Except for possibly Jehu, for whom she dolled herself up in a desperate seduction play, no one annoyed Jezebel as much as Elijah. In spite of the Lord confirming him over her prophets by sending fire from heaven only on his sacrifices, when Jezebel sent Elijah a death threat he fled so far away that only the Lord’s still, small voice could bring him back.
At that point his usefulness was compromised. To his credit, Elijah did accept his replacement, Elisha, even though Elisha wanted a double portion of what he had. Elisha inherited Elijah’s assigned tasks of acknowledging Hazael as king over Syria whom Elisha saw would become a butcher and anointing by proxy the headstrong Jehu as king over Israel who would pump out judgement upon the whole clan of Jezebel.
If only Jezebel had the wits to realize that manipulation through lies could last only as long as the true Lord (not her Baal) constrained the pressure cooker filled with hatred from exploding, things might have turned out differently and the dogs would not have had a bloody mess for dinner at the gates of Jezreel.
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Denise offers the prompt word “pump” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories. To read what really happened and to make sure I didn’t misread it, see 1 Kings 16:29 – 2 Kings 10:36.
1 Kings 19:9-13 (Young’s Literal Translation, 1898)
9 And he cometh in there, unto the cave, and lodgeth there, and lo, the word of Jehovah [is] unto him, and saith to him, `What — to thee, here, Elijah?’
10 And he saith, `I have been very zealous for Jehovah, God of Hosts, for the sons of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant — Thine altars they have thrown down, and Thy prophets they have slain by the sword, and I am left, I, by myself, and they seek my life — to take it.’
11 And He saith, `Go out, and thou hast stood in the mount before Jehovah.’ And lo, Jehovah is passing by, and a wind — great and strong — is rending mountains, and shivering rocks before Jehovah: — not in the wind [is] Jehovah; and after the wind a shaking: — not in the shaking [is] Jehovah;
12 and after the shaking a fire: — not in the fire [is] Jehovah; and after the fire a voice still small;
13 and it cometh to pass, at Elijah’s hearing [it], that he wrappeth his face in his robe, and goeth out, and standeth at the opening of the cave, and lo, unto him [is] a voice, and it saith, `What — to thee, here, Elijah?’
Poetry, Short Prose and Walking 