How I figure this topic will work:
Well to be bluntly honest with you all, I personally figured the Bible Discussion Section typically has a lot of the same themed topics and set up for those topics. Nothing wrong with that because I understand many people got questions and I like how we all help eachother with those questions. I merely figured I might try something new here to sort of spruce up and keep fresh our studying of the Bible.
Now dictionary.com's first definition of an Epic is what I am going for with this topic:
Epic- Noting or pertaining to a long poetic composition, usually centered upon a hero, in which a series of great achievements or events is narrated in elevated style: Homer's Iliad is an epic poem.
So basically my idea is this and here will be the rules for this topic:
1. Every few days I will advance the story of Elijah, simply by copy pasting whatever pertains to him in Kings 1 & 2. I will ask that I be the only one to advance the topic in regards to Elijah's epic story. (I will try to do this regularly either after a given space of time or if we all feel we have all sufficiently discussed the part of the story all ready posted.)
2. This is where you come in, we will simply discuss each part of the Epic as we move along in whatever manner you deem fit be it simple observation/comment, questions, archaeological finds relating to this time period, extra-Biblical hsitory surrounding this time era, and all the typical Bible Discussion stuff we engage in daily on here.
Aside from all that I personally will be using the KJV because I like the style of it (just seems so much more epic in ye olde english.) However I encourage you all to follow along with any translation you wish. So without further ado, let's get to it!
[SUP]29 [/SUP]And in the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel: and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years. [SUP]30 [/SUP]And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him.
[SUP]31 [/SUP]And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.
[SUP]32 [/SUP]And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.
[SUP]33 [/SUP]And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.
[SUP]34 [/SUP]In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.
Elijah and the Widow: 1 Kings Chapter 17
17 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.
[SUP]2 [/SUP]And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying,
[SUP]3 [/SUP]Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.
[SUP]4 [/SUP]And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.
[SUP]5 [/SUP]So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.
[SUP]6 [/SUP]And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.
[SUP]7 [/SUP]And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
[SUP]8 [/SUP]And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying,
[SUP]9 [/SUP]Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.
[SUP]10 [/SUP]So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.
[SUP]11 [/SUP]And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.
[SUP]12 [/SUP]And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
[SUP]13 [/SUP]And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.
[SUP]14 [/SUP]For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.
[SUP]15 [/SUP]And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.
[SUP]16 [/SUP]And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.
[SUP]17 [/SUP]And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.
[SUP]18 [/SUP]And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?
[SUP]19 [/SUP]And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.
[SUP]20 [/SUP]And he cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?
[SUP]21 [/SUP]And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again.
[SUP]22 [/SUP]And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.
[SUP]23 [/SUP]And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth.
[SUP]24 [/SUP]And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth.
(So just to recap on the point of the topic. Here is the beginning of Elijah's epic, comment on any part of the story in whatever way you wish. After we are comfortable with our discussion of this part of Elijah's story or after a few days pass I shall advance the story. And if you are over-excited like I usually am you can of course always pick up a Bible and of course read ahead )
Well to be bluntly honest with you all, I personally figured the Bible Discussion Section typically has a lot of the same themed topics and set up for those topics. Nothing wrong with that because I understand many people got questions and I like how we all help eachother with those questions. I merely figured I might try something new here to sort of spruce up and keep fresh our studying of the Bible.
Now dictionary.com's first definition of an Epic is what I am going for with this topic:
Epic- Noting or pertaining to a long poetic composition, usually centered upon a hero, in which a series of great achievements or events is narrated in elevated style: Homer's Iliad is an epic poem.
So basically my idea is this and here will be the rules for this topic:
1. Every few days I will advance the story of Elijah, simply by copy pasting whatever pertains to him in Kings 1 & 2. I will ask that I be the only one to advance the topic in regards to Elijah's epic story. (I will try to do this regularly either after a given space of time or if we all feel we have all sufficiently discussed the part of the story all ready posted.)
2. This is where you come in, we will simply discuss each part of the Epic as we move along in whatever manner you deem fit be it simple observation/comment, questions, archaeological finds relating to this time period, extra-Biblical hsitory surrounding this time era, and all the typical Bible Discussion stuff we engage in daily on here.
Aside from all that I personally will be using the KJV because I like the style of it (just seems so much more epic in ye olde english.) However I encourage you all to follow along with any translation you wish. So without further ado, let's get to it!
Epic Bible Study: Elijah the Tishbite
Prologue: 1 Kings 16:29-34
[SUP]29 [/SUP]And in the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel: and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years. [SUP]30 [/SUP]And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him.
[SUP]31 [/SUP]And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.
[SUP]32 [/SUP]And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.
[SUP]33 [/SUP]And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.
[SUP]34 [/SUP]In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.
Elijah and the Widow: 1 Kings Chapter 17
17 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.
[SUP]2 [/SUP]And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying,
[SUP]3 [/SUP]Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.
[SUP]4 [/SUP]And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.
[SUP]5 [/SUP]So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.
[SUP]6 [/SUP]And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.
[SUP]7 [/SUP]And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
[SUP]8 [/SUP]And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying,
[SUP]9 [/SUP]Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.
[SUP]10 [/SUP]So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.
[SUP]11 [/SUP]And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.
[SUP]12 [/SUP]And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
[SUP]13 [/SUP]And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.
[SUP]14 [/SUP]For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.
[SUP]15 [/SUP]And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.
[SUP]16 [/SUP]And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.
[SUP]17 [/SUP]And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.
[SUP]18 [/SUP]And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?
[SUP]19 [/SUP]And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.
[SUP]20 [/SUP]And he cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?
[SUP]21 [/SUP]And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again.
[SUP]22 [/SUP]And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.
[SUP]23 [/SUP]And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth.
[SUP]24 [/SUP]And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth.
(So just to recap on the point of the topic. Here is the beginning of Elijah's epic, comment on any part of the story in whatever way you wish. After we are comfortable with our discussion of this part of Elijah's story or after a few days pass I shall advance the story. And if you are over-excited like I usually am you can of course always pick up a Bible and of course read ahead )