{"id":295,"date":"2011-08-21T12:36:56","date_gmt":"2011-08-21T01:36:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.shields-online.net\/?p=295"},"modified":"2011-08-21T12:36:56","modified_gmt":"2011-08-21T01:36:56","slug":"the-silence-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.shields-online.net\/?p=295","title":{"rendered":"the silence of god"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a recent Q&A<\/a> one of the viewers asked about God’s silence:<\/p>\n

My question is: why has God gone so quiet? Just a few thousand years ago he appeared to people quite regularly. He turned rivers to blood, he parted seas, he flooded the world etc. He provided us with people like Moses, Jesus & Mohammed who had direct lines of communication. These days the only time you hear from God is through TV evangelists. You know, it\u2019s almost as though the more educated we get, the less God wants to do with us. So, why has God gone so quiet?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

John Lennox suggested that the problem was not that God was silent, it was that we aren’t listening. Now, of course, there’s something to this, but it got me thinking about Elijah’s encounter with Yhwh in 1Kings 19 again. It is a fascinating passage and the source of the “still, small voice” which prompted generations of preachers to proclaim that God’s preferred mode of communication was this mysterious whisper.1<\/sup><\/p>\n

They were, however, wrong. Read on for more…
\n<\/p>\n

Here’s the passage in Hebrew with English translation:<\/p>\n\n\n
\n1<\/sup> \u05d5\u05d9\u05d2\u05d3 \u05d0\u05d7\u05d0\u05d1 \u05dc\u05d0\u05d9\u05d6\u05d1\u05dc \u05d0\u05ea \u05db\u05dc \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05e2\u05e9\u05d4 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d0\u05ea \u05db\u05dc \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d4\u05e8\u05d2 \u05d0\u05ea \u05db\u05dc \u05d4\u05e0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d0\u05d9\u05dd \u05d1\u05d7\u05e8\u05d1 2<\/sup> \u05d5\u05ea\u05e9\u05dc\u05d7 \u05d0\u05d9\u05d6\u05d1\u05dc \u05de\u05dc\u05d0\u05da \u05d0\u05dc \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5 \u05dc\u05d0\u05de\u05e8 \u05db\u05d4 \u05d9\u05e2\u05e9\u05d5\u05df \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05db\u05d4 \u05d9\u05d5\u05e1\u05e4\u05d5\u05df \u05db\u05d9 \u05db\u05e2\u05ea \u05de\u05d7\u05e8 \u05d0\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05ea \u05e0\u05e4\u05e9\u05da \u05db\u05e0\u05e4\u05e9 \u05d0\u05d7\u05d3 \u05de\u05d4\u05dd <\/p>\n

3<\/sup> \u05d5\u05d9\u05e8\u05d0 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05dd \u05d5\u05d9\u05dc\u05da \u05d0\u05dc \u05e0\u05e4\u05e9\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d1\u05d0 \u05d1\u05d0\u05e8 \u05e9\u05d1\u05e2 \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d3\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e0\u05d7 \u05d0\u05ea \u05e0\u05e2\u05e8\u05d5 \u05e9\u05dd 4<\/sup> \u05d5\u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05d4\u05dc\u05da \u05d1\u05de\u05d3\u05d1\u05e8 \u05d3\u05e8\u05da \u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05d5\u05d9\u05d1\u05d0 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05d1 \u05ea\u05d7\u05ea \u05e8\u05ea\u05dd \u05d0\u05d7\u05ea \u05d0\u05d7\u05d3 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05d0\u05dc \u05d0\u05ea \u05e0\u05e4\u05e9\u05d5 \u05dc\u05de\u05d5\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05d0\u05de\u05e8 \u05e8\u05d1 \u05e2\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u05e7\u05d7 \u05e0\u05e4\u05e9\u05d9 \u05db\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1 \u05d0\u05e0\u05db\u05d9 \u05de\u05d0\u05d1\u05ea\u05d9 <\/p>\n

5<\/sup> \u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05db\u05d1 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d9\u05e9\u05df \u05ea\u05d7\u05ea \u05e8\u05ea\u05dd \u05d0\u05d7\u05d3 \u05d5\u05d4\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d6\u05d4 \u05de\u05dc\u05d0\u05da \u05e0\u05d2\u05e2 \u05d1\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d0\u05de\u05e8 \u05dc\u05d5 \u05e7\u05d5\u05dd \u05d0\u05db\u05d5\u05dc <\/p>\n

6<\/sup> \u05d5\u05d9\u05d1\u05d8 \u05d5\u05d4\u05e0\u05d4 \u05de\u05e8\u05d0\u05e9\u05ea\u05d9\u05d5 \u05e2\u05d2\u05ea \u05e8\u05e6\u05e4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05e6\u05e4\u05d7\u05ea \u05de\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05d9\u05d0\u05db\u05dc \u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05d1 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05db\u05d1 <\/p>\n

7<\/sup> \u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05d1 \u05de\u05dc\u05d0\u05da \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u05e9\u05e0\u05d9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d9\u05d2\u05e2 \u05d1\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d0\u05de\u05e8 \u05e7\u05d5\u05dd \u05d0\u05db\u05dc \u05db\u05d9 \u05e8\u05d1 \u05de\u05de\u05da \u05d4\u05d3\u05e8\u05da <\/p>\n

8<\/sup> \u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05dd \u05d5\u05d9\u05d0\u05db\u05dc \u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d9\u05dc\u05da \u05d1\u05db\u05d7 \u05d4\u05d0\u05db\u05d9\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d4\u05d9\u05d0 \u05d0\u05e8\u05d1\u05e2\u05d9\u05dd \u05d9\u05d5\u05dd \u05d5\u05d0\u05e8\u05d1\u05e2\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05d9\u05dc\u05d4 \u05e2\u05d3 \u05d4\u05e8 \u05d4\u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d7\u05e8\u05d1 9<\/sup> \u05d5\u05d9\u05d1\u05d0 \u05e9\u05dd \u05d0\u05dc \u05d4\u05de\u05e2\u05e8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d9\u05dc\u05df \u05e9\u05dd \u05d5\u05d4\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d3\u05d1\u05e8 \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d0\u05de\u05e8 \u05dc\u05d5 \u05de\u05d4 \u05dc\u05da \u05e4\u05d4 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5 <\/p>\n

10<\/sup> \u05d5\u05d9\u05d0\u05de\u05e8 \u05e7\u05e0\u05d0 \u05e7\u05e0\u05d0\u05ea\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9 \u05e6\u05d1\u05d0\u05d5\u05ea \u05db\u05d9 \u05e2\u05d6\u05d1\u05d5 \u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea\u05da \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05d0\u05ea \u05de\u05d6\u05d1\u05d7\u05ea\u05d9\u05da \u05d4\u05e8\u05e1\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d0\u05ea \u05e0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d0\u05d9\u05da \u05d4\u05e8\u05d2\u05d5 \u05d1\u05d7\u05e8\u05d1 \u05d5\u05d0\u05d5\u05ea\u05e8 \u05d0\u05e0\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d1\u05d3\u05d9 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d1\u05e7\u05e9\u05d5 \u05d0\u05ea \u05e0\u05e4\u05e9\u05d9 \u05dc\u05e7\u05d7\u05ea\u05d4 <\/p>\n

11<\/sup> \u05d5\u05d9\u05d0\u05de\u05e8 \u05e6\u05d0 \u05d5\u05e2\u05de\u05d3\u05ea \u05d1\u05d4\u05e8 \u05dc\u05e4\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4<\/p>\n

\u05d5\u05d4\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u05e2\u05d1\u05e8 \u05d5\u05e8\u05d5\u05d7 \u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d7\u05d6\u05e7 \u05de\u05e4\u05e8\u05e7 \u05d4\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05de\u05e9\u05d1\u05e8 \u05e1\u05dc\u05e2\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05e4\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05d7 \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4<\/p>\n

\u05d5\u05d0\u05d7\u05e8 \u05d4\u05e8\u05d5\u05d7 \u05e8\u05e2\u05e9 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05e8\u05e2\u05e9 \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 <\/p>\n

12<\/sup> \u05d5\u05d0\u05d7\u05e8 \u05d4\u05e8\u05e2\u05e9 \u05d0\u05e9 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05d0\u05e9 \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4<\/p>\n

\u05d5\u05d0\u05d7\u05e8 \u05d4\u05d0\u05e9 \u05e7\u05d5\u05dc \u05d3\u05de\u05de\u05d4 \u05d3\u05e7\u05d4 <\/p>\n

13<\/sup> \u05d5\u05d9\u05d4\u05d9 \u05db\u05e9\u05de\u05e2 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d9\u05dc\u05d8 \u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d1\u05d0\u05d3\u05e8\u05ea\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e6\u05d0 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e2\u05de\u05d3 \u05e4\u05ea\u05d7 \u05d4\u05de\u05e2\u05e8\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d4\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5 \u05e7\u05d5\u05dc \u05d5\u05d9\u05d0\u05de\u05e8 \u05de\u05d4 \u05dc\u05da \u05e4\u05d4 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5 <\/p>\n

14<\/sup> \u05d5\u05d9\u05d0\u05de\u05e8 \u05e7\u05e0\u05d0 \u05e7\u05e0\u05d0\u05ea\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9 \u05e6\u05d1\u05d0\u05d5\u05ea \u05db\u05d9 \u05e2\u05d6\u05d1\u05d5 \u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05ea\u05da \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05d0\u05ea \u05de\u05d6\u05d1\u05d7\u05ea\u05d9\u05da \u05d4\u05e8\u05e1\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d0\u05ea \u05e0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d0\u05d9\u05da \u05d4\u05e8\u05d2\u05d5 \u05d1\u05d7\u05e8\u05d1 \u05d5\u05d0\u05d5\u05ea\u05e8 \u05d0\u05e0\u05d9 \u05dc\u05d1\u05d3\u05d9 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d1\u05e7\u05e9\u05d5 \u05d0\u05ea \u05e0\u05e4\u05e9\u05d9 \u05dc\u05e7\u05d7\u05ea\u05d4 \u05e1<\/p>\n

15<\/sup> \u05d5\u05d9\u05d0\u05de\u05e8 \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5 \u05dc\u05da \u05e9\u05d5\u05d1 \u05dc\u05d3\u05e8\u05db\u05da \u05de\u05d3\u05d1\u05e8\u05d4 \u05d3\u05de\u05e9\u05e7 \u05d5\u05d1\u05d0\u05ea \u05d5\u05de\u05e9\u05d7\u05ea \u05d0\u05ea \u05d7\u05d6\u05d0\u05dc \u05dc\u05de\u05dc\u05da \u05e2\u05dc \u05d0\u05e8\u05dd 16<\/sup> \u05d5\u05d0\u05ea \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05d1\u05df \u05e0\u05de\u05e9\u05d9 \u05ea\u05de\u05e9\u05d7 \u05dc\u05de\u05dc\u05da \u05e2\u05dc \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05d5\u05d0\u05ea \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05e9\u05e2 \u05d1\u05df \u05e9\u05e4\u05d8 \u05de\u05d0\u05d1\u05dc \u05de\u05d7\u05d5\u05dc\u05d4 \u05ea\u05de\u05e9\u05d7 \u05dc\u05e0\u05d1\u05d9\u05d0 \u05ea\u05d7\u05ea\u05d9\u05da 17<\/sup> \u05d5\u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d4\u05e0\u05de\u05dc\u05d8 \u05de\u05d7\u05e8\u05d1 \u05d7\u05d6\u05d0\u05dc \u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05ea \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05d5\u05d4\u05e0\u05de\u05dc\u05d8 \u05de\u05d7\u05e8\u05d1 \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05ea \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05e9\u05e2 18<\/sup> \u05d5\u05d4\u05e9\u05d0\u05e8\u05ea\u05d9 \u05d1\u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc \u05e9\u05d1\u05e2\u05ea \u05d0\u05dc\u05e4\u05d9\u05dd \u05db\u05dc \u05d4\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05db\u05e8\u05e2\u05d5 \u05dc\u05d1\u05e2\u05dc \u05d5\u05db\u05dc \u05d4\u05e4\u05d4 \u05d0\u05e9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05e0\u05e9\u05e7 \u05dc\u05d5 <\/p>\n

19<\/sup> \u05d5\u05d9\u05dc\u05da \u05de\u05e9\u05dd \u05d5\u05d9\u05de\u05e6\u05d0 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05e9\u05e2 \u05d1\u05df \u05e9\u05e4\u05d8 \u05d5\u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05d7\u05e8\u05e9 \u05e9\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd \u05e2\u05e9\u05e8 \u05e6\u05de\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd \u05dc\u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05d1\u05e9\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd \u05d4\u05e2\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e2\u05d1\u05e8 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05dc\u05da \u05d0\u05d3\u05e8\u05ea\u05d5 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5 20<\/sup> \u05d5\u05d9\u05e2\u05d6\u05d1 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05d1\u05e7\u05e8 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e8\u05e5 \u05d0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d9 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d0\u05de\u05e8 \u05d0\u05e9\u05e7\u05d4 \u05e0\u05d0 \u05dc\u05d0\u05d1\u05d9 \u05d5\u05dc\u05d0\u05de\u05d9 \u05d5\u05d0\u05dc\u05db\u05d4 \u05d0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d9\u05da \u05d5\u05d9\u05d0\u05de\u05e8 \u05dc\u05d5 \u05dc\u05da \u05e9\u05d5\u05d1 \u05db\u05d9 \u05de\u05d4 \u05e2\u05e9\u05d9\u05ea\u05d9 \u05dc\u05da <\/p>\n

21<\/sup> \u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05d1 \u05de\u05d0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05d7 \u05d0\u05ea \u05e6\u05de\u05d3 \u05d4\u05d1\u05e7\u05e8 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d6\u05d1\u05d7\u05d4\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d1\u05db\u05dc\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d1\u05e7\u05e8 \u05d1\u05e9\u05dc\u05dd \u05d4\u05d1\u05e9\u05e8 \u05d5\u05d9\u05ea\u05df \u05dc\u05e2\u05dd \u05d5\u05d9\u05d0\u05db\u05dc\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e7\u05dd \u05d5\u05d9\u05dc\u05da \u05d0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d9 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05ea\u05d4\u05d5 \u05e4 <\/td>\n

1<\/sup>Then Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done and all about how he had killed all the prophets with a sword. 2<\/sup>So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, \u201cMay the gods do this to me \u2014\u00a0this and more \u2014\u00a0if by this time tomorrow I have not made your life like the life of one of [those prophets]!\u201d<\/p>\n

3<\/sup>So he was afraid and got up and fled for his life. When he reached Beer-Sheba in Judah he left his servant there 4<\/sup>but he went a day\u2019s journey into the wilderness and he came and sat under a lone [white weeping broom bush] and asked that he begged to die, saying, \u201cThat\u2019s enough, Yhwh, take my life, for I am no better than my forefathers!\u201d<\/p>\n

5<\/sup>Then he lay down and slept under the lone [white weeping broom bush]. Suddenly a messenger appeared, shoved him and said to him, \u201cGet up and eat.\u201d<\/p>\n

6<\/sup>He looked and saw a loaf baked on hot stones and a jar of water, so he ate and drank and lay back down.<\/p>\n

7<\/sup>The messenger of Yhwh returned a second time, shoved him and said, \u201cGet up and eat, because you\u2019re in no state for this journey!\u201d<\/p>\n

8<\/sup>So he got up, ate and drank and, strengthened by the food, travelled for forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9<\/sup>There he came to the cave and he camped there. The word of Yhwh came to him and Yhwh said to him, \u201cWhat are you doing here, Elijah?\u201d<\/p>\n

10<\/sup>So he said, \u201cI have been very zealous for General Yhwh, but the children of Israel have abandoned your covenant, destroyed your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone remain, and they seek to take my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

11<\/sup>The he said, \u201cGo out and stand on the mountain before Yhwh.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then Yhwh was passing by, and a great and powerful wind was tearing apart the mountain and breaking rocks before Yhwh \u2014 but Yhwh was not in the wind.<\/p>\n

After the wind was an earthquake \u2014\u00a0but Yhwh was not in the earthquake.<\/p>\n

12<\/sup>After the earthquake was a fire \u2014 but Yhwh was not in the fire.<\/p>\n

After the fire was the sound of utter silence.<\/p>\n

13<\/sup>When Elijah heard it, he covered his face with his robe and went out and stood at the entrance to the cave. There a voice spoke to him, \u201cWhat are you doing here, Elijah?\u201d<\/p>\n

14<\/sup>So he said, \u201cI have been very zealous for General Yhwh, but the children of Israel have abandoned your covenant, destroyed your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone remain, and they seek to take my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

15<\/sup>Then Yhwh said to him, \u201cGo back on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, then go and anoint Hazael as king over Aram, 16<\/sup>and anoint Jehu ben Nimshi as king over Israel, and anoint Elisha ben Shaphat of Abel-Meholah as the prophet to succeed you. 17<\/sup>Then whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill. 18<\/sup>And I will spare 7,000 in Israel \u2014 all the knees which did not bow down to Ba\u2019al and every mouth which did not kiss him.\u201d<\/p>\n

19<\/sup>Then he went from there and found Elisha ben Shaphat who was ploughing with twelve pairs ahead of him and he was with the twelth. Elijah passed him and threw his robe over him. 20<\/sup>So he abandoned the oxen and chased after Elijah and said, \u201cLet me kiss my father and my mother, then I will come after you.\u201d He said to him, \u201cGo back, for what have I done for you?\u201d<\/p>\n

21<\/sup>So he went back from following him and he took a pair of the oxen, sacrificed them and, using the harness of the oxen, boiled the meat and gave it to the people. They ate and then he got up and went after Elijah and served him.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Notice Elijah’s despondency: he travels into the wilderness and rests under a solitary bush. He asks that his life be taken. He’s had enough. Throughout he ignores the cues: the messenger of Yhwh has to visit him twice to get him to begin his journey. When he encounters Yhwh at Horeb, Yhwh asks him twice why he is there, and twice he gives the same answer. Twice he insists that he is the last who remains faithful.<\/p>\n

Horeb is, for Israel, a place of beginnings. Here Israel began with Moses \u2014\u00a0indeed, there God had almost begun again with Moses (Ex 32:20). So here is Elijah ready for a new beginning, standing before God as Moses had done once before. Reminiscent of Moses’ time, there were spectacular physical events (compare Exod 19:9, 16\u201320), yet unlike Moses’ time, God was not in these events. Something was different in Elijah’s encounter: God’s absence. Finally, there is silence (\u05e7\u05d5\u05dc \u05d3\u05de\u05de\u05d4 \u05d3\u05e7\u05d4), and finally the phrase “Yhwh was not in the \u2026” is absent. Yhwh, it would seem, has come to Elijah with nothing new.<\/p>\n

Has Elijah understood? God asks him again why he is there, but Elijah’s answer remains unchanged. And so God has to spell things out more clearly. He is not alone, all hope is not lost, 7,000 faithful remain in Israel. Furthermore, God is about to take action and issues instructions to Elijah.<\/p>\n

God comes to Elijah with nothing new to say, no new beginning. This is reminiscent of Heb 1:1\u20132, where God’s ultimate message to us is by way of his Son, negating for need for further new beginnings. Hence one explanation for God’s silence is that he has nothing new to say to us.<\/p>\n

As an explanation for God’s supposed silence today, this is somewhat tendentious. It is not the only possible explanation for God’s silence today, nor the only reason we could derive from Scripture (Job, after all, endured the silence of God because God waits for the right time to speak, and Romans 1 implies that, as part of God’s judgment, God leaves people to suffer the consequences of their actions). Furthermore, it presumes that God is<\/em> silent today, and while there is a solid case for claiming there is no new redemptive word from God, there is also a solid biblical case for arguing that God can and does still speak to his people \u2014 but perhaps not in the way they expect (Job 33:14).<\/p>\n

\n

1. Presumably because if they’d used some other passage where God speaks as the paradigm then there’d be no way people could not hear!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a recent Q&A one of the viewers asked about God’s silence: My question is: why has God gone so quiet? Just a few thousand years ago he appeared to people quite regularly. He turned rivers to blood, he parted seas, he flooded the world etc. He provided us with people like Moses, Jesus &…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,4,25,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1kings","category-bible","category-hebrew","category-old-testament"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.shields-online.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.shields-online.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.shields-online.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.shields-online.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.shields-online.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.shields-online.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.shields-online.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.shields-online.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.shields-online.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}