This is the fourth and final part of my very brief overview of the Old Testament. We continue with our look at Old Testament prophets and how to connect their stories to our present-day experiences.

Hello, this is Chris Young. Welcome to Episode 105 of Contemplating Life.

In this episode, I continue a multi-part series based on my 30 years of teaching the Catholic faith in my local parish’s inquiry program.

As always, whenever I talk about religion, I’m not out to convert anyone. I’m just telling my stories.

Note: Handout materials for this lesson are available as PDFs linked in the episode description.

This is the fourth and final part of my very brief overview of the Old Testament. Actually, I was going to wrap things up last time, but the episode was too long, so this is really sort of Episode 104 – Part 2. In this final segment, we will discuss the pros and cons of being a prophet and the dangers of false prophecy.

Before we get started, I have a retraction to make about previous episodes. I’ve been misidentifying the particular translation of Scripture that I’ve been using. The English language translation use that Mass in the United States is called the “New American Bible.” It is abbreviated NAB.

I’ve been calling it the NASB, which stands for New American Standard Bible. The links I have been providing in the descriptions of these podcasts come from the website of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, or USCCB. Those are an updated version of the NAB, called the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE). I’ve been misidentifying them as NASB throughout this podcast. I’m going to produce a mini episode explaining all of this in more detail. So, check that out. It should be available any day.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled podcast.

 

What’s it like to be a prophet? For one, prophets have power. One of my favorite Old Testament stories is about the prophet Elijah. It runs from 1 Kings 16:29 through 1 Kings 18:26.

This guy named Ahab became the king of Israel and ruled for 22 years. It says he “did what was evil in the Lord’s sight more than any of his predecessors.” Not only did he marry a woman named Jezebel (perhaps that’s where the word gets its negative connotation), but he went over to the veneration and worship of Jezebel’s God, Baal. He even erected a temple to this false God. It says, “You did more to anger the Lord, the God of Israel, than any of the kings before him.” [1 Kings 18:32-33]

It reminds me of the old song by comedian Allan Sherman about King Louis of France, who was the worst of all of the French kings.

Louis the Sixteenth was the King of France in 1789

He was worse than Louis the Fifteenth

He was worse than Louis the Fourteenth

He was worse than Louis the Thirteenth

He was the worst since Louis the First

[end]

The prophet Elijah delivers a message to Ahab. “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, during these years there shall be no dew or rain except at my word.” [1 Kings 17:1]

Then the Lord tells Elijah to leave and to hide out in the land east of the Jordan. He tells him don’t worry, you can drink from the stream, and I will command ravens to feed you there. And it happened. Eventually, the stream ran dry, and God sent him elsewhere, where he met a widow and her son.

He asked the widow to prepare some food for him. She explains that they have only a small amount of flour and oil for one meal for her and her son. After that, they will starve after death. After this bit of melodrama, he convinces her to make him something first. When she does, the flour and oil magically replenish, and they all three ate well for a year and a half.

Sometime later, the widow’s son fell ill. Elijah was able to miraculously revive him using what sounds like an early version of CPR.

I encourage you to read these accounts of Elijah’s self-imposed exile during the drought. There are some really interesting stories of how powerful Elijah was and how God took care of him.

Finally, after two years, the Lord tells Elijah, it’s time to go back to Ahab, and I will end the drought. He’s been punished enough.

Meanwhile, a guy named Obadiah had been left behind trying to protect believers in the true prophets of the Lord. He helped the prophets hide out, and he brought them food and water. Naturally, there was a lot of animosity towards them for causing the drought. When Elijah returned, Obadiah spotted him coming. I love this scene.

 

As Obadiah was on his way, Elijah met him. Recognizing him, Obadiah fell prostrate and asked, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?”

He said to him, “Yes. Go tell your lord, ‘Elijah is here!’”

But Obadiah said, “What sin has your servant committed, that you are handing me over to Ahab to be killed? As the LORD, your God, lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent in search of you. When they replied, ‘He is not here,’ he made each kingdom and nation swear they could not find you. And now you say, ‘Go tell your lord: Elijah is here! ’After I leave you, the spirit of the LORD will carry you to some place I do not know, and when I go to inform Ahab, and he does not find you, he will kill me—though your servant has revered the LORD from his youth! [1 Kings 18:7-12]

 

I love Obadiah’s attitude. What did I do to you to put me in this god-awful position? As sure as I go tell him you’re back, you will run off again, leaving me like you did the last time!

Obadiah then recounts everything he’s done and how faithful he has been while Elijah was away.

 

Elijah answered, “As the LORD of hosts lives, whom I serve, I will present myself to him today.” So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and informed him, and Ahab came to meet Elijah.

When Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is it you, you disturber of Israel?”

He answered, “It is not I who disturbs Israel, but you and your father’s house, by forsaking the commands of the LORD and you by following the Baals. Now summon all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, as well as the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.” [1 Kings 18:15-19]

 

So, they all gathered on the mountain, and Elijah prepared a demonstration. He told the people to pick a side. Sort of like the way Joshua gave a choice to the people in the example I gave last episode. Follow the false prophets of Baal or follow the true God. They prepared 2 sacrifices. One for the false prophets and one for Elijah. They didn’t like the fire. Whichever God could ignite the sacrifice was the true God. Everyone agreed. It says…

 

Taking the young bull that was turned over to them, they prepared it and called upon Baal from morning to noon, saying, “Baal, answer us!” But there was no sound, and no one answering. And they hopped around the altar they had prepared.

When it was noon, Elijah taunted them: “Call louder, for he is a god; he may be busy doing his business, or may be on a journey. Perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.”

[1 Kings 18:26-27]

 

Elijah sure knew how to talk trash. Can’t you just picture these guys dancing around their altar, trying to get their god to ignite the sacrifice?

 

They called out louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears according to their ritual until blood gushed over them. Noon passed, and they remained in a prophetic state until the time for offering sacrifice. But there was no sound, no one answering, no one listening.

Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” When they drew near to him, he repaired the altar of the LORD, which had been destroyed. He took twelve stones, for the number of tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the LORD had said: Israel shall be your name. He built the stones into an altar to the name of the LORD, and made a trench around the altar large enough for two measures of grain. When he had arranged the wood, he cut up the young bull and laid it on the wood.

He said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it over the burnt offering and over the wood.” “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again. “Do it a third time,” he said, and they did it a third time. The water flowed around the altar; even the trench was filled with the water.

At the time for offering sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came forward and said, “LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, LORD! Answer me, that this people may know that you, LORD, are God and that you have turned their hearts back to you.”

The LORD’s fire came down and devoured the burnt offering, wood, stones, and dust, and lapped up the water in the trench.

[By the way, I wonder if this is where they got the idea of Jewish space lasers. Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Anyway…]

Seeing this, all the people fell prostrate and said, “The LORD is God! The LORD is God!”

Then Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Let none of them escape!” They seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon, and there he slaughtered them.

[1 Kings 18: 28-40]

 

Wow. He certainly showed them up.

However, I told you that story so I can tell you this one. There is a cost to being a prophet. Elijah had to go into hiding after telling Ahab there would be a drought. When he returned, Obadiah felt the cost of doing the right thing. He feared for the consequences of being faithful. Elijah knew he was doing what the Lord wanted. He was going to purge all of these false prophets and set things right. He became somewhat zealous about it. He may have gone too far. And he was going to suffer the consequences.

When Ahab told Jezebel about what had happened, she wanted Elijah killed. Keep in mind, Jezebel was the whole reason that Ahab converted to worship Baal in the first place. You can just imagine that difficult conversation. “You let that guy show you up and kill all the prophets to my God? Get off your ass and do something about it.”

Elijah had to escape into the desert. He became severely depressed. He did the right thing. Perhaps overboard. And now he was being hunted. It says in 1 Kings 19:4-18

 

He prayed for death: “Enough, LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” He lay down and fell asleep under the solitary broom tree, but suddenly a messenger touched him and said, “Get up and eat!”

He looked, and there at his head was a hearth cake and a jug of water. After he ate and drank, he lay down again, but the angel of the LORD came back a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat or the journey will be too much for you!”

He got up, ate, and drank; then strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb. There he came to a cave, where he took shelter. But the word of the LORD came to him: Why are you here, Elijah?

He answered: “I have been most zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts, but the Israelites have forsaken your covenant. They have destroyed your altars and murdered your prophets by the sword. I alone remain, and they seek to take my life.”

Then the LORD said: Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will pass by. There was a strong and violent wind rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD—but the LORD was not in the wind; after the wind, an earthquake—but the LORD was not in the earthquake; after the earthquake, fire—but the LORD was not in the fire; after the fire, a light, silent sound.

When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. A voice said to him, Why are you here, Elijah?

He replied, “I have been most zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts, but the Israelites have forsaken your covenant. They have destroyed your altars and murdered your prophets by the sword. I alone remain, and they seek to take my life.” [1 Kings 19:4-18]

 

Can’t you just imagine Elijah sitting there in the cave, repeatedly asking himself, “How did I get here? What did I do? Did I do the right thing? Why am I so scared? What am I going to do next?” But, in that tiny, soft, whispering voice, he heard God telling him what to do.

 

The LORD said to him: Go back! Take the desert road to Damascus. When you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king of Aram. You shall also anoint Jehu, son of Nimshi, as king of Israel, and Elisha, son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah, as prophet to succeed you.

Anyone who escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill. Anyone who escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill. But I will spare seven thousand in Israel—every knee that has not bent to Baal, every mouth that has not kissed him. [1 Kings 19: 4-18]

 

This story speaks to me on so many levels. You may recall from Episode 40 that I told the stories of my ministry on the finance committee at Saint Gabriel. We were in financial trouble. The so-called experts of fundraising say that you should keep hitting up your big money donors. The smaller donors are fine, but they are giving all they can. Even if those $5 donors gave $6 each, it still wouldn’t help. You can only make up a shortfall by going after the wealthy. In traditional charitable giving, that’s a good strategy.

The problem was that we were not doing traditional fundraising. We were promoting tithing. The philosophy was, don’t give because we need money. Saying that we need money is nearly heresy. It’s saying that God didn’t give us what we need. We said, give 10% because it’s the right thing to do. Now, if we come along and say we need more, it looks greedy. It says that the scripturally based idea of tithing didn’t work.

I tried to warn them it would backfire. I tried to be a prophet. Although they didn’t come after me with swords, it hurt to be ignored. See, I didn’t want to be right. I didn’t want to get in my “I told you so.” It hurt me to say that the parish I loved was going in the wrong direction. I had been zealous for the Lord, and I was paying a price for it. Like Elijah, I wanted to crawl into a cave and hide.

In some ways, I did. I withdrew emotionally. I tried to hear God. All I heard was storms, earthquakes, and noises. I had to find that quiet place in the cave where I could hear God whispering that it would be okay.

Unfortunately, my prophecy was right. There was backlash. Some of our wealthy donors were upset, and hitting them up for more money alienated some of them, and in the end, it didn’t help our financial problems. We had to try other strategies that were consistent with our principles. I was unable to call us back to those principles. The parish had to find its way back on its own.

In the New Testament, even Jesus had a rough time when he went home to Galilee. In Luke 4:24, he says, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.” Said things like, “Isn’t that Jesus the carpenter’s son? Why should we listen to him?” The same story is told in Matthew 13:57 and Mark 6:4. But what is really unusual is that it is also told in John 4:44. It’s common for Matthew, Mark, and Luke to agree. They are known as the synoptic Gospels. Synoptic means they see alike. John usually goes off and tells his own stories in his own way. This must’ve been a big deal to the gospel authors if they all four included it.

The bottom line is, it was hard for me to be a prophet in my own parish.

Sometimes I feel burdened by my role as a prophet or any other difficult job in my ministry. I often say, “Who died and left me this crappy job to do? Well… I guess it was Jesus, wasn’t it?”

That brings us to our next point. A prophet is called by God. You don’t just get to do it on your own. In Jeremiah 1:4-10 it says…

 

The word of the LORD came to me: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.

“Ah, Lord GOD!” I said, “I do not know how to speak. I am too young!”

But the LORD answered me, Do not say, “I am too young.” To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak. [Jeremiah 1:4-7]

 

It sort of sounds like God is saying, “Ask not what your God can do for you. Ask what you can do for your God.” Continuing with verse 8…

 

Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you—oracle of the LORD. Then the LORD extended his hand and touched my mouth, saying to me, See, I place my words in your mouth. Today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, To uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to demolish, to build and to plant. [Jeremiah 1:8-10]

 

Many of the other prophets felt unworthy. However, God makes them worthy. In Isaiah 6:1-8, Isaiah has a vision in which he is called to be a prophet.

 

In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, with the train of his garment filling the temple. Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings: with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they hovered.

One cried out to the other: “Holy, holy, holy* is the LORD of hosts! All the earth is filled with his glory!”

At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook, and the house was filled with smoke. Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed!* For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips,d and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember which he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with it. “See,” he said, “now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” “Here I am,” I said, “send me!” [Isaiah 6:1-6]

 

That particular passage is quite meaningful to me, and to much of Saint Gabriel Parish back when I was active. I’ve spoken before about our parish renewal program called Christ Renews His Parish. A primary goal of that program was to inspire people to become more actively involved in parish activities. We had a theme song for that program, which was titled “Here I Am, Lord.” It was based in part upon that scripture quote. I’ve provided a link to the song on Spotify.

Once you feel a call to some sort of ministry in the church, even if it isn’t as a prophet, that call can become irresistible. One of the prime examples of that irresistible call is the famous myth of Jonah and the great fish (sometimes called a whale) in Jonah 1-3. We always hear about Jonah and the whale, but you rarely hear how he got there in the first place.

Jonah was called to go preach a message of repentance to the people of Nineveh who had gone astray. Jonah didn’t want to go. He didn’t think the people of Nineveh were worth saving. He chartered a passage on a boat headed in the opposite direction from Nineveh. God sent a vicious storm that nearly destroyed the boat. When the sailors discovered it was Jonah’s fault, they threw him overboard, and he was swallowed by a giant fish. Three days later, the fish spits him out onto a beach. Guess where… Nineveh. Jonah preached repentance to them reluctantly. And then was still angry when they actually repented.

Scripture warns that there are many false prophets. In the story we told earlier about Elijah, it says that the false prophets outnumbered the good ones 850 to 1.

Jeremiah says, “A shocking, horrible thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests teach as they wish; Yet my people will have it so; what will you do when the end comes?”

God warns that false prophets tell the people what they want to hear and do not speak for God. You can see examples of this in Jeremiah 14:11-60 and 23:9-25.

In Deuteronomy 18:20, God orders that false prophets be put to death. Anytime you lie, it’s a sin. But it’s particularly bad when you claim to be speaking for God, and you aren’t. We see too much of that today.

How do you know if a prophet is true or false? Sometimes it takes time. Sometimes you have to wait to see if the prophecy comes true. Again, we are not focusing too much on the predictive abilities of prophets. But if the prophecy leads you further astray, in the end, you will suffer for it and realize that the person was a false prophet.

Currently, many people are realizing that they may have been following a false prophet in the form of Donald Trump. They thought he was speaking for God, but gradually, too late, they are discovering their mistake and facing buyer’s remorse. It’s easy to be seduced by a false prophet. Sometimes it just takes time for things to play out, and you realize your mistake.

Even Moses, who spoke directly with God, had his doubts. He wasn’t sure he was really being called by God. It was only years later, in retrospect, that he could be certain he had done the right thing.

In Exodus 3, when Moses was first called to lead the people, God spoke to him through a burning bush. Moses was initially a bit skeptical. He wanted to know who he was talking to. God said he was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God had seen the suffering of his people in Egypt and was sending Moses to rescue them and lead them to the promised land.

 

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

God answered: I will be with you; and this will be your sign that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will serve God at this mountain. [Exodus 3:11-12]

 

So, Moses would have to wait to see if he ended up back here successfully, then he would know he did the right thing.

Anyway, in Exodus 18, Moses realizes the prophecy was true; he ends up back in the land with his father-in-law Jethro, offering sacrifice to the LORD on that same mountain where he received his initial call. Only in retrospect is he certain that he really was doing God’s work. Sometimes, we think we are doing God’s work but we can’t really be sure until we see how things turn out.

That’s going to wrap things up for our brief look at the Old Testament. I hope you have come to appreciate why many things in the Old Testament seem so different from the New Testament. It isn’t because God is different. It’s because we are different.

If we go back to what we said about the Ascending View of Scripture, we understand that Scripture was not handed down by Divine Dictation. Rather, people of faith recorded their experiences of God to be handed down across generations. We have to understand Scripture in this context. In the Old Testament, humanity is like a rebellious child who must occasionally be disciplined. We need laws to keep us on the right path. Sometimes we have to be punished to get our attention. We have to be taught that there are consequences to our actions.

On the other hand, we were sent prophets whose job it was to call us back when we went astray. If we heed these prophets and their warnings, we will reap the benefits.

Sometimes, we have to listen to personal prophets. Our friends and family occasionally have to call us back to the right path. And sometimes, we are called to be prophets as well. Not to sit in judgment of others, but to lovingly remind people how to be the best versions of themselves.

When I taught these lessons, I would speak for about 90 minutes, and the remainder of the session was devoted to a discussion period. Here are the discussion questions I offered for our group sharing after this lesson. You can also find these questions in the PDF handout materials.

1. Is your image of God that of a harsh judge waiting to find fault with you, or is He a loving parent who protects you
2. Has your image of God changed over your life in regards to topic #1?
3. How do you feel about giving
4. Does god still speak to us through others? Who are our modern-day prophets? Who are false prophets?
5. Have you ever been a prophet to a friend/relative like David & Nathan? Or have they been one to you?
6. Can you give an incident in your life when god truly spoke to you, even if it was ever so softly?
7. How do you feel about this statement: The First Amendment to the Constitution which codifies the separation Church and State, which protects us from violating the First Commandment against worshipping false gods

In future episodes, we will wrap up this series of RCIA lessons with our brief look at the New Testament which will also be a failure because I had to teach the entire New Testament in one evening.

I will probably take a break from this series before that.

In our next episode, I will have a reflection about religious symbolism in literature, movies, and TV. This will include a look at the Netflix series “Stranger Things”.

By then, it will be time for the Academy Awards. I will again attempt to review all 10 movies nominated for Best Picture and perhaps some of the other major acting awards. But we will get back to the New Testament eventually.

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I will see you next time as we continue contemplating life. Until then, fly safe.