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Kids Bible Blog: 1 Kings
Yes Lord!
TODAY’S SPECIAL: 1 Kings 18:1-15
TO CHEW ON: "After a long time, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah: 'Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.' So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab." 1 Kings 18:1,2
Obadiah had a tough job and an evil boss. His job was to be in charge of the palace in Samaria, where Ahab and Jezebel ruled. What made this especially hard was the fact that Obadiah loved and obeyed God. His boss, Ahab, didn’t.
Because Obadiah loved God, he did a dangerous thing. When Queen Jezebel was killing all the prophets of God, he sneaked one hundred of them away and hid them so they were safe.
The last while had been hard for King Ahab. Three years passed from when Elijah came to him and said there would be no rain. By now the land was completely scorched, the grass yellow, the plants brown and shriveled. This day Ahab sent Obadiah out to look for any patches of grass left where animals could graze....
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Tags: obedience Israel God’s plan Elijah 1 Kings
Wise Wish
TODAY’S SPECIAL: 1 Kings 3:5-15
TO CHEW ON: "The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this." 1 Kings 3:10
Suppose one day God came to you and said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” What would you ask for?
This very thing happened to young Solomon. It was in the beginning of his reign. He was about twenty years old and he didn’t have much experience. Every day he realized more what a big job it was to be king. One night he had a dream. In that dream God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”
Think of all of the things for which Solomon could have asked. Can you list some?...
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The Beginning of Solomon’s End
TODAY’S SPECIAL: 1 Kings 11:26-40
TO CHEW ON: "Then he said to Jeroboam, 'Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the Lord, the God if Israel, says: "See I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hands and give you ten tribes." ’ ” 1 Kings 11:31
Solomon ruled for many years. Though God had told him that the kingdom would be taken away from his family because they worshiped idols, everything went on as usual. Perhaps Solomon thought God had forgotten what He had said and wouldn’t do it after all.
After Solomon built the temple and his palace, he built many other things. One of his best workmen was Jeroboam. When Solomon saw how well Jeroboam did his job, he made him a boss over many people.
One day when Jeroboam was on his way home, he met Ahijah the prophet. When Ahijah saw Jeroboam he did a strange thing. He took off his new cloak and tore it into twelve pieces. “Take ten of these pieces for yourself,” he said to Jeroboam. “God told me to tell you, ‘I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and give you ten tribes. I’m doing this...
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Steps Downward
TODAY’S SPECIAL: 1 Kings 11:1-11
TO CHEW ON: "Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. So the Lord said to Solomon, 'Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates.'” 1 Kings 11:10,11
Solomon was known as the wisest man who ever lived. God came into the temple Solomon built. He talked to Solomon. He promised to make him wise and to keep his family the ruling family. But in order for that to happen, Solomon was to worship only God.
As Solomon’s power and fame grew, he began doing what many kings did and marrying many wives. He married over seven hundred princesses from other countries to help him get along with the nations around him. He married three hundred more women because they were beautiful and he liked them....
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Tags: worship Solomon sin consequences 1 Kings
Special Delivery
TODAY’S SPECIAL: 1 Kings 17:1-6
TO CHEW ON: “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.” 1 Kings 17:3,4
After Jeroboam died his son was king for two years. Then, like the prophet had predicted, Jeroboam’s family was completely wiped out and another man, Baasha, took the throne. In the forty years that followed, Baasha and three more kings ruled, each one more wicked than the last. Finally Ahab became king. He not only copied the evil of past kings but he also married a very evil woman, Jezebel. She brought with her a whole new set of Baal idols.
At this time God gave a prophet named Elijah a message for Ahab. So Elijah went to the palace, got an appointment with the king and told him, “This is what the God of Israel, whom I serve, told me to tell you. There will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years, except at my word.” Then he left.
True to what Elijah said, all dew and rain stopped. It got drier and drier. Soon the situation...
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Tags: Israel God’s care Elijah 1 Kings
Quick to Follow
TODAY’S SPECIAL: 1 Kings 19:19-21
TO CHEW ON: "Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah." 1 Kings 19:20
One of the jobs God gave Elijah was to find and call the person who would be the next prophet. We don’t know how Elijah knew which person to choose. God probably told him. Neither do we know much about the person he picked – Elisha – except that he was a farmer.
Elijah found Elisha in a field. He was plowing with oxen.
Elijah called him by going up to him and throwing his prophet cloak over Elisha’s shoulders. Our Bible doesn’t tell us if Elijah explained to Elisha what he meant by this. But Elisha knew exactly what Elijah was asking.
1. What did Elisha do? ( 1 Kings 19:20) ________
2. Did Elijah force Elisha to come with him? ________
"And Elisha left the oxen and ran after Elijah" 1 Kings 19:20 Artist's name – Diana Shimon
For some reason Elisha was ready to follow Elijah. Maybe in the days just before Elijah came, he had been feeling restless about being a farmer. Maybe he had been asking God to show him what he should do instead. Maybe he had heard of Elijah, and wanted...
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Tags: puzzle obedience Israel God’s plan Elisha Elijah 1 Kings
Made Things and the Maker
TODAY’S SPECIAL: 1 Kings 4:29-34
TO CHEW ON: "He spoke about plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also spoke about animals and birds, reptiles and fish." 1 Kings 4:33
We can learn things about people in many ways. One of them is by looking at what they’ve made. Suppose you saw a display of birdhouses. On the left side is a description of five of those houses. On the right side are things you might learn about the person who made them. Match the things that go together.
Solomon prayed for wisdom. God answered his prayer. He was known as the wisest man of his time. As well as making up thousands of wise sayings (called proverbs) and composing over one thousand songs, Solomon studied nature. In a time before binoculars, microscopes and dive expeditions, Solomon knew much about plants, animals, birds, reptiles and fish....
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Keep On Praying
TODAY’S SPECIAL: 1 Kings 18:41-46
TO CHEW ON:"Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. 'Go and look toward the sea,' he told his servant. And he went up and looked. 'There is nothing there," he said. Seven times Elijah said, 'Go back.'" 1 Kings 18: 42,43
God sent the fire to burn Elijah’s sacrifice. Elijah killed all the Baal prophets. But there was more to come. For God told Elijah He would send rain on dry, dusty Israel. Even though the sun was still blazing from the cloudless sky, Elijah was sure that God would keep His promise. “Rain is coming,” he told Ahab.
Then Elijah went to the top of Carmel, got on his knees and began praying for rain. After he had prayed for a while, he sent his servant to check the distant horizon.
“Nothing,” the servant told Elijah when he got back.
Elijah prayed some more. Then he sent the servant to look again.
Again the servant saw nothing – no clouds, no sign of rain.
Five more times Elijah prayed and sent his servant to check the horizon.
- How do you think Elijah felt as he prayed and prayed but...
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Tags: write trust problems prayer Israel faith Elijah 1 Kings
Fire Power
TODAY’S SPECIAL: 1 Kings 18:25-39
TO CHEW ON: “Answer me, O Lord, answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” 1 Kings 18:37
“You go first,” Elijah told the Baal prophets. “Prepare your sacrifice. Put it on the wood. But don’t light a fire under it. Instead, pray to Baal to send the fire.”
The four hundred prophets of Baal did as Elijah said. It was morning when they began to pray. “Oh Baal, answer us!” they shouted, over and over, louder and louder. When nothing happened, they shouted even louder and began dancing around.
When it was noon and still nothing had happened, Elijah began to tease then. “Maybe your god is meditating. He is a god, after all. Or maybe he’s busy, or traveling or sleeping.”
So the prophets yelled at the top of their voices and danced around and even cut themselves. Soon there was chaos, screaming and blood everywhere – but still no fire.
Finally Elijah said to the people watching, “Come here.”
They crowded around as he repaired the ruined altar of God that was on the mountain. Then he dug a deep trench around it. He put...
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Tags: worship miracles Israel God’s help Elijah discussion 1 Kings
Discouraged
TODAY’S SPECIAL: 1 Kings 19:1-9aTO CHEW ON: "Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. ... he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. 'I have had enough, Lord,' he said. 'Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.' ” 1 Kings 19:3,4No sooner did Ahab get home and tell Queen Jezebel that Elijah had killed her Baal prophets than Jezebel threatened Elijah’s life. “By this time tomorrow, you’ll be dead like them,” she told him by messenger.If Elijah expected Jezebel to believe in God after the contest on the mountain, he saw now that wasn’t going to happen. Her message terrified him. He and his servant took off, running as fast and as far as they could. When they got to Beersheba, Elijah let his servant rest while he traveled another day, far into the desert.As he ran and walked and ran some more, he probably thought of what had just happened. It seemed that Ahab hadn’t learned anything from the three years of no rain and the contest on the mountain. Even though he, Elijah, had done his...
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Tags: Israel God’s care fear Elijah discouragement angels 1 Kings
Decision Time
TODAY’S SPECIAL:1 Kings 18:16-24
TO CHEW ON: "Elijah went before the people and said, 'How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.' But the people said nothing." 1 Kings 18:21
Obadiah found Ahab and told him that Elijah had turned up.
“Is it really you, you troublemaker?” Ahab asked when he saw Elijah.
“I’m no troublemaker,” Elijah replied. “You’re the one who is making trouble by ignoring God’s commands and following Baal instead. But it’s time for a showdown. Get all the Baal prophets and gather the people on Mount Carmel.”
When everyone had gathered, Elijah addressed the people. “How long will you go back and forth?” he asked. “It’s time to decide who you’re going to follow. So we’ll have a contest. We’ll prepare two sacrifices. The Baal prophets will put together a sacrifice for Baal and I’ll prepare one for God. Then we’ll each pray to our god. The one that answers by sending fire to burn his sacrifice is the real God. He is the one we should worship."
The people agreed this was a good plan.
PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to know that You are the real...
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Tags: worship prayer Israel God’s character Elijah discussion 1 Kings
Back to Work
TODAY’S SPECIAL: 1 Kings 19:9-18
TO CHEW ON: "Then the Lord said to him, 'Go back the way you came. . . .'” 1 Kings 19:15
When Elijah came to Mount Horeb, he found a cave in which to sleep. That night God spoke to him. “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
“I’ve done my best for You,” Elijah replied. “But the Israelites have turned their backs on You. They’ve broken your altars and killed your prophets. I’m the only one left. Now they’re trying to kill me too.”
“Come outside,” God told him. “I want to show you something.”
As Elijah stood outside the cave, a powerful wind came up, shaking the trees and loosening rocks so they came tumbling down. But Elijah didn’t hear God in the wind. Suddenly the earth underneath him began shaking. But Elijah didn’t hear God in the earthquake. Then he saw fires burning around him. But God wasn’t in the fires either.
Finally Elijah heard a quiet voice. He recognized it. It was God. Again God asked him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?...
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Tags: work Israel God’s plan Elijah 1 Kings
Amazing Flour and Oil
TODAY’S SPECIAL: 1 Kings 17:7-16
TO CHEW ON: "Elijah said to her, 'Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: "The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land." ' ” 1 Kings 17:13,14
After Elijah had lived by the brook for a while, he noticed a change. The hot sun was drying it up. It no longer flowed fast. Soon it was only a trickle. One day there was no water left in the brook at all.
That day God spoke to Elijah again. “Go at once to Zarephath in Sidon. A widow there will feed you.”
So Elijah walked to Zarephath. It was a hundred mile trip through scorching dessert, over rugged hills and through mountain passes. When he finally got to the Zarephath gate he was covered with dust, famished and very thirsty. “Could you please give me a drink...
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Tags: trust Israel God’s care generosity Elijah 1 Kings
A Young King’s Advisers
TODAY’S SPECIAL: 1 Kings 12:1-15
TO CHEW ON: "But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him." 1 Kings 12:8
After being king in Israel for forty years, Solomon died. When Jeroboam, who was still in Egypt, heard this, he rushed back to Israel. Then he led the people of Israel when they came before Solomon’s son Rehoboam, who was the new king. They wanted to ask something of him.
“Solomon your father forced us to work very hard,” they said. “We will serve you as king if you are easier on us.”
“I’ll give you my decision in three days,” Rehoboam told them. During those days, Rehoboam went to some people for advice. First he went to the elders, those men who had advised his father and had experience working with people and in government.
Then Rehoboam went to his friends, the young men he’d grown up with. “What do you think?” he asked them. “Should I do what the people ask?”
“No way!” they said to him. “You’re the king. Make sure they know it. Tell them, if you think my father was bad, you haven’t seen anything yet!”...
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A Plan of His Own
TODAY’S SPECIAL: 1 Kings 12:25-33
TO CHEW ON: "The king made two golden calves. He said to the people, 'It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.' " 1 Kings 12:28
Jeroboam went to live in Schechem and ruled Israel from there. The prophet had told him he would be a successful king if he obeyed God. Even so, Jeroboam began to be afraid. His people would go back to Jerusalem to worship. What if traveling back to Jerusalem would make them want Rehoboam as their king again?
So Jeroboam made a plan to keep that from happening. Instead of encouraging the people to worship God in the temple in Jerusalem he set up calf idols nearby – one in Dan and another in Bethel. He told the people, "Here are the gods who brought you out of Egypt." Then he chose people who weren’t in the Levi tribe to be the priests. They offered sacrifices to the golden calves.
Jeroboam also invented new festivals. At festival time, the people now went to Dan or Bethel instead of Jerusalem. In no time the people who had chosen Jeroboam as...
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Tags: worship trust prophecy memory verse Israel idols 1 Kings
A House For God
TODAY’S SPECIAL: I Kings 5:1-7
TO CHEW ON: "I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God as the Lord told my father, David, when he said, 'Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my name.'” 1 Kings 5:5
When Solomon had been king for four years, he decided it was time to keep the promise he’d made to his dad and build a house for God.
He contacted King Hiram of Tyre to get permission to cut down huge cedar and pine trees. He called up thousands of men to work. Some felled trees.
Others worked in quarries cutting boulders into square building stones. Many moved the wood and stone blocks to Jerusalem. Still others worked in Jerusalem, putting the temple together.
After the gigantic stones were in place, workmen covered the walls with wood. They made floors, so that the temple was three stories high. They made the sanctuary – the room where the ark would sit – extra special, covering all the walls and ceiling with gold. Workmen carved beautiful decorations of fruits and flowers for the temple and made fifteen-foot high angel statues to decorate...
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