The Encounter With GOD

Hello! and happy TGIF to all of us, GUYS.  For our "daily bread" this Friday:

THE GOOD NEWS (10 June 2016)

"On reaching the place, he came to the cave and stayed in it.  Then the word of YAHWEH came to him, 'What are you doing here, Elijah?'  He answered, 'I am burning with jealous love for YAHWEH, the GOD of Hosts, because the Israelites have forsaken YOUR covenant, thrown down YOUR altars, and slain YOUR prophets with the sword.  No one is left but myself and they are still trying to kill me as well.'  Then YAHWEH said, 'Go up and stand on the mount, waiting for YAHWEH.'  And YAHWEH passed by.

There was first a windstorm, wild wind rent the mountains and broke the rocks into pieces before YAHWEH, but YAHWEH was not in the wind.  After the storm, an earthquake, but YAHWEH was not in the earthquake.  After the earthquake, a fire, but YAHWEH was not in the fire.  After the fire, the murmur of a gentle breeze.  When Elijah perceived it, he covered his face with his cloak, went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

Then he heard a voice addressing him again, 'What are you doing here, Elijah?'  He answered, 'I am burning with jealous love for YAHWEH, the GOD of Hosts, because the Israelites have forsaken YOUR covenant, thrown down YOUR altars and slain YOUR prophets with the sword.  No one is left but myself, yet they still seek my life to take it away.'

YAHWEH said to him, 'Take the road back through the desert and go to Damascus for you must anoint Hazael as king of Syria; you shall also anoint Jehu, son of  Nimshi, as king over Israel; and Elisha, son of Shaphat, from Abel Meholah, you shall anoint as prophet in your place." - 1 Kings 19:9-16 

Elijah's Encounter With GOD

 (Thus Elijah arrives at Horeb: it is the other name of Sinai, where YAHWEH had revealed HIMSELF to Moses four centuries earlier.

Go up and stand on the mount, waiting for YAHWEH.  To him who is afire with a jealous love for GOD, GOD manifests HIS tenderness beyond all that we can imagine.  Thus, YAHWEH reveals HIMSELF in the gentle breeze more than in the hurricane or in the earthquake.

What are you doing here, Elijah?  First, GOD asks a question and obliges the prophet to discover the depth of his heart.  There is nothing in Elijah but his jealous love for YAHWEH.  YAHWEH, in turn, reveals HIS infallible plans.

Hazael, Jehu, Elisha.  YAHWEH tells Elijah about the future of Israel with all its tragic truth: the kingdom, gloriously begun with David and Solomon, is destined to disappear.  This will be the result of the people's disobedience.

- Hazael, king of Syria, is the enemy king who will conquer and humiliate Israel.

- Jehu will destroy Ahab's family and annihilate the worshipers of Baal.

- Elisha will transmit the menacing words of YAHWEH.

Nevertheless, Israel will not totally disappear, for GOD reserves a Remnant, expressed in symbolic form by 7,000 Israelites who have not knelt before Baal.

This revelation clarifies the mission of the prophets of the Bible.  The majority of them, and the greatest among them, lived during the three centuries in which Israel passed from the glory of Solomon to the Exile.  So the prophets:

- tried to hold back the infidelity of the chosen people who were heading to their ruin;

- called for inner conversion, that of the heart;

- taught the marvelous future which GOD had reserved for the "remnant" of Israel, after the destruction of their material kingdom in the land of Palestine.) 

The Destruction Of Israel

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