41 And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” 42 So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. 43 “Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked. “There is nothing there,” he said.
The Mount Carmel story isn’t over yet. In fact, the point of the story hasn’t happened yet at all. Back in the first verse of the chapter, God told Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain.” Elijah is still waiting for the rain. Although his posture suggests a prayer to some, it could equally suggest the opposite: Rather than extending his hands into the air or turning his face upward or raising his voice for everyone to hear, Elijah squats down and puts his face between his knees. Whether Elijah was silently praying or not, he was certainly doing the one thing necessary: He was waiting. God had promised rain, and the thing to do now was to wait for the blessing to come. “Go and look,” he told his servant.
This is the first time we hear of this servant. It’s doubtful that Elijah acquired such a servant in or before his time at Zarephath, and his Zarephath days only just ended a short time ago. Did one of the ‘civilians’ on Mount Carmel offer to stay and serve the prophet? That seems like the most likely explanation (Elijah had not yet called Elisha to follow him). Whoever this servant was, his first message is simple and honest. “There’s nothing there.”
Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.”
All through this interaction, Ahab was off eating. This wasn’t Elijah saying that the two men were now in fellowship. On the contrary, while Ahab was eating, Elijah was sitting with his head between his knees. His posture was a statement to everybody: There is no dancing, no cutting, no self-mutilation, no shouting; nothing at all is necessary to bring about the blessings of God or the answer to prayer. We wait, and God will answer.
“There’s nothing.” “Go back.”
All the while, Ahab was eating, regaining his strength.
“There’s nothing.” “Go back.”
All the while, Elijah was not eating at all. The prophet waited while his servant went back a third time.
“There’s nothing.” “Go back.”
The servant may have wondered whether they would eventually give up this odd game. But he kept climbing up to a promontory point of the mountain, overlooking the sea. Sea and more sea; sky and more sky. He would have to take the answer back a fourth time.
“There’s nothing.” “Go back.”
Ahab was downing more wine and having seconds by now. As the spirits of the wine went in, Ahab’s inner spirits revived as well. Was the old Baal-faith gone? Was what had been shaken begun to be stirred? There was no rain; no fulfillment. What was going through the king’s mind? Up the prophet’s servant went a fifth time.
“There’s nothing.” “Go back.”
Still nothing. Were the people beginning to wonder by now? Was the servant doubting his position or his role? But the answer would have to be given again a sixth time.
“There’s nothing.” “Go back.”
44 The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’”
The appearance of this cloud was just as miraculous as the fire coming down from the sky. There is no mountain anywhere near Carmel that’s taller than Carmel; no nearby volcano to spew a single chunk of lava that could account for what happened, so the fire that consumed the sacrifice was a miracle. And now, a cloud appeared from the place clouds never come from. It didn’t form in the sky as the result of colliding weather patterns. This cloud was “rising from the sea.”
It was time to tell Ahab. Now that the cloud was on its way, there was no time to lose. Seven times Elijah’s servant had trudged up the mountain; now it was time for him to sprint down it to find the king.
45 Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started falling and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. 46 The power of the LORD came on Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel. (NIV)
Another, incredible miracle. Jezreel is not just down the mountain from Carmel, it was half way to Samaria; almost twenty miles. Just as the “power of the Lord” gave Samson incredible strength in his arms (Judges 14:6, etc.), it now gave Elijah incredible strength and stamina in his legs. As Elijah ran and as Ahab rode his chariot, the sky darkened to black, and the rain began to fall. It was a “heavy rain” (a geshem gadol), and you can imagine the sound of the heavy, hard drops whapping against the almost stony ground. After three and a half years of drought, the mud wouldn’t have formed very quickly. There would be standing puddles, and every dip in the land would become a temporary pond.
The Lord kept his promise. After the impotent prayer-frenzy for Baal and the explosion of fire raining down on Elijah’s little altar and the bloody aftermath in response to Elijah’s simple prayer, there was rain at last: geshem gadol; lots of rain. Our God is the one who keeps all of his promises. Never forget that he has promised you that because of Jesus’ sacrifice, your sins are forgiven, and you are at peace with God through Jesus.
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn’s father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
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