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The Tishbite
The Untold Story of Elijah

By Kurt W. Schuller (USA)

Chapter 15

This manuscript (currently titled "the tishbite" but I am considering "A Man of God") is unfinished This Is a fictional account of the life of Elijah. It is raw and powerful reflecting the actual state of life at the time.It has a strong sexual theme which is necessary because of the story it tells. It is both inspirational as well as entertaining. It was written to entertain the reader first.` Your feedback is welcome I hope you enjoy.

Part one: A Man Of God

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter 15
After a sleepless night and much prayer, Obadiah made his decision. That morning he sat at her side while she slept, watching her breathe. When she woke up and saw him there she smiled.
“Made me breakfast in bed?”
Obadiah told her everything. She listened carefully and when he finished she closed her eyes and sighed.
“You are going to do this, right?”
“You’re not afraid?”
“Oh, I’m afraid. But if you don’t, innocent people are going to die. I have lived a good life, with no regrets. I’m too old and tired to start carrying any now.”
She patted his arm “ I trust in you to be careful.”
They ate breakfast that morning in silence.  Then it came time for goodbyes.
His last kiss goodbye stunned Ruth with its intensity.
“Where did that come from?” she whispered breathlessly.
 “I could be gone quite a while. So I wanted to be sure it would stay with you.”
A sad smile came over her face. She pulled him close to her and kissed him again like no other time he could remember.
“Now we are even, and I hope that it won’t last, so that you will hurry back to me.”
Obadiah was now ready for whatever awaited him. He made his way to the palace that day with a real sense of purpose.
 His first task was to get ready for the famine. He prepared a long ledger of food and supplies and called the storehouse manager into his office.
As the storehouse manger looked over page after page his jawed steadily dropped lower and lower.
“Expecting a siege, are we?” he said as he starred in amazement at the list. “There’s enough food here to feed the entire city for the next 3 years. I don’t have room enough to store it all. And where is the money going to come from? With all these Baal priests moving in here I’m already over budget.”
Obadiah got up and walked over to a cedar chest covered with a thick layer of dust.
“Remember the story of Joseph?” he said as he wiped the dust from the chest and started to open it. The storehouse manager only shrugged as he stared at the mysterious chest with great curiosity. 
Obadiah let the lid drop back down. “He was a palace manager like myself. He served the pharaohs before they enslaved us. One of the things he did was to set aside a great amount of food during a time of great plenty. Later a famine came and because he had set aside from their earlier plenty he saved the nation.”
“I know the story. But what does that have to do with this mysterious chest. Your not going to tell me you have a seven year supply of grain in there, are you?” The manager said laughingly.
Obadiah only grinned and flipped open the chest. It was full of silver and gold coins.
“It’s been here for as long as I have served as palace overseer. Nadab had apparently been building his own little private treasury, completely off the books, I might add. When I was promoted I found this chest hidden away, and no one appeared to be looking for it. So I have kept it here all these years waiting for the day that it might prove useful.”
The supervisor looked at him with eyes as wide as saucers.
“Why didn’t you just take it and leave the country?”
Obadiah’s eyes flashed angrily. ”There’s not enough money in the world to get me to give up my honor.  I am no thief.”
The supervisor bowed slightly in apology and Obadiah curbed his anger.
“This should be more than sufficient I think. I will make the necessary arrangements to add it to your budget. And as far as your needing more room to store the supplies, there is a large room deep within the palace interior that is empty at the moment. It is nice and cool in there as well and will make an excellent place to keep some of the more perishable items. And another thing- I want you to make these purchases across the border. I don’t want to start a panic. If information that the palace was laying in such a massive amount of food became public knowledge it could cause unneeded chaos. It is imperative that your dealings remain secret. Is that understood?”
The supervisor nodded. And then, with a look of revelation half whispered. “Does this have something to do with that little disturbance in the throne room the other day?”
Obadiah fixed his eyes on the supervisor’s. “You have your instructions, I suggest you get started on them-”
With that he pushed the lid to the chest shut. “-Now.” 
With that the supervisor bowed quickly and left.
Obadiah sat down and thought for a moment. Now that that part of his plan was in action it was time for phase two. He would find out all that he could about this tishbite, but not because Rabah had wanted it. There was just something about this entire episode that was nothing short of remarkable. When he had come home to tell Ruth what had happened, he was surprised to learn that she already knew all about it.
The news of this event was spreading like wildfire through a dead forest. Perhaps it was the unambiguousness of the prophet’s threats that sparked so much interest. As a people they had experienced drought many times, but could anyone but God stop the dew?
For Obadiah and a few others, the excitement lay in confirming their years of faithfulness to the God of their fathers.
For most of the rest of Israel, it was seen as a way to end their ambivalence when it came to their religion. Years of tolerance about multiple gods had worn away the nations spirit. By allowing simultaneous worship of in so many different gods, it had the effect of watering down the peoples resolve. Their culture, in which their ancestors had had so much pride, had become weak and decayed. Crime and corruption was rampant. The people were yearning to know the truth. Who was really God? And into this moral void had stepped in Rabah and Jezebel. As Ahab’s lover it had been easy to convince him that the nation needed to unite under one god; hers. She and Rabah had long ago planned their ascent to the palace of Israel. She seduced Ahab six months before his father died, knowing that he would one day become King. It had been an easy plan to carry out; for Ahab was so physically repulsive that she had no other competition.  But such was her ambition and her devotion to Baal. A bit of camphor oil under her nostrils prevented her from smelling him as they made love. And while she refused to let him ever kiss her with his decayed filled mouth he never missed it. As Baal’s priestess, she was skilled in every possible sexual act.
Obadiah recognized all of these things. That is why he had so quickly accepted this all as fact. Elijah was Jehovah’s answer to Rabah and Jezebel, and their attempt to drive Him from His people. Obadiah could see it clearly and also recognized that he was to be a part of it; that was why he was willing to risk all to save the priests, and why he wanted to know all that he could about Elijah.
Rabah was giving him a golden opportunity to travel across the nation and send those priests that he came across into hiding in the forgotten cave. They would be needed for the day of triumph that Obadiah was sure would someday come.
He packed a large wagon with provisions; picked out two of his most trustworthy servants to accompany him, and set out on a journey of rescue- and discovery.

Continued Next Week