1 Raja-raja 13:1

13:1 Just then ¹  a prophet ²  from Judah, sent by the Lord, arrived in Bethel, ³  as Jeroboam was standing near the altar ready to offer a sacrifice.

1 Raja-raja 17:18

17:18 She asked Elijah, “Why, prophet, have you come ⁴  to me to confront me with ⁵  my sin and kill my son?”

1 Raja-raja 17:24

17:24 The woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a prophet and that the Lord really does speak through you.” ⁶ 

[13:1]  ¹ tn Heb “Look.” The Hebrew particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) is a rhetorical device by which the author invites the reader to visualize the scene for dramatic effect.

[13:1]  ² tn Heb “the man of God.”

[13:1]  ³ tn Heb “came by the word of the Lord to Bethel.”

[17:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “What to me and to you, man of God, that you have come.”

[17:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “to make me remember.”

[17:24]  ⁶ tn Heb “you are a man of God and the word of the Lord is truly in your mouth.”

[17:24]  sn This episode is especially significant in light of Ahab’s decision to promote Baal worship in Israel. In Canaanite mythology the drought that swept over the region (v. 1) would signal that Baal, a fertility god responsible for providing food for his subjects, had been defeated by the god of death and was imprisoned in the underworld. While Baal was overcome by death and unable to function like a king, Israel’s God demonstrated his sovereignty and superiority to death by providing food for a widow and restoring life to her son. And he did it all in Sidonian territory, Baal’s back yard, as it were. The episode demonstrates that Israel’s God, not Baal, is the true king who provides food and controls life and death. This polemic against Baalism reaches its climax in the next chapter, when the Lord proves that he, not Baal, controls the elements of the storm and determines when the rains will fall.