1. Elijah seals up the heavens, is miraculously sustained, and raises a widow’s son from the dead.

‘It is a poignant irony that Elijah, whose name is associated with the eternal binding of families, should have been called to spend so much of his ministry in solitary exile from his people. Fleeing for his life to the brook Cherith at God’s command, with the ravens who fed him as his only companions, he was left to mourn for apostate Israel as the last of his brethren to “remain a prophet of the Lord.” Describing the scene shown below, Naomi Wray writes:

The heavenly caretakers are fifty ravens beating their wings and forming a large cove sheltering the tiny figure of Elijah seated in meditation. The essence is of the soul rather than the presence of the body. Slate grey of limestone shelter denotes the life of Elijah held in stasis by the blue of the everlasting being of God.

The mighty wings of a multitude of birds seem carved by the ages and the elements from the rocky vastness. Heads and wings and pinion feathers, beaks, and claws, and eyes are all discernible in the craggy portal.

The light of God’s care bathes the forlorn figure of Elijah in icy radiance. Righteous solitude, even with great spiritual support, is a cold experience.

This scene gains its relevance to the sealing of families in the realization that the keys restored by Elijah were not given simply to enable priesthood ordinances to be performed with authority. The spirit of Elijah is as much a healing power as it is a sealing power, opening the floodgates of a divine influence that, in the words of Truman G. Madsen, is designed to “bring earth and heaven back together, … to take the estranged and the alienated and the embittered and somehow transform their hearts, and to prepare all of [God’s] family who will to be family, welding them indissolubly in order to greet the Christ.” At the root of this power is love and forgiveness. Madsen continued:

[F]orgiveness is the very nature of Christ’s way. I suggest that it may be difficult to forgive your enemies, but it is even more so to forgive your loved ones. … It is harder to forgive your loved ones because you care about them and you have to go on living with them, or struggling to, and they can go on hurting you over the years and the decades. But our hearts will never turn to our fathers in the way this spirit of which we have been testifying motivates us to do unless we forgive.You see, we have inherited all kinds of things… [W]e willingly chose to come into the world, likely in this time and circumstance. And when a young person says to his parents in deepest animosity, “I didn’t ask to be born,” if they give the proper, prophetic answer they will say: “Oh yes, you did. You not only asked for it, you prepared for it, trained for it, were reserved for it. …”

[T]his, I take it, is one of the profound meanings of that long, laborious allegory in the book of Jacob, the allegory of the tame and wild olive trees. If you take a wild branch and graft it in to a tame one, if the branch is strong enough it will eventually corrupt and spoil the tree all the way to the roots. But if you take a tame branch and graft it into a wild tree, in due time, if that branch is strong enough, it will heal and regenerate to the very roots. You will then have been an instrument in the sanctification even of your forebears. …To be that kind of branch and achieve that kind of transformation backward and forward is the greatest achievement of this world. But to do it… one must be linked, bound to the Lord Jesus Christ.

(interpreterfoundation .org, KnoWhy OTL28A)

‘The first mention of Elijah in the record refers to him as being from Tishbeh of Gilead, east of the Jordan in the area of Galilee. The events with which he was associated occurred in the ninth century before the birth of Christ. This great prophet was one of the leaders in defending Jehovah as the true God of Israel against those who were advancing Baal worship. His life is associated with many miracles.

Elijah prophesied to King Ahab that there would be a drouth, and a drouth did come to the land. The prophet went to the east of Jordan by the brook Cherith. The brook provided him with water, and the Lord caused him to be fed by ravens morning and night. Because of the drouth, the brook dried up and he sought another refuge.

The Lord directed him to a poor widow who lived with her only son. Elijah found her at the gate of the city and asked for water and bread. The widow answered: “As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” (1 Kgs. 17:12.)

Elijah told her to fear not, that the handful of meal and the cruse of oil would not diminish; and it did sustain them through the long drouth.

During this time the widow’s son became ill and died, or was close to death. Elijah called upon the Lord, and the boy began to breathe again and was given his life.’ (Howard W Hunter, General Conference, October 1971)

“We do not know which of the Jordan tributaries the brook Cherith might have been, but apparently it was an obscure and isolated place where Elijah could hide safely without being accidentally discovered by soldiers, shepherds or passersby. It was also a desolate place where no animal life existed, therefore Elijah was completely dependent upon the Lord for his sustenance.” (W. Cleon Skousen, The Fourth Thousand Years, p. 336.)

1 Kings 17:5 He went and did

2. Elijah challenges the priests of Baal and opens the heavens for rain.

‘It was by and through the faith of Elijah that the drought, which devastated Israel, prolonged for three interminable years, was finally terminated when repentance had come to Israel.

. . . Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him  (1 Kgs. 16:33)

And Elijah the prophet declared:

. . . there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word  (1 Kgs. 17:1)

The brooks dried up; rivers ceased to run; forage was scarce; famine was upon the land; and a king and his people were begging for relief—a people who had lost themselves in the worship of Baal. At Mount Carmel came the contest of power, which was mentioned here by President Clark, when a spectacular incident occurred. At Elijah’s command fire came down from heaven and ignited the sacrifice and shocked the Baal worshipers once more into repentant submission  (1 Kgs. 18:38-39)

Miracle followed faith again, and though the heavens were still clear and there was no indication of rain on the parched land, the prophet warned King Ahab:

. . . Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not  (1 Kgs. 18:44)

With his face between his knees, as he sat on Carmel, Elijah sent his servant seven times to look toward the sea. Six times there were cloudless skies and calm sea, but on the seventh he reported: “Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand.” (Idem.)

Soon the heavens were black with clouds, and the wind was carrying them to Palestine, and “There was a great rain” and a dry, parched land was drenched in moisture, and the miracle of faith had again made good the promises of the Lord  (1 Kgs. 18:42-45) (Spencer W Kimball, General Conference, October 1952)

‘When Elijah went to King Ahab to tell him of the end of the drouth, Ahab accused him of causing trouble in Israel. Elijah charged Ahab with forsaking the commandments of the Lord and following Baal. He challenged the prophets of Baal, supported by Jezebel, to come to Mount Carmel and determine whether the Lord or Baal was God.

Ahab gathered Israel to the place, and Elijah stood alone against the 450 prophets of Baal while the people watched. The contest was to build two altars—one for the Lord and the other for Baal—and to place thereon sacrificial bullocks on unkindled wood. Whichever deity answered by fire would be accepted as God. The 450 prophets commenced first. They called upon Baal from morning until noon but there was no answer. In their frenzy, they leaped about the altar and cut themselves with their knives and lancets till the blood gushed out, but still no answer.

Then came Elijah’s turn. He called for barrels of water to be poured on the sacrifice he had prepared, and he said: “… Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word.

“Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.

“Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.

“And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God.” (1 Kgs. 18:36–39.)

The heavens turned black with clouds and wind, and torrential rains came and ended the drouth. (Howard W Hunter, General Conference, October 1971)

‘Obadiah was the king’s chamberlain, or governor of his house. As such it was his responsibility to arrange the king’s appointments. That is why Elijah told Obadiah to set up an interview between the prophet and King Ahab. The fact that a king and his chief steward had to look for water and grass by themselves shows that the famine had become acute (see vv. 5–6).

Ahab knew that Elijah had brought this distress, so he searched for him. Apparently Ahab had considerable power and authority among surrounding nations, for he was able to exact promises for them that they were not concealing Elijah or that they knew of his whereabouts (see v. 10). Sometimes, however, someone would see the prophet. But when he reported seeing Elijah, the prophet had disappeared by the time Ahab got there. Ahab then killed the person who said he had seen Elijah. Obadiah’s fear that Elijah would disappear again was caused by his awareness that Ahab would not hesitate to have him executed if he failed to deliver Elijah (see vv. 12–16). Elijah promised Obadiah that he would appear before Ahab (see v. 15).

Whether this Obadiah, who “feared the Lord greatly” (v. 3), is the author of the Old Testament book of the same name is not known, but it is doubtful.’ (Institute Old Testament Manual)

1 Kings 18:17 Art thou he that troubleth Israel?

‘It is also ironic that Ahab would accuse Elijah of ‘troubling Israel’ whereas Elijah knew that Ahab and his foreign, Baal-worshipping wife were the real troublemakers. So the confrontation was to be resolved in a contest between a false god and the true God.’ (Andrew Skinner and D Kelly Ogden, Verse by Verse- The Old Testament)

3. Elijah is comforted by the Holy Ghost and instructed to continue in God’s work.

‘Jezebel became angry and threatened Elijah, and he fled south to Beersheba and into the wilderness of Sinai. His encounter with the Lord in the wilderness has become the theme that Mendelssohn put to music in the beautiful Elijah oratorio.

On the mount he felt the power of the wind, the rocks of Sinai were broken to pieces, there was an earthquake and fire, and in the calm that followed, the voice of the Lord was heard to say, “What doest thou here, Elijah?” He answered, “… the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, … and they seek my life, to take it away.” (1 Kgs. 19:9–10.) Two troops of soldiers were sent to capture him, but Elijah called down fire from heaven, and they were consumed.

Elijah, the great defender of Jehovah, and his friend Elisha walked together from Jericho to the Jordan. Elijah took his mantle and smote the waters. They divided, and the two crossed over on dry ground.

“And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” (2 Kgs. 2:11.)’ (Howard W Hunter, General Conference, October 1971)

‘These verses show how powerful and corrupt Jezebel was. Even after the miraculous fire from heaven, this woman was moved only to anger and swore she would take Elijah’s life in revenge. Elijah fled, first into the territory of Judah (at Beersheba) and then to Mount Horeb (or Sinai) 150 miles further south.

Elijah was either fasting or receiving food provided by the Lord during this period. If Elijah truly went without food for forty days, as verse 8 suggests, then he had an experience similar to that of Moses (see Exodus 24:18; 34:28; Deuteronomy 9:9–25) and the Savior (see Matthew 4:2). And like Moses at Sinai, Elijah there received revelations.

It must have been very lonely for Elijah during this period. Men were seeking his life, he felt himself to be the only faithful prophet left in Israel, and he was hiding in a cave. President Joseph Fielding Smith wrote: “When he was there, the Lord called upon him and asked him what he was doing there; and in his sorrow, because of the hardness of the hearts of the people, he told the Lord the condition, that he alone remained, that they sought his life to take it away. But the Lord showed him that there were others who had remained true unto him, even 7,000.” (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:106.)

Those who listen for God’s voice know that it is not in the power to break rocks and earth (see v. 11), nor in the fire, but in the “still small voice” that speaks to the heart of man. When Elijah heard the still small voice, he “went out” to converse with the Lord (v. 13). Encouraged, Elijah returned at the Lord’s request and completed his assigned mission. The word jealous as used in verses 10 and 14 means diligent. The new prophet chosen to succeed Elijah was Elisha.’ (Institute Old Testament Manual)

1 Kings 19:10

‘Here we catch a glimpse of mortal feelings being displayed by one of the greatest of godly souls – the truth that even prophets get discouraged.’  (Andrew Skinner and D Kelly Ogden, Verse by Verse- The Old Testament)