Today’s Scripture Reading (May 27,
2013): 1 Kings 17
Every week the show opened the same
way. The sound of a trumpet, the image of a man riding a white horse through a
small gully, and the familiar words of
the narrator - A fiery horse with the
speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty "Hi Yo Silver!" The Lone
Ranger. "Hi Yo Silver, away!" With his faithful Indian companion
Tonto, the daring and resourceful masked rider of the plains, led the fight for
law and order in the early west. Return with us now to those thrilling days of
yesteryear. The Lone Ranger rides again!” And with these words the viewer was transported back
to a simpler time when a masked man on a horse was enough to keep the criminals
in a state of fear. The whole point of The Lone Ranger is that he was a man of
mystery. No one knew who it was that wore the mask. But no one really needed to
know everything about the masked man – only that he existed and stood on the
side of what was right.
The story of the Kings of
Israel now moves into another Chapter. And with Ahab on the throne of the
southern Kingdom, a new character moves to take center stage – the man named
Elijah. The two men could not have been more different. It was not just that
one was a king and the other a commoner, but rather that one knew his lineage,
Ahab was the son of Omri and a descendant of David, and the other seemed
without lineage. The familiar proclamation of the prophet being “the son of” is
totally missing with Elijah. Even the phrase “Tishbite from Tishbe in Gilead”
does not give us a precise idea of the heritage of Elijah. The most that we
might be able to guess is that Elijah was of the tribe of Gad, or Reuben – or maybe
even Manasseh. Ahab was a man of power, surrounded by advisers and officials;
Elijah was alone. Even the name Elijah, which means “Yahweh is my God,” is set
against King Ahab who repeatedly indicated that he was more interested in Ba’al,
the God of his wife. In fact, Ahab wanted nothing to do with this God of
Israel. Elijah the Tishbite is really just another way of saying Elijah the Stranger.
In the Old West, we might have expected Elijah to ride in on a white horse with
a mask that covers his eyes. He is unknown – and unknowable. And his purpose is
to set Judah straight once more.
In this Elijah is
considered to be of the type of Melchizedek - one who has neither a beginning
nor an end; one whose origins are wrapped in mystery, and yet one that God uses
in a mighty way. Elijah appears out of nowhere and delivers his message to
those who would thwart the plans of God. And then just as mysterious as he
appears, he disappears. Maybe there really was a white horse and a cloud of
dust just outside the city limits. But the fate of a nation now seemed to rest
in the hands of the one probably best called “The Stranger.”
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings
18
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