Page 254 - Bible History

V. HOLY SERVANTS OF GOD-THEIR PREACHING AND MIRACLES
1. ELIAS CONFOUNDS THE FALSE PROPHETS Meanwhit e Kingdom of Israel Was torn by plots The
and d1ssensi mong the people. After the death of isdi d
Jel')Oam;r , the general of an army, was made king by his o troops. At the same time, Thebni governed a part of the nation until he was killed in battle. Thersa, the capital of Israel's kingdom, was so ruined by re and civil war that Amri bought a hill northwest of Sichem and made it the new capital of his kingdom. He called it Samaria.
Achab, the son of Amri, became king upon his Adrou5ht father's death. He was a wicked man and he married inl a cruel and idolatrous woman named Jezabel. To please Jezabel, Achab built a temple to Baal in Samaria and a grove to the goddess Astarte. God
sent Elias, the Thesbite, a prophet and brave and fearless man, to the king, to tell him that because of
his sin there would be a great drought in the land and
that for three years neither dew nor rain would fall.
After Elias had foretold the drought, God directed Eli him to go to the Brook Carith. Here the prophet was :e, a fed morning and evening by a raven, which brought
him bread and meat. After some time the brook dried
up, and God directed him to go to Sarephta, near Sidon.
When Elias came to the gate of the city, he saw a 227
r: