Most of 1 Kings is taken up with the story of Elijah, one of the greatest prophets in the Bible. He came at a time when the kingdom was divided between Israel and Judah, and Ahab was king of Israel. Ahab did more to provoke God's anger than any previous king, and so God sent a man to speak his word. Cue dramatic music! We need a hero! Enter Elijah.
The message from Elijah was both general and specific. In general, he reminded the people that Yahweh was the one true God, and there is no other. Specifically, he dictated the stopping of the rain, and summoned its return three years later. This was a fulfilment of Solomon's speech years earlier. "When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you (speaking to God)... hear from heaven... grant rain upon your land" (1 Kings 8:35-35). Out of nowhere, Elijah told Ahab that there would be no more rain.
Elijah spent much of the time of the drought in the wilderness, in hiding from the king. His time was marked by dependence on God to provide, through ravens feeding him to relying on miraculously re-filling jars of flour and water.
It was three long dry years before the Showdown at Mount Carmel. Though the conflict is ostensibly between Elijah and King Ahab, or Elijah and the prophets of Baal, he actually directs his words mainly towards the people. His message is that either Yahweh is the one true God and worthy of worship, or that Baal is, and you can't have it both ways. Stop sitting on the fence, and decide. To help you make up your mind, we'll have a challenge, Survivor-style. Because in this game, fire represents your (god's) life; when you fire is gone (or doesn't arrive) so are you. 451 prophets, 1 Survivor!
Elijah also does some trash-talking to the prophets of Baal: Maybe your god's asleep? Or on the toilet! This confidence/arrogance is different to that shown by others. For example, you wouldn't see David doing it, who was much more humble and complimentary to others. But this shows how God works through people with different personalities.
The Baal-ievers cry and dance and cut themselves and still nothing happens. Elijah on the other hand proceeds to build an altar, prepare the wood, and then pour water onto it. Wait, what? There's a drought on, so water is scarce, and also hugely counterproductive to the aim. There's an interesting parallel (using the last of the water) with the widow at Zarepheth giving the last of the flour and oil that she had, as well as with the widow in the temple that Jesus observed giving her last coins. But the message is to give God what you have, rather than focusing on what you don't have. God answered Elijah's prayers for fire and then for rain, and the people were convinced. "The Lord, he is God".
Elijah describes himself as 'jealous for the Lord, the God of Hosts'. What fuels him is this jealousy, this desire for God. He sees the world as having deserted God for other gods, and hungers for God to move again. What must it have been like during those three years of drought, waiting for God to act?
Elijah was in situations where he needed God to come through for him, or else he was dead. And God came through.
Yet even after such a resounding success, Elijah fears for his life and flees. All he wants is God. Not necessarily the power of God, nor the action of God, but the person of God himself. There's a line from a worship song Audience of One, which sums it up: "Seeking your face, not only your hand". We are to seek and worship God for who he is, not just what he can do or what he can do for us. Elijah was jealous for God, and was met in the still small voice.
Elijah was the archetype of the prophet, representing the Prophets at the transfiguration (alongside Moses as the Law). His many miracles prompted many people to believe that Jesus was Elijah, returned from the dead. Yet his hunger was not for the show of God's power itself, but for God himself.
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