1. The Beginning of the End
1 Kings 17

2. Well known for some bad quality or deed
Infamous
Notorious
Well known for some bad quality or deed

3. Well known for some bad quality or deed
Hitler
Stalin
Capone
Charles
Manson
Well known for some bad quality or deed

4. Most wicked of Israel’s Kings
Well known for some bad quality or deed
Idolatrous daughter of Idolatrous King
Protected & favored those who participated in idol worship
1 Kings 16: Introduce King Ahab & Jezebel
What kind of King and man was he?
Ahab, son of Omri, was even more evil than his father, who had “[done] worse than all that were before him” ( 1 Kings 16:25 ). The scripture states that Ahab “did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him” ( 1 Kings 16:30 ).
Who did he marry?
Who was Jezebel & How Offensive to the Lord Was Ahab’s Marriage to Jezebel?
Ahab married Jezebel, daughter of King Ethbaal of Phoenicia, who practiced idolatry of a most depraved kind.
Clarke summed up this marriage, as well as Jezebel’s life, in these words:
“This was the head and chief of his offending; he took to wife, not only a heathen, but one whose hostility to the true religion was well known, and carried to the utmost extent.
1. She was the idolatrous daughter of an idolatrous king;
2. She practiced it openly;
3. She not only countenanced it in others, but protected it, and gave its participants honors and rewards;
4. She used every means to persecute the true religion;
5. She was hideously cruel, and put to death the prophets and priests of God;
6. And all this she did with the most zealous perseverance and relentless cruelty.
What does his choice reveal about him?
Persecuted non idol worshipers
Most wicked of Israel’s Kings
Hideously cruel & put many prophets & priests of God to death
Ahab
Jezebel

5. Ahab built a temple for Baal in the capital city
He made a grove in which the people could indulge themselves in the cruel & immoral practices
Ahab built a house of Baal in the capital city of Samaria and placed an altar to the Phoenician sun god inside it (see 1 Kings 16:32 ). He then made a grove in which the people could indulge themselves in immoral practices around a symbol dedicated to the fertility goddess Ashtaroth.
Four hundred priests, who ate at Jezebel’s table at state expense, assisted her in the extravagant and unholy religion she had brought into Israel.
“Notwithstanding Ahab had built a temple, and made an altar for Baal, and set up the worship of Asherah, the Sidonian Venus, yet so well known was the hostility of Jezebel to all good, that his marrying her was esteemed the highest pitch of vice, and an act the most provoking to God, and destructive to the prosperity of the kingdom.” ( Commentary, 2:450–51.)
400 priests ate at the king’s table at state expense and assisted Jezebel in unholy practices

6. Symbolism in the famine & drought?
Who was Elijah?
A Tishbite
the place he lived
1 Kings 17:1
When the people won’t listen to the Lord’s servants, sometimes God uses something more dramatic to get their attention
Introduction of Elijah the Prophet
1 Kings 17:1 What Is a Tishbite? -- it refers to the place from which Elijah came. Scholars don’t really agree about the location BUT it was either upper Galilee or from Gilead beyond the Jordan in area given to tribe of Gad.
1 Kings 17:1 - Drought - When people will not listen to the message of the Lord’s servants, the Lord will sometimes use something more dramatic to bring them to repentance - In this case it’s a drought & corresponding famine.
Symbolism - physical drought & spiritual equivalent of not having Living Water of Christ in their lives
Symbolism in the famine & drought?

7. I have a mission for you….
1 Kings 17:2 the Lord comes to Elijah and has a mission for him - what was it?
Read 1 Kings 17: Post picture of Elijah being fed by the ravens
So when the brooks dried up – what did the Lord tell him to do next? 1 Kings 17:9
1 Kings 17:2, 3-6, 9

8. Outside the boundaries of Israel
Zarapheth was on the coast of the Mediterranean between Tyre & Sidon in what is now Lebanon but was then Phoenicia
Outside the boundaries of Israel
Where was Zarapheth? - Locate on map
Zarephath was on the coast of the Mediterranean between Tyre and Sidon, in what is now Lebanon and was then Phoenicia, outside the boundaries of Israel.

9. Look for symbolism of Christ
Look for Symbolism of Christ or of faith in Christ

10. Watch .
Show Widow of Zarephath video – 10:13 min.

11. Symbolism of Christ Look for Symbolism of Christ or of faith in Christ
"Christ is the oil and meal. He will never fail us."
"The widow is like Christ. She gave everything she had.”
"Elijah is like Christ-he mediated between the widow and Heavenly Father so she could be blessed."

12. Significance of the Miracle
Elijah’s request was not a selfish one but rather a test of faith
The poor widow had only a little flour with which to make a patty to fry. Her barrel would have been an earthen jar and her cruse a clay bottle. Wooden barrels are not suitable for storing flour in the Middle East because they do not protect the flour from insects.
Significance of this miracle -
Elijah’s request for the widow to prepare his food was not a selfish request but rather a test of her faith. Because she passed the test, Elijah’s promise that her barrel of flour and cruse of oil would not fail for the duration of the famine was fulfilled. This widow not only provided for her own needs in a time of great distress but provided for others an example of great faith.
Because she acted in faith she received a promise of sustenance that would benefit her and her family during a time of great distress

13. Christ applies the Lesson to Israel
Jesus spoke of this Sidonian woman who obeyed God’s command and physically sustained His prophet. “But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; but unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Serepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow” ( Luke 4:25–26 ).
28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
 29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
“But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; but unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Serepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow”
Luke 4:25–26

14. Find the ACTIONS of Faith
Tell students that in 1 Kings 17 is the story of two people who were willing to “go and do” what the Lord commanded and of the blessings that came to them because of their faith. Have them search 1 Kings 17 for the phrases “went and did” ( vv. 5, 15 ), “arose and went” ( v. 10 ), and “go and do” ( v. 13 ).
Suggest that they underline these phrases and write the cross-reference 1 Nephi 3:7 in the margin of their scriptures next to each phrase.
Since she showed faith – did this end all of life’s trials for her?
What happens next?
1 Kings 17:5, 10, 13, 15

15. Did her acts of faith assure her from more trials?
1 Kings 17:17-24
Elijah Raised the Dead – 4th miracle by priesthood power.
This is the fourth miracle mentioned in this chapter which Elijah performed by means of his priesthood power.
First he brought famine by his word (see v. 1), then he was fed by ravens (see v. 6), then he caused the widow’s food supply to miraculously continue (see vv. 13–16). Then he worked another mighty miracle through the power of God. The widow’s cry (see v. 18) was more a plea for help than a criticism. In essence she was saying, “I thought sheltering a prophet would bring blessings and protection; instead, tragedy has struck my home.”
1 Kings 17:17-24

16. Consider how the miracle of the 2nd day depended upon her faith of the 1st day!
They each chose to act without knowing what would happen next.
Consider how the miracle of the 2nd day – raising her son from the dead, depended on her showing faith on the 1st day.
**Major lesson: We may not know what blessings we miss when we are unwilling to act with faith.
We may not know what blessings we miss when we are unwilling to act in faith

17. Compare their choices & their reputations
Compare to Ahab & Jezebel’s choices & reputations - lack of faith
Compare their choices & their reputations

19. Choose faith - it will bless your life and the lives of those around you. Be an example of faith.
Great miracles are wrought through the power of faith in Jesus Christ.