How Long Halt Ye?

Mormon taught that “except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, … they will not remember him” (Helaman 12:3). Sometimes, even affliction isn’t enough!

Before the children of Israel entered the promised land, Moses warned them that drought would be a consequence for worshipping false gods (Deuteronomy 11:13-17). Solomon’s temple dedicatory prayer prescribed the resolution:

When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them:
Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.

1 Kings 8:35-36

Two subsequent prophets, Elijah and Nephi, summoned droughts intended to turn their people back to God. Elijah simply announced to King Ahab, “There shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word” (1 Kings 17:1). Nephi offered a prayer laying out the humanitarian purpose of his famine:

O Lord, do not suffer that this people shall be destroyed by the sword; but O Lord, rather let there be a famine in the land, to stir them up in remembrance of the Lord their God, and perhaps they will repent and turn unto thee.

Helaman 11:4

What was the outcome? In Nephi’s case, the people turned their hearts to God. After about three years of famine, they pleaded with their leaders to ask Nephi to end it. Nephi, seeing that the people were repentant, pleaded with God to turn away his anger, and the rain returned (Helaman 11:8-17).

But in Elijah’s case, things played out differently. King Ahab certainly knew that Elijah had prompted the famine. He had sent servants to every neighboring kingdom to find him. But his goal was not to announce his people’s repentance but to complain about the affliction. When he finally did meet Elijah, he asked, “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” to which Elijah responded, “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” (1 Kings 18:17-18). Israel had not yet learned the lesson of the famine.

So Elijah asked Ahab to bring all of the prophets of Baal to mount Carmel for a demonstration of God’s power. The credibility of these prophets had already been undercut by the famine, since Baal was the god of rain. But now, as they gathered in the presence of a large assembly, Elijah proposed a more immediate test: who could call down fire from heaven?

Before the contest, Elijah challenged the assembled Israelites. “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him” (1 Kings 18:21). How did the people respond? With non-committal silence. They were not yet ready to respond.

After the false prophets attempted for hours to accomplish the dramatic miracle, Elijah offered a simple prayer, focused on the hearts of the people:

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.

1 Kings 18:37

Fire fell from heaven, the people fell on their faces and acknowledged God, and shortly after, in response to Elijah’s prayer, the skies filled with dark clouds, and “there was a great rain.”

Was the confession a necessary condition for the end of the famine? It was, at least, the purpose of the famine. Nephi’s people responded on their own; Elijah’s people needed a nudge, but in both cases, the famine persisted until the prophet saw evidence of repentance.

On its own, Elijah’s question to the people, “How long halt ye between two opinions?” sounds like impatience with indecision. Something like, Will you make up your mind? But in the broader context, and particularly in light of Nephi’s drought, the question sounds more like a prompt to take the obvious action. More like, Would you please learn the lesson from the drought, so that we can move on?

Today I will learn from my afflictions, large and small. I will place my challenges within an eternal context and allow them to turn my heart to God.