1 Kings 18.41-42α:
| 18.41 ויאמר אליהו לאחאב | Eliyahuα says to Achav,β |
|---|---|
| עלה אכל ושתה | “Go up—eat and drink— |
| כי קול המון הגשם׃ | because the downpour sounds noisy.”γ |
| 18.42 ויעלה אחאב לאכל ולשתות | Achav goes up to eat and drink. |
Remember where we were in verse 40? That would be the Wadi Qishon. (A wadi, as you recall, is a river during the rainy season, but a ditch during the dry season.) Elijah was busily massacring 450 of Ba’al’s prophets at the time of the evening sacrifice. If he was doing it himself, it would take a while, but I’m guessing he had help, because according to this verse, Ahab was there with him. In fact—if Ahab had joined his people in shouting, “Yahweh is the god!” (v39) it’s entirely possible that Ahab was even there with Elijah, participating in, if not leading, the massacre. Considering that God had just demonstrated so obviously that He was mightier than Ba’al, even the most politically jaded of kings should have been easily convinced that killing pagan prophets would be the appropriate follow-up.
The butchery done, Elijah then turns to the king and tells him, “Go up—eat and drink.”
After all, a sacrifice is supposed to be a happy occasion. It’s worship. It’s barbecue, really; the entrails and icky bits were to be burned on the altar, but the rest was for the participants to eat. The Israelis, upon discovering that they had been worshipping the wrong god, likely felt they had a lot to make up for, and may have started sacrifices immediately. Now that Elijah had demonstrated for them how they were supposed to build altars to God (v31-32) —water trench not really necessary, of course—they were probably doing just that.
So Elijah sent him back up Karmel to join in with the celebration. Animals were to be eaten. God was to be worshipped. Ahab, despite his previous idolatry, could join in. He was forgiven.
Yeah, forgiven. I know; most of us know the end of the story, and know that Ahab was a lousy follower of God, and got killed as a result, and his house was wiped out. But here, at this point, we can surmise that he’s repented. Regardless of what the text doesn’t say, it does say that Ahab was there with Elijah at Qishon, and it does say that Elijah sends him back up to Karmel to eat and drink. His actions, at this point, indicate repentance; his actions, once he’s back together with Jezebel, indicate backsliding. But that hasn’t happened yet. For now, he’s repentant; and for that repentance, he’s forgiven. Go easy on the guy. God did.
α. Elijah.
β. Ahab.
γ. Lit. “because sound of noise of the heavy rain.”
