| THE CONTEST |
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| with the priests' desperate contortions and Elijah's mocking, taunting commentary. In the final analysis, it was no contest at all. God unleashed a spectacular display of raw power. Elijah was one of the most colorful of all Israel's prophets. He suffered from bouts of depression and self-doubt, but during times of crisis he showed amazing courage. The Mount Carmel showdown was merely one sign of the high drama going on. Elijah lived during one of the greatest outbreaks of miracles in biblical history. God was sounding a final warning to the North. Israel's Real Heroes The author of the book of Kings started out to record the history of God's anointed leaders. But as the rulers and then priests grow more and more corrupt, this book trains the spotlight on prophets like Elijah. They emerge as Israel's real heroes. The prophets were not, to Israel, merely preachers or poets. They were channels of God's power, through word and deed. They served on the front line of the struggle between good and evil. Over time, the prophets' significance overtook and even surpassed that of kings. Kings came and went, but the message of the prophets endured. Voices in the Desert Whether they served in the government or wandered in occasionally from the desert, the true prophets remained accountable only to God. They decried other, "false" prophets, employed by the king, who generally told the king whatever he wished to hear. Not all prophets left written messages (Elijah and Elisha, for example, did not.) But those prophetic writings that did survive form 17 books of the Old Testament, most of them stemming from the time period described in 1 and 2 Kings. |
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