Hank Smith: 00:01 Welcome to followHIM. A weekly podcast dedicated to helping individuals and families with their Come, Follow Me study. I’m Hank Smith.

John Bytheway: 00:09 And I’m John Bytheway.

Hank Smith: 00:10 We love to learn.

John Bytheway: 00:11 We love to laugh.

Hank Smith: 00:13 We want to learn and laugh with you.

John Bytheway: 00:15 As together, we followHIM.

Hank Smith: 00:19 Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of followHIM. My name is Hank Smith. I’m your host. I’m here with my still, small co-host John Bytheway. John, now that doesn’t sound like a compliment, but it is. It is.

John Bytheway: 00:37 Well in the Resurrection, I’ll be bigger, hopefully.

Hank Smith: 00:43 I’m going to have those arms in the Resurrection.

John Bytheway: 00:47 I’m not in any Arnold Friberg paintings.

Hank Smith: 00:50 Yeah. That’s true. I wouldn’t have made the cut.

Hank Smith: 00:54 John, there’s a great part of our lesson today that talks about a still, small voice. And so I thought I’d call you my still, small co-host. Now, we are in the book of 1 Kings today and we have a Bible scholar returning. And I think everyone’s excited.

John Bytheway: 01:11 Yes, so we’re all excited. Camille Fronk Olson is back. Thank you so much for coming back. If you didn’t hear her first episode, and even if you did, I want to remind you she’s a retired (now) professor and former Chair of Brigham Young University’s Department of Ancient Scripture. She’s written multiple books on the role of women in the scriptures. In fact, I’m holding my Women of the Old Testament right here that’s not only a great text, but it’s beautiful, gorgeous, full color art in it and everything. She’s spoken widely in various forums on Latter-Day Saint beliefs, especially as they relate to women. She was born and raised in the area of Tremonton, Utah. And I love this part, she served a mission in the France Toulouse mission because my daughter and my son-in-law went to France. She has a bachelor’s degree in Education from Utah State, a master’s in West Asian Studies and a PhD in Sociology of the Middle East from BYU.

John Bytheway: 02:06 She began her educational career as a full-time seminary teacher. And she was on the faculty of LDS Business College, where she served as Dean of Students. And as I mentioned before, she’s the first woman who was the Chair of BYU’s Department of Ancient Scripture. She’s also served on the Young Women General Board and is a professor at the BYU Jerusalem Center. She’s married to Paul F. Olson, who is an ophthalmologist, which is someone who really sees well and knows how to help others see well, and Camille’s going to help us see well today.

John Bytheway: 02:36 Thank you for coming back.

Dr. Camille Olson: 02:38 It’s great to be back.

Hank Smith: 02:40 We love having you. For those of you who have not heard Camille’s first episode with us, pause whatever you’re doing right now. Go back. You want to hear Camille talk about Rebecca. Oh, it was a life-changing day for me. Really changed that story for me.

Hank Smith: 02:56 This is just a personal note. There’s a gas station right by Coalville, Utah where I put my hand over my heart, because that is where I took a phone call from Camille, and she told me I was joining the faculty at BYU. So I don’t know if I said that last time, John, but Camille’s got a special place in my heart.

John Bytheway: 03:12 I have a similar story. I would not be teaching the Cornerstone courses at the BYU Salt Lake Center if it weren’t for Camille, and I know that she’ll be held accountable. I mean, I’m grateful to her.

Dr. Camille Olson: 03:27 I know how to choose good ones. That’s it. That’s one of my gifts is finding quality.

Hank Smith: 03:33 Well, we are both very grateful, as are our children because they get to eat.

Hank Smith: 03:39 Camille, we’re in 1 Kings today. But as we approach this, let’s give our audience kind of some background here. What do they need to know leading up to these chapters?

Dr. Camille Olson: 03:51 I’ve got to just do one little shout out for you two before I start into this. I just want to thank you for what you’re doing with this podcast. From my limited perspective, I can just tell you I think there are more people in the Church studying the Old Testament this year than has ever happened in the past. And really engaged in it. And it isn’t solely because of your podcast, but I believe your podcast has made a major contribution in that way. And several other podcasts. It seems like people find it much more accessible to hear a podcast than even to read books.

Dr. Camille Olson: 04:28 You have made it very… not only accessible to them, but we’re no longer afraid of the Old Testament, and we find connections with us and it has brought some tremendous insight and peace and love for God. We see the merciful God in the Old Testament. Like I think a lot of people have not in the past. So I just want to thank you. You’ve helped me a lot. I listen to it very frequently. Thank you very much. So I appreciate your contributions to my study of the Old Testament this year.

Hank Smith: 05:01 Wow. Thank you.

John Bytheway: 05:03 And I’m always just… I agree, I’m taking notes the whole time.

Dr. Camille Olson: 05:07 You can always find new insights because there’s so many different angles you can take. And just because one person, as much as they’ve studied it sees it one way, you can find other things, but it helps you to think about some other possibilities. And that’s what I’m hoping for, because the stories and the chapters… We only have three chapters for this week. These three chapters are better known than a lot of them in the Old Testament. But I really hope that we will think about some different angles and help us to think more deeply because of that in some ways than we might have done otherwise because we can always learn more. There’s always more.

Hank Smith: 05:45 Awesome. Well, tell us where you want to start.

Dr. Camille Olson: 05:47 Big picture, we’ve just come in our last lesson finishing up with Solomon, but just think what’s happened. There’s Moses that takes the children of Israel out of Egypt. They come. Joshua leads them into the Promised Land. You have a time of the Judges and all kinds of disunity going on. Then we have Samuel who anoints Saul as the first king. And then David is the second king. And under David, you really unite the tribes of Israel in an incredible empire, and it starts this Davidic line of Kings that follows after what Jacob had promised Judah that this line would be through his tribe.

Dr. Camille Olson: 06:32 And then, we get Solomon, David’s son. And it’s under Solomon that Israel is the most remarkable, powerful empire in the ancient Near East. It got to its largest dimensions. And then, as we saw at the end of last lesson, Solomon goes downhill. He dies and his son Rehoboam takes over, but Rehoboam picks up where his father left off in taxing the people, but then even adds more taxes, and it makes so many of the people upset, especially in the North.

Dr. Camille Olson: 07:08 And I do kind of like some numbers once in a while, just to help me get some framework. But let’s say about 950 BC, the Kingdom of Israel splits in half and that’s going to be a major theme through a lot of what we’ll be studying in the near future.

Dr. Camille Olson: 07:24 The Northern Kingdom is with Ten Tribes and Jeroboam is the one that starts that. And Ephraim is the main tribe within those Ten Tribes. And so sometimes Isaiah will call that Northern Kingdom Ephraim, but it is most frequently called Israel because that’s where most of Israel is, Ten Tribes are up there, and it’s the biggest geographical area.

Dr. Camille Olson: 07:54 And the Southern Kingdom is named after its head tribe, which is Judah. Jerusalem is the capital of Judah, the Kingdom of Judah, or the Southern Kingdom it’s sometimes called. And you see this split and kings in either one; it’s in the Southern Kingdom that we have the Davidic line of Kings. Most of them are wicked. It’s not a happy time. Power corrupts, and it seems like so many of those kings are. But they do have a few that are remarkable. Just really great ones.

Dr. Camille Olson: 08:27 The Northern Kingdom never has one good king. That’s easy to remember. They are all problematic and we’re going to see one of them today, tremendously. But you watch that division happen, and the kings up in the Northern kingdom are changing much more frequently. It’s very unstable. We get down to the seventh king that we’ll be focused on today, named Ahab. And in the Southern Kingdom, they’re only on the third king when Ahab comes to the throne. So you can see it’s much more stable in the Southern Kingdom. It’s Ahab’s father that makes the capital for the Northern Kingdom Samaria. So we’ll later see the Samaritans and that comes from that name of Samaria. Clear back to this time period where Jerusalem is the capital of the Southern Kingdom.

Hank Smith: 09:18 That hatred is going to still be around when Jesus is born.

Dr. Camille Olson: 09:22 Yeah. When the people of Judah, or Jews as the Greeks will call them, come back after the Persians take over. They come back into the land. They don’t want anything to do with anyone that’s still around from the Northern Kingdom. There’s conflict, and that will be still down to the time of Christ.

Hank Smith: 09:42 When ten of the twelve tribes revolt, that’s a pretty low approval rating. The only one who stuck around is Benjamin. And I just don’t think they could leave. Judah said, “You’re staying put.”

Dr. Camille Olson: 09:53 Benjamin’s pretty intertwined with Judah there and that’s what you get. So you’ll see through the pattern of 1 and 2 Kings, this idea of telling you who the king in the Southern Kingdom is, and who’s the king of the Northern Kingdom about the same time or Israel or Judah. So I want to go to Chapter 16. Our reading assignment starts on 17, but we got to introduce this new dynasty of kings of the Northern Kingdom. Omri is the first one in Chapter 16, verse 24. “He bought the hill Samaria of Shemer of two talents.” So that’s where he establishes the capital of Samaria.

Dr. Camille Olson: 10:32 And verse 25,” Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the Lord and did worse than all that were before him,” which you got to say, that’s pretty bad, because there’ve been some pretty bad ones before him. And then he dies and let’s pick up with verse 29. Now, you get the 38th year of Asa, king of Judah. We’re talking about the Southern Kingdom king, but look, he’s been king for 38 years. It’s much more secure leadership down there. And Asa was one of the good guys. He seems to have been a good king.

Dr. Camille Olson: 11:05 “But the son of Omri begins to rule in the Northern Kingdom in Israel, and his name is Ahab.” And look how long he rules with his capital in Samaria, 22 years. And even more, verse 30, “Ahab, the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, above all that were before him.” So if Omri was bad, Ahab is even worse, and he’s going to be worse for 22 years, so it makes a huge difference.

Dr. Camille Olson: 11:37 And now, this is one of the explanations that we’re going to live with in these next three chapters of what makes him so evil. Verse 31, “It came to pass as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam.” He’s the one that split off, remember, and started the Northern Kingdom. “That he took to wife, Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him.” This is what really introduces the worship of Baal in Israel, and it spreads and it takes root. It is because Ahab marries the daughter of the king.

Dr. Camille Olson: 12:20 Sidon is up there. They call it Phoenicia. We would call it the border of Lebanon today. They had that same Canaanite worship, same language related to Hebrew, so they’re Canaanites, but Canaanite Phoenicians, I guess. The capital is Sidon up there, north of Tyre. That’s where she’s from. No doubt Ahab is marrying her because that cements the connection treaty, so to speak, with the two kingdoms.

Hank Smith: 12:52 The alliance. Yeah.

Dr. Camille Olson: 12:52 An alliance, that’s a better word. Look what he does immediately here in Israel, “Ahab reared up an altar for Baal and the house of Baal.” So he makes a house for Baal …” and has an altar there,  “Which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a grove and he did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the Kings of Israel that had been before him.” I think there are some little things in there that make a lot more sense when we better understand this pantheon of deities that the Canaanites had. And I think this is a good place to do it because they’re little hints all the way through these chapters, and then more as we go through the Old Testament.

Dr. Camille Olson: 13:33 One of my Hebrew teachers at BYU was John Tvedtnes, and he wrote an article in the Ensign. It is… I brought a copy of it… July, 1990. I would recommend this is a great background for the Canaanite pantheon of deities.

Hank Smith: 13:52 July, 1990, Ensign.

Dr. Camille Olson: 13:55 John Tvedtnes. Hebrew professor at BYU at the time. What he explains in it is that we didn’t know a little bit from the Bible about the religious practices and beliefs of the Canaanites, but there was a lot we didn’t. And about a hundred years ago, I think it was 1927, they found a 13th to 14th century BC library in modern day Syria, which is the Ugaritic texts. So these texts talk about beliefs in that area before the Israelites arrive there, 13th, 14th century BC. It’s a whole library. And so it’s from that we get much more of an idea. Can I just go run through this? And if you have anything you want to add in here of any of these gods. I think it is really helpful.

Hank Smith: 14:53 Well, John was telling me just the other day he was thinking about pre-Israelite, Canaanite pantheons. Weren’t you John?

John Bytheway: 15:00 I was saying if only we could discover a library full of stuff about it, I was saying. I mean that’s kind of amazing. Finding a book or a text, but finding a library. How much are we talking about?

Dr. Camille Olson: 15:13 I mean, it’s big. It is big. Paul Hoskisson, who was on our faculty in Ancient Scripture, was a great Ugaritic scholar. Get him on and he’ll tell you even more about that Ugaritic language.

Hank Smith: 15:24 Paul’s my cousin.

Dr. Camille Olson: 15:25 And that library. Is that right?

Hank Smith: 15:27 Yeah.

Dr. Camille Olson: 15:28 There’s a fast track to the Celestial Kingdom for you right there, being related to Paul Hoskisson.

Dr. Camille Olson: 15:35 Okay. El is the head God. And you think that is the same word for God that the Hebrews have.

Hank Smith: 15:42 That we have.

Dr. Camille Olson: 15:43 You can see that relationship. He is likened as a bull, king of the gods, and his consort is a goddess named Asherah. She’s a fertility goddess. Her name Asherah actually means grove. So when you see them building groves and worshiping in groves. Fertility rituals that are done in groves because that’s evidence of so much vegetation and fertility that God looks kindly upon that part of the world, because with all these trees, usually oak and terebinth trees, is evidence that God is pleased with what is going on there. And he blesses it. But you also see how much prophets for Jehovah condemns. They are tearing down groves all the time.

Hank Smith: 16:34 This used to confuse me when I was a teenager. Just reading the Old Testament in seminary for the first time, because everything up until then I’d heard about groves was the Sacred Grove and Aspen Grove and Pleasant Grove. And to have God coming down on the groves or condemning the groves. I had to learn, “Oh, there was some pretty bad worship stuff that went on.” And these groves because they had a different meaning for him. So yeah. Keep going.

Dr. Camille Olson: 17:05 Yeah. He wrote of four of their children that we can see evidence of in these chapters we’re looking at today. Ba’al is one of them, and kind of, it seems, like the favorite son. His name means “lord” or “husband”, but he’s also called Hadad, which means “thunder” because he is the sky god, he’s the weather god, he’s the one that sends lightning and thunder and wind, but also rain. So he’s life-giving. He’s the life giving God. His consort, and maybe his sister. Kind of sister/consort is Anat. She’s sometimes called the Virgin.

Dr. Camille Olson: 17:47 I mean you start thinking about how some of these, especially the goddesses, it seems like get intertwined with the true heroines of God that God’s daughters that make a difference. She’s called the “mother of nations,” but she is represented in… Her name means “surface,” like surface of the earth, so the dirt, the soil, the rocks. So can you see when Ba’al rains upon Anat, that’s where we get vegetation. So this is his fertility ritual that will bring life. So she’s a fertility goddess like her mother is. And oftentimes I think by the time you get down to the time of Jezebel and Ahab, Anat and Asherah kind of get blended together as fertility goddesses, and almost the consort of Ba’al vary. You see groves and Ba’al the lightning god very often.

Dr. Camille Olson: 18:47 Then there’s another brother called Yam which means “sea.” He’s the god of the waters on the earth and under the earth. And you see him in conflict with Ba’al very often. So the storms come from the sky and the sea revolts and fights against him with these waves that crash upon the sea.

Hank Smith: 19:09 Sounds like the Canaanite pantheon has a little dysfunctional family going on there.

Dr. Camille Olson: 19:14 Oh, it’s highly dysfunctional. And because they hate each other, these brothers hate each other. They’re fighting each other all the time. And Mot, another brother means “death.” He’s the god of the underworld. And he doesn’t like Ba’al either because he gets power from those that die and Ba’al was life-giving. Once there was a duel between Yam and Baal. So the sea god and the life-giving sky god. Yam killed Ba’al. El the head god mourns over his dead son Ba’al. He sat in ashes, but also he made incisions in his body to bring blood with a sharp stone. That was part of the way of capturing the attention of showing mourning. You’ll remember in the law of Moses, it spoke against that almost a mockery or an echo perhaps might be better with Christ bleeding from every pore that his blood is sacred and all the blood in sacrifice that is sacred, but they do it by cutting themselves. That’ll come up again. So I bring that up.

Dr. Camille Olson: 20:24 The head god mourns. The consequences for all of this is that there’s more drought and famine because Ba’al is dead. So Anat, Ba’al’s sister, comes to the rescue. She slays Yam and then goes to make a deal with Mot in the underworld. She says, “We’ll both lose if Ba’al stays here forever, because without him, there is no life. And if without any life, you are not going to have any death, so you’re not going to have any added power down here.” So it’s with this deal that Mot allows Ba’al to come and rule in the sky six months of the year, and then he has to return to the underground six months of the year. And that’s the way the Canaanites explained the seasons and the rain cycle when Ba’al has been released out of the underworld and can give life again.

Dr. Camille Olson: 21:20 So, there’s a little background.

Hank Smith: 21:22 During the dry season, he’s back in the underworld.

Dr. Camille Olson: 21:26 He’s dead.

Hank Smith: 21:29 So does Jezebel bring all of this with her?

Dr. Camille Olson: 21:30 So Jezebel brings all of this with her. Now you go back there again at the end of Chapter 16, and you see that Ahab, in verse 32, “Reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal.” And verse 33, he makes a grove and this provokes very much Jehovah as can be expected. That’s our background that leads us up now to what we’re seeing here in Chapter 17.

Hank Smith: 21:58 I have a feeling the Lord’s going to send a prophet. That’s usually what he does when things are going off the rails.

Dr. Camille Olson: 22:05 And it’s in the very first line, the very first verse. This is our introduction to one of the greatest prophets that Israel ever knew, Elijah. Elijah, whose name means, “My god is Jehovah.” It’s wonderful. He’s from Gilead, which is transJordan, just on the east side of the Jordan River and part of the Tribes of the Northern tribes. It was all part of the land given to Israel initially. And he comes to Ahab the king and says, “As the Lord, God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”

Hank Smith: 22:57 Oh, okay, so he can control the rain. Not Ba’al.

Dr. Camille Olson: 23:00 He’s saying, look, yeah, this is going to be Jehovah. This is Jehovah who’s going to do this. We’re sealing up the heavens. It’s not going to rain.

John Bytheway: 23:11 I was looking in the manual, it says on page 118,” Baal was known as the God of storms and rain.” And I wanted to mention that in the Bible dictionary, it says he was the sun god, but I think the later scholarship is printed here in the new manual. And I love that direct confrontation. It’s kind of like the plagues of Egypt too, where the Nile’s not god, I am God, I’m going to turn the Nile to blood. Camille, because you lived in the Holy Land there at the Jerusalem Center. Can you talk about the dew? Because I think that’s fascinating the Mediterranean and that it would not only not rain, but no dew?

Dr. Camille Olson: 23:49 Yes, because the dew is so heavy. It is just, it’s remarkable. What a gift. And the dews of Carmel particularly right. Mount Carmel is a fascinating topographical entity. If you look at the map of Israel along the Mediterranean, there’s one little place at the Northern part of it that it just juts out. There’s a little loop right there. I’m drawing it. But you think that is the farthest west side of Mount Carmel and the water comes on three sides of it. So you just think Mount Carmel is going to be a favorite place for the Canaanites to worship. The dew is thick there.

Hank Smith: 24:36 A lot of fertility.

Dr. Camille Olson: 24:37 The trees just grow up. Still, if you go there today, it is just thick with trees. Oak and terebinth trees. And the water, the sea, you can see their Yam covers all around that. It is a very fertile area. It is much heavier due than typically I’ve seen around here.

Hank Smith: 24:57 It’s life giving, right?

Dr. Camille Olson: 24:59 Yes. Yes.

John Bytheway: 25:00 Yeah, so I love that the verse mentions not only not rained, not even dew, which would be really unusual there because right off the Mediterranean there’s so much dew every day.

Dr. Camille Olson: 25:11 Yeah. And it’s just wet. You can be just sopping wet after, but what is interesting too, we find out that this famine is going to last more than three years. So you cannot see this six month cycle of rain and drought.

Hank Smith: 25:29 Well, how important to know then, Camille, what you taught us about Ba’al. The six months, six months, six months.

Dr. Camille Olson: 25:35 I really think that knowing that pantheon is really helpful. And I would really recommend your readers go back and find the brother Tvedtnes article. You’ll love it. It’s very, very helpful.

Hank Smith: 25:47 Yeah. We’ll link that in our show notes, followhim.co. followhim.co.

Dr. Camille Olson: 25:51 What is interesting, the first act that we see Elijah the prophet do is seal up the heavens. And we will later see him as the one who will restore sealing power in the latter days to Joseph Smith, right? And Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple in 1836. “That he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers”. And to remember when Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith that night where he first told him and taught him for three times, one of the scriptures he quoted was from Malachi, but a little differently. And he doesn’t say, I will ordain you or set you apart or teach you. I will reveal unto you the priesthood by the hand of Elijah; not Peter, James, and John; not John the Baptist; by Elijah, the prophet. And you see what an incredible role Elijah has played in our dispensation.

Dr. Camille Olson: 26:55 But remember also at the Mount of Transfiguration where Jesus went with Peter, James, and John; and Moses and Elijah were transfigured with physical bodies there and given them keys on the mount. Gave Peter keys on the Mount of Transfiguration. And Elijah is an important one to the Jews who always set a place for him at Passover because they know he will come again, highly regarded. But his first act is in sealing the heavens and giving Jehovah the credit for that. Notice, as soon as he does this, what does the Lord tell Elijah? Verse 3, “Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward. …” Get out of here because Ahab and Jezebel are mad. And they’re going to be searching for him all this time. I think it’s interesting. I think they know they don’t admit it right out, but they know he’s the key to bringing rain again. It isn’t Ba’al. It doesn’t say it, but why are they searching for Elijah all this time?

Hank Smith: 28:02 If they don’t think he can do something about it. Yeah.

Dr. Camille Olson: 28:04 And so here he goes and he’s affected by the famine as well because he goes to the brook Cherith, which we’re not really sure exactly where that is. Some have thought it’s Wadi Qelt, not far from Jericho. But that’s on the west side of Jordan and that’s the traditional place of the brook Cherith. But it says before Jordan, which means the east side. So we really don’t know. But it’s ways away. It gets away from Jezebel and Ahab. And the Lord sends ravens to feed him there. And he has the brook to give him water. And verse six, “The ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning and the bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.”

Dr. Camille Olson: 28:50 I put a cross reference in my scriptures this time as I did it because of my study this time of the Old Testament. I put Deuteronomy 8:3. Can we go back to that? Moses teaches that “Man shall not eat by bread alone,” but it gives the explanation of why. When Christ quotes that on the Mount of Temptation to Satan, we don’t usually put it with the rest of the story here. Look at verse 3, Deuteronomy 8, God humbled thee Israel and, “Suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man does not live by bread only, but every word that proceeded out of the mouth of the Lord, does man live.”

Dr. Camille Olson: 29:35 I think in some ways, isn’t Elijah being taught the same thing that, yeah, he’s can be fed by a raven. This cannot be huge feast. This is more like manna food, right? His survival depends on him relying on the Lord. Do we have that with Fast Sunday? I mean, I’ve been just thinking of that more. And reminders that it is not bread alone that we need to sustain us. I remember one of my seminary students used to quote, “You don’t have to read the scriptures every day, just on the days that you eat.” And there’s something about a reminder in that, our souls, our spirits need nourishment.

Hank Smith: 30:17 That’s straight out of the Book of Mormon, right? “My soul hungered.”

John Bytheway: 30:20 And I think of that Beatitude, “Hunger and thirst after righteousness.” When I attempt to teach the Beatitudes, I always like to ask them, how often do you hunger and thirst? Are you pretty much done with that? Or is it every single day? Are you ever done eating? In the same way, spiritual food, are you ever just done?

Dr. Camille Olson: 30:39 This is a strengthening for Elijah as well, because he has some very important work that will be part of his ministry. So when the brook dries up, he can’t stay there any longer. And this now opens up this fabulous story. He says, verse 9, “Arise, get thee to Zarephath which belongeth to Zidon.” Remember who else lived in Zidon? That’s our Jezebel. That’s where she came from. This is the heart of Ba’alism. And there’s a widow woman, he says, and she will sustain thee.

Dr. Camille Olson: 31:16 So he’s going far south. We don’t know how far south in Israel. Zarephath is about 50 miles north of Mount Carmel. He’s traveling close to a hundred miles to find her.

Dr. Camille Olson: 31:30 Remember it’s in Luke 4, that Jesus is teaching in the synagogue where he grew up in Nazareth. And he’s taught, and the people, his neighbors, are saying, “Wait a minute, isn’t this Joseph son? Ah, this doesn’t seem right.” When he has just born a witness. Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the broken hearted. I mean, it is fabulous, and they go, “But wait a minute, no.” And Jesus says to them, “No man is a prophet in his own country.” Remember? Then they start turning away from him and he brings up two Old Testament stories.

Hank Smith: 32:13 About widows.

Dr. Camille Olson: 32:15 Yes, weren’t there many widows in Israel, but the Lord sent Elijah the prophet, not to a widow in Israel. He sent him to a widow in Zarephath. What is he saying? Sometimes the people in gentile territory, non-Israelite territory, can have greater faith than even those in Israel. The reaction of the Jews in Nazareth, they try to take Jesus’ life afterwards, “Don’t tell us that gentiles are more righteous than we are.” He’s referring to this story.

Dr. Camille Olson: 32:54 The Lord sends Elijah clear up to Phoenicia, gentile territory, that Ba’al territory to find a widow, and she will take care of you. She is about as opposite of Jezebel as you can possibly find. We don’t even know her name. We have Jezebel’s name. Jezebel lives in luxury, her palace in Samaria, we found some pieces. I mean, some might be part of the foundation of that. Even parts of ivory. I just think, how did they get ivory in Samaria? But it was a luxurious palace that she lives in.

Dr. Camille Olson: 33:35 And here is this widow woman. We don’t have her name. She’s as low down it seems like as you can get. The only thing we know, she has a little son. It’s the fact she has a little son. How old is she? Usually we think of widows as older women, right? But she’s got a young son. It’s a tragic story. So verse 10, Elijah rises up, goes to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, which is the busiest part of the city, “Behold, the widow woman was there gathering sticks.” You wonder, I keep asking, how did he recognize her? Has she been told something before? But she is gathering sticks. She’s ready to make her last meal. And he just stops her.

Dr. Camille Olson: 34:22 And just very matter of factly, what does he say? “Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” The famine has hit up there as well. The drought has hit up there as well. You just think this is some minor little request. And she was going to fetch it. I mean, look at her. She didn’t say, “Sir, do you realize we’re in a drought? I don’t have extra water.” She was on her way to fetch it, and he called to her as if that wasn’t enough, he’s got to give her a bigger test. “Bring me, I pray thee a morsel of bread in thine hand. Hey, as you’re coming back, why don’t you bring me something to eat as well?”

Hank Smith: 35:00 “Make me a sandwich on your way back.”

Dr. Camille Olson: 35:03 Yeah. And she said, “As the Lord, thy God liveth”. She lives among the pantheon of the Canaanites, and she knows who Elijah’s God is. “As the Lord thy God liveth, I promise you I don’t have any cake, but I have a handful of meal [or flour] in the barrel and a little oil in a cruse, and behold I’m gathering two sticks that she can start a little fire. And I may go in and dress it for me and my son that we may eat and die”. This is it. We have nothing more. And Elijah, whose name means my God is Jehovah, says, “Fear not and do as thou hast said, but make me a little cake first and bring it unto me. And after make thee for thee and thy son.”

Dr. Camille Olson: 35:56 Oh, fear not? I mean, it would be one thing if this woman was alone and it was just for her, but the fact she has a son. Now you think about that. You fathers think about your wives if they had enough food for one meal, do you give it to this stranger? Or do you give it to your son?

John Bytheway: 36:16 To your own kids. We think of those, the handcart pioneers that no, I’m not going to eat, but I’m going to, I’m going to feed my ration to my wife or my children. And 17 Miracles, I’m thinking of that man who didn’t eat. Can I just go back because I think that for those who are just listening, remember that when you see LORD in all caps that is Jehovah. So in verse 12, and she said as the LORD, okay, so he’s saying as Jehovah, thy God liveth. It’s important because Lord can be a title for a lot of us in English, but this is Jehovah thy God liveth. And so I love that you pointed that out, thy God. She is a worshiper of Jehovah and somehow Elijah knows that.

Dr. Camille Olson: 37:00 And she knows that. And I think recognizing that, yes, that Lord, I think, thank you for bringing that. That is so true.

Hank Smith: 37:09 1 Kings 17:10 reminds me of Jesus and the woman at the well, right? “Give me a little water to drink.” Give me a little water to drink. He’s almost replaying the story.

Dr. Camille Olson: 37:19 That is true. That is true. And then he says, ah, but I will give you water so that you won’t have to come back to the well. That you’ll never thirst again. It sets that up. I think I did see this in the Come, Follow Me manual. They refer you to a talk given by Elder Lynn G. Robbins. And I used a quote in my chapter on the widow of Zarephath. I just think this quote is a really good one. He gave it at General Conference in April, 2005. Here’s what he taught. And speaking of that, right there, what we just read of Elijah saying, “Oh no, you give me first.”

Dr. Camille Olson: 37:56 He said, “Now doesn’t that sound selfish, asking not just for the first piece, but possibly the only piece. Didn’t our parents teach us to let other people go first and especially for a gentleman to let a lady go first? Let alone a starving widow. Her choice, does she eat or does she sacrifice her last meal and hasten death. Perhaps she will sacrifice her own food, but could she sacrifice the food meant for her starving son? Elijah understood the doctrine that blessings come after the trial of our faith. He wasn’t being selfish. As the Lord servant, Elijah was there to give, not to take. One reason the Lord illustrates doctrines with the most extreme circumstances is to eliminate excuses. If the Lord expects even the poorest widow to pay her might, where does that leave all others who find that it is not convenient or easy to sacrifice.”

Dr. Camille Olson: 39:01 Elder Robbins has always been very thoughtful and very poignant to me. And it’s going to be a sacrifice for her, but I’m thinking too, what is it going to teach Elijah from this example? Will it strengthen him because of her willingness? And we don’t have her name. Isn’t that so interesting?

John Bytheway: 39:23 Yeah. Just the widow of Zarephath we always refer to her as, right?

Dr. Camille Olson: 39:28 Yes. In Greek it’s Sarepta, as it shows up in Luke chapter four. So verse 14, “Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Jehovah God of Israel. …” Here’s Elijah quoting Jehovah to her. “The barrel of meals shall not waste. Neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. And so she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and her  house did eat many days.” I mean, how often every day she goes back and whoops, “Yep, there’s more.” Remember that talk that Elder Maxwell gave called, “The inexhaustible Messiah?” There’s always more. You feed a multitude of 5,000…

John Bytheway: 40:14 And you take up 12 baskets of fragments.

Dr. Camille Olson: 40:17 And you take 12 baskets more afterwards. He is inexhaustible. There’s always more. It is wonderful. And the barrel wasted not neither the cruse of oil, according to the word of the Lord. And Elijah stays with her. He remains there. I just think it’s very interesting right there in the heart of Ba’al worship.

Hank Smith: 40:39 Camille, here’s a quote from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. This is from October 2014 General Conference. He’s talking about being generous and giving and sacrificing. And he says, “I bear witness of the miracles, both spiritual and temporal, that come to those who live the law of the fast. I bear witness of the miracles that have come to me. Truly as Isaiah recorded, I have cried out in the fast more than once. And truly God has responded, ‘Here I am.’ Cherish that sacred privilege, at least monthly, and be as generous as circumstances permit in your fast offering and other humanitarian educational and missionary contributions. I promise that God will be generous to you. And those who find relief at your hand will call your name blessed forever.” What a story of faith here. Oh, to hand that little meal over to Elijah is an earth shattering moment in my mind, like wow.

Dr. Camille Olson: 41:39 And whatever background she had with Jehovah, you just think it couldn’t be tremendous. I mean, not like the Israelites have had. And you can see why the savior would bring this up as an example there in Nazareth later. There were many widows in Israel, but the Lord sent Elijah to a widow in Zarephath. It is strong, but you know, challenges come. And just because she has food in the barrel and the cruse. Verse 17, that the son, her sole son, fell sick and he dies. I just think this is reality. We can be so filled and so committed, and so rock solid in our covenant with the Lord and feel so good. And then something happens completely. I mean, it’s terrible. And it’s so unexpected and it’s so undeserved and it’s so… And you go, “Wait a minute. I thought God liked me. I thought he was on my side.”

Dr. Camille Olson: 42:39 And she says in verse 18, “What have I to do with thee?” I mean, what’s going on here? What have you done? “O, thou man of God? art thou come into me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son. And he said to her, Give me thy son. And he took him up.” This is so much like the houses back then. They usually had just the four rooms on the main floor with the courtyard, and then you go upstairs and that was a sleeping chamber sometimes. Cooler up there on the roof. And that’s where he took him and where he would have slept, it says his abode. “And he laid him on his own bed. And he cried to the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, has that also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn….” “Why did you do it to her? Look what she has done. She’s been so good to me.”

Dr. Camille Olson: 43:34 “And then he stretched himself upon the child three times.” This is the only time in the whole Hebrew Bible that the Hebrew words translated stretched himself. It appears. So we’re not really sure what it means. Don Perry, who’s a Hebrew professor at BYU told me he thinks it could mean more like he’s in prayer. So in some ways, stretching his arms out over the body or above his head in ways that the Hebrews did pray sometimes. It seems to be just extending himself as far as he could go in prayer upon the child three times as he cried, “O, LORD my God. Jehovah my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again.” And it does. And the child revives, he takes the child down and gives him to his mother. And the widow now says in verse 24, “Now by this I know that thou art a man of God and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth.”

Dr. Camille Olson: 44:46 I just think it is interesting. We think we have a testimony, but sometimes it takes even greater challenges and the way the Lord rescues us in those challenges to say, “Okay, I think I got it now. I got it.”

Hank Smith: 44:59 “I thought I knew before, but now that I’ve been through this.”

Dr. Camille Olson: 45:04 It’s a wonderful example of here. Elijah, you could argue is the greatest person. He is filled with more of God’s gifts at that time on the earth. And probably anyone else. He is endowed with his power, with sealing power that he has given. It’s Melchizedek Priesthood, isn’t it? And he is filled with that. And yet, he goes to a woman who is of another lineage in an environment of another faith and asks her for help. There’s a humbling on his part. And the way the Lord often answers our prayers is by someone that we might not ever expect. And then he turns around and blesses her in return. It’s the way the gospel works, isn’t it?

Hank Smith: 45:54 Camille, I know you’ve taught this earlier. And I love this thought that this woman, because of her faith, the Lord has taken her to a place in her life where no one else can help her, but him. And the Lord will do that for us. Those are soul-stretching moments. We’re using the word stretched here. But if you follow the Lord, he can take you places in life where you’ll come to a relationship with him, because he’ll be the only one who can help you. Do you remember teaching that?

Dr. Camille Olson: 46:26 I’ve thought of that so often, because it’s stories like this that teach me that. And how we change, how we become more like him and that we trust and lean on him more than we would ever have before, because in our extremities, he is there. Yeah. If we let him, he’ll take us to where no one else can help us, and then we turn completely with him.

John Bytheway: 46:53 I think I’ve heard Sheri Dew use the phrase, “He’s not just our last hope. He’s our only hope. And we go to those places where he’s our only hope.”

Dr. Camille Olson: 47:03 And I say, if we let him, because I think we can play it safe a lot of times and just go in an opposite direction and say that’s too much, I can’t handle that. But boy, if we will allow ourselves to go to those places, we find power.

Hank Smith: 47:20 And I would say, Camille, that there’s going to be someone who reads this and says she got her son back, and I never got my family member back. But remember, she’s a widow. She’s already lost family members. I don’t know if this is so much about her getting the blessing she was after, but finding out that God was the only person who could help her in this moment, whether the son comes back or not.

Dr. Camille Olson: 47:43 That’s a really good point. I think that is very important. And that’s what she bears witness. You see her being solid there afterwards, don’t you?

Hank Smith: 47:51 Yeah.

Dr. Camille Olson: 47:51 She’s a rock there in Zarephath. And I think the Lord knows that’s why he uses her as an example, hundreds and hundreds of years later. Chapter 17, it sets us up though for Chapter 18, because remember the drought is still going on and verse one of Chapter 18, we think Elijah what’s different from the last time he saw Ahab and Jezebel, he had not met the widow. We never know if the widow and Jezebel ever met, but Elijah knew them both. And verse 1, “And it came to pass after many days that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year.” This is the third year of the famine. Luke 4 says that famine lasted three years and six months, and now the Lord is saying to him, “Go show thyself onto Ahab. And I will send rain upon the earth.” He’s ready to stop the famine, but he’s got to go face Ahab. And remember, before he did not want to see Ahab, he ran away.

Dr. Camille Olson: 48:54 But verse 2, he goes to show himself and there’s this sore famine in Samaria. It hit there too, of course. But he ran into Obadiah who is like the chief steward or servant of Ahab. And we learn in parenthesis in verse 3, something about Obadiah. “Obadiah feared the LORD greatly.”

John Bytheway: 49:19 And it’s Jehovah. It’s the LORD Jehovah.

Dr. Camille Olson: 49:21 Yes. Yes. So it seems like Ahab has no idea that his chief servant is a worshiper of Jehovah. So, Obadiah has kind of kept this down. You notice his last of his name is even Jehovah.

John Bytheway: 49:37 I was going to say, what does Obadiah mean? Because that -ah in there means, “Servant of the Lord.”

Dr. Camille Olson: 49:43 Servant of Jehovah. He is kind of a clandestine worshiper and believer. This is kind of frightening to be overt in this in Ahab’s palace.

Hank Smith: 49:52 You keep it quiet.

John Bytheway: 49:54 Not in this neighborhood.

Dr. Camille Olson: 49:56 But look at verse four that you learn that he is the one. When Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord. Just cross reference that over to verse 13, he explains it in another way when Jezebel slew the prophets of Jehovah. Here, Jezebel killed prophets of Jehovah, and so Obadiah took a hundred of the living. The remaining prophets of Jehovah and hid them by 50 in a cave and fed them with bread and water. You think about it, that’s pretty remarkable that he’d have to, in a time of famine, feed that many, find enough bread and water to keep them hidden, so Jezebel wouldn’t kill them. But this again is a context where we see big P Prophet and little P prophets. Do your listeners… Have we done enough with this? Do they know the distinction between prophets and prophetesses. That Moses said that all of you would be prophets?

Hank Smith: 50:57 I don’t think so. Go ahead.

Dr. Camille Olson: 50:59 Because see, there’s hundreds of prophets for Jehovah that are on the earth at the time, and we’ve seen other places there are prophetesses. And these are ones who have a testimony of Jesus as Revelation 19:10 says. I think they know that Jehovah and they bear witness of him, but it’s not the same as the head Prophet that the Lord works through. I’ll tell you a good cross reference for understanding that would be Numbers Chapter 12. See how fun it is when we’ve got more of the Old Testament in the background that can help us to go back to stories.

Dr. Camille Olson: 51:37 Remember, this is Miriam. The prophet is Miriam called a prophetess and her brother Aaron is the high priest. Their younger brother Moses is the big P Prophet. But in verse 2, Miriam and Aaron are complaining against Moses. And they’re saying have the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Have thee not spoken also by us. Haven’t we received revelation? Haven’t we borne witness of Jehovah? Are you the only one that’s a prophet? And the Lord heard it and look at his response in verse 6, “If there be a prophet among you,” little P, “I, the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in a dream.” That’s the way we as prophets and prophetesses learn so much and receive through the Spirit, a testimony. But verse seven, my servant, Moses… Who they don’t do capital Ps, but that’s how I distinguish it in my mind.

Dr. Camille Olson: 52:42 Moses, it’s not the same thing. With him, verse 8, will I speak mouth-to-mouth even apparently, and not in dark speeches. It is face-to-face, mouth-to-mouth, much more direct. We get Elijah who’s going to be like the Moses and the Lord is speaking directly in very clear terms. We hear President Nelson today talk to us about being awakened in the night and saying, write this down. Very direct, very precise. I don’t get revelation like that, but I must say like Miriam, I have received revelation. And like these prophets they have, and they have been bearing witness of Jehovah. So Obadiah hides them away before Jezebel can kill them.

Hank Smith: 53:28 Really living up to his name as a servant because of feeding these prophets. What does that mean by 50? But then it’s a 100 by 50. This is cave one and this is cave two and each there’s 50? Or what do you think? Is that it?

Dr. Camille Olson: 53:42 That seems like that’s what it is. He’s divided in two. Maybe the cave wasn’t big enough to hold all of them or you hedge your bets and hope that if one gets discovered, the other ones are still safe. That’s a servant. That’s loyalty of love and faith. All the while working under the nose of Ahab. And so, now Ahab gives Obadiah a mission. He said, this famine is so bad. We don’t even have anything to feed our horses. Let’s divide up, we’ll go in two different directions. You go find anything you can find to feed our livestock. Any fountains or brooks and find grass to save our beasts. So they divide up, Ahab goes one way, Obadiah another.

Dr. Camille Olson: 54:23 And verse 7, Obadiah on his way comes face-to-face with Elijah. And as soon as he meets Elijah, he said, “Oh, wait a minute. Are thou my lord?” Notice it’s little L this is not capital Ls. And in other words, I could say, “Are you the prophet big P Elijah too? It’s not Jehovah, but are you my Lord, Elijah?” And Elijah says, “Yep, I am. And you go tell thy lord.” And so thy Lord it’s all in little letters, so that is… Who’s his lord?

Hank Smith: 54:59 Ahab?

Dr. Camille Olson: 54:59 Ahab. That’s king Ahab. You go tell king Ahab. Now get this, behold, Elijah, and then we get italics. Do your listeners know italics in the King James translation?

Hank Smith: 55:15 We may have mentioned that before, but go ahead.

John Bytheway: 55:18 Never bad to review.

Dr. Camille Olson: 55:19 Review. Okay. It’s wonderful. Because the King James translators, when they added words that were not in the manuscript they were translating from, it’s just not there. But they think they need more words to make the sentence make sense. They will put him in italics. So they’ve added the words, “Behold, Elijah is here.” You go tell Ahab, Elijah is here. I found him. And that makes sense.

Dr. Camille Olson: 55:47 But I think there’s something really cool. If you say, what does the manuscript say all by itself? If it’s just behold, Elijah, but you translate Elijah. What is the message? You go back and tell Ahab what? Ah, you go tell Ahab, my God is Jehovah. Look at Obadiah’s answer. What have I sinned? Thou should deliver thy servant into the hands of Ahab?

Hank Smith: 56:17 “I’d rather not say that.”

Dr. Camille Olson: 56:21 You’re sending me to my death.

Hank Smith: 56:23 Go bear your testimony.

Dr. Camille Olson: 56:25 You go tell him, my God is Jehovah. And he says, “Oh, anyone, there’s no nation or kingdom, whether my Lord Ahab had sent. Not sent to seek thee.” There’s not a place where he hasn’t been sending people out to find you Elijah. And when they say he’s not here and they take an oath, they promise they haven’t found him. But now you’re telling me to go and tell him, my God is Jehovah. And verse 12. He goes, “Yeah. I just know it. As soon as I go, leave and tell him that, the Spirit will whisk you away somewhere else.” And so when he comes to find you won’t be here. And so, there I am saying, but he was here. I promise he was here.

Hank Smith: 57:08 I promise. And by the way, my God is Jehovah.

John Bytheway: 57:09 Yeah.

Dr. Camille Olson: 57:12 And look at the end there. See that “but” or nevertheless. Isn’t that the same thing? “But nevertheless, I know he’ll take my life, but nevertheless, I thy servant fear the LORD.” Fear Jehovah. I have feared him from my youth. And he tells again, remember, I was the one that hid those prophets in the cave and fed them. So verse 14, But now thy sayeth, go tell by Lord, behold, Jehovah is my God. And he shall slay me, but okay, I’m going to go, even though it’s going to happen.

Dr. Camille Olson: 57:50 And Elijah answers, “As the LORD of hosts liveth” I know I keep doing inserts, but I think it’s so cool. Do you know who the first one who said Lord of hosts in the Hebrew Bible who called Jehovah the Lord of hosts? It’s Hannah in her prayer in 1 Samuel Chapter One. She’s the first one to call him Lord of hosts. “As the LORD [Jehovah] of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself unto him today.” He makes an oath. I promise by the name, the sacred name of Jehovah, I’m not going away. So Obadiah goes and meets Ahab, tells him and Ahab goes to meet Elijah. And there they get together here after three and a half years.

Hank Smith: 58:45 Please join us for Part II of this podcast.