[Teachldsseminary] Teaching 1 Kings chapter 18

Marji king.attolia at gmail.com
Wed Feb 6 08:07:23 MST 2008 

thanks - it's perfect for class tomorrow.

Marji

On 2/6/08, Oparc10 at aol.com <Oparc10 at aol.com> wrote:
> I prepared a Reader's Theater for the story of Elijah and the prophets of
> Baal.  I used it this morning in class and my students really enjoyed  it.
> Throw in a few basic costumes and it is a lot of fun.  I tried to  be very
> faithful to the scriptural account and used some information from the  Old Testament
> student manual for additional commentary and explanation.  I  hope it will be
> useful to someone.
>
> I'm not very "technologically savvy", so I hope this will come through with
> some sort of decent formatting.  If you have trouble, email me privately  and
> I will attempt to send you an attached file (attempt being the operative  word
> since I am not very good at this.)  My email is _oparc10 at aol.com_
> (mailto:oparc10 at aol.com)
>
>
>
> 1 Kings Chapter 18
> Elijah and the Priests of  Baal
>
>
> ELIJAH:   "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."
> NARRATOR:  After Elijah spoke these words, a terrible famine began throughout
>  all the nation of Israel.  It lasted  for about three years.  The  situation
> became so desperate that Ahab, king of Israel, had to go out, himself,  in
> search of grass for his horses and cattle.  He also sent the governor of his
> house,  a man named Obadiah, to search for grass.
> AHAB:  "Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks:
> peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we
> lose  not all the beasts."
> NARRATOR:  Obadiah was a faithful follower of Jehovah.  When Jezebel cut off
> the prophets of the  LORD, Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by
> fifty in a cave, and fed  them with bread and water.  While he  was searching
> for grass, Obadiah met Elijah.
> OBADIAH:  (meets Elijah and bows down in front of him)  "Art thou my lord
> Elijah?"
> ELIJAH:  I am.  Go and tell Ahab,  "Behold, Elijah is here."
> OBADIAH:  What wrong have I done that thou wouldest deliver me into the hand
> of  Ahab, so that he will kill me?  Ahab  has searched for you in every nation
> and kingdom.  When the people of every nation or  kingdom said they had not
> seen you, Ahab made the people to swear and oath that  you really were not in
> that nation or kingdom.  If they said that you WERE there, Ahab  would kill
> them when you could not be found.  Now you have asked me to go tell Ahab  that
> you are here but if the Spirit of the LORD causes you to go somewhere else,
> then Ahab will kill me when he finds that you are gone.  I respect the LORD and I
> have served him  all my life.  Have you heard about  how I hid a hundred
> prophets in two caves and fed them bread and water to  protect them from Jezebel?
> ELIJAH:  As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely show
>  myself unto Ahab today.
> NARRATOR:  So Obadiah went and told Ahab that Elijah had come and Ahab came
> and  found Elijah.
> AHAB:  "Art thou he that troubleth Israel?"
> ELIJAH:  "I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in
> that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed
> Baalim.  Now therefore send, and  gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel."
> Call 450 of the prophets of Baal and  also call 400 of the prophets of
> Ashtoreth.
> NARRATOR:  Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the
> prophets  together unto mount Carmel.  Elijah  spoke to the people.
> ELIJAH:  You remind me of a bird that hops back and forth between two
> branches  and cannot decide which branch to stay on.  If the LORD be God, follow him:
>  but if Baal is God, then follow him.
> NARRATOR:  The people did not answer Elijah.
> ELIJAH:  I am the only prophet of Jehovah.  Here you have 450 prophets of
> Baal.  Lets have a contest.  Bring two bullocks and let the prophets  of Baal
> choose the one they want.  They can cut their bullock and prepare it the way they
> want to and lay it  on top of the wood on the altar.  Only, they shall not
> put fire underneath it.  I will take the other bullock and I will  prepare it as
> a sacrifice and I will lay it on top of the wood and I will also  not put
> fire underneath it.  The  prophets of Baal will call upon their God and I will
> call upon the LORD,  Jehovah, and whichever God answers by sending fire to burn
> up the offering—then  that is the real God.
> NARRATOR:  The people were happy with this idea.  Baal was the "sun-god" and
> he should  certainly be able to send fire to burn up an offering.  The
> prophets of Baal took their bullock  and prepared it and called upon Baal to consume
> it with fire.  They chanted to him from morning until  noon but nothing
> happened.  At noon,  Elijah began to mock them.
> ELIJAH:  Maybe you should yell louder.  After all,  if Baal is a God  he can
> certainly hear you.  He might  be talking to someone else.  Or  maybe he is
> hunting.  Or maybe he  has gone out for a walk.  Maybe he  is asleep and you
> need to yell louder so he can hear you and wake  up.
> NARRATOR:  This made the prophets of Baal even more agitated and they yelled
> louder.  They cut themselves with  knives and made themselves bleed so that
> Baal would be impressed with their  dedication.  They continued this  from noon
> until evening but still Baal did not send any fire.  Finally, Elijah felt
> they had given Baal  enough time.  Elijah called the  people to him.  They
> gathered around  the sacrifice that he had prepared.  Elijah dug a trench around the
> altar he had built to the  LORD.
> ELIJAH:  Fill four barrels with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and
>  on the wood.  Do it again the second  time.  Do it again a third  time.
> NARRATOR:  Of course, pouring water on the wood and the altar and the
> sacrifice  would just make it harder to start a fire.  There was so much water that
> it ran down the sacrifice and filled the  trench with water.
> ELIJAH:  "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day
>  that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done
> all  these things at thy word.  Hear me,  O Lord, hear me, that this people
> may know that thou art the LORD God, and that  thou hast turned their heart
> back again."
> NARRATOR:  "Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed  the burnt sacrifice
> and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up  the water that was
> in the trench.  And when all the people saw it they fell on their faces: and
> they said,  The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God."
>
>
>
>
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