Elijah’s deeds are strong evidence of how powerful Elijah’s relationship with God was. We can find most of Elijah’s deeds mentioned in the Old Testament Books of First Kings and Second Kings. When Ahab became king of Israel, he began to serve and worship Baal and he did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. All the people of Israel followed Ahab and they did not listen to Elijah. So, Elijah prayed to God and God brought a long drought on the land to punish Ahab and the people of Israel (1 Kings 17:1).
Afterwards, Elijah went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and he stayed there. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and evening and he drank from the brook. After the brook dried up because of the drought, Elijah went to Zarephath where there was a poor widow who was supposed to supply him with bread. When Elijah arrived she had nothing to offer to him. God performed a miracle through Elijah and filled the jar of flour and vessel of oil while Elijah said “For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.’” (1 Kings 17:14).
Also, when the widow’s son died, Elijah’s prayed to God and God heard his prayers and the boy’s life returned to him (1 Kings 17:17-22) Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal, King of the Sidonians, a nation foreign to the Israelites. She was taken as the wife of Ahab, the King of Israel, which went vehemently against the Israelites’ law. She brought with her a zeal for worshiping Baal, a false god, and turned Ahab towards worshiping Baal, and away from worshiping the One True Lord. Jezebel was such a supporter of this false god, that she massacred the prophets of the Lord. Elijah had been sent by God to confront Baalism, and to declare to Israel that the Lord was God and there was no other. He proved this, through calling down drought, rain, and calling on God to consume His sacrifice (while the sacrifice of Baal went unconsumed). And when he had the false prophets executed (as was what the law demanded, Deuteronomy 13:1-5), Jezebel was so furious that she wanted to kill him too. Elijah’s initial response was to run for his life.
He knew Jezebel was a murderess. But God revealed Himself to Elijah, and told him to tell Ahab and Jezebel what would happen to them. There are a few interesting notes on the dynamics between Jezebel and Elijah. “There was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up” (I Kings 21:25). First we have to realize that the marriage between them was unholy. Jezebel was not one of God’s people, nor was she interested in becoming one of God’s people. Therefore, the Holy Spirit could not work between them.
And so their relationship was not that of a man and his “helpmate”. Jezebel was overpoweringly wicked, and Ahab did not have the strength or maturity to stand up to her. Elijah, who was full of the Holy Spirit, did have the strength to stand up to her. But she wouldn’t listen. She had plenty of time for repentance. She still wouldn’t listen. And when God’s strength was proven, and her false god was ridiculed and proven false, she still did not listen, but continued in her murderous ways. Finally when Elijah personally condemned Ahab and Jezebel each by name, and prophesied their gruesome deaths, Ahab repented and humbled himself before the Lord. But Jezebel did not. Her death was not only gruesome, but also undignified. There was nothing even left of her to bury. Jezebel became a symbol of the evil of false religion (Revelations 2:20). The choice for her was, repent or be removed. The same goes for followers of false religion, or for anyone who refuses to worship the Lord and listen to Him. What happened to Jezebel is symbolic of what God’s actions will be towards anyone who chooses the latter.
