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Was Elijah Afraid of Jezebel? A Closer Look at 1 Kings 19:3
One of the most dramatic stories in the Old Testament is Elijah’s confrontation with the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18. On Mount Carmel, Elijah stands alone against 450 prophets of Baal. Then, in a stunning display of divine power, Yahweh answers by fire and proves that he alone is the true God. In the aftermath, Elijah commands that the prophets of Baal be executed (1 Kgs 18:40). After that, Yahweh sends rain on the land and ends the long drought. Ahab witnesses all of it. But when he returns to Jezreel, he reports everything to Jezebel, his Baal-worshiping wife. Jezebel responds with a death threat: she vows to make Elijah like the prophets of Baal by the next day. So what did Elijah do? That question matters because 1 Kings 19:3 is debated. Many English translations say Elijah became afraid and fled from Jezebel. That reading has led…
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Are Kings and Chronicles the Same?
Many an English Bible reader has read the book of kings (also known as 1 & 2 Kings) only to feel they are reading a repeat of the same stories in the very next book, Chronicles (1 & 2 Chronicles). I remember the first time I read through the Bible, I was somewhat frustrated by all the repetition. I did not agree with the Greek translator of Chronicles, who calls Chronicles παραλειπομένων (“of the things left out”). It certainly doesn’t feel like Chronicles is talking about the things left out of Kings. What is the difference between Kings and Chronicles? Are they repeated histories that just both happened to make it into the Canon? Big Picture Differences between Kings and Chronicles The book of Kings covers a period of approximately four centuries, from the death of King David (ca. 970 BC) to the Babylonian exile of 587/6 BC. It is…