And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of the rushing of rain.”
The contest on Mount Carmel is over. The fire has fallen and the false prophets are dead. Now Elijah turns to the king with news of rain that nobody else can hear — "a sound of abundance of rain," in the older wording the writers quote. Why does a three-and-a-half-year drought end only after judgment has run its course? And why does the man who announces the rain still go away to pray for it?
Judgment First, Then Blessing
The rain comes only after the evil has been judged. The order is deliberate.
Hamilton SmithJudgment prepares the way for blessing, so after the fire from heaven comes the rain from heaven. Elijah's opened ear catches "a sound of abundance of rain." A stirring in the tops of the trees, trouble on the waters, the low moaning of earth — these told Elijah's listening ear that the day had come at last. The Lord would send rain upon the earth.
God's discipline is never open-ended.
The Bible TreasuryGod afflicted the people with drought so that they might learn one thing: the God they slighted was the only source and fountain of all their blessings. Once they have learned it, in God's gracious way, the affliction will cease. God always removes chastisement when it has done the work He sent it to do.
A Sound Only One Man Heard
No cloud is in the sky. Only one man on the mountain hears the sound.
William KellyYes, but no ear of man on earth heard that sound except Elijah's. "The secret of the Lord is for those who fear him."
That closing line is an older rendering; the ESV reads, "The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him." Smith turns Elijah's hearing into a question for the reader.
Hamilton SmithSuppose a closer walk with God tuned our ears to catch His faintest whispers. Suppose our minds were more enlightened to read them rightly. Would we not often hear His voice telling of coming blessing in the low sad moans that rise from this troubled world? Think of the sigh from a sick bed, the cry of someone bereaved, the ache of a disappointed heart. Would we not detect in them the sound of blessing on its way?
What Ahab Wanted All Along
Elijah tells the king to eat and drink. The words fit the man.
C. H. MackintoshHow these words reveal Ahab's true character! "Eat and drink." That was all he knew, or cared to know. He had come out to look for grass, and nothing more, and the prophet gave him the news he knew the king wanted. He could not invite him to join in thanksgiving to God for this glorious triumph over evil. He knew well he would get no response.
Everything had happened in front of him — and none of it landed.
Hamilton SmithHe has seen the emptiness of idols, the exposure of the false prophets, the fire from heaven, and the terrible judgment of the prophets of Baal. Sadly, none of it makes any impression on the king; God is not in any of his thoughts... It is always like this with the world. God lays His hand on people in government, and for a time they suffer war, or famine and disease. As soon as relief comes they go back with fresh appetite to their feasting, drinking and pleasure, and God is forgotten.
Praying for a Promised Blessing
God had already told Elijah He would send rain. Elijah still climbs higher and prays.
A J PollockThe prophet might have said, "Why do I need to pray, when God has told me He is going to send the rain?" But no. He went to Mount Carmel — a place of expectancy — where he could scan the whole horizon out to sea. Then "he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees."
Writers here treat the promise as the reason to pray, not the excuse to stop.
Hamilton SmithNature might say that if there is the sound of abundance of rain there is no need to pray, but for the spiritual person it is a divine summons to prayer.
Two Men, One Announcement
Both men go up. What they do at the top divides them for ever.
W. W. FeredayAhab, in his selfishness, prepared to go home; not to pray, but to feast... a banquet was more to his liking than a prayer meeting.
Elijah was just as tired and just as hungry after that day.
W. W. FeredaySurely Elijah needed to eat and drink as well as Ahab! The events of the day were exhausting, and the servants of God get hungry and tired like other men... But the spiritual rises above the physical. The immediate needs of the body are forgotten when powerful spiritual interests are at work.
Summary
- Sequence. The fire came first, then the rain: dealt-with evil clears the way, and chastening lifts once it has done its work.
- Sound. No cloud was visible and no one else heard a thing — faith caught the coming blessing before any eye could confirm it.
- Separation. The same announcement sent one man to a feast and the other to his knees.
- Stubbornness. Fire and judgment made no dent in Ahab — relief from trouble sends the world straight back to its pleasures with God forgotten.
- Supplication. A promise from God is never a reason to stop praying; Elijah prayed for the very thing God had already promised.