This column will start with Exodus 20:3, âYou shall have no other gods before me.â The question asked: âWho were these gods?â The interesting life story of the Prophet Elijah relates to this question and provides a surprise ending. The Israelites who believed in one God lived among those who worshipped a pagan god or gods.
King Ahab ruled northern Israel in the ninth century. His queen, Jezebel, worshipped the pagan god, Baal, and was responsible for the persecution of God’s people. (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ahab) “While Jezebel was killing off the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah (a minor prophet) had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves and supplied them with food and water.” (1 Kings 18:4). The Queen’s pagan religion was offensive to God. Elijah was chosen to take God’s message of punishment to the king as recorded in 1 Kings 17:1 “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”