“And Elijah …” (1 Kings 17. 1, NKJV)
As promised, we now commence with the most typologically prominent relationship of spiritual fatherhood and sonship in the Scripture, namely the relationship between Elijah and Elisha.
We read of Elijah for the first time in 1 Kings 17:1, and his story unfolds in the later chapters. Here he is introduced in terms of his origins: “And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead …” (The typological importance of these places of origin were already discussed in the teachings of Day 1010-1012.)
Elijah makes an abrupt appearance, like some of the other prophets: Ahijah (1 Kings 11:29), Jehu (1 Kings 16:1), Shemaiah (2 Chr. 11:2), Azariah (2 Chr. 15:1), and later also, for instance, John the Baptist (Matt. 3:1) – these prophets suddenly appear, functioning as a pressing presence in their area. (In a strange manner it is almost doubly accentuated by the fact that the word Tishbite can also be translated as “stranger” or “traveller”!) This lineage of powerful men preached the word of God without any fear, their lifestyle and conduct witnessing to them being “men of violence”, who take the kingdom by force (Matt. 11:12, ASV).
Added to this is the fact that they were equipped with powerful gifts of the spirit, which forced the apostatic people and rulers to know what God’s perspective is. In this regard the meaning of Elijah’s name is already a dramatic statement: “Yahweh is my God.”
Just as dramatic, and attesting to this powerful spirituality, is the opening sentence with which he is introduced: “As Jehovah, the God of Israel, liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” (1 Kon. 17:1). James writes about this in chapter 5, verses 17 and 18: “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”
To be able to lock up natural phenomenon like rain and dew, in the treasure storehouse of God (Deut. 32:34; Job 38:22; Ps. 135:7), and the whole earth, having “the evil and … the good” (Matt. 5:45), suffer from the same event, is remarkable. Interesting that the statement is on the one hand grounded on the authority of who God is and on the fact that He lives, and on the other on the authority of Elijah. The prophet knew exactly what his identity in God was, and put it to work.
An aspect which we need to highlight in the light of the unfolding revelation regarding the term “word”, is the possible meaning of this Hebrew word “dabar”, not as its dynamic Hebrew word equivalent “logos”, but as “rhema”. The manifestation of the Bride can only happen after Jesus has been made manifest in the flesh, the Bride emerging from His side. The whole understanding of “logos” and “rhema”, of Jesus and his Christ, is thus a New Testament phenomenon. The word “word” in the Old Testament is thus more dynamic in the New Testament. The Hebrew equivalent of “logos” in the Old Testament is “dabar”, and for “rhema” is the word “millah” or “omêr”. Yet both words carry the genes of the other, as both Jesus and his Christ were still in the pre-incarnation state with the use of the word “word”.
Thus – Elijah’s statement can probaby best be read as a a pointer to his word in God’s poem: “there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.!” (This argument is absolutely valid in the light of what we learnt in the teaching of Day 967-970, about certain heroes of faith of the Old Testament, who clearly had the revelation of Christ, even though Jesus was not yet born!)
The “rhema” word of Elijah, that holds back the rain and the dew, ironically becomes the opposite of Isa. 55:9-11: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (Also see Matt. 4:4 and John 6:63, where in both cases the word from the mouth of God/Jesus means “rhema”.) What was thus typologically withheld from Israel, Judah and the land, is the salvation and blessings that had to flow out THROUGH ELIJAH’S identity in Christ.
Amos 8:11 is particularly apt in this regard: “’Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord God, ‘That I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.’”
In 1 Kings 17:3 God gives Elijah a very specific assignment: “Get away from here and turn eastward …” The word “eastward” here is however not an indication of direction; the Hebrew “qedem/qêdmâh” points in certain contexts also to the concept of “before time”. The notion of “before time” is actually a contradiction in terms, because if something is before time, it necessarily exists outside of time. It is thus that Briers Uys, in a teaching of his, rather refers to it as “a different reality, outside of chronos time”, that is actually part of eternity. All callings and mantles are thus born from the “everlasting Father[‘s]” (Isa. 9:6) “everlasting kingdom” (Dan. 4:3; 7:27; 2 Pet.1:11), therefore “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom. 11:29).
Elijah’s mantle thus receives, albeit implicitly, a clear description! And how beautifully does this fit into the nature of mantles – invisible (thus implicit), but a clear presence!
God sends Elijah with a specific assignment: “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan.” (1 Kings 17:3). The name of the brook was Cherith, and in Hebrew it means “a cut”. The root word here points to “covenant” (in the sense that a covenant is cut, in terms of circumcision, or where animals were carved into pieces, and those entering the covenant would walk between the pieces in a figure 8).
In a time of drought God Himself becomes the fountain of Elijah, based on his covenant with the prophet, but it also typologically points to the “spiritual water” which flows from the fountain of your creative purpose and calling (Song of Songs 4:12; Isa. 58:11). God then also specifically sends crows to feed Elijah. In Scripture we find that crows are often linked to the idea of Godly provision. See the following three examples:
- “Who feeds the ravens when their babies cry out to God and wander around without food? (Job 38:41, ERV)
- “Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praises on the harp to our God, who covers the heavens with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow on the mountains. He gives to the beast its food, and to the young ravens that cry.” ( 147:7-9)
- “Life is more than food … Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? ” (Luke 12:23-24).
The fact that the pitch black feathers (= mantle) of the crows in Song of Songs 5:11 are equated with the Bridegroom’s black hair (= glory – 1 Cor. 11:14-17), makes it clear that a mantle also makes provenance possible – almost like the bowl with manna that is in the ark of the tabernacle, which points to consistent provision (Ex. 16:33; Neh. 9:20; Heb. 9:4). Our rhema word in God’s poem is like “hidden manna” which appears with “a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it” (Rev. 2:17), and this in turn points to your personal calling. Not only will we live from Jesus, the Bread of Life (John 6:33, 35, 48), but from the manifold small breads/wafers/morsels of the bread of Christ! It is as Jesus says in John 6:58: “This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”
In this time of replenishment Elijah is taught the anointing (1 John 2:27). The crows brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the spring (1 Kings 17:6). This man no longer drinks the milk of the first dimension (Isa. 28:9), no – he now eats the bread of the second dimension (John 4:31-34) and the meat of the third dimension (1 Cor. 3:2; Heb. 5:12-13).
Then the spring of Godly provision dries up, and God gives Elijah his second assignment: “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” (1 Kings 17:9). Interesting – Zarephath means “refinery” in Hebrew, and “Sidon” means “catching fish; fishery”. After the period of separation during which the mantle is confirmed and established, the person who has received the mantle should start moving within it, and reach out to others. This obviously becomes a “refinery”, as Mal. 3:2-4 (TYN-r) presents it: “But who may abide the day of his coming? Who shall be able to endure, when he appeareth? For he is like a goldsmith’s fire, and like washer’s soap.He shall sit him down to try and to cleanse the silver, he shall purge the children of Levi, and purify them like as gold and silver: that they may bring meatofferings unto the LORD in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be acceptable unto the LORD, like as from the beginning and in the years afore time.” That which God had dreamt about you before time is manifested in an unfolding manner in the spiritual mantle you received from God.
Often this requires a dependance on God. The widow is one who is not linked to a(nother) man, in other words, as prototypically explained in 2 Cor. 11:2: “For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”
This will obviously lead to being woven into the kingdom of God, and the Body of Christ, both of which are often compared to fishing and fishnets (Matt. 4:19; 13:47; Ezek. 47:9-10; Luke 5:10-11; John 21:8-11). The community of the Body is essential for the functioning and acknowledgement of an anointing mantle.
The prophetic Scripture in Ezek. 47:9-10 makes it clear that there is a “double stream”, and that it will stretch from En Gedi (where the mountain ibyx typologically walk on the high mountains of their high callings – Hab. 3:19; Song of Songs 8:14; Phil. 3:14), to Eglaim, which means “fountain of two calves”!
In other words it points to a calling (= fountain) that becomes a double anointing. In Elijah’s obedience to the Spirit of God, his mantle is increased for his spiritual sons. This flows out from spiritual fatherhood, and which brings about that which Ezek. 47:9 prophesies: “everything will live wherever the river goes”, and over time the knowledge of the glory will increase (Isa. 9:7), until “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14).
- Selah: Explain to someone what a mantle is.
- Read: 23-31.
- Memorise: 31:3, 31-34.
