Tel Jezreel

Achav himself, the arch enemy, allows the execution of the prophets of Baal.

And at the end of all of this, we read, The hand of God was on Eliyahu and he ran before Ahav's chariot all the way to his palace in Jezreel.

That's quite a long way, sort of a 20 kilometer run.

But what's happening here is maybe that's why he needed the Yad Hashem.

Do whatever is good in your eyes.

Then he wrote to them a second letter, saying, If you are on my side, and if you are ready to obey me, take the heads of your master's sons and come to me at Jezreel tomorrow at this time.

Now the king's sons, seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who were bringing them up.

And as soon as the letter came to them, they took the king's sons and slaughtered them, seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him at Jezreel.

When the messenger came and told him they have brought the heads of the king's sons, he said, Let them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning.

Then in the morning, when he went out, he stood and said to all the people, You are innocent.

But who struck down all these? Know then that there shall fall to the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab.

For the Lord has done what is said by his servant Elijah.

And he said, Go up and say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.

And it came to pass in the meanwhile that the heaven was black with clouds and there was a great rain and Ahab rode and went to Jezreel and the hand of the Lord was on Elijah.

He girded up his loins and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

Praise God.

And so there we have it, the story of this test on Mount Carmel, the showdown on Mount Carmel, and God's presence won out.

And did the rain fall? The fire fell, the rain fell, and then what did the prophet Elijah do? The Bible says the Spirit of the Lord came upon him again, And he ran before King Ahab in his chariot from the high mountain plateau of Carmel all the way to the gates of Jezreel, which was a little over 20 miles, running and preparing the way before the king.

When you do a little bit of study on that idea, kings oftentimes when they traveled in their chariots, you know, they didn't have nice smooth paved roads back then.

And so they would have servants that went before them to make sure that the way was clear.

For the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every meal, bond or free, in Israel.

And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Basha the son of Ahijah, and the dog shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her.

Then he opened the door and fled.

When Jehu came out to the servants of his master, they said to him, Is all well? Why did this mad fellow come to you? And he said to them, You know the fellow and his talk.

Thus Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram.

Now Joram with all Israel had been on guard at Ramoth-Gilead, against Hazael king of Syria.

But King Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that the Syrians had given him when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.

So Jehu said, If this is your decision, then let no one slip out of the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel.

He also walked according to their counsel and went with Jehoram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, to wage war against Heziel, king of Aram, at Ramoth-Gilead.

But the Arameans struck Joram, so he returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which they caused by striking him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael, king of Aram.

And Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to see Jehoram, the son of Ahab, in Jezreel, because he was sick.

Now the downfall of Ahaziah was from God, and then he went to Joram.

And when he came, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu, the son of Nimshi, whom Yahweh had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab.