CHAPTER TEN/He Stood Up for Pure Worship - How Long Was the Drought i Elijah's Day?

 Jehovah's prophet Elijah announced to King Ahab the long drought would soon end. That happened "in the third year" - evidently counting from the day first announced the drought.  (1 Kings 18:1) Jehovah sent rain soon after Elijah said He would. Some might conclude that the drought ended during the course of its third year and that it was therefore less than three years long. However, both Jesus and James tells us that the drought lasted "three years and six months." (Luke 4:25; James 5:17) Is this a contradiction?

Not at all. You see, the dry season in ancient Israel was quite long lasting up to six months. No doubt Elijah came to Ahab to announce the drought when the dry season was already proving to be unusually long and severe. In effect, the drought nearly a half a year earlier. Thus, when Elijah announced the end of the drought "in the third year" from his previous announcement, the drought had already lasted nearly three and half years. The "three years and six months" has lapsed by the time all the people assembled to witness the great test on Mount Carmel. 

Consider, then, the timing of Elijah's first visit to Ahab. The people believed that Baal was "the rider of the clouds," the god who would bring rains to end the dry season. If the dry season was unusually long, people like wondered: "Where is Baal? Will he bring the rains? Elijah's announcement that neither rain nor dew would occur until he said so must have been devastating to those Baal worshippers. - 1 KINGS 17:1.

Next time: CHAPTER ELEVEN/He Watched and He Waited

From the jw.org publications