Curious events in scripture

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phil112

Guest
#1
#1
Sometimes as I read I think "now what exactly happened, what was that like, etc."

One such event is 1 Kings 18:41 "And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain."

What is "a sound of abundance of rain"? It couldn't have been thunder. Read the following scriptures. There wasn't even a cloud for a while. Could it have been God telling him He was sending rain? It must have been a supernatural omen that only Elijah was aware of. Obviously it was a sound and it had to have been a sound that only Elijah heard. The scripture gives no indication that he had to move to tell Ahab to get up, so Ahab must have been nearby.
 
J

JesusIsAll

Guest
#2
#2
phil112 said:
Sometimes as I read I think "now what exactly happened, what was that like, etc."

One such event is 1 Kings 18:41 "And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain."

What is "a sound of abundance of rain"? It couldn't have been thunder. Read the following scriptures. There wasn't even a cloud for a while. Could it have been God telling him He was sending rain? It must have been a supernatural omen that only Elijah was aware of. Obviously it was a sound and it had to have been a sound that only Elijah heard. The scripture gives no indication that he had to move to tell Ahab to get up, so Ahab must have been nearby.
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The Lord had sent drought on the land, for Ahab and company doing some prohibited Baal worship thing,

1 Kings 17:1 And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, 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.

Drought is bad times, famine and sobering times. To make a short story shorter, the third year of the famine Elijah is sent to Ahab, to announce there will be rain, a soon end to the drought, finally more or less telling Ahab he can go party, eat, drink and be merry: rain is coming. But Elijah goes on to the mountains to pray for the rain, which does come. Sound abundance of rain is just very heavy rain.
 
P

phil112

Guest
#3
#3
JesusIsAll said:
The Lord had sent drought on the land, for Ahab and company doing some prohibited Baal worship thing,

1 Kings 17:1 And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, 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.

Drought is bad times, famine and sobering times. To make a short story shorter, the third year of the famine Elijah is sent to Ahab, to announce there will be rain, a soon end to the drought, finally more or less telling Ahab he can go party, eat, drink and be merry: rain is coming. But Elijah goes on to the mountains to pray for the rain, which does come. Sound abundance of rain is just very heavy rain.
Click to expand...
Of course heavy rain is noisy. That isn't what he heard and that isn't what the op is about. Read it again, read that passage, and think about it. What did Elijah hear? It wasn't rain.
 
T

The_highwayman

Guest
#4
#4
phil112 said:
Sometimes as I read I think "now what exactly happened, what was that like, etc."

One such event is 1 Kings 18:41 "And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain."

What is "a sound of abundance of rain"? It couldn't have been thunder. Read the following scriptures. There wasn't even a cloud for a while. Could it have been God telling him He was sending rain? It must have been a supernatural omen that only Elijah was aware of. Obviously it was a sound and it had to have been a sound that only Elijah heard. The scripture gives no indication that he had to move to tell Ahab to get up, so Ahab must have been nearby.
Click to expand...
The word sound in Hebrew means "voice" and we know that Elijah prayed for the rain to fall 1Kings 18.42 and confirmed again in James 5.17-18.

I believe the "sound" of the rain was God was telling Elijah to begin praying for Rain and also the sound of Elijah's prayer for the rains to fall.
 
dcontroversal

dcontroversal

Banned
#5
Dec 12, 2013
46,515
20,395
113
#5
I looked up the word sound and it had about 20-25 different applications of the which 2 of them were
1. Thundering
2. Crackling

Not saying this is what he heard, but I have seen sunny days and have heard the slight rumbling of thunder, but could not see the clouds due to a hill and the clouds being 5 to 10 miles on the other side of the hill.

Or, maybe he was so in tune with God that he had insight into what was coming.........
 
J

JesusIsAll

Guest
#6
#6
phil112 said:
Of course heavy rain is noisy. That isn't what he heard and that isn't what the op is about. Read it again, read that passage, and think about it. What did Elijah hear? It wasn't rain.
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Sorry. I don't get from that there was any strange sound, so maybe somebody else can see what you're seeing. Thunderstorms make sounds, don't know what else there is in the passage, as Elijah simply moves on to pray for rain.
 
GracethroughfaithinChrist

GracethroughfaithinChrist

Senior Member
#7
Sep 6, 2014
7,034
5,435
113
#7
1 Kings 18:41
And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.

Pulpit Commentary
for there is a sound of abundance of rain [Heb. for a voice of a noise - הָמון; cf. hum, an onomatopoetic word - of rain. Gesenius and Keil think that the prophet could already hear the sound of the drops of rain, but if so, it was only in spirit (cf. ver. 45). The words may refer to the rise of the wind which so often precedes a storm, but it is more probable that Elijah speaks of signs and intimations understood only by himself. This was the "word" of 1 Kings 17:1.]

1 Kings 17:1
And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, 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.

1 Kings 18:1
And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.

Could it be that Elijah knew it would rain when God sent him to Ahab (by faith in God and by being led by the Spirit) and was confidently saying "a voice of noise of rain" because he knew that when he prayed for rain it would happen and that was why God had sent him there.
 
J

JesusIsAll

Guest
#8
#8
Or maybe you're saying Elijah is literally hearing a rainstorm, as opposed to prophesying a rain storm? I take it Elijah is saying heavy rain is on the way (with maybe a little, "Go party, meathead!" thrown in, as Elijah goes on to pray, while Ahab parties), anyway, this just seems an expression of Elijah's prophecy of heavy rain on the way.
 
GracethroughfaithinChrist

GracethroughfaithinChrist

Senior Member
#9
Sep 6, 2014
7,034
5,435
113
#9
JesusIsAll said:
Or maybe you're saying Elijah is literally hearing a rainstorm, as opposed to prophesying a rain storm? I take it Elijah is saying heavy rain is on the way (with maybe a little, "Go party, meathead!" thrown in, as Elijah goes on to pray, while Ahab parties), anyway, this just seems an expression of Elijah's prophecy of heavy rain on the way.
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The Lord keep you brother :p
 
J

JesusIsAll

Guest
#10
#10
GracethroughfaithinChrist said:
1 Kings 18:41
And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.

Pulpit Commentary
for there is a sound of abundance of rain [Heb. for a voice of a noise - הָמון; cf. hum, an onomatopoetic word - of rain. Gesenius and Keil think that the prophet could already hear the sound of the drops of rain, but if so, it was only in spirit (cf. ver. 45). The words may refer to the rise of the wind which so often precedes a storm, but it is more probable that Elijah speaks of signs and intimations understood only by himself. This was the "word" of 1 Kings 17:1.]

1 Kings 17:1
And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, 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.

1 Kings 18:1
And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.

Could it be that Elijah knew it would rain when God sent him to Ahab (by faith in God and by being led by the Spirit) and was confidently saying "a voice of noise of rain" because he knew that when he prayed for rain it would happen and that was why God had sent him there.
Click to expand...
Elijah had a prior instruction from the Lord, but Elijah was a true prophet of God, a man of faith, and, as you mention, surely knew his prayer would be answered, and Elijah persists in his prayer, sends his servant to look for clouds seven times, does not waver.

1 Kings 18:1 And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.
 
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