This week we will be reading the Haftorah for Parshat Ki Tisa, Interestingly enough this comes from the book of Kings (Kings 1 18:1-39).

The background to the Haftorah is deep; it was during the middle of the first Beit Hamikdash time period, where the divide between the tribe of Yehudah and the ten other tribes had taken place. It was during this period that King Ahab and Queen Jezebel ruled the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and encouraged idolatry at a rampant rate of the Baal deity as well as different forms of Idol worship. King Ahab was described both in the verses and in the Talmud as one of the wicked kings, not just that Ahab was such a big King the Talmud describes he ruled over the whole world (Megillah 11a). However he was also married to a wicked woman of the name Jezebel (Bava Metzia 59). It was the prophet Elijah that was to prove that G-d runs and rules the whole world that there would be a drought throughout the world. During the third year of the drought, Elijah was encouraged by G-d to appear to Ahab and to say that rain will be sent upon the face of the land (Kings 1 18:1).

Another prophet appears at the start of the Haftorah that is the great Obadiah, he was constantly on the run from the wicked queen Jezebel that went out to try and exterminate all the prophets of G-d (Kings 118:4). Ahab asked Obadiah to go all over the land of Israel, to look for water, otherwise all their animals were going to die of thirst. King Ahab & Obadiah split up and went looking in different directions. The Prophet Elijah appeared in front of Obadiah. Elijah told Obadiah to go bring King Ahab to him. Obadiah asked" what did I do wrong (Kings 1 18:9)?” “I’m going to go get King Ahab & when I get here you’ll be gone and he will kill me. Elijah assured Obadiah that he will be there when King Ahab would arrive. Despite both of these two great prophets were on such a high spiritual level, having total faith in Hashem, they still had to put in some effort to protect themselves in situations of danger and not take what appeared to be magnified risks, the same should be applied in life, in any situation of seeming danger great thought needs to be applied and no rash thinking should dominate over a person.

King Ahab found Elijah and sternly accused Elijah of bringing torment upon the land of Israel, blaming the prophet for the three years of famine that took place all over the land of Israel. Ahab ignorantly ignored the fact that it was G-d that sent the famine in retribution to the rampant idolatry that had been taking place over the years, Elijah stated to Ahab 'It is not I who has caused trouble to Israel, but rather you and the house of your father when you abandoned the commandments of Hashem and followed after the Baal idols (Kings 1 18:18).

After Ahab accused Elijah of causing hardship for the Jews, Elijah challenged him to a showdown. He, Elijah, would represent the cause of monotheism, and the 850 idolatrous "prophets" would represent their cause. Ahab accepted the challenge.

Elijah then stated his challenge: "Let them give to us two bulls and let them [the Baal prophets (the people representing King Ahab)] choose one bull for themselves and cut it up and let them place it on the wood, but fire they shall not put; and I will prepare one bull, and I will put it on the wood, and fire I will not place. And you will call in the name of your deity, and I will call in the name of Hashem, and it will be the G-d that will answer with fire, he is G-d (Kings 1 18:23-24)."

The people agreed to the challenge, and the prophets of the Baal were first. The Idolatrous prophets to their god went unanswered. Elijah taunted them: "Call with a loud voice, for you presume that he is a G-d (Kings 1: 18:27). However there was no miraculous appearance of any fire from heaven as the Idolaters were sacrificing on top of Mount Carmel - just proving that the Baal Idol worship was really not of any forms a validation form of serving Hashem in the Torah, in fact its service is a desecration of the Ten Commandments. There is a direct parallel between the Haftorah and the Parshah of Ki Tisa, where we see that the Jews in the wilderness, made the Golden Calf, much to the anger of G-d and Moshe (Shemot 32:1-6).

As evening approached, Elijah took center-stage. He built an altar, laid his offering upon it and surrounded it with water. "Hashem, the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Israel,"  "Today let it be known that you are G-d in Israel and that I am your servant, and at your word have I done all these things. Answer me, Hashem, answer me, and this people shall know that you are the Hashem the G-d (Kings 1 18:37)"

A fire immediately descended from heaven and consumed the offering, as well as the altar and the surrounding water. "And all the people saw and fell on their faces, and they said, "Hashem is G d, Hashem he is the G d (Kings 1 18:39)."

This proved to the whole world that Hashem runs the whole world; he is the father of all of man kind and only wants all the nations to recognize that there is only one G-d. We should all try and recognize on a daily basis that Hashem runs the whole world, in all matters we do throughout the day.

This Dvar Torah is dedicted in the Zechut (merit) and memory of Yisrael Leib Ben Yehuda HaLevi.