Verses 17-18: Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.
Two things to note at the outset, first James states that “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.” The reason is obvious; he wants his readers to identify with Elijah in that he was no different than us, for “he was a mere man, subject to the same weaknesses and infirmities as other men.”1 But besides this, James presents this scenario as a factual event, not just a “Bible Story” meant to entertain children. This was an actual episode in Elijah’s life that took place over 2900 years ago, as real as the events of our lives yesterday and today.
The second thing to observe is that this man Elijah prayed earnestly. The Greek text actually reads that he prayed a prayer. This is an idiom in the Greek which emphasizes the intensity of the activity of his praying. Elijah prayed with intense confidence. This is the attitude we should have when we go to the Lord in prayer. It is what the Apostle John meant when he wrote:
This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (1 John 5:14)
If you have read the text in 1 Kings 17-18 you will have observed that there is no mention of Elijah’s actual prayer. R.C.H. Lenski explains:
The very way in which Elijah swore that there should be no rain during these years except at his word indicates that he had communicated with God in prayer.2
James knew his Old Testament history and how the prophets of Israel were in constant communication with God. This is a principle we as believers should emulate, to be in continual communication with the Lord. The Apostle Paul commands this precisely, that we should “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). This sounds somewhat implausible, but the idea is that we should be ready at any moment to go to prayer for intercession, for the petition of needs or to praise Him for the blessings of the moment. Our time of prayer should not to be an event simply in the morning or at bedtime, but all the time, throughout the day, moment-by-moment.
Elijah prayed for a drought to punish the apostate nation of Israel for their worship of the god, Baal, who just so happened to be the storm-god.3 His prayer was answered and it did not rain for three and a half years. This is proof of the power of prayer—the confidence to know that God hears and answers. The Old Testament scholars C.F. Keil and Franz Delitzsch emphasize prayers’ key ingredient of faith:
[T]his act of Elijah is ascribed to the power of his prayers, since Elijah “was also a man such as we are,” inasmuch as the prophets received their power to work solely through faith and intercourse with God in prayer, and faith gives power to remove mountains.4
Elijah prays again as James states in verse 18. But observe Elijah’s prayer position stated in 1 Kings 18:42, it does not demonstrate a casual or laid-back approach to God: “he crouched down on the earth and put his face between his knees.” This is an attitude of absolute reverence and devotion to God. It doesn’t mean we should pray in this same position, but that our attitude should be that of sincere reverence for being in the very presence of the Lord—at His throne of grace.
Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)
And the outcome of Elijah’s prayer: the sky poured rain. The New American Standard Bible translation used here is one of the few New Testament translations to render the Greek words as sky and poured. A better translation would be heaven gave, since both of these words are translated elsewhere in this epistle as heaven in 5:12 and give in 1:5; 2:16; 4:6. There are two good reasons to believe that the correct interpretation should be heaven gave and that the phrase be understood with a dual meaning.
First, the phrase sky poured implies the personification of the sky responding to the prayer of Elijah (1 Kings 18:45). Yet that is not the reason the rain came. There is no doubt that rain comes from clouds in the sky, but it is God who has ultimate control over nature. The clouds where rain comes from are located in one of the three heavens mentioned in Scripture. The three heavens are briefly explained by Dr. Chafer:
The first heaven must be the atmosphere which surrounds the earth Reference is certainly made to the fowls of heaven (Hosea 2:18) and to the clouds of heaven (Daniel 7:13)…
The second heaven may be the stellar spaces (cf. Genesis 1:14-18 for stars of the heaven)…
The third heaven (its location however wholly unrevealed) is the abode of God…and of the redeemed forever.5 [cf. Acts 1:10-11; Romans 1:18; 2 Corinthians 12:2; Hebrews 8:1]
Secondly, since James has previously stated that, “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above” (1:17), and that Godly wisdom is “from above” (3:17), that not only did the first heaven give forth rain but the rain was given from the third heaven, the abode of God who gives every perfect gift to man. And this is evidenced by the production of fruit upon the earth.
Therefore, it can be established that the source of rain comes from both the first heaven and from the third heaven, the abode of God. For it is God who has supreme control over all the heavens and earth (Deuteronomy 10:14; Acts 17:24).
Believers today ought to have this same confidence which Elijah had: the belief that God hears their prayers and He respond according to that which glorifies Him. Remember that James has already instructed us to “ask in faith without any doubting” (1:6f). This is one of the key elements of effective prayer; the other being certain that what we ask for conforms to His will (1 John 5:14) and not merely something for our own personal “pleasures” (James 4:3).
[1] Barnes, A. (2005) Notes on the New Testament, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 13.2.97.
[2] Lenski, R.C.H. (2001). Commentary on the New Testament, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 10.669
[3] Payne, D. F. (1996). "Baal". In New Bible Dictionary (D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer, & D. J. Wiseman, Eds.). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, p. 108.
[4] Keil, C.F. & Delitzsch, F. (n/d) Commentary on the Old Testament (Electronic Ed.). Ages Software, 11.209.
[5] Chafer. L.S. (1976). Systematic Theology, Dallas, TX: Dallas Seminary Press, 7.186-187.
© 2023 David M. Rossi
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