only a great text, but it's beautiful, gorgeous, full-color art in it and everything. She's spoken widely in various forums on L-day saint beliefs especially as they relate to women she was born and raised in the area of Tremont in Utah and I love this part she served a mission

in the France Toulouse mission because my daughter and my son-in-law went to France she has a bachelor's degree in education from Utah State a master's in West Asian Studies and a PhD in sociology of the Middle East from BYU. She began her educational career as a full-time seminary teacher, and she was on the faculty of LDS Business College, where she served as dean of students. And as I mentioned before, she's the first woman who was the chair of BYU's Department of Ancient Scripture. She's also served on the Young Women General Board and is a professor at the BYU Jerusalem Center. She's married to Paul F. Olson, who is an ophthalmologist, which is someone who really sees well and knows how to help others see well.

And Camille's going to help us see well today. Thank you for coming back. It's great to be back. We love having you. For those of you who have not heard Camille's first episode with us, pause, whatever you're doing right now, go back. You want to hear Camille talk about Rebecca. Oh, it was a life-changing day for me.

Really changed that story for me. This is just a personal note. There's a gas station right by Colville, Utah, where I put my hand over my heart because that is where I took a phone call from Camille and she told me I was joining the faculty at BYU. So I don't know if I said that last time, John, but Camille's got a special place in my heart. I have a similar story. I would not be teaching the cornerstone courses at the BYU Salt Lake Center if it weren't for Camille. And I know that she'll be held accountable. I mean, I'm grateful to her.

You know, I know how to choose good ones. That's it. That's one of my gifts is finding quality. Well, we are both very grateful as are our children because they get to eat. Camille, we're in First Kings today, but as we approach this, let's give our audience kind of some background here. What do they need to know leading up to these chapters? I've got to just do one little shout out for you two before I start into this. I just want to thank you for what you're doing with this podcast. From my limited perspective, I can just tell you, I think there are more people in the church studying the Old Testament this year than has ever happened in the past and really engaged in it. And it isn't solely because of your podcast, but I believe your podcast has made a major contribution in that way and several other podcasts.

It seems like people find it much more accessible to hear a podcast than even to read books. You have made it very, not only accessible to them, but we're no longer afraid of the Old Testament and we find connections with us. And it has brought some tremendous insight and peace and love for God. We see the merciful God in the Old Testament like I think a lot of people have not in the past. So I just want to thank you. You've helped me a lot. I listen to it very frequently. Thank you very much. So I appreciate your contributions to my study of the Old Testament this year. Wow. Thank you. And I'm always just, I agree, I'm taking notes the whole

time. You can always find new insights because there's so many different angles you can take. And just because one person, as much as they've studied it, sees it one way, you can find other things, but it helps you to think about some other possibilities. And that's what I'm hoping, because the stories and the chapters, we only have three chapters for this week. These three chapters are better known than a lot of them in the Old Testament. But I really hope what we will think about some different angles and help us to think more deeply because of that in some ways than we might have done otherwise, because we can always learn more. There's always more. Awesome. Well, tell us where you want to start.

Big picture. We've just come in our last lesson, finishing up with Solomon, but just think what's happened. There's Moses that takes the children of Israel out of Egypt. They come, Joshua leads them into the promised land. You have a time of judges and all kind of disunity going on. Then we have Samuel who anoints Saul as the first king. And then David is the second king. And under David, you really unite the tribes of Israel in an incredible empire. And it starts this Davidic line of kings that follows after what Jacob had promised Judah, that this line would be through his tribe. And then we get Solomon, David's son. And it's under Solomon that Israel is the most remarkable, powerful empire in the ancient Near East. It got to its largest dimensions. And then as we saw at the end of last lesson, Solomon goes downhill. He dies and his son

Rehoboam takes over. But Rehoboam picks up where his father left off in taxing the people, but then even adds more taxes. And it makes so many of the people upset, especially in the north. And I do kind of like some numbers once in a while, just to help me get some framework. But let's say about 950 BC, the kingdom of Israel splits in half. And that's going to be a major theme through a lot of what we'll be studying in the near future. The Northern Kingdom is with 10 tribes, and Jeroboam is the one that starts that, and Ephraim is the main tribe within those 10 tribes. And so sometimes Isaiah will call that Northern Kingdom Ephraim, but it is most frequently called Israel because that's

where most of Israel is. Ten tribes are up there, and it's the biggest geographical area. And the southern kingdom is named after its head tribe, which is Judah. Jerusalem is the capital of Judah, the kingdom of Judah, or the southern kingdom, it's sometimes called. And you see this split and kings in either one. It's in the southern kingdom that we have the Davidic line of kings. Most of them are wicked. It's not a happy time. Power corrupts, and it seems like so many of those kings are, but they do have a few that are remarkable, just really great ones. The Northern Kingdom never has one good king. That's easy to remember. They are all problematic, and we're going to see one of them today tremendously. But you watch

that division happen, and the kings up in the northern kingdom are changing much more frequently. It's very unstable. We get down to the seventh king that we'll be focused on today named Ahab, and in the southern kingdom, they're only on the third king when Ahab comes to the throne. So you can see it's much more stable in the southern kingdom. It's Ahab's father that makes the capital for the northern kingdom, Samaria. So we'll later see the Samaritans, and that comes from that name of Samaria, clear back to this time period where Jerusalem is the capital of the southern kingdom. That hatred's going to still be around when Jesus is born. Yeah, when the people of Judah, Jews, as the Greeks will call them,

come back after the Persians take over, they come back into the land. They don't want anything to do with anyone that's still around from the Northern Kingdom. There's conflict, and that will be still down to the time of Christ. When 10 of the 12 tribes revolt, that's a pretty low approval rating. The only one who stuck around is Benjamin, and I just don't think they could leave. Judah said, you're staying put. Benjamin's pretty intertwined with Judah there, and that's what you get. So you'll see through the pattern of first and second kings, this idea of telling you who the king in the southern kingdom is and who's the king of the northern kingdom about the same time, or Israel or Judah. So I want to go to chapter 16.

Our reading assignment starts on 17, but we got to introduce this new dynasty of kings of the northern kingdom. Omri is the first one in chapter 16, verse 24. He bought the hill Samaria of Shemar of Tutal. So that's where he establishes the capital of Samaria. And verse 25, Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the Lord and did worse than all that were before him, which you got to say, that's pretty bad because there's been some pretty bad ones before him. And then he dies. And let's pick up with verse 29. Now you get the 38th year of Asa, king of Judah. There's talking about the southern kingdom king. But look, he's been king for 38 years. It's much

more secure leadership down there. And Asa was one of the good guys. He seems to have been a good king. But the son of Omri begins to rule in the northern kingdom in Israel. And his name is Ahab. And look how long he rules with his capital in Samaria, 20 and two years. And even more, verse 30, Ahab, the son of Omri, did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him. So if Omri was bad, Ahab is even worse, and he's going to be worse for 22 years. So it makes a huge difference. And now this is one of the explanations that we're going to live with in these next three chapters of what makes him so evil. Verse 31, it came to pass as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam. He's the one that split off, remember, and started the northern kingdom, that he took to wife Jezebel,

the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him. This is what really introduces the worship of Baal in Israel. And it spreads and it takes root. It is because Ahab marries the daughter of the king. Sidon is up there. They call it Phoenicia. We would call it the border of Lebanon today, but they had that same Canaanite worship, same language related to Hebrew. So they're Canaanites, but Canaanite Phoenicians, I guess. The capital is Sidon up there north of Tyre. That's where she's from. No doubt Ahab is marrying her because that cements connection, treaty, so to speak, with the two kingdoms. An alliance, that's a better word. Look what he does immediately here in Israel. Ahab reared up an altar for Baal in the house

of Baal. So he makes a house for Baal and has an altar there, which he built in Samaria. And he made a grove, and he did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that had been before him. I think there is some little things in there that make a lot more sense when we better understand this pantheon of deities that the Canaanites had. And I think this is a good place to do it because there are little hints all the way through these chapters and then more as we go through the Old Testament. One of my Hebrew teachers at BYU was John Twetnes, and he wrote an article in the

Ensign. It is, I brought a copy of it, July 1990. I would recommend this as great background for the Canaanite pantheon of deities. July 1990, Ensign. Mm-hmm. John Tvetnes, T-V-E-D-T-N-E-S, Hebrew professor at BYU at the time. What he explains in it is that we know a little bit from the Bible about this religious practices and beliefs of the Canaanites, but there was a lot we didn't. And about 100 years ago, I think it was 1927, they found a 13th to 14th century BC library in modern day Syria, which is the Ugaritic texts. So these texts talk about beliefs in that area before the Israelites arrived there, 13th, 14th century BC. It's a whole library. And so it's from that that we get much more of an idea. So let me, can I just go run through this?

And if you have anything you want to add in here of any of these gods, I think it is really helpful. Well, John was telling me just the other day, he was thinking about pre-Israelite Canaanite pantheons. Weren't you, John? I was saying, if only we could discover a library full of stuff about it. I was saying, I mean, that's kind of amazing. Finding a book or a text, but finding a library, how much are we talking about? I mean, it's big. It is big.

Paul Hoskinson, who was on our faculty in ancient scripture, was a great Ugaritic scholar. Get him on and he'll tell you even more about that Ugaritic language. Paul's my cousin. And that library. Is that right? Yeah. There's a fast track to the celestial kingdom for you right there, being related to Paul Hoskisson. Okay, El is the head god.

And you think that is the same word for God that the Hebrews have. That we have. You can see that relationship. He is likened as a bull, king of the gods, and his consort is a goddess named Asherah. She's a fertility goddess. Her name, Asherah, actually means grove. So when you see them building groves and worshiping in groves, fertility rituals that are done in groves, because that's evidence of so much vegetation and fertility that God looks kindly upon that part of the world because with all these trees, usually oak and terebinth trees is evidence that God is pleased with what is going on there, and he blesses it. But you also see how much prophets for Jehovah condemns. They're tearing down groves all the time.

This used to confuse me when I was a teenager, just reading Old Testament seminary for the first time, because everything up until then I'd heard about groves was the sacred grove and Aspen Grove and Pleasant Grove. And to have God coming down on the groves or condemning the groves, and I had to learn, oh, there was some pretty bad worship stuff that went on in these groves because they had a different meaning for them. So yeah, keep going. Yeah. He wrote of four of their children that we can see evidences of in these chapters we're looking at today. Baal is one of them, and it seems like the favorite son. His name means Lord or husband, but he's also called Hadad, which means thunder, because he is the sky god. He's the weather god. He's the one that sends lightning and thunder and wind, but also rain. So he's life-giving. He's a life-giving god. His consort and maybe sister, kind of sister consort, is Anat. She's sometimes called the Virgin. I mean,

you start thinking about how some of these, especially the goddesses, it seems like, get intertwined with the true heroines of God, God's daughters that make a difference. She's called the Mother of Nations, but she is represented in, her name means surface, like surface of the earth. So the dirt, the soil, the rocks. So can you see when Baal rains upon Anat, that's where we get vegetation. So this is this fertility ritual that will bring life. So she's a fertility goddess like her mother is. And oftentimes, I think by the time you get down to the time of

Jezebel and Ahab, Anat and Asherah kind of get blended together as fertility goddesses and almost the consort of Baal there. You see groves and Baal, the lightning god, very often. Then there's another brother called Yam, which means sea. He's the god of the waters on the earth and under the earth. And you see him in conflict with Baal very often. So the storms come from the sky and the sea revolts and fights against him with these waves that crash upon the sea. Sounds like the Canaanite pantheon has a little dysfunctional family going on here. Oh, it's highly dysfunctional. And because they hate each other, these brothers hate each other by fighting each other all the time. And Maat, their other brother,

means death. He's the god of the underworld, and he doesn't like Baal either because he gets power from those that die, and Baal is more life-giving. Once there was a duel between Yam and Baal, so the sea god and the life-giving sky god. Yam killed Baal. El, the head god, mourns over his dead son Baal. He sat in ashes, but also he made incisions in his body to bring blood with a sharp stone. That was part of the way of capturing the attention of showing mourning. You'll remember in the Law of Moses, it spoke against that. Almost a mockery or an echo, perhaps, might be better with Christ bleeding from every pore, that his blood is sacred and all the blood in sacrifice that is sacred, but they do it by

cutting themselves. That'll come up again, so I bring that up. The head god mourns. The consequences for all of this is that there's more drought and famine because Baal is dead. So Anat, Baal's sister, comes to the rescue. She slays Yam and then makes a deal with Mot in the underworld. She says, we'll both lose if Baal stays here forever, because without him, there is no life. And if without any life, you're not going to have any death, so you're not going to have any added power down here. So it's with this deal that Mott allows Baal to come and rule in the sky six months of the year, and then he has to return to the underground six months of the year. And that's the way the Canaanites explain the seasons

and the rain cycle when Baal has been released out of the underworld and can give life again. So there's a little background. During the dry season, he's back in the underworld. He's dead. So does Jezebel bring all of this with her? So Jezebel brings all of this with her. Now you go back there again at the end of chapter 16, and you see that Ahab in verse 32 reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal. And verse 33, he makes a grove. And this provokes very much

Jehovah, as can be expected. That's our background. That leads us up now to what we're seeing here in chapter 17. I have a feeling the Lord's going to send a prophet. That's usually what he does when things are going off the rails. And it's in the very first line, the very first verse. This is our introduction to one of the greatest prophets that Israel ever knew, Elijah. Elijah, whose name means, means my God is Jehovah. It's wonderful. He's from Gilead, which is Transjordan, just on the east side of the Jordan River and part of the tribes of the northern tribes. It's all part of the land given to Israel initially. And he comes to Ahab the king and says, as the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

Oh, okay. So he can control the rain, not Baal. He's saying, look, yeah, this is going to be Jehovah. This is Jehovah who's going to do this. We're sealing up the heavens. It's not going to rain. I was looking in the manual. It says on page 118, Baal was known as the god of storms and rain.

And I wanted to mention that in the Bible dictionary, it says he was the sun god. But I think the later scholarship is printed here in the new manual. And I love that direct confrontation. It's kind of like the plagues of Egypt, too, where the Nile's not God, I am God, I'm going to turn the Nile to blood. Camille, because you lived in the Holy Land there at the Jerusalem Center, can you talk about the dew? think that's fascinating, the Mediterranean, and that it would not only not rain, but no dew. Yes, because the dew is so heavy. It is just, it's remarkable. What a gift. The dews and the dews of Carmel particularly, right? Mount Carmel is a fascinating topographical entity. If you look at the map of Israel along the Mediterranean, there's one little place at the northern part of it that it just juts out. There's a little loop right there. I'm drawing it, you know. But you think that is the farthest west side of Mount Carmel, and the water comes on three sides of it.

So you just think Mount Carmel is going to be a favorite place for the Canaanites to worship. The dew is thick there. A lot of fertility. The trees just grow. Still, you go there today, it is just thick with trees, oak and terebinth trees. And the water, the sea, you can see there, yam, covers all around that. It is a very fertile area. It is much heavier dew than typically I've seen around here. It's life-giving, right? Yes. Yeah.

So I love that the verse mentions not only not rain, not even dew, which would be really unusual there because right off the Mediterranean, there's so much dew every day. And it's just wet. You can be just sopping wet after. But what is interesting, too, we find out that this famine is going to last more than three years. So you cannot see this six-month cycle of rain and drought. Well, how important to know then, Camille, what you taught us about Baal, that six months, six months, six months. I really think that knowing that pantheon is really helpful. And I would really recommend your readers go back and find Brother Twetnes' article. You'll love it.

It's very, very helpful. Yeah, we'll link that in our show notes. Followhim.co, followhim.co. What is interesting, the first act that we see Elijah the prophet do is seal up the heavens. And we will later see him as the one who will restore sealing power in the latter day to Joseph Smith, right? And Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple in 1836, that he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers. And do you remember when Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith that night where he first told

him and taught him for three times. One of the scriptures he quoted was from Malachi, but a little differently. And he doesn't say, I will ordain you or set you apart or teach you. I will reveal unto you the priesthood by the hand of Elijah, not Peter, James, and John, not John the Baptist, by Elijah the prophet. And you see what an incredible role Elijah has played in our dispensation. But remember also at the Mount of Transfiguration, where Jesus went with Peter, James, and John, and Moses and Elijah were transfigured with physical bodies there and gave them keys on the Mount, gave Peter keys on the Mount of Transfiguration. And Elijah is an important one to the Jews who always set a place for him at Passover

because they know he will come again. Highly regarded, but his first act is in sealing the heavens and giving Jehovah the credit for that. Notice as soon as he does this, what does the Lord tell Elijah? Verse three, get the hens and turn the eastward. Get out of here because Ahab and Jezebel are mad. And they're going to be searching for him all this time. I think it's interesting. I think they know.

They don't admit it right out, but they know he's the key to bringing rain again. It isn't Baal. It doesn't say it, but why are they searching for Elijah all this time? If they don't think he can do something about it, yeah. And so here he goes, and he's affected by the famine as well, because he goes to the Brook Cherit, which we're not really sure exactly where that is. Some have thought it's Wadi Kelt, not far from Jericho. But that's on the west side of Jordan. And that's the traditional place of the brook chariot. But it says before Jordan, which means the east side. So we really don't know, but it's a ways away. It gets away from Jezebel and Ahab. And the Lord sends ravens to feed him there. And he has the

brook to give him water. And verse six, the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning and the bread and flesh in the evening, and he drank of the brook. I put a cross-reference in my scriptures this time as I did it because of my study this time of the Old Testament. I put Deuteronomy 8.3. Can we go back to that? Moses teaches that man shall not eat by bread alone, but it gives the explanation of why. When Christ quotes that on the Mount of Temptation to Satan, we don't usually put it with the rest of the story here. Look at verse 3, Deuteronomy 8. God humbled thee, Israel, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread alone, but every word

that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. I think in some ways, isn't Elijah being taught the same thing? That, yeah, he's can feed him by a raven. This cannot be a huge feast. This is more like manna food, right? His survival depends on him relying on the Lord. Do we have that with Fast Sunday? I mean, I've been just thinking of that more, and reminders that it is not bread alone that we need to sustain us. I remember one of my seminary students used to quote, you don't have to read the scriptures every day, just on the days that you eat. And there's something about a reminder in that. Our souls, our spirits need nourishment. That's straight out of the Book of Mormon, right? My soul hungered.

And I think that's the beatitude, hunger and thirst after righteousness. When I attempt to teach the beatitudes, I always like to ask them, how often do you hunger and thirst? Are you pretty much done with that? Or is it every single day? Are you ever done eating in the same way, spiritual food? Are you ever just done? This is a strengthening for Elijah as well, because he has some very important work that will be part of his ministry. So when the brook dries up, he can't stay there any longer. And this now opens up this fabulous story. He says, verse 9, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Sidon. Remember who else lived in Sidon? That's our Jezebel. That's where she came

from. This is the heart of Baalism. And there's a widow woman, he says, and she will sustain thee. So he's going far south. We don't know how far south in Israel. Zarephath is about 50 miles north of Mount Carmel. He's traveling close to 100 miles to find her. Remember, it's in Luke 4 that Jesus is teaching in the synagogue where he grew up in Nazareth. And he's taught, and the people, his neighbors are saying, wait a minute, isn't this Joseph's son? This doesn't seem right. When he has just born a witness, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted. I mean, it is fabulous. And they go, but wait a minute, no. And Jesus says to them, no man is a prophet in his own country, remember? Then they start turning away from him, and he brings up two Old Testament stories.

About widows. Yes. Weren't there many widows in Israel? But the Lord sent Elijah the prophet not to a widow in Israel. He sent him to a widow in Zarephath. What is he saying? Sometimes the people in Gentile territory, non-Israelite territory, can have greater faith than even those in Israel. The reaction of the Jews in Nazareth, they try to take Jesus' life afterwards. Don't tell us that Gentiles are more righteous than we are. He's referring to this story. The Lord sends Elijah clear up to Phoenicia, Gentile territory, the Baal territory, to find a widow and she will take care of you. She is about as opposite of Jezebel as you can possibly find. We don't even know her name. We

have Jezebel's name. Jezebel lives in luxury. Her palace in Samaria, we found some pieces. I mean, might be part of foundation of that, even parts of ivory. I just think, how did they get ivory in Samaria? But it was a luxurious palace that she lives in. And here is this widow woman. We don't have her name. She's as slow down, it seems like, as you can get. The only thing we know, she has a little son. It's the fact she has a little son. How old is she? Usually we think of widows as older women, right? But she's got a young son. It's a tragic story. So verse 10, Elijah rises up, goes to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, which is the busiest part of the city,

behold, the widow woman was there gathering sticks. You wonder, I keep asking, how did he recognize her? Had she been told something before? But she is gathering sticks. She's ready to make her last meal. And he just stops her and just very matter-of-factly, what does he say? Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel that I may drink. The famine has hit up there as well. The drought has hit up there as well. You just think this is some minor little request. And she was going to fetch it. I mean, look at her. She didn't say, sir, do you realize we're in a drought? I don't have extra water. She was on her way to fetch it, and he called to her as if that wasn't enough. He's got to give her a bigger test. Bring me, I pray, the morsel of bread in thine hand. Hey, as you're

coming back, why don't you bring me something to eat as well? Pick me up this sandwich on your way back. Yeah. And she said, as the Lord thy God liveth. She lives among the pantheon of the Canaanites. And she knows who Elijah's God is. As the Lord thy God liveth, I promise you, I don't have any cake, but I have a handful of meal or flour in the barrel and a little oil in a cruise. And behold, I'm gathering two sticks that she can start a little fire. And I may go in and dress it for me and my son that we may eat and die. This is it. We have nothing more. And Elijah, whose name means my God is Jehovah, says, fear not and do as thou has said, but make me a little cake first and bring it unto me and after make for thee and thy

son. Oh, fear not. I mean, it would be one thing if this woman was alone and it was just for her, but the fact she has a son. Now you think about that. You fathers, think about your wives. If they had enough food for one meal, do you give it to this stranger or do you give it to your son? To your own kids. We think of the handcart pioneers that, no, I'm not going to eat, but I'm going to feed my ration to my wife or my children. In 17 Miracles, I'm thinking of that man who didn't eat. Can I just go back? Because I think that for those who are just listening, remember that when you see LORD in all caps, that is Jehovah. So in verse 12, and she said, as the LORD, okay, so he's saying, as Jehovah thy God liveth.

It's important because Lord can be a title for a lot of us in English, but this is Jehovah thy God liveth. And so I love that you pointed that out. Thy God, she is a worshiper of Jehovah, and somehow Elijah knows that. And she knows that. And I think recognizing that, yes, that Lord, I think, thank you for bringing that. That is so true. 1 Kings 17.10 reminds me of Jesus and the woman at the well, right? Give me a little water to drink. Give me a little water to drink. He's almost replaying the story. That is true. That is true. And then he says, ah, but I will give you water that you won't have to come back to the well, that you'll never thirst again. It sets that up. You know, I think I did see this in the Come Follow Me manual. They refer you to a talk given by Elder

Linji Robbins. And I used a quote in my chapter on the widow of Zarephath. I just think this quote is a really good one. He gave it at General Conference in April 2005. Here's what he taught. And speaking of that, right there, what we just read of Elijah saying, oh no, you give me first, you know? He said, quote, now doesn't that sound selfish, asking not just for the first piece, but possibly the only piece? Didn't our parents teach us to let other people go first and especially for a gentleman to let a lady go first, let alone a starving widow? Her choice, does she eat or does she sacrifice her last meal and hasten death? Perhaps she will sacrifice her own food, but could she sacrifice the food meant for her starving son? Elijah understood the doctrine that blessings come after the trial of our faith.

He wasn't being selfish, as the Lord's servant, Elijah, was there to give, not to take. One reason the Lord illustrates doctrines with the most extreme circumstances is to eliminate excuses. If the Lord expects even the poorest widow to pay her might, where does that leave all others who find that it is not convenient or easy to sacrifice? Elder Robbins has always been very thoughtful and very poignant to me, and it's going to be a sacrifice for her. But I'm thinking, too, what is it going to teach Elijah from this example? Will it strengthen him because of her willingness? And we don't have her name. Isn't that so interesting? Yeah, just the widow of Zarephath we always refer to her as, right?

Yes. In Greek, it's Sarepta as it shows up in Luke chapter 4. So verse 14, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Jehovah God of Israel. Here's Elijah quoting Jehovah to her. The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruise of oil fail until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. And so she went and did according to the saying of Elijah,

and she and he and her house did eat many days. I mean, how often every day she goes back and whoops, yep, there's more. Remember that talk that Elder Maxwell gave called the inexhaustible Messiah? There's always more. You feed a multitude of 5,000. And you take up 12 baskets of fragments. And you take 12 baskets more afterwards.

He is inexhaustible. There's always more. It is wonderful. And the barrel wasted not, neither the crews of oil, according to the word of the Lord. And Elijah stays with her. He remains there. I just think very interesting, right there in the heart of Baal worship. Camille, here's a quote from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. This is from October 2014 General Conference. He's talking about being generous and giving and sacrificing. And he says, I bear witness of the miracles, both spiritual and temporal, that come to those who live the law of the fast.

I bear witness of the miracles that have come to me. Truly, as Isaiah recorded, I have cried out in the fast more than once, and truly God has responded, here I am. Cherish that sacred privilege, at least monthly, and be as generous as circumstances permit in your fast offering and other humanitarian, educational, and missionary contributions. I promise that God will be generous to you, and those who find relief at your hand will call your name blessed forever. What a story of faith here. Oh, to hand that little meal over to Elijah is an earth-shattering moment in my mind. Like, wow. And whatever background she had with Jehovah, you just think it couldn't be tremendous. I mean,

not like the Israelites have had. And you can see why the Savior would bring this up as an example there in Nazareth later. There were many widows in Israel, but the Lord sent Elijah to a widow in Zarephath. It is strong, but you know, challenges come. And just because she has food in the barrel and the cruise, verse 17, that the son, her little son fell sick and he dies. I just think this is reality. We can be so filled and so committed and so rock solid in our covenant with the Lord and feel so good. And then something happens completely. I mean, it's terrible and it's so unexpected and it's so undeserved and it's so, and you go, wait a minute. I thought God liked me. I thought he was on my side. And she says in

verse 18, what have I to do with thee? I mean, what's going on here? What have you done? O thou man of God, art thou coming to me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son? And he said to her, give me thy son. And he took him up. This is so much like the houses back then. They usually had just the four rooms on the main floor with the courtyard, and then you go upstairs, and that was a sleeping chamber sometime, you know, cooler up there on the roof. And that's where he took him and where he would have slept, it says,

his abode, and he laid him on his own bed. And he cried to the Lord and said, Oh, Lord, my God, has thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourned? Why did you do it to her? Look what she has done. She's been so good to me. And then he stretched himself upon the child three times. This is the only time in the whole Hebrew Bible that that Hebrew word translated stretched himself, it appears. So we're not really sure what it means. Don Perry, who's a Hebrew professor at BYU, told me he thinks it could mean more like he's in prayer. So in some ways, stretching his arms out over the body or above his head in ways that the Hebrews did pray sometimes, it seems to be just extending himself as far as he could go in prayer upon the child three times as he cried,

O Lord, my God, Jehovah, my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again. And it does. And the child revives. He takes the child down and gives him to his mother. And the widow now says in verse 24, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is true. I just think it's interesting. We think we have a testimony, but sometimes it takes even greater challenges. And the way the Lord rescues us in those challenges to say, okay, I think I got it now. I got it.

I thought I knew before, but now that I've been through this. It's a wonderful example of here, Elijah, you could argue, is the greatest person. He is filled with more of God's gifts at that time on the earth than probably anyone else. He is endowed with his power, with sealing power that he has given. It's Melchizedek priesthood, isn't it? And he is filled with that. And yet he goes to a woman who is of another lineage in an environment of another faith and asks her for help to him.

There's a humbling on his part. And the way the Lord often answers our prayers is by someone that we might not ever expect. And then he turns around and blesses her in return. It's the way the gospel works, isn't it? Camille, I know you've taught this earlier, and I love this thought that this woman, because of her faith, the Lord has taken her to a place in her life where no one else can help her but Him. And the Lord will do that for us. Those are soul-stretching moments. We're using the word stretched here. But if you follow the Lord, He can take you places in life where you'll come to a relationship with Him because He'll be the only one who can help you.

Do you remember teaching that? I've thought of that so often because it's stories like this that teach me that and how we change, how we become more like him and that we trust and lean on him more than we would ever have before because in our extremities, he is there. Yeah. If we let him, he'll take us to where no one else can help us. And then we turn completely with him. I think I've heard Sherry do use the phrase, he's not just our last hope, he's our only hope. And we go to those places where he's our only hope. And I say, if we let him, because I think we can play it safe a lot of times and just go in an opposite direction and say, that's too much. I can't handle that.

But boy, if we will allow ourselves to go to those places, we find power. And I would say, Camille, that there's going to be someone who reads this and says, she got her son back and I never got my family member back. But remember, she's a widow. She's already lost a family member. I don't know if this is so much about her getting the blessing she was after, but finding out that God was the only person who could help her in this moment, whether the sun comes back or not. That's a really good point. I think that is very important. And that's what she bears witness. You see her being solid there afterwards, don't you? She's a rock there in Zarephath. And I think the Lord knows that. That's why he uses her as an example hundreds and hundreds of years later.

Chapter 17. It sets us up, though, for chapter 18, because remember, the drought is still going on. And verse 1 of chapter 18, we think, Elijah, what's different from the last time he saw Ahab and Jezebel? He had not met the widow. We never know if the widow and Jezebel ever met, but Elijah knew them both. And verse 1, it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year. This is the third year of the famine. Luke 4 says that famine lasted three years and six months. And now the Lord is saying to him, go show thyself unto Ahab, and I will send rain upon

the earth. He's ready to stop the famine, but he's got to go face Ahab. And remember, before he did not want to see Ahab, he ran away. But verse 2, he goes to show himself, and there's this sore famine in Samaria. It hit there too, of course. But he ran into Obadiah, who was like the chief steward or servant of Ahab. And we learn in parentheses in verse 3 something about Obadiah. Obadiah feared the Lord greatly. And it's Jehovah. It's the Lord Jehovah. Yes, yes. So it seems like Ahab has no idea that his chief servant is a worshiper of Jehovah.

So Obadiah has kind of kept this down. You notice his last of his name is even Jehovah. I was going to say, what does Obadiah mean? Because that Yah in there means servant of the Lord. Servant of Jehovah. He is kind of a clandestine worshiper and believer. This is kind of frightening to be overt in this in Ahab's palace. You keep it quiet. Not in this neighborhood.

But look at verse 4, that you learn that he is the one when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord. Just cross-reference that over to verse 13. He explains it in another way, when Jezebel slew the prophets of Jehovah. Here, Jezebel killed prophets of Jehovah, and so Obadiah took a hundred of the remaining prophets of Jehovah and hid them by 50 in a cave and fed them with bread and water. You think about, that's pretty remarkable that he'd have to, in a time of famine, feed that many, find enough bread and water to keep them hidden so Jezebel wouldn't kill them. But this again is a context where we see big P prophet and little p prophets.

Do your listeners, have we done enough with this? Do they know the distinction between prophets and prophetesses that Moses said that all of you would be prophets? I don't think so. Go ahead. Because, see, there's hundreds of prophets for Jehovah that are on the earth at the time, and we've seen other places there are prophetesses. And these are ones who have a testimony of Jesus, as Revelation 19.10

says. I think they know Jehovah and they bear witness of him, but it's not the same as the head prophet that the Lord works through. I'll tell you a good cross-reference for understanding that would be Numbers chapter 12. See how fun it is when we've got more of the Old Testament in background that we can help us to go back to stories? Remember, this is Miriam the prophetess. We've seen Miriam called a prophetess, and her brother Aaron is the high priest. Their younger brother Moses is the big P prophet. But in verse 2, Miriam and Aaron are complaining against Moses, and they're saying, hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us? Haven't we received revelation? Haven't we borne witness of Jehovah?

Are you the only one that's a prophet? And the Lord heard it, and look at his response in verse 6. If there be a prophet among you, little p, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in a dream. That's the way we as prophets and prophetesses learn so much and receive through the Spirit a testimony. But verse 7, my servant Moses, who they don't do capital Ps, but that's how I distinguish and in my mind. Moses, it's not the same thing. With him, verse 8, will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches. It is face to face, mouth to mouth, much more direct. We get Elijah who's going to be like the Moses, and the Lord is speaking directly in very clear terms. We hear President Nelson today talk to us about being awakened in the

night and saying, write this down, very direct, very precise. I don't get revelation like that, but I must say, like Miriam, I have received revelation. And like these prophets, they have, and they have been bearing witness of Jehovah, so Obadiah hides them away before Jezebel can kill them. Really living up to his name as a servant because of feeding these prophets. What does that mean? By 50, but then it's 100 by 50. This is cave one, and this is cave two, and each there's 50, or what do you think? Is that it?

It seems like that's what it is. He's divided into, maybe the cave wasn't big enough to hold all of them, or you hedge your bets and hope that if one gets discovered, the other ones are still safe. That's a servant. That's loyalty of love and faith. All the while working under the nose of Ahab. And so now Ahab gives Obadiah a mission. He said, this famine is so bad, we don't have even anything to feed our horses. Let's divide up. We'll go in two different directions. You go find anything you can find to feed our livestock. Go into any fountains or brooks and find grass to save our beasts. So they divide up. Ahab goes one way, Obadiahadiah another and verse 7 obadiah on his way comes face to face with elijah and as soon as he meets elijah he said oh wait a minute are thou my lord

notice it's little l this is not capital l's in other words i could say are you the prophet, big P, Elijah too? It's not Jehovah, but are you my Lord, Elijah? And Elijah says, yep, I am. And you go tell thy Lord. And so thy Lord, it's all in little letters. So that is, who's his Lord? Ahab. Ahab. That's King Ahab. You go tell King Ahab. Now get this, behold Elijah, and then we get italics. Do your listeners know italics in the King James translation? We may have mentioned that before, but go ahead. Never bad to review. Okay.

It's wonderful because the King James translators, when they added words that were not in the manuscript they were translating from, it's just not there. But they think they need more words to make the sentence make sense. They will put them in italics. So they've added the words, behold, Elijah is here. You go tell Ahab, Elijah is here. I found him. And that makes sense. But I think there's something really cool if you say, what does the manuscript say all by itself? If

it's just behold, Elijah, but you translate, my God is Jehovah. Look at Obadiah's answer. What? Have I sinned that thou shouldst deliver thy servant into the hands of Ahab to slay me? I'd rather not say that. You're sending me to my death. Go bear your testimony. You go tell him, my God is Jehovah. And he says, oh, anyone, there's no nation or kingdom whither my Lord Ahab hath sent, not sent to seek thee. There's not a place where he hasn't been sending people out

to find you, Elijah. And when they say he's not here and they take an oath, they promise they haven't found him. But now you're telling me to go and tell him, my God is Jehovah? And verse 12, he goes, yeah, I just know it. As soon as I go leave and tell him that, the spirit will whisk you away somewhere else. And so when he comes to find you, you won't be here. And so there I am saying, but he was here. I promise he was here. I promise. And by the way, my God is Jehovah. Yeah. And look at the end there. See that but or nevertheless. Isn't that the same thing?

But nevertheless, I know he'll take my life, but nevertheless, I thy servant fear the Lord's, fear Jehovah. I have feared him from my youth. And he tells again, remember, I was the one that hid those prophets in the cave and fed them. So verse 14, but now thou sayest, go tell thy Lord, behold, Jehovah is my God, and he shall slay me. But okay, I'm going to go, even though it's going to happen. And Elijah answers, as the Lord of hosts liveth. I know I keep doing inserts, but I think it's so cool. Do you know who the first one who said Lord of hosts in the Hebrew Bible, who called Jehovah the Lord of hosts. It's Hannah in her prayer in 1 Samuel chapter 1. She's the first one to call him Lord of hosts. As the Lord Jehovah

of hosts liveth, behold whom I stand, I will surely show myself unto him today. He makes an oath. I promise by the name, the sacred name of Jehovah, I'm not going away. So Obadiah goes and meets Ahab, tells him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. And there they get together here after three and a half years, you know. Please join us for part two of this podcast.