1 Kings 19.15-18:
| 19.15ויאמר יהוה אליו | Yahweh said to him, |
|---|---|
| לך שוב | “As for you, go back, |
| לדרכך מדברה דמשק | walking through the Dammasheqα desert. |
| ובאת | Go there. |
| ומשחת את חזאל למלך על ארם׃ | Anoint Chaza’elβ to rule Aram.γ |
| 19.16ואת יהוא בן נמשי תמשח למלך על ישראל | Anoint Yehu ben Nimshyδ to rule Israel. |
| ואת אלישע בן שפט מאבל מחולה | Anoint Eliysha ben Shafatε of Avel-mechola |
| תמשח לנביא תחתיך׃ | to be prophet underζ you. |
| 19.17והיה | It becomes that |
| הנמלט מחרב חזאל ימית יהוא | Yehu kills the fugitive of Chaza’el’s blade, |
| והנמלט מחרב יהוא ימית אלישע׃ | and Eliysha kills the fugitive of Yehu’s blade. |
| 19.18והשארתי בישראל שבעת אלפים | In Isra’el, I still have 7,000, |
| כל הברכים אשר לא כרעו לבעל | all knees which don’t kneel to Ba’al, |
| וכל הפה אשר לא נשק לו׃ | all mouths which don’t kiss him.” |
In the previous post I commented that Elijah’s answer to God was wrong. Elijah essentially said, “I’m the only one left that’s devoted to you.” At the end of God’s response, He points out, “I still have 7,000 followers.” Whether these were folks that had never followed Ba’al to begin with, or who had converted from Ba’alism after having seen God win the contest, we don’t know—ancient Hebrew, like French, tends to stick to the present tense—but ultimately God cares whether you’re serving Him right now, not back then.
Nope; the reason God brought Elijah to Horeb was not so that He could redo His covenant with Israel through Elijah. It was for the same reason God does so many of His more spectacular activities: It was so God could get Elijah’s attention. (Just like He got Ahab’s attention by turning the water off.) When God first called Elijah to Horeb, he was busy with a pity-party for himself, wanting to die. But once Elijah was called to go to Horeb, he realized that he was still a central part of God’s master plan for Israel. He might have misunderstood his place in that plan, but he generally got the idea—the proper idea—that his place was in that plan.
And that plan is: Go anoint leaders. God was raising up a new batch of people to run the ancient Near East. There was gonna be a new king over Israel—not Ahab. There was gonna be a new prophet—not Elijah, although Elijah was still going to be around to help get Elisha up to speed. And there was gonna be a new king over Syria—not Hadadezer.
The unique thing about these instructions is that God has Elijah anoint a new king over Syria. Up to this point, the anointed kings have been those over Israel and Judah. But since the nearby Gentile kings were insisting upon interfering with the Hebrews, through intermarriage and spreading the influence of their foul gods, God was going to interfere with them. Up to this point, the Hebrews and the Gentiles had the idea that Yahweh was a local Hebrew god of the desert or the mountains, and only ruled over the people of Israel and Judah. But now God was declaring His dominance over the entire Near East—and, for that matter, the entire planet.
If you’re not quite getting the idea about how strange this is, consider this: Hazael of Syria was going to be God’s anointed king. The term for “anointed one” in Hebrew, משיח, is Messiah. We have here God talking about what appears to be the first Gentile Messiah. If that blows your mind, imagine how Elijah felt—but considering how often he had been interacting with Arabs and Syrians up to this point, notice how God had been preparing him for a more international idea of God. Yahweh was never just the god of Israel. Anyone who thinks otherwise is in for an adjustment.
α. Damascus.
β. Hazael.
γ. Syria.
δ. Jehu, son of Nimshi.
ε. Elisha, son of Shaphat.
ζ. Usu. “instead of.” The idea is that Elisha is to be Elijah’s disciple, and eventual successor.
