This week on the Extras, we've got a bumper holiday edition for you! Heaps of fantastic questions - check them out below! 10 points for those who make it all the way to the end!
Exegetical
1. [v. 2] Hello! What does “the word of the Lord coming to him” look like? ie is God speaking verbally to Elijah? Can we expect to have similar “words”? And if so, what would that look like?
2. [v. 12] Isn’t the comment about death (vs 12) referencing suicide? (Not starvation)
3. [v. 18] The woman (presumably a Baal worshiper) came to Elijah with her dead son, perhaps as a protest ... but also possibly with the thought that Elijah could change her circumstances. Is there a sense that she, though a Baal worshipper, had a hope that the true God would act?
4. Why does the widow blame Elijah? Why does God bring her son back to life?
5. [v. 21] Is there any significance that Elijah identified with the suffering of the mother &/or her son? He ‘stretched’ himself out on the dead boy three times?
6. Do we have the sense that Elijah knew that God would heal the dead boy or, that like Daniel (Dan 3:17,18) he did not like to presume to know what God would do but certainly wanted others to knew that, he knew, that God could act, and perform a miracle? Are we in the West also unwilling to presume to know God’s will but are therefore guilty of assuming that God wouldn’t act? How can we show others in Sydney that we are convinced that God can act?
7. [v. 24] Why is it that when Elijah provides flour and oil does not provoke the same response as the son coming back to life? Why is the flour and water not enough for the woman to say “the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth”? Presumably there was some time as he boards with her, what was he doing/living like? Was he reflecting God as he lived?
8. [Mark 5] Why is "(she was 12 years old)" added in Mark 5:42?
9. From the Bible reading, why does Jesus ask for them to not spread the word of his good deed with the little girl?
Theological
10. Does Baal still exist? That is, are false Gods real? Or just made up by their worshipers?
11. Why is jezebel used in reference to sexual immorality? [Rev 2:20, cf. 2 Kgs 9:22, 30]
Application/pastoral
12. Can a Christian ever starve to death? Or is the promises of scripture such that it is impossible for Christians to ever starve because God always provides? (Eg 2 cor 9:8)
13. Re: the question about Xns starving - how might Philippians 4 (esp v18 I think) factor in?
14. What is the place of intervention on behalf of non-believers (non-Christians)? Elijah took the dead son, carried him to his own room, laid him on his bed (perhaps an ‘echo' of the parable of the Good Samaritan). He then ‘cried out’ or pleaded with God twice.
15. Why don’t we see God performing miracles today? Or do we, but just not recognise them as such?
16. Why does God not bring back the many people for whom prayers for life and health have also been given?
17. This passage makes me think of #wakeupolive from about a year ago, with Bethel church joining in prayer for young Olive to be restored to life. How should we think about praying for God to raise people back to life when they die? Is that something we should trust God to perhaps do today, if we ever experience the tragedy of the death of a child?
