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00:00In book after book, throughout the Hebrew Bible,
00:07it is by miracles that God makes himself known to his chosen people.
00:12Inspiring them, protecting them,
00:17and on occasion, destroying their enemies.
00:20Why then does the Bible never use the word miracle
00:32in describing these spectacular events?
00:35Are the miracles of the Bible merely stories,
00:40or did they actually occur,
00:43and can they be explained scientifically?
00:46Plague number one, the Nile turning to blood,
00:49well, it's not literal blood.
00:51The Nile turns red,
00:53and the red is the crimson tide, the red algae,
00:56carrying the anthrax bacterium.
00:59Why is Moses, perhaps the greatest worker of miracles
01:03in the Hebrew Bible,
01:05punished by God for miraculously drawing water from a rock?
01:11If miracles are so integral and glorious a part of the Bible,
01:15why is magic forbidden?
01:18And what is the distinction between magic and miracle?
01:25Why did the time of miracles draw to an end?
01:29Why does God no longer make his presence known by direct intervention?
01:34Or does he?
01:35These are but a few of the mysteries of the Bible.
01:42of the Bible.
01:43of the Bible.
01:44of the Bible.
01:45The Bible зависers ofộc
02:03of the Bible, or to the Malcolm X,
03:06He will free them through signs and wonders.
03:12He chooses Moses to lead his people,
03:16revealing this role to him by speaking from a bush that seems to burn,
03:20but miraculously is not consumed by the flames rising from it.
03:24Soon after, God tells Moses that he and his brother Aaron must go to mighty Pharaoh to demand freedom for the chosen people.
03:37But will Pharaoh receive them?
03:44If Pharaoh says to you, identify yourselves by a miracle,
03:50then tell Aaron to take his staff and throw it down in front of Pharaoh,
03:54and it will become a snake.
03:56Aaron performs the wondrous transformation,
04:08but Pharaoh is contemptuous.
04:11His magicians easily duplicate this feat.
04:13There is an Egyptian conjuring trick on record.
04:21It's where the enchanter has a snake that he has hypnotized,
04:26and in its hypnotic state, the snake is rigid.
04:31And then when he touches the tail of the snake,
04:33the snake becomes pliable again and wakes up and moves.
04:37But Pharaoh's satisfaction is shaken by what happens next,
04:45something his magicians cannot duplicate or explain.
04:53Each one of them threw down his staff,
04:56and they became snakes.
04:58But Aaron's staff swallowed theirs.
05:02Exodus 7, 12.
05:07The snake of the Israelites swallowing the snakes of the Egyptians
05:13is clearly a miracle,
05:15and a warning Pharaoh would do well to heed.
05:19But he does not.
05:20The people of Israel remain slaves of Egypt.
05:27Now God demonstrates his power and his wrath
05:30with a miracle that for the Egyptians is a devastating calamity.
05:37He orders Moses to touch the Nile with his staff.
05:46Instantly, the mother of all rivers,
05:48which nourishes Egyptian civilization,
05:51turns to blood.
05:58Despite this horrifying spectacle,
06:00Pharaoh still refuses to free the Israelites.
06:03Again, God strikes,
06:07and Egypt is overrun by a grotesque infestation of frogs.
06:16Still, Pharaoh will not relent.
06:20And so God sends disaster after escalating disaster
06:23to ravage Egypt.
06:25Insect armies pillage the land, levelling crops.
06:34Lethal hailstorms torment people and livestock.
06:39A deadly disease races through the cattle herds.
06:43The people themselves suffer and die
06:46a torturous death from excruciating boils.
06:48Finally, the daytime sky turns black.
06:59With the plagues,
07:00the Lord attacks not just Pharaoh and his people,
07:03but their gods,
07:05including Osiris, the god of the Nile,
07:09Geb, god of the land,
07:11and their supreme deity,
07:15Ray, god of the sun.
07:20And now the tenth and last plague
07:23attacks the Egyptians' god on earth,
07:26Pharaoh himself.
07:28He is considered divine.
07:30So too is his firstborn son,
07:32the heir to the throne.
07:35Pharaoh's son dies,
07:37as does the firstborn child of every Egyptian.
07:40Did these plagues actually occur,
07:46or are they merely stories
07:47invented many years later?
07:52So biblical writers, let's say,
07:54were very interested in the idea of miracles.
07:58Because miracles are a way
08:00to convince human beings,
08:02to convince the people of Israel
08:03that God is acting,
08:06that God is interested in them.
08:10modern investigators believe
08:13the plagues may very well have occurred,
08:16perhaps as manifestations of anthrax,
08:19a deadly disease common in marshy areas.
08:22Plague number one,
08:27the Nile turning to blood?
08:28Well, it's not literal blood.
08:30The Nile turns red.
08:32And the red is the crimson tide,
08:34the red algae,
08:35carrying the anthrax bacterium.
08:38One of the first things
08:39the anthrax-laden algae will do
08:43is it'll kill the fish.
08:45Now, as most folks know,
08:46frogs lay eggs by the tens of thousands.
08:49There are no longer
08:52any natural predators
08:53for those millions and millions
08:56of frogs' eggs.
08:57And so the natural result
08:59is that they hatch in vast numbers.
09:02They denude the banks of the river
09:03of their natural food supplies,
09:05and soon they die in vast numbers.
09:10The next natural link
09:12within the ecosystem
09:13will be the gnats and flies
09:15that consume the bodies of dead animals.
09:19The cattle, perhaps bitten by these insects,
09:23begin to perish of the anthrax disease.
09:27Now, anthrax is characterized
09:29by boils on the skin,
09:33infectious boils,
09:34and lesions in the lungs.
09:37And so eventually,
09:38this plague on cattle
09:39leads to boils on human beings,
09:42and eventually, perhaps,
09:43killing vast numbers of Egyptians.
09:49But if the plagues
09:50were purely natural events,
09:53what is the explanation
09:54for one particular significant detail?
09:57The one that makes me stop
10:00and think deeply
10:01is the death of the firstborn.
10:04All the other nine plagues,
10:05they come together
10:06in a series.
10:08But the death of the firstborn
10:09leaves me saying,
10:12that must be a miracle.
10:14What disease would strike down
10:15just a boy or a girl
10:17who was the first out of, say,
10:19three children or five children?
10:23With the death of his son,
10:25the anguished pharaoh finally relents.
10:28The people of Israel
10:29are finally free,
10:31free to go to the land
10:32promised them by God.
10:36For many scholars,
10:38even if the deaths
10:39of the firstborn
10:40can someday be explained scientifically,
10:43the plagues are made miraculous
10:45by their occurrence
10:46at just this moment in history.
10:48There are attempts
10:52to explain away
10:53the occurrence of the ten plagues
10:56as just a luck of timing.
10:59But we can clearly see
11:01God's presence
11:02in the remarkable conjunction
11:04of events
11:04that liberated
11:05this tiny, powerless people
11:08from the most mighty empire
11:10in the world at the time.
11:11As the Israelites,
11:26freed by pharaoh,
11:27begin their arduous trek
11:29to the promised land,
11:31they are guided
11:31by miraculous signs
11:33from God.
11:36The Lord went in front
11:38of them
11:38in a pillar of cloud
11:40by day
11:40to lead them
11:41along the way
11:42and in a pillar of fire
11:44by night
11:45to give them light.
11:48Exodus 13, 21.
11:54All of a sudden,
11:55they are free.
11:56There is no authority there.
11:58They are in the wilderness.
12:01And you have to show them
12:03that there is somebody
12:06who leads them.
12:07This is God
12:09who leads them.
12:11So the pillar of fire
12:12and the pillar of cloud
12:14are the symbols
12:15of God's presence.
12:20But the people of Israel
12:22are in grave danger
12:23because pharaoh's grief
12:27has given way to rage.
12:31He commands his army,
12:33led by 600 chariots,
12:35to race after
12:36the fleeing slaves
12:37and recapture them.
12:41The Israelites are trapped,
12:43their way blocked
12:44by an impassable sea.
12:52Then the Lord said to Moses,
12:55Stretch out your hand
12:56over the sea
12:57and divide it,
12:59that the Israelites
12:59may go into the sea
13:01on dry ground.
13:04Exodus 14, 15.
13:12Wondrously,
13:13the waters part
13:14and thus the children
13:15of Israel cross to safety.
13:18But the pursuing Egyptians
13:20are not far behind.
13:22Again, the Lord tells Moses
13:24to raise his staff.
13:26Now the sea rushes back
13:28and the Egyptians
13:29are swept to their deaths.
13:40Perhaps no other story
13:42in history has given rise
13:43to as much analysis,
13:45speculation,
13:46and controversy.
13:51In 1985,
13:53the miracle of the Red Sea
13:54still made headline news.
13:56To this day,
13:58a sensational explanation
14:00for what happened
14:01at the Red Sea
14:01consumes Egyptologist
14:03Dr. Hans Goetheke,
14:05the former chairman
14:07of Near Eastern Studies
14:08at Johns Hopkins University.
14:11He has spent 30 years
14:13unearthing scientific evidence
14:14which he feels proves
14:16that the miracle
14:17is anchored
14:18in historical reality.
14:19I would say
14:23the Bible
14:24does reflect
14:26historical events.
14:28They are not verbatim,
14:30but they are.
14:31There is a historical nucleus,
14:34and for me,
14:34as a historian,
14:35the job is
14:36to get to the nucleus.
14:40Dr. Goetheke believes
14:42the pillars of fire
14:43and cloud
14:44which guided
14:44the Israelites
14:45rose from a volcano
14:47on the Mediterranean
14:48island of Thera,
14:50some 290 miles away.
14:58Modern volcanologists
15:00calculate
15:00that the volcano
15:01on Thera
15:02spewed columns
15:03of fire and smoke
15:04more than 50 miles
15:06into the sky.
15:11At that height,
15:12the Bible's pillar
15:13of cloud
15:14and pillar of fire
15:15could easily be seen
15:17as far away
15:18as Egypt.
15:22The same volcano,
15:24says Dr. Goetheke,
15:25also caused
15:26the parting
15:26of the waters,
15:28not of the Red Sea
15:29as is commonly believed,
15:31but of a shallow lake
15:32called the Sea of Reeds.
15:35Although much
15:36of what Dr. Goetheke
15:37proposes
15:37is controversial,
15:39all scholars agree
15:40about the Sea of Reeds.
15:44The body of water
15:45that Israel crossed
15:46is not called
15:47the Red Sea
15:48by the Hebrew Bible.
15:50It's called
15:50the Sea of Reeds.
15:52The Sea of Reeds
15:53is thought
15:53to be one of a string
15:54of shallow lakes
15:56lying 175 miles
15:58northwest
15:58of the Red Sea.
16:03The fleeing Israelites
16:04may well have planned
16:06to simply go around it
16:07until they realize
16:09the Egyptian army
16:10was in pursuit.
16:12In an attempt
16:12to establish
16:13a defensive position,
16:15according to Dr. Goetheke,
16:16they encamped
16:17on relatively high ground.
16:20The Egyptians,
16:21preparing for the assault,
16:23lay below them.
16:26Then the distant,
16:28smoldering volcano,
16:29which had produced
16:30the columns
16:31of smoke and fire,
16:33exploded.
16:36Volcanologists estimate
16:38that a 16-cubic-mile mass
16:40of earth, rock,
16:42and lava
16:42was hurled miles
16:44into the sky.
16:46When it fell,
16:47it created
16:47a monstrous tidal wave.
16:50A wave scientists
16:51have calculated
16:51exploded out
16:52of the Mediterranean
16:53and swept southeast
16:55across the Nile Delta.
16:59They estimate
17:00that the wave
17:00covered the nearly
17:01300 miles
17:02in less than an hour.
17:04It hit Egypt
17:05at the exact point
17:06where Goetheke believes
17:08Pharaoh's troops
17:09were capped.
17:12As the Egyptians
17:14fled before it,
17:15the Lord tossed
17:16the Egyptians
17:17into the sea.
17:18The waters returned
17:20and covered
17:20the chariots
17:21and the chariot drivers,
17:23the entire army
17:25of Pharaoh.
17:27Exodus 14, 27.
17:34Because the Israelites
17:35are still encamped
17:36on the high ground,
17:38they are unharmed,
17:40free to resume
17:40their journey
17:41to the promised land.
17:42The Exodus story
17:47was not written down
17:48for almost a thousand years
17:50after it occurred.
17:52Dr. Goetheke believes
17:54that in those
17:54ten centuries
17:55of telling and retelling,
17:58the gigantic wall
17:59of water
17:59which swept away
18:00the Pharaoh's army
18:01and then receded
18:02became the parting
18:04of the seas
18:05as recounted
18:06in the Bible.
18:06Some critics say
18:13that the volcanic eruptions
18:14do not coincide
18:15with the accepted dates
18:17for the Exodus.
18:20But again,
18:21whatever the cause,
18:22it is the precise timing
18:24of the receding
18:25and returning waters
18:26that marks them
18:28as miracles.
18:30God's direct intervention
18:32in the history
18:33of his chosen people.
18:37The great Exodus,
18:39which begins
18:40with these miracles,
18:42will end with one
18:43having tragic consequences
18:44for the worker
18:45of miracles,
18:47Moses.
18:50Early in their great journey
18:51deep in the desert wilderness,
18:54the people of Israel
18:54find themselves
18:55desperately short of water.
18:59At God's direction,
19:01Moses strikes a rock
19:02with his staff
19:03and water pours forth.
19:06nearly 40 years later
19:16as the Exodus
19:17nears its end,
19:19the people again
19:20find themselves
19:21without water.
19:23This time,
19:24God tells Moses
19:25not to strike a rock
19:26but to speak to it.
19:32Perhaps acting out
19:33of impatience,
19:34Moses disobeys God
19:36and instead of speaking
19:37to the rock,
19:38strikes it.
19:40Again,
19:41abundant water pours forth
19:42and the people are saved.
19:45But for what seems
19:46a minor transgression,
19:47Moses will suffer
19:48a terrible punishment.
19:53Because you have not
19:54firmly trusted in me
19:56so as to vindicate
19:57my holiness
19:57in the eyes
19:58of the people of Israel,
20:00you shall not lead
20:01this assembly
20:02into the promised land.
20:04Numbers 20, 12.
20:12Moses is denied
20:14anything more
20:15than a tantalizing glimpse
20:16of the promised land.
20:18He will never actually
20:19set foot upon it.
20:21The story contains
20:24a powerful warning
20:26for humanity.
20:28When Moses strikes
20:30the rock
20:30instead of speaking
20:31to it,
20:33there's very definitely
20:34an attempt
20:35on his part
20:36to step in
20:37and present himself
20:38as the miracle worker.
20:41God takes it
20:42as a direct assault
20:43upon his own holiness,
20:46upon his own character
20:48as the giver
20:48of miracle.
20:49And so here,
20:51Moses himself
20:51is crossing the line
20:53from miracle worker
20:54to magician.
20:56And God will not
20:57permit that.
20:59Miracle is the act
21:01of God.
21:02Miracle is an expression
21:04of God,
21:05God's just rule.
21:08You see how the emphasis
21:09is switched from God
21:10to humans
21:12when we move
21:13from miracle
21:14to magic.
21:19The Hebrew Bible
21:32filled with rules
21:33and laws
21:34for the people
21:34of Israel
21:35contains no clearer
21:37prohibitions
21:38than the ones
21:39forbidding the practice
21:40of magic.
21:41There must not
21:50be found among you
21:51anyone practicing
21:53divination
21:54or soothsaying
21:55or observing omens,
21:57applying sorcery,
21:59a charmer,
22:00a medium,
22:01wizard,
22:02or necromancer.
22:04For all who do
22:05these things
22:06are offensive
22:06to the Lord.
22:09Deuteronomy 18, 10.
22:21In the Bible's story,
22:23magic is not an equal.
22:25Nothing, after all,
22:26can equal God's power.
22:28But it is a dangerous rival.
22:30It's a snare,
22:31according to the ancient texts.
22:34Lower levels of the population,
22:36there's a lot of superstition.
22:37You'll get people
22:38turning to magic
22:39if the crops fail
22:40or something's happened
22:41at home.
22:42They might well turn to magic
22:43if their faith
22:43is not strong enough
22:44in their official God.
22:47Israel's first king,
22:48King Saul,
22:49is dutiful
22:50in killing
22:51or driving out
22:52those who claim
22:53magical powers.
22:55But strangely,
22:56it is Saul himself
22:57who will seek out
22:58a shadowy figure
22:59known only
23:00as the Witch of Endor.
23:03One of the biggest mysteries
23:05of the Bible
23:05is the Witch of Endor.
23:07What in the world
23:08is going on in this text?
23:10It's very hard to know.
23:13This strange, dark story
23:15is set in a time of war.
23:17Once again,
23:18the very existence
23:19of the people of Israel
23:20is at stake.
23:22This time,
23:24the enemy is the Philistines.
23:25The Philistines assemble
23:28what seems to be
23:29an overwhelming force
23:30on the plain of Shunem,
23:3360 miles north
23:34of present-day Jerusalem.
23:36They are prepared
23:36to crush the Israelites
23:38in a battle
23:38almost certain
23:39to occur the next day.
23:43When Saul saw
23:44the army of the Philistines,
23:46he was afraid,
23:48and his heart
23:49trembled greatly.
23:501 Samuel 28, 5
23:55Saul turns to God,
23:58but he receives no reply,
24:00no sign,
24:02nor word.
24:03There are a number
24:04of stories
24:04that talk about
24:06why Saul lost God's favor,
24:07but I think
24:08they're all summed up
24:09in Samuel's words to him,
24:11that he became small
24:13in his own eyes.
24:14He no longer acted
24:15like a king.
24:16He was petty
24:18and hoarded power
24:19and felt vengeful.
24:23Distraught,
24:24Saul defies God
24:26and does that
24:27which is forbidden
24:28to him
24:28and all his people.
24:33Then Saul said
24:34to his servants,
24:36Seek out for me
24:37a woman
24:38who is a medium,
24:39so that I may go to her
24:41and inquire of her.
24:43His servants said to him,
24:45there is a medium
24:46at Endor.
24:481 Samuel 28, 7
24:51This is classic
24:56Saul-type behavior.
24:59He can never really
24:59obey God fully.
25:01He's always mixing
25:02his own stuff in it
25:03and here's the culmination
25:04of it,
25:05trying to get God's will
25:06through a prophet
25:07by means of a medium.
25:09Classic Saul-type
25:11disobedience.
25:11Here,
25:14not far from the present
25:15city of Haifa,
25:17archaeologists believe
25:18the village of Endor
25:19once stood,
25:21a place which will
25:22always be haunted
25:23by the mysterious
25:24witch of Endor.
25:29She dwelt,
25:31tradition says,
25:32in a murky cave
25:33in these rocky slopes.
25:34Fertively,
25:39in disguise,
25:40King Saul
25:41makes his way
25:42to Endor
25:43and persuades
25:44the witch
25:44to call God's prophet
25:46Samuel
25:46back from the dead.
25:57Perhaps because
25:58such practices
25:59are forbidden,
26:00the Bible does not
26:01describe how the witch
26:02summons Samuel,
26:03but suddenly
26:05his ghost appears.
26:11In awe,
26:12King Saul bows down
26:14before the apparition,
26:16then asks what he must do
26:18to save himself
26:19and his people.
26:21Samuel responds
26:22with a chilling
26:23and final prophecy.
26:25The Lord will give Israel
26:31along with you
26:32into the hands
26:33of the Philistines,
26:35and tomorrow
26:36you and your sons
26:37shall be with me.
26:401 Samuel 28, 19.
26:47Less than 24 hours later,
26:49on the battlefield
26:50at Shunem,
26:50the once great King Saul,
26:53selected by God himself
26:55to be the first king
26:56of the Israelites,
26:57lies dead,
26:59impaled upon his own sword
27:01as foretold
27:02by the spirit of Samuel.
27:05A puzzling question prevails.
27:08Knowing he was going
27:09to be killed
27:09and the battle lost,
27:11why didn't Saul withdraw
27:12to fight another day?
27:14On the one hand,
27:18Saul made a mistake,
27:19a terrible mistake.
27:21He has to die.
27:22On the other hand,
27:23the Bible wants you
27:24actually to like Saul,
27:25to appreciate Saul,
27:27even to adore Saul.
27:28He made a mistake,
27:31yet he is a king
27:34and he knows
27:36how to approach his death,
27:39how to face his death,
27:40and he does it
27:41in a very dignified way.
27:45For thousands of years,
27:47the witch of Endor
27:48has intrigued readers
27:50of the Bible.
27:51Was this a hoax
27:53or was the witch
27:54a genuine medium?
27:56Was she human at all?
28:00Many theories
28:01have been attempted,
28:02proposed.
28:03Among them,
28:04that it's a demon.
28:07Another,
28:08that the witch
28:08is merely a manipulator,
28:11a fraud.
28:12Another,
28:13that Samuel
28:15really is caught up
28:16by her power.
28:19To some,
28:19it is clear
28:20that God
28:20is using the witch,
28:22and Samuel's appearance
28:23is a miracle
28:25after all.
28:27The witch of Endor's story
28:28is both magical
28:29and miraculous.
28:31Magical in that
28:32we have a medium
28:33consulted by Saul.
28:35Miraculous, though,
28:36in that God
28:38preemptively strikes,
28:39so to speak,
28:40and allows Samuel
28:41the prophet
28:42to speak a final oracle
28:43from the grave,
28:45as it were.
28:48For all the speculation
28:50this story has inspired,
28:51the fact remains
28:52that we know
28:53almost nothing
28:54of the witch.
28:56She appears
28:56only once in the Bible,
28:58inhabiting less
28:59than a single page,
29:01and then disappears,
29:03never to be mentioned
29:03or referred to again.
29:07Perhaps this very obscurity
29:08is the key
29:09to the meaning
29:10of her story.
29:13I think that the fact
29:14that there is only
29:15one such story
29:16in the Bible
29:16means that the Bible
29:18doesn't want to spend
29:18a lot of time
29:20telling us
29:21about the ills
29:22and the charlatanism
29:24and the fakery
29:25of magic.
29:26It just wants to say,
29:27look,
29:28here was somebody
29:29who was so desperate
29:30he was driven to magic,
29:31it didn't help him
29:32stay away from it.
29:36The witch of Endor
29:37will personify
29:38for all time
29:39the boundary
29:40between the light
29:41and the dark,
29:43between miracle
29:43and magic,
29:45a boundary humans
29:46are not to cross.
30:01despite the Bible's
30:05prohibitions
30:05against rituals
30:06and spells,
30:08in the years
30:08following the death
30:09of Saul,
30:10the people of Israel
30:11persist in the practice
30:12of forbidden magic.
30:16Almost always,
30:17this magic
30:18is associated
30:19with the worship
30:19of a myriad
30:20of pagan gods,
30:22rather than
30:23the one true God
30:24of Israel,
30:25the God of Abraham
30:26and Moses.
30:28Then,
30:29approximately 200 years
30:31after Saul,
30:32a new prophet
30:33appears
30:34who will strike
30:35a fatal blow
30:36against the pagan gods.
30:43His name is Elijah.
30:45In Hebrew,
30:46Elijah means
30:47the Lord is my God.
30:52Elijah's unique role
30:53is foreshadowed
30:54in part
30:55by his having
30:56no apparent connection
30:57to any who have
30:58come before him.
31:01Most people
31:02in the Hebrew Bible
31:02are introduced
31:03by means of
31:04the patronym,
31:05that is the name
31:05of their father.
31:06So it's so-and-so,
31:08son of so-and-so.
31:09We don't have that
31:10for Elijah.
31:12All we have
31:13is that he's identified
31:14as Elijah the Tishbite.
31:17Now,
31:17Tishbite might mean
31:18settler.
31:20So here we have
31:21this guy arriving
31:22with no patronym,
31:24no family identity,
31:25but arriving full-grown
31:26as a prophet.
31:27Early in his story,
31:30Elijah is clearly
31:31identified as one
31:33through whom
31:33God works miracles.
31:36At a place
31:37called Zarephath,
31:39he visits a widow
31:40and her son.
31:41They are on the verge
31:42of starvation,
31:43but Elijah asks
31:45for food,
31:46for this is what
31:47God has directed
31:48him to do.
31:50The widow,
31:51though fearful
31:52and protecting,
31:54gives him
31:54what little she has
31:55and is rewarded
31:56with a miracle
31:57of never-ending abundance.
32:01So she,
32:02he,
32:03and her household
32:04ate for a long time.
32:06The jar of flour
32:07was never empty,
32:09nor did the jug
32:10of oil give out,
32:11in accordance
32:12with the word
32:13of the Lord
32:13spoken through Elijah.
32:151 Kings 17, 15.
32:21Soon after,
32:22God works
32:23an even greater miracle
32:24through Elijah.
32:26The widow's son
32:27falls gravely ill,
32:29so ill he seems
32:30without life.
32:33Gently,
32:34Elijah takes the child
32:35from his mother's lap
32:36and lays him
32:38on his bed.
32:41Stretching himself
32:42over the child
32:42three times,
32:44he prayed to the Lord
32:45and said,
32:47O Lord my God,
32:49let now the life
32:50of this child
32:51return to him.
32:53The Lord heard
32:54the prayer of Elijah,
32:56the life of the child
32:57returned.
32:59The woman said
33:00to Elijah,
33:02Now by this,
33:03I know you are
33:04a man of God
33:05and that the word
33:06of the Lord
33:07coming from your lips
33:08is true.
33:101 Kings 17, 21.
33:14Affirming the widow's belief
33:18in the power
33:19of the God of Israel
33:20is only a precursor
33:22to a mission
33:23of historic proportions.
33:26Elijah will restore
33:27the faith
33:27of a nation.
33:30He has emerged
33:32at a critical time
33:33in the history of Israel,
33:34for Israel is now ruled
33:36by King Ahab
33:37and his queen
33:38Jezebel.
33:40A powerful,
33:41scheming woman,
33:42Jezebel worships
33:43the pagan god Baal
33:45and promotes his cult
33:46among the people.
33:48Monotheism,
33:49the worship of one god,
33:50seems gravely threatened.
33:52Monotheism is something
33:53that we live with
33:55and we are trained
33:57since we are born
33:58to believe
33:59that there is just
34:00one god,
34:01one and only god.
34:02But for people
34:04in that times,
34:05in the ancient times,
34:07they knew about
34:08many gods.
34:09We know about Baal,
34:10we know about Asherah,
34:11we know about
34:12many other gods.
34:14And the people of Israel
34:16were familiar
34:16with these traditions.
34:19And the monotheistic idea
34:22is a revolutionary idea.
34:25And you have to prove it
34:27again and again.
34:31Elijah challenges
34:32King Ahab
34:32to assemble
34:33the people of Israel
34:34on Mount Carmel
34:35to witness
34:37a spectacular contest
34:38between magic
34:39and miracle,
34:41between Baal
34:42and the one true god.
34:46On one side
34:47stand the 450 prophets
34:50of Baal.
34:53Against them,
34:54a single man,
34:56God's prophet,
34:57Elijah.
34:59The crowd waits
35:01in charged silence
35:02as sacrifices
35:03are placed
35:03on two different altars.
35:06Now,
35:07the prophets of Baal
35:08call on their god
35:09to ignite their altar.
35:13The prophets of Baal
35:14pray and dance
35:16and plead for hours.
35:18But their altar
35:19remains unlit
35:20and cold.
35:22Elijah cannot resist
35:24taunting them.
35:25shout louder,
35:28for he is a god.
35:31He is in conversation
35:32or he has gone out.
35:35He is on a trip
35:35or perhaps he is asleep
35:38and must be awakened.
35:40So they shouted
35:42more loudly
35:42and cut themselves
35:44with swords and lances
35:45as they were accustomed
35:47to do until the blood
35:48ran out over them.
35:49first kings
35:52eighteen twenty-seven.
35:57Now Elijah orders
35:58his own altar
35:59to be soaked
36:00with jars of water.
36:02Then he calls
36:03upon the Lord,
36:04God of Abraham,
36:05Isaac, and Israel
36:06to ignite it.
36:11Then the fire
36:12of the Lord fell
36:13and consumed
36:14the offering,
36:15the wood,
36:16the stones,
36:17and the dust.
36:19The people fell
36:20on their faces
36:21and said,
36:22the Lord indeed
36:23is God.
36:25The Lord indeed
36:26is God.
36:29First Kings
36:30eighteen
36:31thirty-eight.
36:34One of the remarkable
36:35passages of the Bible
36:36is that after
36:38there is this
36:39great miracle
36:40and the prophets
36:41of Baal
36:42are scattered
36:43instead of
36:45the Israelites
36:46saying,
36:46wow,
36:47what a phenomenal
36:48miracle,
36:49what they say
36:49is,
36:50the Lord
36:50is God.
36:51In other words,
36:52the miracle
36:53brought them
36:53not to wonder
36:54about the miracle,
36:55it brought them
36:56to faith in the Lord.
36:59The episode
36:59ends in blood.
37:02At Elijah's command,
37:03the prophets of Baal
37:04are rounded up
37:05so that Elijah
37:06personally
37:06can slaughter
37:07them all.
37:11Ahab's queen,
37:12Jezebel,
37:13insane with fury,
37:14swears that within
37:15twenty-four hours
37:17Elijah will lie
37:18dead.
37:21Elijah flees
37:23into the wilderness
37:23and here God
37:25directs him
37:26to anoint a successor.
37:30Soon after Elijah
37:32fulfills this command,
37:34a miraculous
37:34chariot of fire
37:36appears
37:36and Elijah
37:38is carried off
37:39into the heavens.
37:40many readers
37:45of the Bible
37:46believe this
37:46ascent
37:47does not mark
37:47Elijah's death
37:48and is merely
37:50the precursor
37:50to another
37:51greater miracle
37:52for which the world
37:54still waits.
37:57The reason
37:58in the Bible
37:58why Elijah
37:59doesn't die,
38:00at least according
38:01to the Jewish tradition,
38:02is that it is
38:03Elijah who will return
38:04to announce
38:04the coming
38:05of the Messiah.
38:06Thus the story
38:08of Elijah
38:08keeps the age
38:09of prophets
38:10and the time
38:10of miracles
38:11alive even today.
38:14A reminder
38:14that the divine
38:15is ever present.
38:19And there is
38:19a strain of belief
38:20that says
38:21that not only
38:21did Elijah
38:22not die,
38:23but Elijah
38:24is here
38:24among us
38:25and has been
38:26for thousands
38:27of years
38:27and that the person
38:29you talk to,
38:30your neighbor,
38:31the person
38:32at the next desk
38:33at work,
38:33the person
38:34who pulls up
38:34next to you
38:35at a red light,
38:36any of those
38:37people could be
38:37Elijah,
38:38ready for you
38:39to treat them
38:39in such a way
38:40that you will
38:41evoke the coming
38:42of the Messiah
38:42who could come
38:43at any time.
38:44to many who study it,
39:07the Bible filled
39:08with signs
39:09and wonders
39:10is itself
39:11miraculous.
39:12well,
39:15you know
39:15what's the biggest
39:15mystery for me?
39:17What's the biggest
39:17miracle for me?
39:19Biblical literature.
39:22Literature that was
39:23written 3,000 years ago
39:25and yet
39:26it's much better,
39:27much more sophisticated,
39:29much more artistic
39:29than any other
39:31piece of literature
39:32I know.
39:35What is miraculous
39:36about it
39:37is that that bridge
39:38was given us
39:39between heaven
39:40and earth,
39:40that somehow
39:42in our struggles
39:43with God
39:43we helped create
39:44that bridge
39:45and that it still
39:46serves thousands
39:47of years later
39:48as a means
39:49by which human beings
39:50and God
39:51can contact
39:52one another
39:53and understand
39:54one another.
39:57And yet nowhere
39:59in this miraculous
40:00book of miracles,
40:01the Hebrew Bible,
40:02does the word
40:03miracle occur.
40:05There is no word
40:07in Biblical literature
40:09for miracle.
40:11The word
40:11ness,
40:12which we use
40:13in later
40:14strata of the Hebrew language,
40:16does not appear
40:17in the Bible
40:18in that meaning.
40:21Many believe
40:22this is because
40:23God rules
40:24all of nature
40:25at all times.
40:27Both the extraordinary
40:28and the ordinary
40:29are his doing,
40:31proof he made the world
40:32and is the one
40:34true God.
40:37I think that
40:38the greatest miracle
40:39in the very beginning
40:41of the Bible,
40:43the creation
40:43of the world,
40:45that's God's
40:46biggest act,
40:47that's the greatest miracle.
40:49Look,
40:49all other miracles
40:51are like
40:53an additional
40:55brush stroke
40:56of the painter
40:57who completes
40:58and corrects
40:59his painting.
41:02in the beginning,
41:05God created
41:06the heavens
41:07and the earth.
41:09God said,
41:10let there be light
41:11and there was light.
41:24And God said,
41:26let the waters
41:27under the sky
41:27be gathered together
41:28into one place
41:29and let the dry land
41:31appear.
41:45Then God said,
41:47let the earth
41:48put forth vegetation.
41:49let the earth
42:11bring forth
42:12living creatures
42:13of every kind.
42:14Let the earth
42:15bring forth living creatures
42:17of every kind.
42:18God created
42:25humankind
42:26in his image.
42:28In the image of God,
42:30he created them.
42:31Male and female,
42:33he created them.
42:35Genesis,
42:36chapter 1.
42:41There's a miracle
42:42in the rising
42:43of every sun.
42:43There's a miracle
42:48in the lapping
42:49of every wave
42:50on the shore.
42:55There's a miracle
42:57in every star-sown night.
43:00The question is
43:01not whether
43:02they're miracles,
43:03but whether,
43:04because those miracles
43:05are with us
43:05every day,
43:07our senses
43:07become dulled
43:08and we don't see
43:10that what God
43:11has done for us
43:12is astonishing
43:13and extraordinarily
43:15beautiful.
43:18And yet our time
43:20is clearly different
43:21from that in which
43:22the stories
43:22of the Bible occurred.
43:24Why does God
43:25no longer speak
43:26to prophets
43:27or communicate
43:28with humanity
43:29through extraordinary events?
43:31Why,
43:32some ask,
43:33does God seem
43:34sometimes
43:35to hide from us?
43:39As a great rabbi
43:40once said,
43:40it's not that God
43:41abandoned us,
43:42but that God
43:43teaches us faith
43:44the way a parent
43:44teaches a child
43:45to walk.
43:46At first,
43:47you stand with the child,
43:49but as the child
43:49gets older,
43:50you move further
43:51and further away
43:51in the hope
43:52that the child
43:53will learn
43:53to walk to you.
43:56I think God
43:56eventually started
43:57to give us
43:58more and more room.
43:59God stepped back.
44:01I think God
44:01said to us,
44:02look,
44:02you know the basic
44:03rules now.
44:04Now you have
44:04to be grown-ups
44:05and that's hard
44:07because then
44:07you don't have
44:08God's presence
44:09at your right hand,
44:10but it also is necessary
44:12for human beings
44:13if we're ever going
44:14to be more than children.
44:33for years.