The Preparation of the Tishbite: A Poem of Elijah

“Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” (1 Kings 17:1)

When Hebrew kings were masters of the land,
And Baal’s altars everywhere at hand,
And sovereigns mocked the God of Israel
And all the land was nearly infidel

At once the prophet bursts upon the scene:
Confronts the monarch, with a zealous mien,
Declares the famine to the scowling lord,
Then beats retreat to distant Cherith’s ford.

“Lo, as he lives, the God of Israel,
Before whose presence I do stand and dwell,
No dew nor rain shall fall these many years
Until my voice shall summon heaven’s tears!”

But ah, the power of this praying saint!
Mark well his words, observe his forceful plaint:
“Before the Lord, the God of Israel,
I stand to serve, and do as he shall tell!”

And well the Tishbite knows the truth expressed:
How many years it took to mold his quest!
How many silent hours passed him by
As he stood still before his God Most High

The silent nights on Gilead’s windy vales,
Alone among the stars, as God prevails
To rid the man of all his self and pride
And purge the sin, and leave him purified!

Or as he trod the paths of Bashan’s peaks,
Where em’rald cliffs rise o’er the misty creeks,
His mind enrap’t with thoughts of Israel’s God
Who slew Egyptians, heathen nations awed,

Then formed the cov’nant with his favored clan
And gave them Canaan, by his master plan!
And how he cowered on the ground in awe
At thought of Him who gave the graven law

Then prostrate lay for hours in the dust
Before the fearful presence of the Just,
And so enrapt in thought, he hardly felt
The rain begin to trickle, then to pelt – 

Until, with sodden robe, he rose in awe
Of God, who rules both nature and her law,
Who melts the clouds with thunder, rain, and light,
Or, stronger still, withholds them by his might!

Then, slowly, he began to glimpse that sight
Where Yahweh’s throne stood brilliantly in light
And angels stand as courtiers of the King
To wait his word, then dash with swiftest wing.

And thus he saw himself, though made of clay,
Was Yahweh’s vassal, Whom he must obey,
And only then, the Tishbite is transformed,
The crown confronted, and the famine formed.

This poem was inspired by the F. Krummacher, who says in his book ‘Elijah the Tishbite,’ “He that desires to stand before him, and to lift up the head in his presence, must first have lain prostrate before him in the dust, in the writhings of conviction and repentance. How often may Elijah have lain on the earth, among the mountains of Gilead! How many tears may he have shed in lonely caves and holes of the rocks, ere he could say, “As the Lord liveth, the God of Israel, before whom I stand.” Elijah was a man reconciled to God through Christ Jesus, the Messiah, and clothed with his righteousness.”

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