Dr Paul Allen

Andrea Celesti - Queen Jezabel Being Punished by Jehu - WGA4622 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) ATHALIAH Her name means: "The Lord Is Great" Her character: Granddaughter of Omri, one of Israel's most idolatrous and evil kings, she was the daughter of Ahab and most likely of Jezebel as well. She was the only woman to rule over Judah. While Ahab and Jezebel spread Baal worship in the northern kingdom of Israel , Athaliah was busy promoting it a few years later in the southern kingdom of Judah . Controlled by her need for power, she murdered her own family members to secure it. Her sorrow: That her attempt to destroy the royal line of Judah failed. Her joy: That her ruthlessness paid off, at least for a time, making her the ruler of Judah. Key Scriptures: 2 Kings 11 ; 2 Chronicles 22 ; 23:11-21 JEHOSHEBA Her name means: "The Lord Is Great" Her character: A princess and the wife of the high priest, she was a courageous woman whose actions preserved the line of Ju...

The Transfiguration Lodovico Carracci 1594 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice." ( 1 Kings  19:12 )   Elijah was in hiding for his life, even though God had spectacularly answered his prayer with fire from heaven. Jezebel , however, had not been intimidated by Elijah's victory and swore she would kill him. He fell into such depression that he wanted to die. If Jezebel could not be impressed with fire from heaven, how could Elijah ever hope to defeat her and her armies? Not even an angel could remove his doubts.   But then was sent "a great and strong wind," and "after the wind an earthquake" ( 1 Kings  19:11 ). But the Lord was not in the wind or the earthquake or the fire. God finally reached Elijah with "a still small voice," and that voice assured him that God was well in control of all circumstances. Similarly, Moses told the ch...

English: ELIYAH VISITS KING AHAB AND THE BA'AL PROPHETS 1 MELAKIM 21 KINGS (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) But Naboth replied, “The LORD forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers” ( 1 Kings 21:3). A number of years after God ’s defeat of Baalism at Mount Carmel , King Ahab looked out from his palace in Jezreel and saw a vineyard that he thought would be ideal for a royal vegetable garden. He approached the owner of the vineyard, a man named Naboth, and asked him to sell it, and made him an offer. Naboth refused Ahab ’s offer, and for a very significant reason. When the Lord initially gave the land of Canaan to the nation Israel , He had the land divided into family plots. These family plots were inalienable; that is, one could not sell them permanently, one could only lease them. However, in the year of Jubilee , every 50 years, all the land reverted to God as the original owner, and after that year God gave the plots of land back to the original familie...

English: Jezabel and Ahab Meeting Elijah in Naboth's Vineyard Giclee. Print by Sir Frank Dicksee. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Elijah comes upon the stage of Israel ’s history like a crash of thunder. He disappears from it in a whirlwind. From beginning to end, whenever he appears, the lightning flashes, the thunder crashes, the fire flames, and there is a sound of a mighty wind. So wrote one commentator of this man in whom judgment and mercy were mingled, and whose words were capable of calling down fire from heaven. Elijah is thrust upon the stage of world history to announce before the king that for the next three years there would be neither dew nor rain in an already drought -stricken land. Only repentance from the epidemic spread of Baal worship would cause the heavens to part. Clearly the message of Elijah was that of judgment upon the land and the people for Israel’s unfaithfulness. As horrible as the drought was, it was worse than is usually understood. The absenc...

English: Jezabel and Ahab Meeting Elijah in Naboth's Vineyard Giclee. Print by Sir Frank Dicksee. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; . . . I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee." ( Revelation 2:18-20 ) The Lord Jesus ' letter to the church at Thyatira is the longest among the seven recorded in Revelation. Although they were faithful in their works to the city, had a strong charity among themselves, and were evidently growing in their reputation and perhaps even in number, the Lord Jesus used some very harsh language to rebuke their behavior. Whether or not the woman who held influence in the church was actually named Jezebel , she had entrenched herself as a prophetess. Her namesake in the Old Testament ( 1 Kings ) was the wicked queen and wife of King Ahab of Israel during th...

"And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake , but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice."   1 Kings 19:11-12 After the great victory against the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel , Elijah cowered before Jezebel 's threat and fled to Mt. Horeb , hiding in a cave . God came to him and asked, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" Elijah then boasted about himself, how bad the people were, bemoaned that he was Image via Wikipedia  the only one left, and they were seeking his life. God told Elijah to go outside the cave where he was given a real show: a tornado-like wind ripping up the mountain, an earthquake, a fire.  But after each, a strange comment was made: "but the Lord was not in the wind... o...