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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - 1 Kings 18:21 - 18:46
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Elijah Slays the Prophets of Baal
v. 21. And Elijah came unto all the people, as they were assembled in a convenient place on the southeastern slopes of Mount Carmel, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions, being of a double mind, trying to harmonize the worship of Jehovah and that of Baal? If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him. This same argument is applicable to the unionistic tendencies of our day, no matter in what connection they crop out, for all such efforts to harmonize truth and falsehood are an abomination to the Lord. And the people answered him not a word, their silence conceding the actual antagonism between the two religions.
v. 22. Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord, all the rest having been either murdered or caused to cease preaching; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. The priests of Astarte had apparently not appeared, having a presentiment of harm which would surely befall them if they attended this great assembly.
v. 23. Let them therefore give us two bullocks, in order that the issue might be publicly decided; and let them, the priests of Baal, choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under, and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under;
v. 24. and call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord; and the god that answereth by fire, let him be God. Since sacrifice was the chief expression of worship at that time, this form of deciding the issue was chosen, and since the priests of Baal were given the first opportunity to test the truth of their religion and also their choice of bullocks, it was practically impossible for them to refuse without immediately branding their religion as a huge fraud. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken. The proposal and the test seemed altogether fair to them.
v. 25. And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many, he did not intend to crowd forward, but wanted to give them every advantage; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under.
v. 26. And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, which included the proper dissecting of the members according to the requirements of the ritual, and called on the name of Baal from morning, when the meeting opened, even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us, literally, "hearken unto us," answer us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered, literally, "And not was there a voice, and not was there an answerer. " And they leaped upon the altar which was made, they began a sacrificial dance with a reeling movement.
v. 27. And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, Cry aloud; for he is a god, that is, in their opinion; either he is talking, engaged in deep meditation, or he is pursuing, having stepped out for a few minutes, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked. This was holy derision and irony, for it is altogether in order, in given circumstances, to ridicule the hollowness and insufficiency of unbelief and false religions.
v. 28. And they, with whom the outcome of the affair was now a matter of the greatest seriousness, cried aloud and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, with swords and sharp lances, for they now tried a weapon-dance, till the blood gushed out upon them, all with the idea of compelling their idol to answer their frantic appeals.
v. 29. And it came to pass, when midday was past and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, about three o'clock in the afternoon, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded, all their efforts received not the slightest recognition or attention from the idol in whom they trusted.
v. 30. And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me, he wanted them to be witnesses of the events which were about to take place. And all the people came near unto 'him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down, this being one of the heights where sacrifices to Jehovah had formerly been made.
v. 31. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name, he wanted to declare, at this time, that it was really the twelve tribes which constituted the Lord's people, and that they should remain united in the worship of Jehovah;
v. 32. and with the stones, on the foundation of the former altar, he built an altar in the name of the Lord, where Jehovah was to reveal Himself as the one true God. And he made a trench about the altar, a ditch to receive the water which he intended to be poured upon the sacrifice, as great as would contain two measures of seed, that is, he had the people dig out as much soil as would have been needed to hold two measures of seed, if this had been sown there.
v. 33. And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels, large pails, with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.
v. 34. And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time.
v. 35. And the water ran round about the altar, covering and soaking everything thoroughly; and he filled the trench also with water, as it ran down from the altar. Altogether, the measures adopted by Elijah would prevent any suspicion of fraud.
v. 36. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah, the prophet, came near, approaching closely to the altar, and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, the God of the nation's ancestors, let it be known this day that Thou art God in Israel, and that I am Thy servant, and that I have done all these things at Thy word; for he had not acted in his own cause or interest, but only in behalf and for the honor of the Lord, at whose command all this was performed.
v. 37. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that Thou art the Lord God, and that Thou hast turned their heart back again, that which was about to happen should result in their conversion to the true God.
v. 38. Then the fire of the Lord fell, as when the Tabernacle was dedicated, Lev_9:24, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, that in the spaces between the stones, and licked up the water that was in the trench. It was a miraculous fire, one, moreover, which exceeded any ordinary fire in intensity.
v. 39. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces, in reverent awe and in terror; and they said, The Lord, He is the God; the Lord, He is the God! An overpowering impression had been made upon them, and the confession that Jehovah was the one and only true God came from full conviction.
v. 40. And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal, lay hold on them quickly; let not one of them escape. And they took them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, which flows at the foot of Mount Carmel, and slew them there. It was the judgment of God upon the false prophets and their soul-destroying doctrines. While the kingdom of God is no longer built and maintained by external force, God still shows by an occasional extraordinary punishment upon blasphemers that He is the only true, the living God, and that there is none beside Him.
v. 41. And Elijah said unto Ahab, who was also present at this great meeting, Get thee up, eat and drink, he could once more be of good cheer; for there is a sound of abundance of rain. The prophet heard the noise of the approaching storm before there was a cloud in the sky.
v. 42. So Ahab went up to eat and to drink, to refresh himself after the anxiety of the last days. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, to a promontory which offered a view of the sea; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, in an attitude of the most earnest, importunate prayer,
v. 43. and said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea, where the storm-clouds would be visible at once. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times, again and again, for the rain must surely come.
v. 44. And it came to pass at the seventh time that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea like a man's hand. And he, knowing that this cloud would bring the expected rain, said, Go up, say unto Ahab, whose tent was probably pitched among the crags, Prepare thy chariot and get thee down that the rain stop thee not.
v. 45. And it came to pass in the mean while, while Ahab got ready to return to his home, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel, evidently his summer residence.
v. 46. And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, imparting to him supernatural strength; and he girded up his loins, to make traveling easier, and ran before Ahab, as a faithful servant ready to stand at his side in removing the curse of idolatry from the country, to the entrance of Jezreel, this run of some seventeen miles being in itself an unusual feat. Note: A nation's weal and woe, blessing and curse, depends upon its relation to the true God.