After many days, Yahweh’s word came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain on the earth.”
Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. The famine was severe in Samaria. Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared Yahweh greatly; for when Jezebel cut off Yahweh’s prophets, Obadiah took one hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land, to all the springs of water, and to all the brooks. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, that we not lose all the animals.”
So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 After that he departed from the river Cherith.
After that he departed from the river Cherith.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–6 1Ki 18:1 And it came to pass [after] many…
1Ki 18:1 And it came to pass [after] many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.
Ver. 1. After many days,] i.e., After three years and six months’ time of famine: which to the distressed Israelites seemed a long while.
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In the third year.] Of his abode at Zarephath.
And I will send rain.] Heb., I will give. Rain is a gracious gift of God. See on Zec 10:1.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–6 In the third year; either,
In the third year; either,
1. From the time when he went to hide himself by the brook Cherith; six months before which time the famine might begin, though it was not yet come to extremity. And so this being in or towards the end of the third year, it makes up these three years and six months, Jam 5:17. Or,
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2. From the time of his going to Sarepta, which probably was a year after the famine began; See Poole "1Ki 17:7"; and so this might be in the middle of the third year, which also makes up the three years and six months.
Show thyself unto Ahab; to acquaint him with the cause of this judgment, 1Ki 18:18, and to advise him to remove it, and upon that condition to promise him rain.
I will send rain upon the earth, according to thy word and prayer, which thou shalt make for it. Thus God takes care to maintain the honour and authority of his prophet, and in judgment remembers mercy to Israel for the sake of the holy seed yet left among them, who suffered in this common calamity.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 In these verses we find,
In these verses we find,
I. The sad state of Israel at this time, upon two accounts: -
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1. Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord (Kg1 18:4), slew them, Kg1 18:13. Being an idolater, she was a persecutor, and made Ahab one. Even in those bad times, when the calves were worshipped and the temple at Jerusalem deserted, yet there were some good people that feared God and served him, and some good prophets that instructed them in the knowledge of him and assisted them in their devotions. The priests and the Levites had all gone to Judah and Jerusalem (Ch2 11:13, Ch2 11:14), but, instead of them, God raised up these prophets, who read and expounded the law in private meetings, or in the families that retained their integrity, for we read not of any synagogues at this time; they had not the spirit of prophecy as Elijah, nor did they offer sacrifice, or burn incense, but taught people to live well, and keep close to the God of Israel. These Jezebel aimed to extirpate, and put many of them to death, which was as much a public calamity as a public iniquity, and threatened the utter ruin of religion's poor remains in Israel. Those few that escaped the sword were forced to abscond, and hide themselves in caves, where they were buried alive and cut off, though not from life, yet from usefulness, which is the end and comfort of life; and, when the prophets were persecuted and driven into corners, no doubt their friends, those few good people that were in the land, were treated in like manner. Yet, bad as things were,
(1.) There was one very good man, who was a great man at court, Obadiah, who answered his name - a servant of the Lord, one who feared God and was faithful to him, and yet was steward of the household to Ahab. Observe his character: He feared the Lord greatly (Kg1 18:3), was not only a good man, but zealously and eminently good; his great place put a lustre upon his goodness, and gave him great opportunities of doing good; and he feared the Lord from his youth (Kg1 18:12), he began betimes to be religious and had continued long. Note, Early piety, it is to be hoped, will be eminent piety; those that are good betimes are likely to be very good; he that feared God from his youth came to fear him greatly. He that will thrive must rise betimes. But it is strange to find such an eminently good man governor of Ahab's house, an office of great honour, power, and trust. [1.] It was strange that so wicked a man as Ahab would prefer him to it and continue him in it; certainly it was because he was a man of celebrated honesty, industry, and ingenuity, and one in whom he could repose a confidence, whose eyes he could trust as much as his own, as appears here, Kg1 18:5. Joseph and Daniel were preferred because there were none so fit as they for the places they were preferred to. Note, Those who profess religion should study to recommend themselves to the esteem even of those that are without by their integrity, fidelity, and application to business. [2.] It was strange that so good a man as Obadiah would accept of preferment in a court so addicted to idolatry and all manner of wickedness. We may be sure it was not made necessary to qualify him for preferment that he should be of the king's religion, that he should conform to the statues of Omri, or the law of the house of Ahab. Obadiah would not have accepted the place if he could not have had it without bowing the knee to Baal, nor was Ahab so impolitic as to exclude those from offices that were fit to serve him, merely because they would not join with him in his devotions. That man that is true to his God will be faithful to his prince. Obadiah therefore could with a good conscience enjoy the place, and therefore would not decline it, nor give it up, though he foresaw he could not do the good he desired to do in it. Those that fear God need not go out of the world, bad as it is. [3.] It was strange that either he did not reform Ahab or Ahab corrupt him; but it seems they were both fixed; he that was filthy would be filthy still, and he that was holy would be holy still. Those fear God greatly that keep up the fear of him in bad times and places; thus Obadiah did. God has his remnant among all sorts, high and low; there were saints in Nero's household, and in Ahab's.
(2.) This great good man used his power for the protection of God's prophets. He hid 100 of them in two caves, when the persecution was hot, and fed them with bread and water, Kg1 18:4. He did not think it enough to fear God himself, but, having wealth and power wherewith to do it, he thought himself obliged to assist and countenance others that feared God; nor did he think his being kind to them would excuse him from being good himself, but he did both, he both feared God greatly himself and patronised those that feared him likewise. See how wonderfully God raises up friends for his ministers and people, for their shelter in difficult times, even where one would least expect them. Bread and water were now scarce commodities, yet Obadiah will find a competence of both for God's prophets, to keep them alive for service hereafter, though now they were laid aside.
2. When Jezebel cut off God's prophets God cut off the necessary provisions by the extremity of the drought. Perhaps Jezebel persecuted God's prophets under pretence that they were the cause of the judgment, because Elijah had foretold it. Christianos ad leones - Away with Christians to the lions. But God made them know the contrary, for the famine continued till Baal's prophets were sacrificed, and so great a scarcity of water there was that the king himself and Obadiah went in person throughout the land to seek for grass for the cattle, Kg1 18:5, Kg1 18:6. Providence ordered it so, that Ahab might, with his own eyes, see how bad the consequences of this judgment were, that so he might be the better inclined to hearken to Elijah, who would direct him into the only way to put an end to it. Ahab's care was not to lose all the beasts, many being already lost; but he took no care about his soul, not to lose that; he took a deal of pains to seek grass, but none to seek the favour of God, fencing against the effect, but not enquiring how to remove the cause. The land of Judah lay close to the land of Israel, yet we find no complaint there of the want of rain; for Judah yet ruled with God, and was faithful with the saints and prophets (Hos 11:12), by which distinction Israel might plainly have seen the ground of God's controversy, when God caused it to rain upon one city and not upon another (Amo 4:7, Amo 4:8); but they blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts, and would not see.
II. The steps taken towards redressing the grievance, by Elijah's appearing again upon the stage, to act as a Tishbite, a converter or reformer of Israel, for so (some think) that title of his signifies. Turn them again to the Lord God of hosts, from whom they have revolted, and all will be well quickly; this must be Elijah's doing. See Luk 1:16, Luk 1:17.
1. Ahab had made diligent search for him (Kg1 18:10), had offered rewards to any one that would discover him, sent spies into every tribe and lordship of his own dominions, as some understand it, or, as others, into all the neighbouring nations and kingdoms that were in alliance with him; and, when they denied that they knew any thing of him, he would not believe them unless they swore it, and, as should seem, promised likewise upon oath that, if ever they found him among them, they would discover him and deliver him up. It should seem, he made this diligent search for him, not so much that he might punish him for what he had done in denouncing the judgment as that he might oblige him to undo it again, by recalling the sentence, because he had said it should be according to his word, having such an opinion of him as men foolishly conceive of witches (that, if they can but compel them to bless that which they have bewitched, it will be well again), or such as the king of Moab had of Balaam. I incline to this because we find, when they came together, Elijah, knowing what Ahab wanted him for, appointed him to meet him on Mount Carmel, and Ahab complied with the appointment, though Elijah took such a way to revoke the sentence and bless the land as perhaps he little thought of.
2. God, at length, ordered Elijah to present himself to Ahab, because the time had now come when he would send rain upon the earth (Kg1 18:1), or rather upon the land. Above two years he had lain hid with the widow at Zarephath, after he had been concealed one year by the brook Cherith; so that the third year of his sojourning there, here spoken of (Kg1 18:1), was the fourth of the famine, which lasted in all three years and six months, as we find, Luk 4:25; Jam 5:17. Such was Elijah's zeal, no doubt, against the idolatry of Baal, and such his compassion to his people, that he thought it long to be thus confined to a corner; yet he appeared not till God bade him: "Go and show thyself to Ahab, for now thy hour has come, even the time to favour Israel." Note, It bodes well to any people when God calls his ministers out of their corners, and bids them show themselves - a sign that he will give rain on the earth; at least we may the better be content with the bread of affliction while our eyes see our teachers, Isa 30:20, Isa 30:21.
3. Elijah first surrendered, or rather discovered, himself to Obadiah. He knew, by the Spirit, where to meet him, and we are here told what passed between them.
(1.) Obadiah saluted him with great respect, fell on his face, and humbly asked, Art thou that my lord Elijah? Kg1 18:7. As he had shown the tenderness of a father to the sons of the prophets, so he showed the reverence of a son to this father of the prophets; and by this made it appear that he did indeed fear God greatly, that he did honour to one that was his extraordinary ambassador and had a great interest in heaven.
(2.) Elijah, in answer to him, [1.] Transfers the title of honour he gave him to Ahab: "Call him thy lord, not me;" that is a fitter title for a prince than for a prophet, who seeks not honour from men. Prophets should be called seers, and shepherds, and watchmen, and ministers, rather than lords, as those that mind duty more than dominion. [2.] He bids Obadiah go and tell the king that he is there to speak with him: Tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is forth-coming, Kg1 18:8. He would have the king know before, that it might not be a surprise to him and that he might be sure it was the prophet's own act to present himself to him.
(3.) Obadiah begs to be excused from carrying this message to Ahab, for it might prove as much as his life was worth. [1.] He tells Elijah what great search Ahab had made for him and how much his heart was upon it to find him out, Oba 1:10. [2.] He takes it for granted that Elijah would again withdraw (Oba 1:12): The Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee (as it is likely he had done sometimes, when Ahab thought he had been sure of him) whither I know not. See Kg2 2:16. He thought Elijah was not in good earnest when he bade him tell Ahab where he was, but intended only to expose the impotency of his malice; for he knew Ahab was not worthy to receive any kindness from the prophet and it was not fit that the prophet should receive any mischief from him. [3.] He is sure Ahab would be so enraged at the disappointment that he would put him to death for making a fool of him, or for not laying hands on Elijah himself, when he had him in his reach, Kg1 18:12. Tyrants and persecutors, in their passion, are often unreasonably outrageous, even towards their friends and confidants. [4.] He pleads that he did not deserve to be thus exposed, and put in peril of his life: What have I said amiss? Kg1 18:9. Nay (Kg1 18:13), Was it not told my lord how I hid the prophets? He mentions this, not in pride or ostentation, but to convince Elijah that though he was Ahab's servant he was not in his interest, and therefore deserved not to be bantered as one of the tools of his persecution. He that had protected so many prophets, he hoped, should not have his own life hazarded by so great a prophet.
(4.) Elijah satisfied him that he might with safety deliver this message to Ahab, by assuring him, with an oath, that he would, this very day, present himself to Ahab, Kg1 18:15. Let but Obadiah know that he spoke seriously and really intended it, and he will make no scruple to carry the message to Ahab. Elijah swears by the Lord of hosts, who has all power in his hands, and is therefore able to protect his servants against all the powers of hell and earth.
(5.) Notice is hereby soon brought to Ahab that Elijah had sent him a challenge to meet him immediately at such a place, and Ahab accepts the challenge: He went to meet Elijah, Kg1 18:16. We may suppose it was a great surprise to Ahab to hear that Elijah, whom he had so long sought and not found, was now found without seeking. He went in quest of grass, and found him from whose word, at God's mouth, he must expect rain. Yet his guilty conscience gave him little reason to hope for it, but, rather, to fear some other more dreadful judgment. Had he, by his spies, surprised Elijah, he would have triumphed over him; but, now that he was thus surprised by him, we may suppose he even trembled to look him in the face, hated him, and yet feared him, as Herod did John.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–6 And it came to pass after many days,.... When…
And it came to pass after many days,.... When two years and more were gone from the time the drought and famine began; or rather from the time of the prophets departure to the brook Cherith, which might be six months after the famine began:
that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year; of his absence from Ahab:
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saying, go show thyself unto Ahab; whom he had not seen so long, and who had been seeking for him, but to no purpose:
and I will send rain upon the earth; the term of three years and six months being almost expired, see Jam 5:17.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1–4 Elijah sends notice to Ahab of his coming, ver.…
Elijah sends notice to Ahab of his coming, ver. 1-16. His interview with Ahab, ver. 17-19. His interview with all Israel upon mount Carmel, ver. 21-39. He slays the prophets of Baal, ver. 40. Obtains rain, and runs before Ahab to Jezreel, ver. 41-46.
The third year - Either,
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1. From the time when he went to hide himself by the brook Cherith; six months before which time the famine might begin. And so this being towards the end of the third year, it makes up these three years and six months, James v, 17. Or,
2. From the time of his going to Sarepta, which probably was a year after the famine begun; So this might be in the middle of the third year, which also makes up the three years and six months. Go to Ahab - To acquaint him with the cause of this judgment, and to advise him to remove it, and upon that condition to promise him rain. Will send - According to thy word and prayer, which thou shalt make for it. Thus God takes care to maintain the honour of his prophet, and in judgment remembers mercy to Israel, for the sake of the holy seed yet left among them, who suffered in this common calamity.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5 Elijah is commanded by the Lord to show himself…
CHAPTER XVIII
Elijah is commanded by the Lord to show himself to Ahab, 1, 2.
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Ahab, and Obadiah his steward, search the land to find
provender for the cattle, 3-6.
Obadiah meets Elijah, who commands him to inform Ahab that he
is ready to present himself before him, 7-15.
Elijah and Ahab meet, 16-18.
Elijah proposes that the four hundred and fifty priests of Baal
should be gathered together at Mount Carmel; that they should
offer a sacrifice to their god, and he to Jehovah; and the God
who should send down fire to consume the sacrifice should be
acknowledged as the true God, 19-24.
The proposal is accepted, and the priests of Baal call in vain
upon their god through the whole day, 25-29.
Elijah offers his sacrifice, prays to Gods and fire comes down
from heaven and consumes it; whereupon the people acknowledge
Jehovah to be the true God, and slay all the prophets of Baal,
30-40.
Elijah promises Ahab that there shall be immediate rain; it
comes accordingly, and Ahab and Elijah come to Jezreel, 41-46.
NOTES ON CHAP. XVIII
Verse 1. After many days - in the third year] We learn from our Lord, Lu 4:25, that the drought which brought on the famine in Israel lasted three years and six months. St. James, Jas 5:17, gives it the same duration. Probably Elijah spent six months at the brook Cherith, and three years with the widow at Sarepta.
I will send rain upon the earth.] The word האדמה haadamah should be translated the ground or the land, as it is probable that this drought did not extend beyond the land of Judea.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1–5 1Ki 18:1. The word of the Lord came to…
1Ki 18:1. The word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year — Our Lord and St. James say, the drought continued three years and six months, (Luk 4:25; Jas 5:17;) nor do they contradict what is here asserted: for, we must remember, that as Egypt had usually no rain, but was watered by the river Nile, so the land of Canaan had generally none, except twice a year, which they called the early and latter rain. The former of these, termed יורה, joree, quod terram quasi erudiat et informet ad producendam semen, because it, as it were, instructed and taught, that is, prepared, the earth to bring forth the seed, was the autumnal rain, and fell in the month answering to our October. The latter was termed מלקושׁ, malkosh, quasi collectionis pluvia, the rain of reaping and ingathering, because, falling about the vernal equinox, in the month answering to our March, it prepared the corn for harvest, by causing the ears to fill and ripen. Now, at the beginning of the drought, Ahab might very probably impute the want of rain to natural causes; but when, after six months, neither the former nor the latter rain fell in its season, he began to be enraged at Elijah, as the cause of this national judgment; which forced him, at God’s command, to save his life by flight. And from that time the three years here mentioned are to be computed; though from the first notice which Elijah gave to Ahab of this approaching calamity, to the expiration of it, were certainly three years and a half. During the first of the three years here referred to by the historian, Elijah was by the brook Cherith, and the two latter at Zarephath; near the end of which God took pity on the country, having fulfilled the threatening denounced by his prophet, and thereby set his seal to the truth of his word. Saying, Go show thyself to Ahab — It does not appear that either the miraculous increase of the provision, or the raising of the dead child, had caused Elijah to be taken notice of at Zarephath, otherwise Ahab would easily have discovered him: but now the days appointed for his concealment being finished, he is commanded to come out of his obscurity, and to show himself to the king; in consequence of which, his appearance soon became as public as before his retirement was close. I will send rain on the earth — According to thy word, and in answer to thy prayer. He was to acquaint Ahab with the cause of the judgment, and to advise him to remove that cause; and on that condition to promise him rain. Thus God took care to maintain the honour of his prophet, and in judgment remembered mercy to Israel, for the sake of the holy seed yet left among them, who suffered in this common calamity.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5 The third year - i. e., in the third…
The third year - i. e., in the third year of his sojourn with the widow. The whole period of drought was three years and a half Luk 4:25; Jam 5:17 : of this, probably about one year was passed by Elijah in the torrent-course of Cherith, and two years and a half at Sarepta.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 6 Year of his sojourning at Sarephta. As other six…
Year of his sojourning at Sarephta. As other six months elapsed before the drought was removed, it is probable that Elias had spent them at Carith, James v. 17. (Calmet) --- Earth. God is pleased to withdraw his chastisement, though the guilty were not yet reclaimed. (Salien)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 B.—Elijah at Mount Carmel
B.—Elijah at Mount Carmel
1Ki_18:1-46
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1And it came to pass after1 many days, that the word of the Lord [Jehovah] came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth. 2And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria. 3And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord [Jehovah] greatly: 4for it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord [Jehovah], that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty2 in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) 5And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts.3 6So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.
7And as Obadiah was in the way,4 behold, Elijah met him: and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Art thou that my lord Elijah? 8And he answered him, I am: go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. 9And he said, What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay 10me? As the Lord [Jehovah] thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not there; 11he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not. And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. 12And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the Lord [Jehovah] shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the Lord [Jehovah] from my youth. 13Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord [Jehovah], how I hid a hundred men of the Lord’s [Jehovah] prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water? 14And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here: and he shall slay me. 15And Elijah said, As the Lord [Jehovah] of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely shew myself unto him to-day.
16So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him: and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? 18And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord [Jehovah], and thou hast followed Baalim. 19Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table. 20So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel.
21And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions?5 if the Lord [Jehovah] be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. 22Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord [Jehovah]; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.6 23Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them 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 24bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and call7 ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord [Jehovah]:8 and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken. 25And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under. 26And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. 27And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking,9 or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked. 28And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives [swords] and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. 29And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until10 the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.11
30And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord [Jehovah] that was broken down. 31And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob,12 unto whom the word of the Lord [Jehovah] came, saying, Israel shall be thy name: 32and with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord [Jehovah]: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. 33And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood. And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. 34And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time. 35And the water ran around about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water. 36And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice,13 that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Lord [Jehovah] God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, 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. 37Hear me, O Lord [Jehovah], hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord [Jehovah] God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. 38Then the fire of the Lord [Jehovah] fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord [Jehovah], he is the God; the Lord [Jehovah], he is the God. 40And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.
41And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.14 42So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, 43and said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. 44And 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 said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot,15 and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not. 45And it came to pass in the mean while,16 that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel. 46And the hand of the Lord [Jehovah] was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
Exegetical and Critical
1Ki_18:1. And it came to pass, &c., &c. The whole of the eighteenth chapter is distributed in three sections; the middle one of which is the chief (1Ki_18:21-40); the first (1Ki_18:1-20) is introductory to the second (1Ki_18:21-40), and the last (1Ki_18:41-46) forms the sequel to the transaction narrated in the second. The first verse refers distinctly to 1Ki_17:1. It states when and how the drought announced by Elijah came to an end. The statement in Luk_4:25, and in Jam_5:17, according to which it did not rain for the space of three years and six months, seems to contradict the words in the third year. The same statement occurs also in the tractate Jalkut Schimoni; hence several interpreters (Schmidt, Michaelis, Keil) adopt the rabbinical conjecture that Elijah was a year at the brook Cherith, and that he remained two years in Sarepta, and that in the third year Jehovah’s command came to him to show himself unto Ahab. But it is very improbable that Elijah remained a whole year (מִקֵּץ יָמִים, 1Ki_17:7, cannot mean this) at Cherith, and that the reckoning should be made from the sojourn at Sarepta to the date of his reappearing, and not from his announcement of the drought, to which the text refers so explicitly. Benson regards the New Testament statement as a complete settlement of the Jewish tradition. As in each year there are two rainy seasons, so the six months before the prediction (1Ki_17:1), in which it did not rain, are taken into the account, while, in our passage, the reckoning is from the second rainy season. According to Lange (on Jam_5:17), the equalization lies in this, that in the account in 1 Kings 18. the exact period of the famine is stated; but it is very natural that the famine should have begun a year after the prediction of the drought, i. e., after the failure of the early and of the latter rain. In this first year the people still lived on the harvest of the preceding year. The וְ in וְאֶתְּנָה is not = that (Luther, Vulg.) nor = for, but, as in Gen_17:20; Deu_15:6 = and then. When Ewald says that after another year of drought “Ahab himself at last called Elijah back,” he is in direct contradiction with the words, Go hence and show thyself to Ahab, as also with 1Ki_18:9 sq.
1Ki_18:2-6. And there was a sore famine in Samaria. From here to 1Ki_18:6 there is a parenthetical remark, for “an explanation of the circumstances which brought about the meeting between Elijah and Ahab” (Keil). Even in the residence in Samaria the famine was so pressing during the drought that the king himself, with his “palace-master” (see on 1Ki_4:6)—“the governor of his house”—traversed the land to find food for his horses and mules. “Entirely without reference to the Old Testament, Menandros (Joseph. Antiq.8, 13, 2) makes mention of a severe drought of a year under the Syrian king Ithobal, a contemporary of Ahab” (Ewald). The name Obadiah is a proper name of frequent occurrence in the Old Testament (1Ch_3:21; 1Ch_7:3; 1Ch_8:38; 1Ch_9:16; 2Ch_17:7; 2Ch_34:12; Ezr_8:9, &c.), and does not here, on account of 1Ki_18:4, mean, as Thenius supposes, “chosen.” The prophets who are mentioned in 1Ki_18:4 were, for the most part, “prophet-scholars,” i. e., members of the association of the prophets (Prophetenvereine), cf. on 2 Kings 2. If Obadiah alone delivered a hundred, their number must have been considerable. Their persecution and extermination was the work of the fanatical, idolatrous Jezebel, whom Ahab allowed to rule and manage. Hess and Menken suppose that she was incited thereto by her idolatrous priests, who represented to her that the public calamity would not end until the prophets, from the secret influence of whom it proceeded, were put out of the way. This conjecture, however, is not necessary, on account of the character of Jezebel, who, from the start, was bent upon the abolition of the Jehovah-worship. The caverns in which Obadiah concealed the prophets were certainly not near Samaria, but were, perhaps, on Mount Carmel, “which is full of clefts and grottoes” (Winer, R.-W.-B. I. s. 212).
1Ki_18:7-16. And as Obadiah was in the way, &c. He recognized the prophet at once by his peculiar clothing (cf. 2Ki_1:7-8). The profound reverence which he showed to him allows us to conclude that there was a personal acquaintance, and, in any event, it is an evidence of the high consideration in which even then Elijah was held, at least upon the part of the worshippers of Jehovah, which could scarcely be accounted for only on the ground of his prediction of the drought (1Ki_17:1). The words הַאַתָּה זֶה cannot be translated, Art thou not my lord Elijah? (Luther), or with the Sept., εἰ σὺ εἶ αὐτός κύριέ μου ’Ηλία; for he had already recognized him, and had fallen on his face before him. It is rather a question of wonder: Art thou, who hast been looked for everywhere in vain, here? (1Ki_18:10). The reply of Obadiah in 1Ki_18:9 is explained by 1Ki_18:12. The statement in 1Ki_18:10, that Ahab had set on foot inquiries after the prophet in every kingdom, is “an hyperbole prompted by inward excitement and fear” (Keil), but which, nevertheless, is an evidence of the great bitterness and hatred of Ahab. From the anxiety of Obadiah lest the spirit of Jehovah should suddenly carry the prophet away, it has been concluded that something like it had previously occurred, but which has not been related to us (Von Gerlach, Seb. Schmidt, and others). Keil remarks, on the other hand: Elijah was not snatched away after the prediction of the drought, and there is no more reason for supposing a case of this kind during the interval, when he was concealed from his enemies. Obadiah certainly had not in his mind a simple going away, nor does the expression suggest “a wind-storm” (Dereser), nor a mere inward movement from above (Olshaus., Acts viii. 39), but divine power. The concluding statement in 1Ki_18:12 does not mean he has not as “a God-fearing man and a protector of the prophets any special favor to expect at the hands of Ahab” (Keil), but rather he believes that, as a true servant of Jehovah, for his own and for the sake of the prophet, he deserves, least of all, death. He does not express a doubt of the truthfulness of Elijah, but he supposes that “he will be exposed to a danger from which God will rescue him by an abreption, while he himself will thereby be placed in the greatest peril in respect of Ahab” (Menken). By the expression in 1Ki_18:13, he seeks to justify his refusal to fulfil Elijah’s commission, and to say that he will suffer a death he does not merit, but he does not mean to boast of his action, or to claim any reward. The צְבָאוֹת with יְהוָֹה (see Keil on 1Sa_1:3), elevates the solemnity of the oath (cf. on 1Ki_17:1). הַיּוֹם means here: at this time, now (1Sa_14:33; 2Ki_4:8), not to-day (Luther, De Wette).
1Ki_18:17-20. And it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah, &c. As Ahab went, at Obadiah’s instigation, to meet the prophet, and not the prophet to meet him, Ahab’s query does not mean “Dost thou dare to appear before me?” (Thenius), but, rather, Do I meet thee at last, thou bringer of trouble? עָכַר does not, as in Gen_34:30; Jos_6:18; Jos_7:25, mean here, to perplex, as Luther translates. Ahab lays all the blame of the famine upon Elijah, not merely because he had predicted the drought, but he had added that it would come to an end only at his word, without thinking that the prophet had done this only in the name and at the command of Jehovah. In the reply of Elijah (1Ki_18:18) the plural form בְּעָלִים is not, with Gesenius, to be understood of images or statues of Baal, but of the various surnames of Baal according to their special signification—Baal-Berith, Baal-Zebul (Winer, R- W.-B. I. s. 120). Elijah’s desire (in 1Ki_18:19) probably admits of a closer explanation in respect of its ground and purpose; it was not so much on account of Ahab as to influence the whole people to another course—it was to bring all Israel to a decision. That was the right point of time when the longing for deliverance from the famine was universal. Elijah appointed Carmel as the place of assemblage, probably because its situation was central, and it was also near the sea, from which quarter rain-clouds came. There was, moreover, an altar to Jehovah there, as on other conspicuous high places, but which, like other such altars, had been thrown down in consequence of the introduction of the Baal-worship (cf. 1Ki_18:30 and 1Ki_19:10). The whole of Israel, i. e., the heads of the tribes and families, and the elders as the representatives of the people (1Ki_8:1-62). The prophets of Baal (cf. 1Ki_18:26 sq.) are the priests of Baal, who were likewise the god’s soothsayers and foretellers. As the male divinity, Baal had more priests than the female. That the Astarte-priests ate at Jezebel’s table, i. e., were entirely supported by her (see 1Ki_2:7), is expressly remarked, because therein her blind, fanatical passion for the worship of idols is shown over against the prophets of Jehovah, whom she persecuted and murdered (1Ki_18:4). When, according to 1Ki_18:20, the enraged and excited king at once acceded to the demand of Elijah, this is quite in harmony with his character as he often exhibited it subsequently. He bowed before the spiritual supremacy of the prophet, which impressed him. Notwithstanding his apparent scorn, he had a secret fear of Elijah since the prediction of the drought had been verified (1Ki_17:1), and all the sacrifices of the priests of Baal to avert the famine had been in vain.
1Ki_18:21. And Elijah came, &c. Ewald, whom Thenius follows on the ground of the Septuag., translates the question of the prophet to the people: “How long will ye go limping on both hocks, i. e., always staggering about hither and thither insecurely between truth and falsehood, Jahve and Baal?” But סעפים is never used in the sense of ἰγνύαι, i. e., hocks, which translation Schleusner properly pronounces a mera conjectura. The root סָעַף means to divide, to dissever, and all the derivatives point back to this signification. The סֵעֲפִים, Psa_119:113, are those which are divided within themselves, the double-minded or ambiguous. In Eze_31:6 : סְעַפּוֹת means branches, because these are the divided tree, and in Isa_2:21; Isa_57:5, the clefts of the rocks are named סְעִפֵי הַסְּלָעִים. The Vulg. hence translates rightly, Usquequo claudicatis in duas partes? Keil, “up to the two parties (Jehovah and Baal).” This agrees perfectly with the word פָסַח, i. e., to go over from one to another, and על is here with פסח, as in 1Ki_18:26, where it cannot possibly mean “to the.” But when Keil remarks further: The people were wishing to harmonize the Jehovah worship and that of Baal, not to stand, by means of the Baal worship, in hostile opposition to Jehovah, he is evidently mistaken. The people rather were divided between the two forms of worship, that of Jehovah and that of Baal; to the latter belonged also the Astarte-cultus, which it was impossible to identify or reconcile with the Jehovah-worship. The persecution and extermination of the Jehovah prophets by Jezebel must have shown the people, most explicitly, that between the two religions the most decisive antagonism existed. Jeroboam’s calf-worship might still seem to be Jehovah-worship, but the Baal and Astarte worship, never. The large number of the “sons of the prophets” shows that, in spite of Ahab and Jezebel, the people were divided into two parties.
1Ki_18:22-25. It by no means follows from the לְבַדִּי “that those also who had been concealed by Obadiah were discovered and destroyed” (Thenius). cf. 2Ki_2:3; 2Ki_2:5. Elijah means to say: All the other prophets have been murdered, or are reduced to a state of inactivity: I stand here alone over against four hundred and fifty priests of Baal; what, humanly speaking, can one do against so many? Be this as it may, the issue will decide all the more certainly with whom rests the Right יָתַר as in Gen. 32:35; Jos_18:2. To the four hundred and fifty Baal priests the Sept. adds: καὶ οἱ προφῆται, τοῦ ἄλσους τετρακόσιοι, which Thenius holds to be original, but is here evidently filled out from 1Ki_18:19. In 1Ki_18:25 and in 1Ki_18:40, moreover, the priests of Baal only are named. A thrice repeated omission of the Astarte-priests cannot be explained by the rule, a potiori fit, etc., least of all in 1Ki_18:40; they might indeed have been summoned, but under the protection of Jezebel they might have been able to escape the requisition of Ahab (Keil). As the issue was a decision between the worship of Jehovah and that of Baal, Elijah employed, in connection with it, an act of sacrifice, because both amongst the Jews and also the heathen, sacrifice was the explicit expression of all worship. The significance of fire in sacrifice was the reason why he suspended the decision upon the fire which should consume the offering; it wafts the sacrifice upwards, and, as it were, presents it to the deity. Should the latter send the fire, this would be a sign not only of power, but also that the sacrifice was accepted and well-pleasing. Besides this, fire, especially that which came from heaven, was the general symbol of deity. Baal also was the God of heaven, of the sun, and of fire (heaven-fire-sun-god). If he could not consume the offering, that would show him to be no God. The cutting in pieces, 1Ki_18:23; 1Ki_18:33, belongs, according to Lev_1:6, to the proper dressing of every burnt-offering. After the people had signified their agreement to the proposition of Elijah he proceeded further (1Ki_18:25); and, to avoid all appearance of encroachment or of partisanship, he allowed the priests of Baal a choice between the two “bullocks,” as also precedence in the act of sacrifice, giving as a reason: for ye are many.This was scarcely said “somewhat scoffingly” in the sense of “the crowd shall have the precedence! You are the prevailing religious party in Israel” (Menken), but wholly in earnest; he, only one, will take no advantage of the many; they shall not feel themselves slighted. When, too, as he himself knew in advance, the vanity, the nothingness of Baal became manifest, the impression produced by his offering would be all the greater, while inversely the priests of Baal, under every kind of pretext, would have wholly omitted the sacrifice.
1Ki_18:26-29. And they took the bullock, &c. By וַיְפַסְּחוּ the dance customary at heathen sacrifices is indeed suggested to us (see with Keil the passage from Herodian Hist. v. 3). The view prevails that limping, “in derision of the unaided sacrificial dance of the Baal priests,” stands here for dancing (Gesenius); but neither here nor in 1Ki_18:21 does it denote ridicule. It expresses only the reeling to and fro; “the dance, as we may infer from its climax in 1Ki_18:28-29, may have had somewhat of the bacchantic, reeling way about it” (Thenius); the Sept. has διέτρεχον, the Vulgate transiliebant, and here ridicule disappears. This first follows in 1Ki_18:27; here we are simply informed of what actually happened. Elijah is not the subject in עָשָה; it is impersonal. Nearly all the versions seem to have read, with many MSS., עָשׂוּ. In 1Ki_18:27 Elijah urges the Baal priests to cry louder, and gives as his chief reason: in your opinion he is the real, true God; he must be hindered in some way, so that, as yet, he has not heard you. The thrice repeated כִּי heightens the effect of the discourse. שִׂיחַ means neither loquitur (Vulg.), nor: he imagines (Luther), nor: ἀδολεσχία ἀυτῷ ἐστίν (Sept.); but it denotes turning within one’s self, reflection, meditatio, and then, also, sadness (1Sa_1:16; Psa_142:3). Thenius: his head is full; perhaps, better yet: he is out of humor. שִׂיג the Vulg. wrongly gives: in diversario est; it means secessio (from שׂוּג to withdraw, 2Sa_1:22), euphemistic expression for: he is easing himself. Everything that Elijah here derisively attributes to Baal must not, with Movers (Rel. der Phöniz. s. 386), be regarded as that which the Baal priests actually believed of him as the sun-god (his journeys, labors, sleeping), for it had ceased to be a matter of sport. They cried louder (1Ki_18:28), so that Baal, by hearing, might stultify the derision. By וַיִּתְגֹּדְדוּ, we must not understand a mere “nicking with knives and punches” (Luther); for חֶרֶב means sword, and רֹמַח the lance belonging to heavy armor (Eze_39:9; Jer_46:4). The פָּסַח, 1Ki_18:26, changed into a weapon-dance, which custom many ancient writers mention (cf. Doughty, Analect. Sacr. p. 176), and Movers (as cited s. 682), after them, describes more particularly. This custom assuredly has not, as Movers supposes, its reason in the consciousness of “committed sins,” but in the superstition that blood, especially the blood of priests, has a special virtue, moving, even compelling the divinity (Plutarch De superstit.: Bellonœ sacerdotes suo cruore sacrificant, cf. Symbol. des Mosais. Kultus II. s. 223, 262). In 1Ki_18:29, וַיִּתְנַבְּאוּ is commonly translated: and they raved; in the sense: their behavior reached to a sort of mania. But 1Sa_18:10; Jer_29:26, places to which an appeal is made, cannot prove that נבא means, in itself, μαίνεσθαι; the Sept. never translating it so. The Baal priests are constantly called here נְבִאִים, and as such, they prepared the sacrifice, danced around the altar, called upon Baal, wounded themselves; all that they then did, and the time they consumed, is summed up when it is said that יִתְנַבְּאוּ; this word does not refer to anything besides. Piscator: fuit vero quum prœteriisset meridies, ut prophetas agerent, &c. They went on with their various functions until past noon, yet without any result. מִנְחָה is here not specially food (vegetable) offering (Luther), but it denotes offering generally (Gen_4:3-5), and here the usual daily evening sacrifice, which, nevertheless, as is to be seen from 1Ki_18:36; 1Ki_18:40 sq., was not offered first at dusk, but before it (Num_28:4). The Sept. adds to 1Ki_18:29 : “And Elijah the Tishbite said to the prophets of the idols, Stand back! I will now make ready my offering. And they stood back and went away,” an addition which does not at all “bear the unmistakable stamp of genuineness” (Thenius), but is plainly a supplementary gloss.
1Ki_18:30-32. And Elijah said unto all the people, &c. Elijah did not, designedly, build a new altar, but repaired the old one (see above on 1Ki_18:19), and meant thereby to show that the issue of the day was the restoration of the ancient Jehovah-worship, for cultus is expressed synecdochice per altare (Petr. Martyr). He shows, moreover, still more explicitly the object of the restoration and renewal of the broken covenant (1Ki_19:10), in that, as Moses had once done at the conclusion of the covenant (Exo_24:4), in like manner he repaired the altar “with twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel.” This was a declaration in act, that the twelve tribes together constituted one people, that they had one God in common, and that Jehovah’s covenant was not concluded with two or with ten, but with the unit of the twelve tribes. Since the kingdom of the ten tribes named itself “Israel,” over against the other tribes, it is expressly remarked that Jacob, the one progenitor of the entire people, had received from Jehovah the name “Israel,” i. e., God’s soldier, because he commanded his entire house: Put away from you the strange gods (Gen_35:2; Gen_35:10 sq.). Only the people who did as he did had a claim to this name. In 1Ki_18:32 the בְּשֵׁם יְהוָֹה is not to be connected with the remote יִבְנֶה; he built in the name, i. e., by the command, of Jehovah (for everything that he did, he did no less by the command of Jehovah), but with the immediately preceding מִזְבֵּחַ; he built this that Jehovah might reveal and authenticate himself; as inversely, according to Exo_20:24, an altar was to be built where Jehovah had revealed and authenticated himself. The ditch was not designed as a hedge, “so that the people might not press too much upon the altar” (Starke); it was made rather to receive the water (1Ki_18:34-35), תְּעָלָחas , 2Ki_20:20; Isa_7:3; Isa_22:9; Isa_36:2; Eze_31:4, means properly aqueduct. Not only was the altar to be soaked, but it was to be surrounded with water, so as to remove all suspicion about the burning of the sacrifice. Impostures of this kind occurred certainly in later heathendom. The author of the Orat. in Eliam (I. p. 765), attributed to Chrysostom, says: “I speak as an eye-witness. In the altars of the idols, there are beneath the altar channels, and underneath a concealed pit; the deceivers enter these, and blow up a fire from beneath upon the altar, by which many are deceived, and believe that the fire comes from heaven.” The words כְּבֵית סָאתַיִם זֶרַע are not altogether clear. Keil and Thenius translate: like the space whereon one can sow two seahs of grain. But בית never signifies a superficies measure, but that which holds something; and one does not measure a ditch by a superficial space which it covers, but according to its capacity for holding; hence Gesenius here: a ditch which could hold two seahs. The ditch, then, was about as deep as the grain-measure containing two seahs. The seah is the third part of an ephah; according to Thenius, two Dresden pecks; according to Bertheau=661.92, according to Bunsen 338.13 Paris cubic inches. Without doubt the ditch was so near the altar that the water poured upon it flowed into it and remained there. Elijah took upon himself the preparation of the sacrifice, jure prophetico, minoribus legibus exsolutus, ut majores servaret (Grotius). The levitical priest was no longer in the kingdom of Israel (2Ch_11:13; 2Ch_13:9).
1Ki_18:33-35. And said, Fill four barrels (cad) &c., &c. כַּד is a pail (Gen_24:14) without definite measure. The solemnity and the emphasis with which the prophet commands the soaking with water stamp this act as prophetic, i. e., as a significant religious act, done for some other than the merely negative purpose “of cutting away all ground of suspicion of the possibility of some cheat” (Keil). The form of the transaction shows this. For when the prophet orders thrice four cads of water poured upon an altar composed of thrice four stones, the intention—i. e., the significance of this combination of numbers—is unmistakable. The numbers three and four, as well singly as in their combination with each other, in seven and twelve, meet us constantly in the cultus, where the significance is beyond all question. (See above. Cf. my Symbol. des Mos. Kultus I. s. 150, 169, 193, 205.) But we can conclude nothing definitely, with full certainty, respecting the meaning of the prophetic act. Perhaps the abundant soaking of the altar bearing the sign-number of the Covenant people with 3×4 cads of water expresses what is promised in Deu_28:12 to the Covenant people if they observe the covenant: “Jehovah shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven, to give rain unto thy land in his season;” after, on account of the breach of the covenant, “thy heaven over thy head was brass, and the earth under thee was iron” (Deu_28:23). Elijah is not the subject to מִלֵּא 1Ki_18:35 (“he caused the trench to be filled with water,” as De Wette and Keil translate); but מָיִם, which also is elsewhere construed with the singular (Num_20:2; Num_24:7; Num_33:14; Gen_9:15); Luther: and the trench also was full of water. There was so much water that it ran over the altar and filled likewise the trench. The question, whence so much water could have been obtained, in such a drought, cannot shake the trustworthiness of the narrative. It is plain, from 1Ki_18:40, that the brook Kishon was near, and was not dried up. Its supply of water was very abundant. Cf. Jdg_5:21, and the passage from Brocard (in Winer, R.- W.-B. Bd. I. s. 660): Cison colligit plures aquas, quia a monte Ephraim et a locis Samariœ propinquioribus atque a toto campo Esdrelon confluunt plurimœ aquœ et recipiuntur in hunc unum torrentem. (Cf. also Robinson, Palest. III. p. 114, 116.) Carmel, moreover, was full of grottoes and caves (Winer, “some say 2,000”); if there were water anywhere, it would be there. Van de Velde (in Keil on the place) has proved that the place where the sacrifice was offered is at the ruin El Mohraka, and that here is a covered spring: “under a dark, vaulted roof, the water in such a spring is always cool, and the atmosphere cannot evaporate it. I can understand perfectly that while all other springs were dried up, here there continued to be an abundance of water, which Elijah poured so bountifully upon the altar.”—[Really this is very unsatisfactory, and not to the purpose.—E. H.]
1Ki_18:36-37. And at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, &c.—The time of day was that appointed for the daily sacrifice. In his prayer Elijah calls Jehovah, not his God, as in 1Ki_17:20 sq., but the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel (i. e., Jacob, 1Ki_18:31, with unmistakable reference to Exo_3:15). This designation of God points to him as the God who had concluded the covenant of promise with the progenitors of the entire people, and brings to mind the proofs of the grace which Israel had shared from the first. Here where the broken covenant was to be renewed and cemented afresh in this designation, both the assurance and the entreaty are expressed that the God who had declared himself to the patriarchs would now, as to these, so also to his whole people, declare himself. In Israel, i. e., that thou alone art God, and as such wilt be recognized and honored in Israel. And I am thy servant, i. e., that I do not speak and act in my own cause and in human strength, but in thy cause (Septuag. διά σε), and in thy name, as well in respect of what has happened hitherto as what shall happen hereafter. The הֲסִבֹּתָ in 1Ki_18:37 does not depend upon בִּי, and is not to be translated, “so turn thou their heart around” (De Wette), but “that that which shall happen is ordained by thee for their conversion” (Thenius).
1Ki_18:38-40. Then the fire of the Lord fell, &c., i. e., a fire effected, produced by Jehovah. The text certainly does not say, as is commonly thought, a stroke of lightning from heaven; and Keil remarks, as against this opinion, a natural stroke “could not have produced such an effect.” We can conclude nothing definite of the how of the wonder. To give full expression to the intensity of the fire it is stated that even the stones and the ground were burned, i. e., according to Le Clerc, in calcem redegit. Usually it is supposed that the earth means that which was thrown up in the building of the altar, but it can also be that with which the altar, built of twelve stones, was filled up (Exo_20:24). The impression which the event produced upon the people was overpowering, and must have filled them all with contempt and wrath against the priests of Baal, so that Ahab, even had he desired it, could not have prevented their destruction. That Elijah did not slaughter them in his own person is self-evident; he demanded it on the ground of the law (Deu_13:9). Josephus, ἀπέκτειναν τοὺς προφήτας ’Ηλιά τοῦτο παραινέσαντος. It is more than rash when Menzel maintains that the people seized the Baal priests (we must remember that there were 450 of them), and “delivered them to the prophet to be slain by his own hand.” The Kishon empties itself at the foot of Carmel into the sea. Not where the sacrifice was offered were the Baal priests to be put to death, but by the stream which could carry their blood and corpses from the land and lose them in the sea.
1Ki_18:41-45. And Elijah said unto Ahab, &c. From the words, Get thee up, it follows that Ahab had gone to Kishon, and was present at the execution of his Baal priests; but he had scarcely joined in the shout of the people (1Ki_18:39). Whether the words “eat and drink” are to be interpreted as derisive (Krummacher, Thenius) is very doubtful. The prophet may well have derided the dead idol Baal; but that he should have mocked the king, whom he wished to win over, is scarcely credible, and does not agree with what is mentioned in 1Ki_18:46. According to Ewald, Elijah invited him “to eat of the sacrifice offered to Jehovah, and thereby to strengthen himself;” but the offering, apart from the consideration that it was a burnt-offering, of which nothing was eaten, was entirely consumed (1Ki_18:39). Others think that the king had eaten nothing during the suspense of the issue of the contest, from the morning until the evening; hence Elijah advised him to return quickly, before the coming storm hindered him, to the place of the sacrifice, where preparation had been made for his needs (Keil, Calw. Bib.). But the sense of the words of the prophet was, Be of good heart (Luk_12:19). Israel has turned back again to his God, soon the famine will come to an end; already I hear (in spirit) the rain rushing. רֹאשׁ (1Ki_18:42) does not mean here top, summit, but it denotes the outermost promontory towards the sea. Both Elijah and Ahab went from Kishon “up;” the former betook himself to the promontory, which was not so high as the place where the altar stood, and Ahab had his tent. Hence Elijah could say to his servant: Go up and say to Ahab, &c. To the promontory, however, Elijah betook himself, because thence one could look far across the sea, and first be assured when rain-clouds were forming in the distance. Here he bowed himself down and concealed his face, to abstract his eyes from everything outward and visible, and to turn himself wholly and completely to what was inward. It was the natural, involuntary expression of sinking into the most earnest, wrestling prayer; and there is no reason why, with Keil, we should refer to the dervishes, amongst whom Shaw and Chardin have found similar prayer-postures. Elijah did not wish, in order to be alone in prayer, and so to strengthen himself, to look at the sea; he commissioned his servant with that. Probably he promised to give him information in a very short time; and when the servant, at the outset, saw nothing, he said to him, Go again seven times, i. e., make no mistake, though it be a matter of seven times. Seven times is here as in Mat_18:21; cf. Psa_119:164; Psa_12:7; Pro_24:16. Elijah wished also to be informed of the first appearing of a cloud before any one else observed it, to notify Ahab, and to convince him that the rain, as he had predicted in 1Ki_17:1, would be the consequence of his prophetic word (prayer). Thenius remarks on 1Ki_18:44 : “A very little cloud on the farthest horizon is, according to sea accounts, often the herald of stormy weather.” The doubled עַד־כֹּה in 1Ki_18:45, according to Maurer and others, means: until so and so far, and is a form of speech borrowed from the quick moving of the hand also: before a man turns his hand. But the rain did not come so swiftly. According to Exo_7:16, and Isa_17:14, עַד־כֹּה means: until now, up to this moment. Gesenius: in the mean while; so also De Wette and Winer.
1Ki_18:45. And ran before Ahab, &c. [But Ahab went towards Jezreel.] He had there a summer palace (1Ki_21:2). The city was situated in the tribe Issachar (Isa_19:18), in the elevated plane of the same name, about from five to six miles (seventeen to twenty Eng.) distant from Carmel. He betook himself thither, because Jezebel was then at this summer residence, and he wished to let her know the news (1Ki_19:1). The form of expression, the hand of Jehovah, &c., 1Ki_18:46, occurs also in 2Ki_3:15; Eze_1:3; Eze_3:14; Eze_3:22; Eze_8:1; Eze_33:22; Eze_37:1; and as in all these places it denotes an inward impulse excited by God, so there is no reason why here it should be understood of a wonderful accession of natural bodily strength, which enabled him, as the older interpreters thought, to run in advance of the royal chariot, as it required the swiftest course (J. Lange, Calmet, and others). Over and above the ordinary use of the form of expression, what makes against it is, that it does not stand before וַיָּרָץ, but before וַיְשַׁנֵּם; but for the girding of the loins no extraordinary strength was requisite. The prophet concluded, from a higher divine impulse, to accompany Ahab, and made himself ready. The object and motive was neither to bring the king unharmed to his residence (S. Schmidt), nor “to furnish him a proof of his humility” (Keil), or “to serve him in this fashion as a courier” (Berleb. Bib.); rather he went before him “as his warning conscience” (Sartorius), as “a living tablet, reminding him of all the great things which the God of Israel had done by his prophets” (Krummacher). There “was reason for supposing that he (Ahab) would cast off the yoke of his scandalous wife, and give himself thenceforth wholly to Jehovah. The prophet wished to stand by his side, counselling and helping him in his resolution, and to miss no opportunity when the king, left to himself, might become a victim to the corrupting influence of Jezebel” (Von Gerlach). The servant whom Elijah had with him on Carmel (1Ki_18:43), and whom, on the flight from Jezreel into the wilderness, he left at Beersheba (1Ki_19:3), must have been with him on the road from Carmel to Jezreel; so much the less can we suppose that a miracle carried the prophet thither.
Historical and Ethical
1. The day on Carmel was the central-point and climax in the public career of the prophet Elijah. If his peculiar calling and his place in the history of redemption were, essentially, to restore the broken covenant with Jehovah, and to lead Israel back again from idolatry to the recognition of Jehovah (see Hist. and Ethic. on chap. 17), it was necessary that there should be a decisive action in the matter; and for this no moment was more appropriate than after Ahab as well as the whole people had become bowed down and humiliated in consequence of the famine of several years, which the Baal-priests were not able to remedy. This decision took place on Carmel; and in the most solemn way, before king and people. It was a day of judgment, and of the most splendid triumph over the Baal-worship, which received a blow from which it never again recovered. On this account, too, this day has great meaning for the entire Old Testament history, and marks an epoch in the divine economy of redemption. A just comprehension of all the particulars narrated can be gained only from this stand-point, which must be kept steadily in sight.
2. The decision whether Baal or Jehovah be the true God was not brought about in the way of indoctrination, or by a warning and threatening discourse; it is connected rather with an actual declaration of Jehovah’s, prayed for from him. This mode of decision was not chosen accidentally or arbitrarily, but was founded in the nature of the Old Testament economy, and corresponded with the special relations there prevailing. The Old Testament religion recognizes Him only as the true, living God, who declares and reveals himself as such. The gods of the heathen, who serve the creature instead of the Creator (Rom_1:25), are deified nature-forces and world-powers. Over against these, the God who can create as He wills, who has made heaven and earth and all that therein is, reveals and declares Himself thereby, in that He proclaims His absolute power over all created things, and his infinite exaltation above nature and the world. Such declarations (authentications) are, in Scripture language, “wonders.” Jehovah as the only true and living God is hence so often designated as the God “who alone doeth wonders” (Psa_72:18; Psa_77:15; Psa_86:10; Psa_98:1; Psa_136:4); He is not bound up in the laws and forces of nature, but is absolutely independent of it, both as its Creator and also its sovereign. By the “wonder” it is that He stands above all the gods of the heathen, which, over against Him, are but deified nature-powers, absolutely without (personal) power, and can do no “wonders.” The conception of the self-declaring and of the revelation of God is connected, in the God-consciousness of the Israelites, with the conception of the wonder, and every extraordinary declaration is accompanied, more or less, by wonders; as the choice to be a peculiar people, the exodus from Egypt, the giving of the law on Sinai, which were prized as tangible witnesses of the true, living God, and were placed beside the creation. As now the decision was to be made upon Carmel, whether Jehovah or Baal (i. e. deified human nature-force) were the true living God, so here there was a self-declaration of Jehovah as of the God who is lifted up above the world and all that is in it, i. e., who doeth wonders. It was a nature-wonder which brought the people (especially Israel, inclined to nature-life, see above) to the confession: Jehovah, He is the God! and as here the matter involved was a devotion and prayer, this wonder was connected with sacrifice, the palpable expression and centre of all prayer. It is well worth our while to notice the difference between the Israelitish God-consciousness and that of the modern deistic or rationalistic. The latter knows nothing of “the wonder” and pronounces it absolutely impossible. To it, the just true God is He who doeth no wonders, i. e., who is bound up with the laws of nature and of the world, and, consequently, cannot declare and reveal himself in his absolute being above the world, and in His creative omnipotence. According to the Israelitish conception of God, such a God is not the living, but a dead, powerless god, because he is not lifted absolutely above the world. That God works wonders, and through them announces and reveals Himself, does not rest upon a false, low notion of the divine being, but, on the contrary, presupposes the loftiest conception of God.
3. The prophet Elijah appears, in the present portion of his history, both at the acme of his activity as the restorer of the broken covenant, and also in his whole personal grandeur as the peculiar and true hero amongst the prophets of the Old Testament. All that he said and did gives evidence of a courage and strength of faith which is scarcely paralleled in the entire history of the divine economy. To the call: Go show thyself to Ahab, he is obedient, without questioning and objections about the consequences, being assured that not a hair can fall from his head without the will of God. While Obadiah himself, who still retained the favor of the king, trembled before his wrath, and was afraid of his life, Elijah goes fearlessly to meet his angry, powerful foe, who had already sought for him everywhere in vain, and who had permitted the murder of so many prophets; and when Ahab meets him in a stern and threatening way, he is not terrified, he does not bow down, but declares boldly to his face: Thou art the cause of all the misery of Israel. Alone, and without any human protection, he went to Carmel to meet all Israel and the 450 Baal-priests, his bitterest enemies. He does not flatter the people, but puts to their conscience the cutting question, How long halt ye upon both sides? and with the army of priests he undertakes to do battle alone. He ridicules their idols and their whole conduct. The only weapon he employs in the contest is prayer; before the vast assemblage he calls upon his Lord and God, as humbly, so equally confidently. He is assured of an answer. After the decision from on high is obtained, and all the people returned to the God of their fathers, he hands over, resolutely, the propagators of the idolatry to judgment, and his heavy task is done. Then first he beseeches Jehovah, in the solitude, that He will be gracious again to the repentant people, and will relieve them from their distress. When the longed-for rain comes on, he advises the departure of the king, and in joyful hope of further fruits of this fought-for victory, refreshed and quickened, he runs before him to the residence in Jezreel, where Jezebel the murderess of the prophets was sojourning. Independent now as Elijah appears in everything, there are analogies with the history of him to whom, as the founder of the covenant, its restorer naturally points. Like Elijah, Moses also dwelt for a long time amongst strangers, and in retirement receives the call: Go hence, I will send thee to Pharaoh, &c. (Exed. 1Ki_3:11); he concludes the covenant before and with the people collected at Mount Sinai; he builds an altar with twelve stones and offers there a sacrifice; the whole people, with one voice, answer him: All the words which Jehovah hath spoken will we do, &c. (Exo_24:3 sq.); as by the erection of the golden calf the covenant was broken, he caused the Levites, who had polluted themselves by the worship of the calf, to be punished; but then he earnestly beseeches Jehovah to turn away the punishment from the people, and again to be gracious unto them (Exodus 32).
4. That Elijah ridiculed the calling upon Baal might seem unworthy of a prophet and man of God, from whom rather sympathy with error might be expected. But this ridicule did not proceed at all from a frivolous sentiment; it was rather the expression of the gravest religious resoluteness and of the profoundest earnestness. Over against the one God, to whom only true being appertains (יהיה), all other gods are not, to all of whom, in common, the conception of nothingness belongs, and who are to be designated with various expressions as not being, cf. אֱלִילִם, Lev_19:4; Lev_26:4; אָוֶן ,אַיִן, Isa_41:24; Isa_41:29; חֶבֶל, Deu_32:21; Jer_2:5; Jer_8:19, &c. The most resolute contempt and rejection of idolatry is thus expressed, which consists in this, viz., that man makes what is nothing, the not-existing, his highest and best—his God. If now it be the calling and task of the prophets and men of God to do battle with idolatry, and to represent it in its thorough perverseness and blameworthiness, it is quite proper to hold it up to contempt; this is done by ridicule, which, when reasons and proofs are unavailing, is the most effective instrument. The prophets have a divine right of ridicule of idolatry, which they often employ (cf. Isa_40:17 sq.; Isa_41:7; Isa_44:8-22; Isa_46:5-11; Jer_10:7 sq.) in the sense in which it is said by the holy God Himself that he mocks and ridicules the ungodly (Psa_2:4; Psa_37:13; Psa_59:9). As, in the time of Ahab, idolatry was so strong and powerful that it threatened to overwhelm the worship of the true God, so in the moment when a choice was to be made between Baal and Jehovah, the opportunity was at hand to make by ridicule the worship of idols contemptible. Krummacher remarks very appositely upon this: “What a free, undaunted courage does it presuppose, what inward repose and elevation, what an assured confidence of the genuineness and truth of his cause, and what a firm certainty that he will win,—that at his momentous appearance upon Mount Carmel Elijah can employ ridicule!”
5. The slaughter of the priests of Baal is in many ways adduced as a serious objection against the prophet, and is characterized as “fanatical hardness and cruelty” (Winer, R.-W.-B. I. s. 318). But it appears otherwise if instead of taking the stand-point of the New Testament or of modern humanitarianism, we occupy that of the Old Testament and of the prophet. The first and supremest command of the Israelitish covenant declares: I am Jehovah, thy God; thou shalt have none other gods before me: upon it rest the choice and the separation from all peoples, the independent existence of the nation; with it stands and falls its world-historical destiny. The actual rejection of this command carried with it per se exclusion from the peculiar and covenant people, and was hence punished with death (Exo_22:19; Deu_13:5-18; Deu_17:2-5). But idolatry had never been so rampant in Israel as under Ahab. It was not merely tolerated, but had become the State-religion and threatened to overwhelm the adoration of the one true God, and so at the same time to destroy the covenant, and to take from Israel its character as the chosen, peculiar people. Elijah was called to restore the broken covenant, and to put an end to idolatry. Through the extraordinary, wonderful assistance of God, he had in fierce battle achieved this result—that the people turned again to Jehovah their God. To make this permanent, it was necessary that an effectual bar should be placed against any further activity of the foreign supporters and representatives of the idolatry. Now, if ever, the attestation of Jehovah ought not to be fruitless; satisfaction should be made to the law, and execution take place. The restoration of the covenant, without the slaughter of the Baal-priests, was but half accomplished. As every ἀποκατάστασις is in its nature more or less a κρίσις (Mal_4:5 sq.), so also was the day upon Carmel a day of judgment. Elijah there stood, not as a private person, nor as a leader of a popular party, but as the second Moses, as an executor of the theocratic law. The objection about hardness and fanaticism falls not upon him, but upon the law, the consequences of which he executed; and he who blames him must object to the whole Mosaic institution as hard and fanatical. When even he who was gentle and lowly of heart says: “But those mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them, bring them hither, and slay them before me” (Luk_19:27), certainly still less can it be concluded from the slaughter of the Baal-priests that Elijah was a cruel, blood-thirsty man, especially when proofs to the contrary are at hand (1Ki_17:9-24). According to these, we must rather think “how hard, how terribly hard this procedure must have been to a man like Elijah; how powerfully it must have gone .… against his whole natural feeling” (Menken). When Knobel (as above s. 77) maintains that Elijah returned to Israel “chiefly to revenge the murder of the prophets by the slaughter of the Baal-and-Astarte-priests,” this is a gross slander upon the prophet, whom not thoughts of murder and of revenge, but the calling of his God, whose behests he fulfilled in spite of the attending danger, carried to Carmel. It is quite beside the mark to explain Elijah’s conduct by the “retaliation-right” (Michaelis, Dereser, and others); for that Jezebel had murdered the prophets at the instigation of the Baal-priests is an unproved assumption. For the rest, Keil very properly observes: “From this act of Elijah’s to desire to deduce the right of the bloody persecution of heretics would be not only an entire misunderstanding of the difference between heathen idolaters and Christian heretics, but also a morally wrong confounding of the New Testament, evangelical stand-point with the Old Testament, legal (stand-point), which Christ, in Luk_9:55, blamed in his own disciples.” Very truly does the Berleburg. Bib. say, on this place, “The economy of the new covenant does not allow one to imitate Elijah.”
6. King Ahab, in the present section, appears indeed as saying and doing but little, yet even here the traits of his character, which become more prominent in the subsequent course of the history, can be plainly recognized. The period of the famine, which Elijah had announced to him as a retributive judgment, did not bring him to reflection, still less to repentance. He is very anxious about his cattle, but not about his people. He does not himself murder the prophets, but nevertheless he permits his wife. He looks about for Elijah, in the foolish fancy that he, and not God, is the cause of the famine, and with the preposterous intention of forcing him to make it rain. His highest official, Obadiah, to whom he intrusted his horses and mules, cannot trust him, and is compelled to fear that he may be unrighteously put to death by him. He carries himself with all severity and anger towards the prophet, who freely encounters him, as one who has the power of life and death; nevertheless he does not venture to seize him: he rather bows before him, as the latter encounters him reprovingly with his brave message, and he does at once what Elijah bids him. He was present upon Carmel with the great assemblage; but that which there made an affecting impression upon the whole people left him, as it seems, unmoved. He witnessed the slaughter of his Baal priests, and in no way hindered it. We hear nothing of him than that “he went up from the brook Kishon to eat and drink.” In respect of the news that rain was coming, what to him was most important, he started thereupon to get back to his summer residence, and to tell everything that had happened to his wife. When we sum up all these things, it is evident that he was a man utterly without character, at one time highflying and impetuous, at another feeble and without power of resistance, occupied only with what is on the surface, without moral pose, without receptivity for religious and higher things.
7. Obadiah’s meeting with Elijah, which forms the introduction to the day upon Carmel, affords us a glimpse into the condition of things which preceded this day. The thing which especially strikes us is not so much the great general misery in consequence of the long drought, as the fact rather, that in this time when the prophets were driven from the court, and their extermination was a settled matter, at the court itself there should have been a man of the highest official station who feared Jehovah so much that he ventured upon the risk of hiding not less than a hundred prophets, and of supplying them with food during the general distress. The Calw. Bibel says justly: “We are at a loss at which to wonder the most—the God-fearing man at the court, or at the king who tolerated him there;” and Menken observes very truly: “So we see in this history that even in the most corrupt times there are some who are free from the general corruption, who remain in their faith in God, in their fear of God, oftentimes even where one would least of all suspect and look for such.” It is characteristic of the biblical history that it brings out such cases into prominence, as in this instance, with unmistakable design. But it must no less strike one, that in that period of the deepest religious apostasy and of bloody persecution, the number of the prophets was so great that Obadiah alone secured the safety and cared for a hundred of them. A long time gone, under Jeroboam, the ordained supporters of the Jehovah-worship, the priests and levites, had departed from all Israel into Judah (2Ch_11:13); and now that, under Ahab, a formal idolatry had spread, the number of the prophets so increased that Jezebel was not able to destroy them all; they were a silent, hidden power, which defied all the outward power of the idol-serving fanaticism. Who does not recognize therein the wonderful ways of the fidelity of God in the guiding of His people?
8. The recent criticism explains the statement now in hand, chiefly on account of the miracle narrated in it, as fabulous or poetical. “As a matter of fact,” says Thenius (on 1Ki_18:46), “it can be seen that, in answer to Elijah’s prayer, rain followed after a long drought, and that the people, convinced afresh on this occasion of the power of Jehovah, prepared a great blood-bath from amongst the idolatrous priests.” According to Bunsen (Bibelwerk V. 2. s. 539), it appertained to Elijah “to go through the land as the prophet of the Eternal, and as the awakening leader of the people.… In the presence of the Baal-party he inspires and rouses the people, who, before the living spirit which is in man, recognize the nothingness and the moral baseness of the masquerade and legerdemain, and of the incomprehensible solemnities of the Baal-worship, and at the word of Elijah the 450 Baal-priests were slaughtered at the brook Kishon.” Ewald (as above s. 539) finds in the delineation of the contest “of the great champion of Jehovah and of the Baal-prophets, as it were the antithesis of the beginning of the one and of the other religion, represented not without earnest raillery. They who in their mind and work do not sacrifice to the true God, build the altar, and prepare the sacrifice, and call loudly upon their god and worry themselves, the more vain their trouble, so much the more vehement and senseless it becomes, as if somehow by dint of importunity the thing desired might come from heaven: but nevertheless with all their trouble and with all their excitement they cannot bring down from Heaven the fire which they seek, and which alone would repay them for their trouble. Elijah otherwise.” The whole is also a prophetico-poetic garment of a general religious truth. Eisenlohr, as usual, agrees with this (as above, s. 177). He explains the consuming of the sacrifice by fire from heaven as “a beautiful image for the burning eternal power which is imparted from above to every truth, over against the death which everything fabricated, false, lying, bears within itself;” that “no voice, nor answer, nor heed was there,” is “the inimitable delineation of the emptiness and vanity of heathenism, which is overladen with every species of superstition, and is vanquished by self-torture.” In respect of these various views we refer generally to our preliminary remarks upon chap. 17; in details, however, the following comes into the account. The whole account, excepting 1Ki_18:38, contains nothing which can with any reason be objected to as unhistorical. This portion of the history of Elijah especially bears completely the impress of the usual simple Hebrew way of historical composition, and it would not occur to any one to regard it as legendary did it not contain 1Ki_18:38. The miracle here narrated is not such as could be wanting without detriment to the whole, and to the further historical development about the famine, as may be maintained in respect of this or of the other miracle; it is not subordinate, is not a side-matter, but the chief criticism acknowledges that at the day on Carmel “there was a noticeable sudden decision,” and that “a mighty upturning of things took place” (Eisenlohr); that “here a victory was won which, at that day, could not have been greater and more beneficial” (Ewald). But this victory was the immediate effect of that miracle, and as generally the day upon Carmel forms the central point and climax of Elijah’s activity, so again this day culminates in “the fire of Jehovah,” which consumed the sacrifice. All that is said before and after refers to this fact; he who lowers it takes the heart out of the body of the whole narration, and then nothing is left but either to interpret it as a fraud, or to look upon the whole as fiction. The view that Elijah “alone and by nothing but the power of his spirit and word achieved the prodigious wonder of a complete alteration of the then posture of the ten tribes” (Ewald) is most emphatically contradicted by the day upon Carmel. He was the prophet of action and not of speech. Even here, at the climax of his career, we hear only a few isolated expressions from him, but no prophetic discourse with which he sought to indoctrinate or to convince the people. To his impressive question: How long halt ye, &c., the people kept silence; they accepted his proposition to obtain an attestation of Jehovah, but only after it took place did they fall down and cry, overpowered: Jehovah, He is God! Where in the whole history of Elijah is there even a trace that he “inspired and roused” (Bunsen) the people by public discourse; and how does it happen that this people of the ten tribes, who were inclined to nature-worship, and since the days of Jeroboam were addicted to the worship of images and even of idols, and were dull about spiritual impressions, should have at once “recognized the nothingness and perverseness of the Baal-worship in presence of the living spirit which is in men (sic)”? An extraordinary act alone could have produced within this people such a sudden, complete revolution that they actually put to death the priests of Baal, who were of the highest consideration and under the royal protection. To regard this latter as an effect of the rain which had come (Thenius) is an arbitrary perversion of the historical order. Not the rain, but the return of Israel to their God was the mark of the day upon Carmel: the punishment of the drought ought and could cease only when this end was reached. The rain followed not before the “blood-bath,” but after it; before it rained, something extraordinary must have happened to rouse wrath in such a degree against the Baal-priests. But supposing that the rain produced the abrupt overturn, this itself, “had it followed Elijah’s prayer,” would have been essentially a miracle; we must then grant that Elijah appears, “when he announces now a drought and then rain, and both happen conformably with his prediction, as a nature-expert” (Knobel I. s. 56): but in this event his prayer for rain would have been an intentional deception of the people and jugglery. The interpretation, finally, according to which the transaction upon Carmel is a poetic image of the consuming power of divine truth (Eisenlohr) is a desperate reversion to the old allegorical method of interpretation, with which one can make what one pleases out of history.
Homiletical and Practical
1Ki_18:1-16. Krummacher: Elijah and Obadiah What brought Elijah from Zarephath; what happened at this time at the court at Samaria; how Elijah and Obadiah met.—Bender: The return of Elijah to his native country: (1) the effect of divine chastisement upon Israel; (2) the expedition of Ahab; (3) the meeting of the prophet with Obadiah.
1Ki_18:1. Krummacher: Let no one imagine that God will lead us into any darkness whatsoever, without also arranging how we may be supported through it. He never calls upon us to walk through darkness, unless He Himself is our staff and stay, and thick and heavy as may be the night with which we are veiled, He leaves us here and there always a gleam of light, which tells us there will be a dawn to the darkness. Hence the promise: I will send rain.
1Ki_18:2. Starke: God’s commandments must be obeyed, and neither death nor danger avoided. Where there is living faith, there is also obedience and courage (Psa_91:1-4). The great famine in Samaria, both bodily and spiritual. Daily bread was scarce, for the land was dried up and unfruitful, but the bread of life, the word of God, was likewise scarce, for the nation itself was dried up, and those who would have sown the seed of the Word were persecuted, and compelled to silence and concealment. Woe to that country and people upon whom famine, bodily and spiritual, both fall, and who yet are driven by neither to repentance and conversion.
1Ki_18:3. The God-fearing Obadiah. (1) The time in which he lived. (A time of apostasy, of godlessness, and a licentious idol worship. In times when unbelief has grown universal and is the prevailing fashion, and represents enlightenment and civilization, not to swim with the stream, but greatly to fear the Lord, is as noble and great as it is rare; we may then say with truth: “Although all shall be offended, yet will not I,” &c.) (2) The place. (At the court of an Ahab and a Jezebel; not in a remote, lonely place, but in the midst of the world, where he saw and heard nothing good, surrounded by godless men, and exposed to every temptation to godlessness, frivolity, rioting, and licentiousness. To be pious with the pious, to maintain one’s faith in the midst of the faithful, is not difficult; but in the midst of the world, to preserve one’s self unspotted from it, to keep a pure heart, and have God before our eyes and in our hearts, wherever the Lord places us, this is indeed greatly to fear the Lord.) (3) The position which he took. (He filled one of the highest offices, was one of the most distinguished men of the kingdom, to whom nothing was wanting which pertains to an indolent, careless life. The noble and powerful often fancy that the fear of the Lord is fitted only for common people, for the poor, the lowly, and the oppressed. But God is no respecter of persons; the first in this world are often last in the kingdom of heaven. He is indeed exalted who, whilst he stands upon the highest pinnacle of earthly fame, can still say with St. Paul: I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for, &c.) Ahab calls Obadiah, because he reposes singular confidence in him.—Menken: The world may hate and persecute, nay, even scorn a God-fearing man for his fear of God, but must feel and acknowledge at heart, if not with the mouth, that this very man is truer, more reliable, and better in every way than the whole throng of idle, wanton, though perhaps witty and polished people, whose law is their own pleasure, and whose God is their belly or their pride. More than one godless king can be found, who desires God-fearing men for his ministers and counsellors; and many a prince, although himself no Christian, holds in his service a Christian, and esteems him more highly than the others who are not Christian; and many more than one unbelieving and godless king, who respects piety and the fear of God in the person of one of his generals.—Krummacher: It is not an unusual occurrence that in times when there is no use for triflers, suddenly the hated sect are brought to power, and the fierce opponents of the Gospel are rejoiced to have in their midst a few Galileans whom they can take into their secret counsels. The Lord often has His true disciples and worshippers where they are least expected, in courts and high offices, and they, their innermost hearts untouched, serve him with soft and quiet spirits, without any display of piety or without excitement.—Starke: When good and conscientious men occupy exalted worldly or ghostly positions, so long as conscience does not require them to lay down their offices they must retain them, for although they may not be able to do much good, they still may have many opportunities to prevent evil.
1Ki_18:4. Starke: Good and righteous servants of God can have no bitterer or fiercer enemies than ungodly, licentious women (Mat_14:8; Mar_6:24). Krummacher: In our Ahab and Jezebel days there is no lack of those who are persecuted on account of their creed, and exposed to misery. Many a preacher must leave his pulpit, many a professor his chair, nay, many an handicraft’s man his bench and workshop, because he is a Christian. But it was Obadiah’s to make an offensive and defensive alliance! The proof of a godly fear: (a) Especially by works (Jam_2:14-17); religious words and feelings without deeds are leaves without fruit; by their fruits ye shall know them (Mat_7:16-21). (b) Especially by works of self-denying love, which are done in secret (Gal_5:6); by such works the Lord recognizes His own (Joh_13:34; 1Jn_4:8).—Menken: Obadiah could not do this without great risk, and the exposure of his own person to great danger.… neither, in that extreme famine, could he maintain those hundred prophets without great expenditure of his own substance..… Obadiah not only preserved the lives of a hundred innocent men,—he saved a hundred worshippers of Jehovah, and, yet more, a hundred men who, immediately the persecution was over, and the Baal-worship in Israel destroyed, became useful to the ignorant and bewildered people as their instructors in doctrine. Thus although Obadiah, as the lieutenant of the royal watch, could not do much for the kingdom of God by direct testimony and instruction, yet indirectly he did a great deal, by preserving these witnesses for the truth, at the peril of his own life and at the expense of his own fortune. Thus many people, by the maintenance of the witnesses for evangelical truth, by the spread and promotion of the Christian Scriptures, etc., do much for the kingdom of God and the truth, which otherwise they could not do, and lay up a reward in heaven, if they do not shun disgrace, nor prefer earthly and perishable gains to the celestial and imperishable.
1Ki_18:5-6. Starke: Godless masters often care more for their horses and hounds than for their subjects.—Krummacher: Pitiful man! Anxious care for the life of his horses, and the maintenance of his stables; this is all that the three and a half years of chastisement of the Almighty had called forth in his soul.… How often does one think of a person—“Now he will be quite a different person”.… and then, behold! where one hopes to find at length thoughts of God and eternity, there are only thoughts of horses and mules; and in place of holy emotions, instead of aspirations, prayers, and reflections upon the great and eternal interests of life—you find a thick swarm of pitiful cares and considerations which hover about the soul, and hover with it into an awful eternity. Ahab and Obadiah both journey on together through the land, but each goes his own way alone; a picture of their life-journey: Ahab walks in the broad, Obadiah in the narrow path; the latter alone leads to the green pastures and still waters which refresh the soul (Psa_23:2-3).
1Ki_18:7-15. Obadiah’s meeting Elijah, a divine leading for the strengthening of the one and the proving of the other. That Elijah, journeying on his weary way, should meet the very man who was the only true friend of the prophet at the court, was no more accidental than that Obadiah, going forth in search of provender for the cattle, should find the man who was to test severely his faith and his fear of God.
1Ki_18:7. Starke. Obadiah, himself a distinguished man, addressed the prophet as “My Lord,” not out of mere courtliness and courtier-like flattery, but in evidence of his reverence for the man of God, and to show that he did not regard scornfully a servant of God, as was the custom with all the courtiers of that day.—He who greatly fears the Lord will likewise honor and reverence those whose vocation it is to make known the Lord’s name, and preach his word (Luk_10:16; Joh_13:20).
1Ki_18:8-9. The courage of Elijah, and the fear of man shown by Obadiah. Even those who fear the Lord, and walk by faith, are sometimes in the hour of peril overcome by an agony of fear, which bows them down as reeds before a whirlwind. Peter, who first threatened with the sword, became suddenly terror-stricken before a damsel. It is good for us to recognize our human weakness, for this knowledge preserves us from over-security, and leads us to pray: Lord, strengthen our faith.—Calw. Bibel: Exclaim not against Obadiah, for in a hundred ways thou thyself showest no more faith. Eager and busy as the world is to pursue and get rid of the true servants of God, who oppose their sins and unbelief, they move neither hand nor foot to seek and find them when in want.
1Ki_18:12. If we permit ourselves to be overcome by the fear and dread of man, our senses become so bewildered, and our imagination so excited, that we lose, in our self-made fancies, a clear view of our own position.
1Ki_18:13. Menken: This is not the speech of an idle self-glorification, anxious to display the good which has been done, to the first person approaching—it is the speech of truth and honest uprightness, the speech of a noble spirit greatly excited, which would not thus speak of itself except in a moment of great excitement. An appeal to any special pious or good actions done by a man, when made not in pharisaical self-justification nor self-commendation, but conscientiously, and in self-defence, with all humility, is unobjectionable. As St. Paul says (1Co_15:10; 2Co_11:21 sq.), From my youth up.—Menken: So much the more easily then when a man, could he greatly fear the Lord, and preserve his fear of God under great temptations. What is done and practised in youth will remain the rule of old age; so it is with the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom. Therefore Pro_6:20-23; cf. 2Ti_3:15.
1Ki_18:15-16. A strong resolute word of faith exercises power over the heart: it strengthens the weak, supports the tottering, encourages the fearful, and tranquillizes the anxious-minded.—Starke: A teacher must not shrink from his office through fear or cowardice, let tyrants look grim as they may (1Pe_3:14).
1Ki_18:17-20. Krummacher: Salvation out of the very lion’s jaws, (a) The wonderful protection experienced by Elijah: (b) the unjust accusation made against him; (c) the bold reply which he made; (d) the quiet power which he exercised.—Bender: Elijah’s second encounter with Ahab; (a) the king’s reproach to the prophet; (b) the prophet’s reply to the king.—Wirth: The meeting with Ahab. (a) The grievance and the counter-grievance; (b) the commanding prophet and the submissive king.
1Ki_18:17. Ahab sees Elijah, but he, the fierce, powerful king, sword in hand, and a great retinue, dares not to lay hand upon the solitary, unarmed man standing before him, for: The heart of the king in the hand of the Lord is as a water-brook, he directs it whither he will (Pro_21:1).—Krummacher: The Lord our God knows how to shut the lions’ mouths, and the same God who surrounded Elijah with a fiery wall, who saved Moses from the clutches of Pharaoh, and Daniel out of the lions’ den, still lives, and will unto this day be a wall of defence to his children and disciples.—If those, &c.—Menken: Men are disposed to seek the cause of their misery everywhere in the wide world rather than in themselves, where only it exists; but it is the peculiar error of the world to lay the charge of all the misfortune and turmoil of the world upon the most innocent and best of men..… Thou art he that troubleth Israel, says Ahab to Elijah. We find this man a stirrer up of the people, was the lying accusation of the enemies of Jesus; and under the name, “enemies of the human race,” were the first Christians hunted, persecuted, and slain.—Starke: When the godless work mischief, the good and pious must often bear the blame (Amo_7:10; Act_16:20).—J. Lange: Here one sees the evil fashion of the children of this world, and of great men seduced by false prophets in their judgments of the righteous servants of God. For, though the latter move on quietly, orderly, and circumspectly, yet ever making appeal to the conscience by their testimony to the truth, whilst the former are ever disquieted, though they will yield no place to the truth, but rage against it and prejudice the higher powers against it,—still the latter are the disturbers of Israel, even as the lamb troubled the water for the wolf.—Calw. Bib.: In our days true believers are thus unjustly accused as Rationalists, Philosophers, and Freethinkers. They are called Jesuits, corrupters of the people, obscurantists, and blockheads, &c.
1Ki_18:18. J. Lange: This is the true way for a righteous servant of God—let him, according to the necessities of the case and the given circumstances, testify boldly to the pure truth, without fear of man, but preserving all due reverence for authority. Such a testimony, given with due boldness, produces a much greater impression than if the truth is spoken with half covert and mumbled utterance.—Krummacher: This Elijah-speech is seldom now heard in the world. The earth is filled with flatterers and sinners, who not only gather round the palaces of the great, but crowd into smaller societies, and even creep into the pulpits of God’s church..… Much greater things should we behold if this noble and wholesome—“Thou, thou art the man of death!” were not entirely dead and silent. Elijah is thus a pattern for all repentance-preachers, in that he admonishes every one, bewailing misfortune and ruin, of his especial ruin (Jer. 3:39), and does not generalize over common sinfulness: even so did Nathan with David, John with Herod, and Paul with Felix.—Menken: Elijah is silent concerning all the other sins of Ahab and his family—concerning their luxury, their pride, their injustice, and the whoredom and witchcraft of Jezebel—(2Ki_9:22). He pointed out to the king the chief cause, the real source from which had sprung all the other evils to himself and his family, and wherein lay the misdoing which had brought such a plague upon Israel. The misdoing was this—that they had forsaken the word of God, the commandments, the testimony, and the claims of the Lord, and had followed after Baal..… No truth is more general or surer amongst men than this—that contempt of God and his word brings with it inevitable ruin and decay—and the history of the human race sets forth and teaches no truth more clearly or more fearfully.
1Ki_18:19-20. Krummacher: How the scene changes: The slave has become king, the king a slave; the subject commands, the monarch obeys. Here is the concealed sceptre in the hands of the children of the spiritual kingdom, and the skill and marvellous power which they exercise upon earth.—Here it says: A single little word can confound him. We can do nothing against the truth, &c. (2Co_13:8). If it strike the conscience of a man, he cannot resist its pricks.—Whilst the prophets are compelled to hide in holes, and live on bread and water, the priests of Baal sit at the king’s table and live in pomp and pleasure. So likewise has it come to pass in Christendom. But much better is it to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season (Heb_11:25).
1Ki_18:21-45. Elijah upon Mount Carmel. (a) How he rebuked the divided belief of his nation, and exhorted them to a decision; (b) how he brought to shame the idol-worship, and exalted the name of the Lord; (c) how he executed a heavy judgment upon the lying prophets, and besought from God merciful showers upon the earth.
1Ki_18:21-39. The decision upon Carmel. (a) The division among the people (1Ki_18:21-24); (b) the strife of the four hundred and fifty priests of Baal (1Ki_18:25-29); (c) the victory of the one man (1Ki_18:30-39).
1Ki_18:21-24. Krummacher: Elijah and the people upon Carmel. (a) How rebuked; (b) how he scorned; (c) how he believed. Wirth: The assembling of the people upon Carmel. (a) One against four hundred and fifty; (b) the questioning of the people; (c) the reasonable proposal.
1Ki_18:21. The halting between two opinions, (a) What this means (Matt vi. 24); (b) what are its results (Jam_4:4; Rev_3:16); cf. the hymn book of Lehr.: “Was hinket ihr, betrogene Seelen,” &c.—Menken: How hateful in the sight of the Lord is this “halting,” this neutral state amongst Christians, where one does not yield himself up to God and his cause with his whole soul, does not renounce unholy sin, the world, the spirit, and service of his age. How completely God demands an undivided heart we plainly see where he says to the lukewarm, “Because thou art indifferent, leanest to both sides, and dost not espouse one side, since I will not overlook everything, therefore I will spue thee out of my mouth.”—Krummacher: Indifference is the order of the day, now in this, now in that form. Whole-heartedness and determination in the divine life a rare pearl. Woe to thee, thou wavering generation, who thinkest to share thy love and service between God and the world, and dost lean now to this, now to that side. The Lord says: He who is not with me is against me (Luk_11:23). In our day, the man who holds entirely with Him is esteemed partial; it is thought to be might and wisdom for a man to hover between two parties, and leave it undecided whether He be mere man, like ourselves, or the only begotten Son of God. So that, finally, halting between two opinions is more esteemed than this Christianity. “But uncertainty and lukewarmness are the most pitiable of all weaknesses. Lord, teach us to tread in safer paths! Grant us now a new, firm spirit” (Wirth). For it is a precious thing to have the heart fixed (Heb_13:9). There is no reconciliation between belief and unbelief; to strive to unite both is a vain effort (2Co_6:14-15). The people answers him not.—Calw. Bib.: Thus on many a Sunday does many a congregation remain dumb before their preachers. The people were silent and confounded, since they could not answer, especially to Joshua (Jos_24:15); but to-day, if one cries out to the multitude: How long, &c., they say, What will the priest? We are good Christians.
1Ki_18:22. Menken: In cases where faith and reverence for God are concerned, no human authority or majority of voices avails; one opposed to a thousand may be right, and each individual has the right to acknowledge and maintain his belief in the truth against thousands. He is lost whose convictions depend upon the authority of man or of numbers. He who intrenches himself firmly in his faith in God and his holy word, must also resolve to stand alone and be forsaken by the world, for faith is not a thing for everybody.
1Ki_18:23-24. He alone is the true and living God who shows himself in divine acts. A religion which means nothing of the saving, beneficent works of God cannot proceed from the living God. Christianity is therefore the true religion, because it publishes the great work of God in Christ (Psa_111:6). Not words and doctrine only, but divine works are the foundation of our salvation.
1Ki_18:25-40. Krummacher: The fire upon Carmel. We see the god of the blind, mad world, and the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.
1Ki_18:25-30. Wirth: The assembling of the people upon Carmel. (a) The vain crying aloud to Baal; (b) the rebuilding of the fallen altar of the Lord.
1Ki_18:25-39. The twofold sacrifice upon Carmel. (a) The sacrifice of the priests of Baal; (b) the sacrifice of the prophet.
1Ki_18:25-29. The service of Baal. (a) The resistance; (b) the manner and way of the worship. The generation of to-day thinks itself elevated far above the Baal worship, which in its nature was deification of nature and the world, and yet, how often does it happen that it serves the creature rather than the Creator (Rom_1:25). Men no longer make gods out of wood and stone, but construct them out of their own thoughts, and worship their own ideas. The world wishes to hear nothing of the God who is holy, and ready to sanctify the sinful heart of man; who is just, and metes to each man the measure which he deserves; who does not suffer himself to be scorned, but rebukes and chastises of such a God as He has revealed himself in His word the world makes nothing, and will only hear of a God who never rebukes or punishes, who is no avenging judge, who works no miracles, can hear no prayers. Elijah, could he return to earth, would scorn such a divinity no less than he did the idol Baal.
1Ki_18:25. For you, the many. Thus, even as Elijah allowed them the numbers which gave them due rank in man’s eyes, so it becomes most evident to us that numbers have no influence in God’s sight (Luk_12:32).
1Ki_18:27. Righteous and unrighteous scorn (vide Histor. 4).
1Ki_18:28, Richter: At the present day, Indians and other heathens fancy they can win the favor of their deities by fire-tortures and self-torments. Satan demands far greater and heavier sacrifices than God. It is an heathenish error to believe that we can appeal to God, or become reconciled to or merit aught from Him by any outward corporeal act, and yet this error prevails in manifold forms in Christendom. Some think to make themselves pleasing to God and to obtain His mercy by the repetition of many prayers; others, through fasts and painful pilgrimages; yet others by self-inflicted tortures and penances. The sacrifice pleasing unto God is (Psa_51:19) within, and the gift of the heart. All outer works are dead and useless. Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh, with the lusts and affections thereof (Gal_5:24; Isa_5:3-5).
1Ki_18:26; 1Ki_18:29. Well for us if we recognize that God who sleeps not nor is silent when we call upon Him de profundis, who hears the voice of our weeping, and listens when we open our hearts unto Him. Greatly can we rejoice in Him, that if we pray according to His will He will hear us (1Jn_5:14; cf. Psa_121:4; Psa_130:1).
1Ki_18:30-40. Elijah at the height of his mission, (a) He rebuilds the broken altar. (b) He calls on the Lord, who hears him. (c) He executes judgment upon the idolatrous priests.
1Ki_18:30. Wirth: The altar of the Lord is ruined in many places, in many houses, in many hearts, ye servants of the Lord, ye directors of congregations, ye teachers of youth, ye fathers and mothers.
1Ki_18:31 sq. Even as the altar which Elijah built out of the twelve stones reminded the nation of its old covenant, that its twelve tribes together should frame a building unto God, so every church edifice should remind us that we,—built upon the foundation of the prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ being the corner-stone,—fitly framed together, should grow into an holy temple, an habitation of God, through the spirit (Eph_2:20 sq.).
1Ki_18:34. Every shadow of delusion or deception must be removed from anything done for the honor of God and the glorification of His name.
1Ki_18:36-39. The prayer of Elijah. (a) Its purport. (He prays for the glorification of God and the conversion of the hearts of the people.) (b) Its granting. (The Lord declares Himself, and all the people acknowledge Him.)
1Ki_18:36. The God of the old covenant is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, because to them was the promise given. The God of the new covenant, upon whom we as Christians should call, is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, because in Him are all the fulfilled promises, the yea and amen (2Co_1:20).
1Ki_18:37. All knowledge and recognition of God is inseparable from the conversion of the heart to Him. That is the aim of every testimony and revelation of God, and for that every true servant of God should daily pray in behalf of those intrusted to his care.—Elijah, unlike the priests of Baal, who called upon their god the whole day, used few words, yet was he heard, because in those few words he expressed infinite meaning, and his prayer came from the depths of a believing, unquestioning soul.
1Ki_18:38-39. The fire of the Lord upon Mount Carmel. (a) Its significance. (b) Its efficacy. What is the miracle of that fire which devoured the burnt-offering and compelled the whole people to cry out: “The Lord He is God,” in comparison with the miracle that God has sent His son into the world to kindle the greatest fire which has ever burnt in the world; compared with the miracle that the Word has become flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, even the glory of the only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth? In Bethlehem and upon Golgotha the glory of the Lord is infinitely higher in its manifestation than upon Carmel, wherefore should all tongues confess that Jesus Christ the Lord is the glory of God the Father.
1Ki_18:39. The joyful recognition: The Lord He is God! (a) What is herewith recognized, and what promised (cf. the hymn: “Sei Lob und Ehr,” &c., 1Ki_18:8-9).
1Ki_18:40. See Hist, and Critical. 5. The sentence upon the idol-priests was a terrible but necessary one, which should serve us, not as an example, but as a warning; for although, under the new covenant, superstition and unbelief, idol-worship and apostasy are not chastised with fire and sword (Luk_9:54-56), yet there is not wanting a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries (Heb_10:27-31). Those who tread under foot the blood of the Lamb will shrink from the wrath of the Lamb (Rev_6:16).
1Ki_18:41-46. Krummacher: The prayer upon Carmel. (a) The preparation for it; (b) the prayer itself; (c) the granting of it.—Wirth: The end of the divine chastisement upon Israel. (a) How the prophet announces this end; (b) how he supplicates; (c) how the Lord sends merciful rain.—The prayer of the righteous availeth much when it is earnest (Jam_5:16). Elijah a just man, his prayer an earnest one, and therefore effectual (Psa_145:18-19). The king and the prophet on the evening of the day upon Carmel. (a) Ahab goes up to eat and to drink, Elijah goes up to pray in solitude; (b) Ahab rode on to Jezreel, Elijah suffers him not to go alone, but runs thither before him.
1Ki_18:41-42. Krummacher: Wretched man! He was no more touched by the great, heart-searching events of the day, than if he had witnessed an interesting but very long play, after which refreshment is most welcome and food tastes well. Yet where are not such Ahab-souls to be found? Ah! woe to you who permit the strongest evidences, the most powerful appeals to conscience, and the most touching works of God to glide before you like a magic-lantern before your eyes: you enjoy it a little, perhaps, but you bring home from the churches and meetings nothing except some complaints over the long divine service, or some matter for lively conversation or self-satisfied criticism, and a good appetite for the meal which now follows, and a gay looking-forward to the pleasures and enjoyment which the evening of the Sabbath-day will bring you.—Who has greater cause than Ahab to seek solitude, fall down upon his knees and say, God be merciful to me and blot out my sins after Thy great mercy (Psa_51:3), make us glad according to the days wherein Thou hast, &c. (Psa_90:15)? But of all this not a word. The rain alone was of importance to him, not the Lord and His mercy. How many like-minded ones in our day!
1Ki_18:42. Menken: From the earnestness, the ardor, the abasement of Elijah, we may take pattern from his attitudes in this prayer.… The outward posture, indeed, is of the least consequence; bowing of the knee and outward mien, as well as even the words of the mouth, avail little, be they great or small, stately or humble; but the man who prays without reverence to God, and is ashamed to let it be seen in his life, is no better than the heathen who knows not God.… In comparison with this the prayers of most men are cold, dead—without reverence and devotion, without earnestness and longing. Many a one thinks that when his eyes are heavy with sleep, when he has neither strength nor mind for any one earthly pursuit or affair, when everything besides is done, then he is in a fitting mood for prayer; that when he lies drowsily on his bed, in the morning or evening, that he is fit to commune with the Divine Majesty! That is entitled “prayer”! Is it a wonder that men should pray thus for an half century without having any experience in real prayer, and, in the end, knowing nothing of what prayer is and should be?
1Ki_18:43. Menken: Oftentimes we look in vain and yet see nothing of the comfort of the Lord, nothing of His help and salvation; He leaves us awhile prostrated in dust and misery, does not at once, hearkening and comforting, raise us up, but appears as if the voice of our crying reached Him not. But if we do not lose our confidence in Him, if we redouble our prayers and entreaties, He will not “let us be ashamed” (Isa_49:23). He will comfort, help, and hearken to us at His own, the best time.—Starke: A man must not weary of prayer, even though it appears to him useless. (Jer_18:1; Col_4:2; Eph_6:1.)—Krummacher: The dear God is not always at hand when we come before Him with our prayers, but generally allows us to stand awhile at the door, so that it frequently seems as if “there was nothing there.” Then do we begin to reflect, and become conscious that we properly have a right to ask nothing, but that, if anything be granted, it is in sheer mercy.
1Ki_18:44-45. Starke: All the merciful works of God seem small and unimportant in the beginning, but thence they are seen to be nobler and greater in the end.—Krummacher. Let the man rejoice who sees even so much as a little cloud of divine mercy and grace arising upon the horizon of his life! The time approaches when this cloud will cover his whole heaven.—Calw. Bib.: When the hour strikes, help comes in with mighty power, and, to put thy mistrust to shame, it must come unexpectedly.—The mighty rain after the prolonged drought seems to call out to Ahab and to all the people: Behold the mercy and the severity of God: severity to those who have perished, and mercy to you so long as you deserve mercy, otherwise thou also wilt be hewn down (Rom_11:22).
1Ki_18:46. Elijah a true shepherd. He goes after the lost sheep, and leaves them not when he sees the wolf coming; but the Lord, who is neither weary nor faint, giveth power and strength to the faint and to them that have no might, so that no way is too far, no toil too heavy.—Cramer: The righteous are often rejoiced by means of the Holy Spirit, and hope for the conversion of many, but are afterwards obliged to confess, with great heaviness of heart, that the prince of this world is powerful with many men, holds them in captivity, and finally plunges them into ruin.
Footnotes:
[1]1Ki_18:1.—[A few MSS. supply the preposition, and read מימים.
[2]1Ki_18:4.—[Nine MSS. repeat the word חֲמִשִּׁים, according to the usual formula, as in 1Ki_18:13.
[3]1Ki_18:5.—The k’ri מֵהַבְּהֵמָה is plainly to be preferred to the k’tib מֵן בְּהֵמָה. [It is also the reading of many MSS. and editions.
[4]1Ki_18:7.—[The Sept. emphasize very strongly the privacy of this interview: “And Obadiah was in the way alone, and Elijah came alone to meet him.”
[5]1Ki_18:21.—[For the meaning of the words עַל־שְׁתֵּי הַסְּעִפִּים see the Exeg. Com. The rendering of the Sept., “how long halt ye on both knees,” is certainly expressive.
[6]1Ki_18:22.—[The Sept. adds “and the prophets of the grove four hundred” (the Alex. Sept. omits the number) from 1Ki_18:19.
[7]1Ki_18:24.—[קָרָא בְשֵׁם אֱלֹהִים “denotes the solemn invocation of the Deity,” Keil. Cf. Gen_4:26; Gen_12:8; 1Co_1:2, &c.
[8]1Ki_18:24.—[The Sept. lessen much the force of this contrast, by adding “my God.”
[9]1Ki_18:27.—[שִׂיהַ bears either the sense of conversation (as in the Vulg.), see 2Ki_9:11; or of meditation. The latter seems rightly preferred by our author. On the meaning of this and the following words see the Exeg. Com.
[10]1Ki_18:29.—[Here the לְ in לַעֲלוֹת is not to be overlooked: עַד לַעֲלוֹת means not “till the offering,” but “till towards the offering,” i.e., till towards the time of the offering, for 1Ki_18:36, Elijah had completed all preparations for his offering at the time of the evening sacrifice, Keil.
[11]1Ki_18:29.—[The Sept. curiously modifies 1Ki_18:29. Instead of mid-day they have τὸ δειλινόν; the Vat. Sept. omits “that there was neither voice,” &c., to the end of the ver.; and both recensions make the addition given in the Exeg. Com.
[12]1Ki_18:31.—[Eight MSS., followed by the Sept., substitute the name Israel.
[13]1Ki_18:36.—[The Vat. Sept. omits the mention of the time, and the Alex. substitutes the name Jacob for Israel.
[14]1Ki_18:41.—[The Sept. quite poetically translates, “there is a sound of the feet of rain.” The word here used גֶֹּשֶם is that denoting heavy rain.
[15]1Ki_18:44.—[The word chariot, supplied in the A. V., is implied in the אֱסֹר in this connection, and is given in several of the VV.
[16]1Ki_18:45.—[On the meaning of the phrase עַד־כֹּה וְעַד־כֹּה see the Exeg. Com. It is generally rendered in the VV. literally as in the Vulg. huc atque illuc.—F. G.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–4 Elijah went--a marvellous proof of the natural intrepidity of…
Elijah went--a marvellous proof of the natural intrepidity of this prophet, of his moral courage, and his unfaltering confidence in the protecting care of God, that he ventured to approach the presence of the raging lion.
there was a sore famine in Samaria--Elijah found that the famine was pressing with intense severity in the capital. Corn must have been obtained for the people from Egypt or the adjoining countries, else life could not have been sustained for three years; but Ahab, with the chamberlain of his royal household, is represented as giving a personal search for pasture to his cattle. On the banks of the rivulets, grass, tender shoots of grass, might naturally be expected; but the water being dried up, the verdure would disappear. In the pastoral districts of the East it would be reckoned a most suitable occupation still for a king or chief to go at the head of such an expedition. Ranging over a large tract of country, Ahab had gone through one district, Obadiah through another.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6 ELIJAH’S MEETING WITH AHAB, AND CONTEST WITH THE FALSE…
ELIJAH’S MEETING WITH AHAB, AND CONTEST WITH THE FALSE PROPHETS, 1Ki_18:1-40.
1. In the third year — Some time during the third year of Elijah’s stay at Zarephath. He probably dwelt by the Cherith about a year, and at Zarephath two years and six months: this would make the three years and six months mentioned by Jesus (Luk_4:25) and James. Jas_5:17. No definite time was mentioned when Elijah first announced the drought; (1Ki_17:1;) rain was to return only according to the word of the Lord; but Ahab’s wickedness continued it through the long period here specified. These three years and a half suggest the “time, times, and the dividing of a time,” the prophetical period of the Church’s woes. Comp. Dan_7:25; Dan_12:7; Rev_12:14.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–6 Chap. 1Ki_18:1-6. Ahab and Obadiah search the land for…
Chap. 1Ki_18:1-6. Ahab and Obadiah search the land for grass. Elijah goes to meet Ahab (Not in Chronicles)
1. in the third year] According to the tradition preserved in the New Testament (Luk_4:25; Jas_5:17) these three years cannot be reckoned from the beginning of the drought: for that is said to have lasted for three years and six months. The Jewish tradition reckons this third year to be the third year after the restoration of the widow’s son.
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shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain] Hence the LXX. on 1Ki_17:1 explains that the rain would not come εἰ μὴ φανέντος αὐτοῦ. See note there.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4 (1) The third year.—By the accurate tradition, preserved in…
(1) The third year.—By the accurate tradition, preserved in Luk_4:25, Jas_5:17, it would seem that the drought lasted “three years and six months.” If, therefore, the expression in the text is to be taken literally, it must be reckoned from the beginning of the visit to Zarephath.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–6 ELIJAH"S RETURN AND THE ORDEAL OF MOUNT CARMEL. The…
ELIJAH"S RETURN AND THE ORDEAL OF MOUNT CARMEL. The preceding chapter having been exclusively occupied with the fortunes of Elijah during his enforced absence of three and a half years from the land of Israel, we are left to conjecture what the course of events in the northern kingdom during this period of drought and suffering must have been. But it is not difficult to picture in our minds the steadily increasing alarm and distress which the solemn ban he had pronounced must have occasioned. At one time, it may be, especially if the prophet up to that period had been unknown, both king and people, under the malign influence of Jezebel, professed to regard his threatening with contempt, the more so as the priests of Baal would not fail to assure them of the protection and blessing of "the Lord" of nature. But as the months and years passed by, and neither dew nor rain fell as the heavens were brass and the earth iron and the pastures languished, and the fruits of the earth failed, and the cisterns became dry, and man and child and beast began to suffer the extremities of thirst, we cannot doubt that the tone and temper of the country underwent a great change. At first, threats had been freely uttered against Elijah, who was perversely regarded as the author of all this misery, and that and the neighbouring countries were scoured to find him. Moreover reprisals were made on the system which he represented, by a fierce persecution of the prophetic order, of which he was recognized as the head. But it is probable that when the drought lasted into the third and fourth year, and when absolute ruin and death stared the country in the face, that then defiance had given place to dread and regret in every bosom, save, perhaps, that of the queen and the sycophants who ate of her table. The conviction was steadily gaining possession of the minds of all Israel that Baal and Ashtoreth were vanities, and that the Lord alone made the heavens and covered them with clouds. The great drought, and the manifold sufferings which it entailed sufferings which the animated description of the prophet Joel (ch. 1.) enables us to realize were doing their work. The heart of the people was being slowly turned backward, and in the third year of his sojourn at Zarephath the time was ripe for Elijah"s return, which our author now describes, together with the striking results which followed it. In the first fifteen verses, we have the meeting of Elijah and Obadiah; in vers. 16-20, the meeting of Elijah and Ahab; vers. 21-38 describe the ordeal of Mount Carmel; vers. 39, 40, its immediate results; while the remainder of the chapter depicts Elijah"s prayer for rain, the bursting of the storm, and the return to Jezreel.
And it came to pass after This word is wanting in the Heb. except in a few MSS. many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year From what date is this "third year" to be counted? The prima facie view is that the words refer to "these years" mentioned in 1Ki_17:1, i.e., to the date of the announcement of the drought, and this is the interpretation of the Rabbins and some of the modems. But it is almost fatal to this view that the duration of the drought is distinctly stated in the New Testament to have been "three years and six months" (Luk_4:25; Jam_5:17) It is every way better, therefore, to connect the words with, 1Ki_17:7, i.e., with the date of the sojourn at Zarephath. It follows hence that the prophet spent about one year in the Wady Cherith, and two and a half in the house of the widow saying, Go, show thyself Heb. be seen unto Ahab; and I will send Heb. give rain upon the earth. Heb. on the face of the ground. (Cf. 1Ki_17:14)
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HOMILIES BY J.A. MACDONALD. Vers. 1-6.
The Cry for Life.
For three years and six months the heavens were as brass. Throughout the summers the sun glared and flamed in a cloudless sky, and the temperature, even at night, never sank to the dew-point. Throughout the winters, if the temperature reached that point, the elements were so boisterous that no dew could settle upon the herbage, and the winds carried the aqueous vapour away to other lands. In the absence of dew and rain, vegetation, excepting only that near rivers or fringing streams fed from the deepest springs, was scorched and blasted. The mortality, therefore, amongst animals was frightful, and men suffered incredible things. The agony of distress had now risen to such a pitch that throughout the land there was one earnest, plaintive cry for life.
I SOME CRIED FOR LIFE TO NATURE.
1. Such was the case with Ahab.
(1) He had worshipped Baal, the fire of nature. But Baal was now punishing his votaries. Such is the manner in which the "god of this world" repays his dupes.
(2) Yet did not Ahab repent of his folly. For, instead of seeking the living God, who was proving Himself the superior of Baal, he divides the land between himself and the governor of his house, to search for herbage.
(3) Note also the heartlessness of the idolater. He is more concerned for his stud than for his people. "Peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts.
2. He was a specimen of a class
(1) His queen was of the same way of thinking. She had been brought up to worship Baal. She had a masculine temper and swayed the mind of her husband.
(2) The courtiers and the majority of the nation, who thought more of court fashion than of the holy service of Jehovah, bowed the knee to Baal.
II OTHERS CRIED FOR LIFE TO GOD.
1. Of this number was Elijah.
(1) He recognized God as above nature, when he announced that there would be a departure from the ordinary course of nature in the withholding of dew and rain for successive years. Still he recognizes this when he shows himself to Ahab, believing that God would now give rain. (1Ki_17:1 1Ki_18:1, 1Ki_18:2)
(2) He recognized God as above nature before these assurances, for he received them in answer to faithful prayer. (see Jam_5:17, Jam_5:18) This is not mentioned in the history, but implied in his character as a man of God. Note: A man of God is a man of prayer.
2. Obadiah also was of this number.
(1) He "feared the Lord greatly." This arose from the strength of his faith. We cannot fear that in which we do not believe.
(2) His faith was fruitful in good works. He screened one hundred of the Lord"s prophets from the violence of Jezebel, and sustained them. "Bread and water," like "daily bread" in the Lord"s prayer, is an expression for things needful for the body. And in thus sheltering and nourishing the servants of God, Obadiah hazarded not only the loss of his situation, but also of his head.
(3) One who feared the Lord greatly after this fashion would pray to Him. Piety would move him to it. Patriotism also would move him at this juncture.
3. There were many more who cried to God.
(1) There were the "prophets of the Lord" preserved by Obadiah, and doubtless others also who escaped the vigilance of Jezebel. These would cry to God for life.
(2) And if there were so many prophets, or sons of the prophets, there would be a considerable number of devout persons in Israel notwithstanding the abounding apostasy. (see 1Ki_19:18) There is a great deal of goodness where men little expect to find it.
God is the source of life, not only to the body, but also to the soul. Let us seek to Him for life. J.A.M.
HOMILIES BY E. DE PRESSENSE Vers. 1-46.
Elijah and the Prophets of Baal.
Elijah is now prepared for his work. He who had sent him into the desert now commands him to enter into open conflict with idolatry. God makes His will known to him in two ways.
I BY AN INWARD IMPULSE.
II THROUGH HIS MEETING WITH THE YOUNG OBADIAH, the protector of the prophets, and the faithful servant of God in the midst of the impure court of Ahab. Let it be ours to seek such a twofold assurance of the will of God. Let us not rest satisfied with an inward impulse, lest we be led astray by an illusive mysticism; let us watch also the indications of Providence. The wisdom that cometh down from above is not a blind leading; it can give a reasonable explanation of its motives. It learns to read the will of God at once in the book of the heart and in that of Providence. In his decisive interview with Ahab, Elijah shows us how we are to contend with the idolatry which is always at the root of every doctrine hostile to God.
1. The first element of strength is his manly and indomitable courage. To the king"s insolent question, "Art thou he that troubleth Israel?" he replies, "I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father"s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim" (ver. 18). He only will be victorious in the battle for the right who does not fear to denounce, without flinching, the sin of his people, and to say, like John the Baptist to the mighty ones, whether in the realm of society or of science, "It is not lawful for thee" (Mt 14) Wherever sin is, the witness for truth and righteousness must first strike home to the conscience before attempting to convince the mind.
2. Everything in the language of Elijah breathes a full assurance of victory. He knows that he has on his side that strength of God which he has proved. To believe that we shall be victorious is already to have half won the battle.
3. Elijah"s irresistible weapon is prayer. "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" (ver. 37). If we now look away from Elijah himself to the plan he proposed to pursue in his warfare against idolatry, we shall see that no better is possible for us today. He does not multiply arguments in dealing with his adversaries; he meets them on the common ground of experience. He gives practical rather than theoretical demonstration of the power of God. Here are the priests of Baal assembled on Mount Carmel. On their side are the people, the favour of the king, the confidence of the public. Elijah stands alone, and yet he feels he is not alone, for God is with him. The heaven, closed for long months against the fertilizing rain, in punishment of the perverseness of Israel, seems a vault of iron and brass. Will it ever melt again, and spread life in soft reviving showers over the land? In vain Ahab has sent his servants up and down throughout the country; the water springs have all failed. The one question in all hearts is, What intercession may avail to draw down the rain once more from heaven? Elijah offers a challenge full of bitter irony to the priests of Baal. May he not lawfully do so, as the messenger of Him of whom it is said that "He shall laugh at the mighty ones who exalt themselves against him"? (Psa_2:4) In vain the priests cry, and leap, and cut themselves with stones, in their savage rites; there comes no answering voice from their deaf and dumb idol. But at the prayer of Elijah the heavens re-open, and his God reveals Himself in the glory of His power. Champions of the true God, the God of the gospel, defend it, as Elijah did, against the insolent idolatry of materialism, or of the pantheism which sets up an idol as monstrous as the Baal of old. Be bold, like Elijah, in showing the idolaters how deeply they have fallen. Believe in the victory of your cause; use the invincible weapon of prayer; and to those who have vainly sought the living water in the broken cisterns of earth, (Jer_2:13) show the heavens opened and the gracious rain descending upon all broken hearts, and bringing the blessings of a full redemption. Give to our generation this conclusive practical evidence. Meet the positivism of the infidel with the positivism of the Christian. This is the surest means of casting down the idol into the dust, without having recourse to that exterminating sword which the prophet of the old covenant was commanded to draw upon the idolatrous priests. We live under another dispensation, and ours is that sword of the Spirit which only wounds to heal. E. de P.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 6 Go, show thyself unto Ahab.
1Ki_18:1-18
Go, show thyself unto Ahab.
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Ahab, Obadiah, and Elijah;-
What are the general lessons as affecting Ahab, Obadiah, and Elijah?
1. It is possible for a man to be very bad in one direction and very tolerant in another. It was so in the case of Ahab. He was the worst of the kings of Israel, yet he kept a governor over his house who feared the Lord greatly.
2. The Lord causes the most wicked men to pay His religion the homage which is due to its excellence. A bad king employs a good governor! The thief likes an honest man for steward. The blasphemer likes a godly teacher for his child.
3. He who is the slave of idolatry becomes an easy prey to the power of cruel tempters. We do not know that Ahab was a cruel man, but we do know that Jezebel was a cruel woman, and Ahab was greatly influenced by his passionate and sanguinary wife.
4. Ahab was a speculative idolater, Jezebel was a practical persecutor; Ahab showed that speculative error is consistent with social toleration. Redeeming points do not restore the whole character. One swallow does not make a summer.
5. In the same character may be met great faith and great doubt. Obadiah risked his life to save fifty of the prophets of the Lord, yet dare not risk it, without first receiving an oath, for the greatest prophet of all! This mixture we find in every human character. How abject, how august is man! In Ahab, Obadiah, Elijah, and Jezebel, we see a fourfold type of human society; there is the speculator, the godly servant, the far-seeing prophet, the cruel persecutor. Society has got no further than this to-day. O wondrous combination! So checked, so controlled, by invisible but benignant power. Speculative error has its counterpart in actual cruelty, and patient worship has its counterpart in daring service. Application.
(1) Be the servant of the Lord.
(2) To-day, Christ calls for faithful testimony;
(3) If we suffer with Christ we shall also reign with Him. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 "Return, oh backsliding children, and I will heal your…
ELIJAH AND AHAB
1Ki_18:1-19
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"Return, oh backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto Thee; for Thou art Jehovah our God. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the tumult (of votaries) upon the mountains. Truly in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel. And the Shame (i.e., Baal) hath devoured the labor of our fathers."
- Jer_3:22-24
ELIJAH stayed long with the Sidonian widow, safe in that obscure concealment, and with his simple wants supplied. But at last the word of the Lord came to him with the conviction that the drought had accomplished its appointed end in impressing the souls of king and people, and that the time was come for some immense and decisive demonstration against the prevalent apostasy. All his sudden movements, all his stern incisive utterances were swayed by his allegiance to Jehovah before whom he stood, and he now received the command, "Go, show thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth."
To obey such a mandate showed the strength of his faith. It is clear that even before the menace of the drought he had been known, and unfavorably known, to Ahab. The king saw in him a prophet who fearlessly opposed all the idolatrous tendencies into which he had led his easy and faithless people. How terribly must Ahabs hatred have been now intensified! We see from all the books of the prophets that they were personally identified with their predictions; that they were held responsible for them, were even regarded in popular apprehension as having actually brought about the things which they predicted. "See," says Jehovah to the timid boy Jeremiah, "I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant." The Prophet is addressed as though he personally effected the ruin he denounced. Elijah, then, would be regarded by Ahab as in one sense the author of the three years famine. It would be held-not indeed with perfect accuracy, yet with a not unnatural confusion-that it was he who had shut up the windows of heaven and caused the misery and starvation of the suffering multitudes. With what wrath would a great and powerful king like Ahab look on this bold intruder, this skin-clad alien of Gilead, who had frustrated his policy, defied his power, and stamped his reign with so overwhelming a disaster. Yet he is bidden. "Go, show thyself unto Ahab"; and perhaps his immediate safety was only secured by the additional message, "and I will send rain upon the earth."
Things had, indeed, come to their worst. The "sore famine" in Samaria had reached a point which, if it had not been alleviated, would have led to the utter ruin of the miserable kingdom.
In this crisis Ahab did all that a king could do. Most of the cattle had perished, but it was essential to save if possible some of the horses and mules. No grass was left on the scorched plains and bare brown hills except where there were fountains and brooks which had not entirely vanished under that copper sky. To these places it was necessary to drive such a remnant of the cattle as it might be still possible to preserve alive. But who could be trusted to rise entirely superior to individual selfishness in such a search? Ahab thought it best to trust no one but himself and his vizier Obadiah. The very name of this high official, Obadjahu, like the common Mohammedan names Abdallah, Abderrahnan, and others, implied that he was "a servant of Jehovah." His conduct answered to his name, for on Jezebels persecuting attempt to exterminate Jehovahs prophets in their schools or communities, he, "the Sebastian of the Jewish Diocletian," had, at the peril of his own life, taken a hundred of them, concealed them in two of the great limestone caves of Palestine-perhaps in the recesses of Mount Carmel, and fed them with bread and water. It is to Ahabs credit that he retained such a man in office, though the touch of timidity which we trace in Obadiah may have concealed the full faithfulness of his personal allegiance to the old worship. Yet that such a man should still hold the post of chamberlain (al-hab-baith) furnishes a fresh proof that Ahab was not himself a worshipper of Baal.
The king and his vizier went in opposite directions, each of them unaccompanied, and Obadiah was on his way when he was startled by the sudden appearance of Elijah. He had not previously seen him, but recognizing him by his shaggy locks, his robe of skin, and the awful sternness of his swarthy countenance, he was almost abjectly terrified. Apart from the awe-inspiring aspect and manner of the Prophet, this seemed no mere man who stood before him, but the representative of the Eternal, and the wielder of His power. To his contemporaries he appeared like the incarnate vengeance of Jehovah against guilty times, a flash as it were of Gods consuming fire. To the Muslim of today he is still El Khudr, "the eternal wanderer." Springing from his chariot, Obadiah fell flat on his face and cried, "Is it thou, my lord Elijah?" "It is I," answered the Prophet, not wasting words over his terror and astonishment. "Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here."
The message enhanced the viziers alarm. Why had not Elijah showed himself at once to Ahab? Did some terrible vindictive purpose lurk behind his message? Did Elijah confuse the aims and deeds of the minister with those of the king? Why did he dispatch him on an errand which might move Ahab to kill him? Was not Elijah aware, he asks, with Eastern hyperbole, that Ahab had sent "to every nation and kingdom" to ask if Elijah was there, and when told that he was not there he made them confirm the statement by an oath? What would come of such a message if Obadiah conveyed it? No sooner would it be delivered than the wind of the Lord would sweep Elijah away into some new and unknown solitude, and Ahab, thinking that he had only been befooled, would in his angry disappointment, put Obadiah to death. Had he deserved such a fate? Had not Elijah heard of his reverence for Jehovah from his youth, and of his saving the hundred prophets at the peril of his life? Why then send him on so dangerous a mission? To these agitated appeals Elijah answered by his customary oath, "As Jehovah of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will show myself unto him today." Then Obadiah went and told Ahab, and Ahab with impetuous haste hastened to meet Elijah, knowing that on him depended the fate of his kingdom.
Yet when they met he could not check the burst of anger which sprang to his lips.
"Is it thou, thou troubler of Israel?" he fiercely exclaimed. Elijah was not the man to quail before the vultus instantis tyranni. "I have not troubled Israel." was the undaunted answer, "but thou and thy fathers house." The cause of the drought was not the menace of Elijah, but the apostasy to Baalim. It was time that the fatal controversy should be decided. There must be an appeal to the people. Elijah was in a position to dictate, and he did dictate. "Let all Israel," he said, "be summoned to Mount Carmel"; and there he would singly meet in their presence the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of the Asherah, all of whom ate at Jezebels table. Then and there a great challenge should take place, and the question should be settled forever, whether Baal or Jehovah was to be the national god of Israel. What challenge could be fairer, seeing that Baal was the Sun-god, the god of fire?
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 1Ki_18:1. After many days … in the third year—in…
ELIJAH’S CONTEST WITH AHAB AND BAAL
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
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1Ki_18:1. After many days … in the third year—in Luk_4:25, Jas_5:17, the drought is said to have lastes for the space of three years and six months.” In the natural order of things, rains fall regularly in March and October—“the early and latter rains.” Their censation might be dated either from the March when the last rain fell, or from the October when the rain first failed to fall. The later reckoning would make the period six months less than the former, yet both computations would be equally correct.
1Ki_18:2. There was a sore famine in Samaria—“Entirely without reference to the Old Testament, Menandros (Josephus, Antiq. viii. 13.2) makes mention of a severe drought lasting for a year under the Syrian king Ithobal, a contemporary of Ahab” (Ewald).
1Ki_18:4. Obadiah took an hundred prophets—i.e., scholars in the schools of the prophets. This indicates that they must have been numerous, even though Jezebel had sought to extirminate them, with all that connected Jehovah’s name and worship with the land. Hid them in a cave—Most probably in the clefts of Mount Carmel (Winer).
1Ki_18:7. Art thou that my lord Elijah?—Luther translates the words, האתָּה זֶה, “Art thou not my lord Elijah?” The Sept. renders them, εί σὺ εἶ αὐτός κύριέ μου Ἠλία. But Obadiah was in no doubt; “he knew him.” It is rather a question of wonder (Keil). “Art thou here?”
1Ki_18:12. The Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither I know not—Either by a supernatural bodily transition (Act_8:39), or by an inward impute from God (Mat_4:1). Cannot find thee—The effectual secresy of Elijah for so long a time, though search had everywhere been made for him (1Ki_18:10), convinced Obadiah that Elijah could hide from discovery.
1Ki_18:15. As the Lord of hosts liveth—“The צבָאוֹת with יְהֹוָה elevates the solemnity of the oath” (Keil).
1Ki_18:17. Art thou he that troubleth Israel?—עכר, to bring into trouble. The words may be rendered, Art thou there, O troubler of Israel? They mean, Do I at last meet thee, thou bringer of trouble upon Israel?
1Ki_18:18. Thou hast followed Baalim—The Baalim; not alluding to the numerous images and statues of Baal, but the various personifications of that god—Baal-Berith, Baal-Zebul (Winer).
HOMILETICS OF 1Ki_18:1-18
AHAB THE TYPE OF A WEAK AND WICKED KING
I. He was the occasion of prolonged national distress (1Ki_18:1-2). For three years and a-half Israel lay gasping under a parching drought, with all its attendant horrors of famine (Luk_4:25; Jas_5:17). Everywhere was desolation and barrenness; the soil seemed scorched up with the wrath of God. The labours of the field had ceased, and the joy of the harvest and vintage was hushed. The market-places were empty and silent, and the cottages were occupied by thin, bony forms, in which the pulse of life but faintly throbbed. The bright-plumaged birds had fled, and none but carrion fowl hovered in the air, or fattened on the carcases that were strewn in ghastly plenty on the plains. The calamity was so great and widespread that the indolent and reckless Ahab was compelled to bestir himself, and, in harmony with the simple manners of many Eastern monarchs, went in search of provender. And yet the thought never seemed to dawn on the mind of the king that he was a principal cause of the suffering he everywhere witnessed. Unhappy, indeed, is the people whose sovereign is both weak and wicked!
II. He was served by a God-fearing officer. It is no unusual coincidence for a Godless king to desire God-fearing men for his ministers and counsellors. Many a prince, though himself no Christian, holds in his service a Christian, and esteems him more highly than the others who are not Christian.
1. Obadiah’s piety was practical (1Ki_18:3-4; 1Ki_18:13). He protected the prophets of the Lord from the persecuting fury of Jezebel, and, at considerable personal cost, when everything was at famine prices, fed them with bread and water, when bread and water were luxuries very difficult to procure. Religion does very little for a man if it does not inspire him to generous activity. Noble thoughts look better when crystallized into noble deeds.
2. Obadiah’s piety teas maintained in the midst of moral corruption and danger (1Ki_18:9-14). It is creditable to Ahab that he had an officer like Obadiah, and though he had steadily refused to bow the knee to Baal, and though it was publicly known that he had befriended the prophets, Ahab must have been so attached to him that even Jezebel had not ventured to bring about his dismissal from the court. And yet Obadiah could not fully trust the king; he was compelled to confess that he might be unrighteously put to death by him (1Ki_18:14). Obadiah was not located in a remote and lonely place, but in the midst of a busy court, where he saw and heard nothing good, surrounded by Godless men, and exposed to every temptation to Godlessness, frivolity, rioting, and licentiousness. “To be pious with the pious, to maintain one’s faith in the midst of the faithful, is not difficult; but in the midst of the world, to preserve one’s self unspotted from it, to keep a pure heart, and have God before our eyes and in our hearts, wherever the Lord places us, this is, indeed, greatly to fear the Lord.”
3. Obadiah’s piety was put to a severe test (1Ki_18:7-16). The faith that had sustained the soul amid the corruptions of idolatry was staggered by the simple request of a man of God. That Elijah, journeying on his weary way, should meet the very man who was the only true friend of the prophet at the court, was no more accidental than that Obadiah, going forth in search of provender for the cattle, should find the man who was to test severely his faith and his fear of God. Even those who fear the Lord, and walk by faith, are sometimes, in the hour of peril, overcome by an agony of fear, which bows them down as reeds before a whirlwind. Peter, who first threatened with the sword, became suddenly terror-stricken before a damsel. It is good for us to recognize our human weakness, for this knowledge preserves us from over-security, and leads us to pray: Lord, strengthen our faith.
III. He was callously indifferent to the sufferings of his people (1Ki_18:5-6). He was more concerned about his horses and mules than the condition of his subjects. How totally unfit was such a mean-spirited man to wear a crown! It is the fatal result of idolatry to steel the heart against human sympathy. It is a melancholy sight to see in Ahab one who can submit to great personal inconvenience to search for “grass,” but who has no desire to enquire after a justly-offended God; while in his whole conduct in this transaction we have the type of all grovelling, sordid souls, who will spend more upon their kennels in a month than upon their cottagers in a year, and who will lose in a few seconds, amid the gambling of the turf, what would endow many an orphanage, and establish a hundred schools.
IV. He was mistaken as to the true cause of national suffering (1Ki_18:17). “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” All men who deal faithfully with careless souls are denounced as troublers. There are hundreds who, like Ahab, think of the trouble, but ignore the sin that causes the trouble. Ahab attributed the national distress to the man who had plainly announced to him its cause, and the method by which cause and effect could be removed. In his mad delusion he sought in every country (1Ki_18:10) for the life of the heroic prophet. He was swallowed up in revenge when he ought to have been swallowed up in penitence. Idolatry was continued with all its shameless, enormities, and its punishment was continued too.
V. He was cowed by the fearless indictment of the faithful prophet (1Ki_18:18). The meeting of Ahab and Elijah in the valley of Jezreel was of a very remarkable character; it was one of those scenes which become historic. The savage, hot-tempered accusation of Ahab is met by the calm, stern reply of Elijah: “I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father’s house.” The monarch quails before the man in sheepskin, and at once becomes pliant in his hand. A consciousness of right fills the heart with courage. Truth never fears the light; torch like, “the more it’s shook it shines,” and every falsehood is exposed by its searching glare.
LESSONS:—
1. It is an awful responsibility to be a king.
2. The worst kings have often the most exemplary servants.
3. Idolatry it an unmitigated curse to king and people.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1Ki_18:1-18. Elijah’s reappearance. In this incident we have three eminent men brought before us, and the conduct of each suggests some useful lessons. I. With regard to Elijah We have—
1. an illustration of self-denial. It would be no easy matter for Elijah to leave Sarepta. He was surrounded with many inducements to remain—peace, security, plenty, comfort, ease, enjoyment. On the other hand, the duty to which he was called was by no means a pleasant one. The prospect of meeting Ahab would awaken any but agreeable feelings in his heart. He had no reason to expect anything from such a wicked king but harshness and severity. But in the face of these circumstances he is ready to obey the voice of God. That voice is supreme, and he follows it, whatever self-denial it may involve on the one hand, or risk on the other.
2. An illustration of courage. The righteous are as bold as a lion. Elijah showed such boldness on this occasion. He was the messenger of God, doing His bidding, and he could rely upon his God for safety and help; therefore he had no fear at the prospect of meeting Ahab. And when he did meet him, he boldly charged the calamity of the country upon his wickedness and idolatry. We need not only self-denial to withdraw ourselves from the pleasant associations of life, but also courage and determination to do Christ’s work in the face of difficulty and danger. II. With regard to Ahab, we see the hardening and blinding influence of sin. While the famine pressed sorely upon all the land, the king was most anxious about himself and his royal stud. We read of no effort to alleviate the sufferings of the people: no famine subscriptions; no relief fund for the poor. This is the fruit of sin and heathenism. What a contrast to the teaching of Christ and the conduct of Christian nations, especially our own nation! Let distress come upon any portion of our people, and at once efforts are put forth to relieve them. And Ahab was not only hard and selfish, but he was blind to the true cause of the famine. He attributed it to Elijah. He did not see it was his own sin against God This is one of the fruits of sin; it is blind-folding. It throws a veil over the mind of men, so that they do not see themselves as sinning against God. Hence the need of the Spirit of God to convince of sin. III. With regard to Obadiah we have—
1. An illustration of fidelity. Obadiah’s position would expose him to many temptations, but in the midst of all he was enabled to be faithful to his master and true to his God. He could relieve and help the people of God amid distress and persecution, and at the same time discharge his duty to the king. Similar illustrations of fidelity we have in the case of Joseph in Egypt, and of Daniel in Babylon.
2. An illustration of the advantage of early piety. Obadiah feared God from his youth. This is the secret of his excellent character. Youth is the time to form those habits which fit men for positions of usefulness and importance. When youth has been neglected, one’s after years are of much less value in the world and in the church.—The Study and Pulpit.
1Ki_18:1-2. The commands of God. I. Are made known at the right time. “And it came to pass after many days.” II. Are authoritative and peremptory. “Go, show thyself unto Ahab.” III. Have ever a promise of blessing linked on to them. “And I will send rain upon the earth.” IV. Are promptly obeyed by His believing servants. “And Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab.”
1Ki_18:2. Famine.
1. Imposes indescribable sufferings.
2. May be used as a scourge to punish a sinful and idolatrous people.
3. Presents ample materials to the conscientious ruler for repentance and reform.
—Daily bread was scarce, for the land was dried up and unfruitful; but the bread of life, the Word of God, was likewise scarce, for the nation itself was dried up, and those who would have sown the seed of the Word were persecuted and compelled to silence and concealment. Woe to that country upon whom famine, bodily and spiritual, both fall, and who yet are driven by neither to repentance and conversion.
1Ki_18:3-4. Eminent piety. I. Is found in the highest social rank, and in the most unlikely places. II. Consists in “fearing the Lord greatly.” III. Is intensely practical in its aims. IV. Has a lofty regard and generous care for the suffering “prophets of the Lord.”
1Ki_18:4. Obadiah could not do this without great risk and the exposure of his own person to great danger; neither in that extreme famine could he maintain those hundred prophets without great expenditure of his own substance. Obadiah not only preserved the lives of a hundred innocent men, he saved a hundred worshippers of Jehovah, and yet more, a hundred men who, immediately the persecution was over, and the Baal-worship in Israel destroyed, became useful to the ignorant and bewildered people as their instructors in doctrine. Thus, although Obadiah, as the lieutenant of the royal watch, could not do much for the kingdom of God by direct testimony and instruction, yet indirectly he did a great deal by preserving these witnesses for the truth at the peril of his own life and at the expense of his own fortune. Thus many people, by the maintenance of the witnesses for evangelical truth, by the spread and promotion of the Christian Scriptures, do much for the kingdom of God, which otherwise they could not do, and lay up a reward in heaven, if they do not shun disgrace, nor prefer earthly and perishable gains to the celestial and imperishable.—Menken.
—O degenerate state of Israel! anything was now lawful there, saving piety. It is well if God’s prophets can find a hole to hide their heads in. They must needs be hard driven when fifty of them are fain to crowd together into one cave: there they had both shade and repast. Good Obadiah hazards his own life to preserve theirs, and spends himself in that extreme dearth, upon their necessary diet. Bread and water was more now, than other whiles wine and delicates. Whether should we wonder more at the mercy of God in reserving a hundred prophets, or in thus sustaining them, being reserved? When did God ever leave His Israel unfurnished of some prophets? When did He leave His prophets unprovided of some Obadiah? How worthy art thou, O Lord, to be trusted with thine own charge! While there are men upon earth, or birds in the air, or angels in heaven, thy messengers cannot want provision.—Bp. Hall.
1Ki_18:5-6. A heartless monarch. 1. A monstrosity in a time of famine.
2. Is more concerned about his stables than the lives of his famishing subjects.
3. Prepares for himself inevitable punishment.
—Pitiful man! Anxious care for the life of his horses and the maintenance of his stables—this is all that the three years and a half of chastisement of the Almighty had called forth in his soul. How often does one think of a person, “Now he will be quite a different person”; and then, behold I where one hopes to find at length thoughts of God and eternity, there are only thoughts of horses and mules; and in place of holy emotions, instead of aspirations, prayers, and reflections upon the great and eternal interests of life, you find a thick swarm of pitiful cares and considerations which hover about the soul, and hover with it into an awful eternity. Ahab and Obadiah both journey on together through the land, but each goes his own way alone—a picture of their life journey. Ahab walks in the broad, Obadiah in the narrow, way: the latter alone leads to the green pastures and still waters which refresh the soul.—Krummacher.
1Ki_18:5. The terribleness of unimproved warnings. What a mournful picture have we here! For three years God had tried this monarch with sore judgments. He had shut up heaven, closed the fountains of the land, decimated his people with famine. The voice seemed too loud, too solemn and awful to be disregarded. We might have expected to see Ahab, like the heathen king of Nineveh, put sackcloth on his loins and dust on his head, calling his people to humiliation and repentance. But alas! the Divine monition seems utterly disregarded. God has emptied His quiver upon him; but arrow after arrow has bounded back from that heart of adamant. He has neither tear for his own guilt, nor tear for his suffering subjects. So far as we are told, the one miserable, petty thought that fills that narrow soul is, to get provender for his stables, and save his mules and horses. Ah! terrible indeed it is when judgments thus lead to an open defiance and resistance of the Divine will; a mocking of his hand, a laughing to scorn of His righteous reproofs; no penitence, no remorse; but rather a more intense selfishness. An unsanctified trial becomes a curse. It indurates if it does not soften. It is like the heat of the sun, which melts the wax, but hardens the clay.—Macduff.
1Ki_18:6. Ahab had found Obadiah faithful, and therefore trusted him in this weighty business, rather than any other. Of a man that truly feareth God it may better be said than of Cato, that he never did well that he might appear to do so, but because he could not do otherwise.—Trapp.
1Ki_18:8-14. Obadiah finds this load too heavy; neither is he more stricken with the boldness than with the unkindness of this command—boldness in respect of Elijah, unkindness in respect of himself; for thus he thinks—“If Elijah do come to Ahab, he dies; if he do not come, I die. If it be known that I met him and brought him not, it is death. If I say that he will come voluntarily, and God shall alter his intentions, it is death. How unhappy a man am I that must be either Elijah’s executioner or my own! Were Ahab’s displeasure but smoking, I might hope to quench it; but now that the flame of it hath broken forth to the notice, to the search, of all the kingdoms and nations round about, it may consume me; I cannot extinguish it. This message is for an enemy of Elijah, for a client of Baal. As for me, I have well approved my devotion to God, my love to His prophets. What have I done that I should be singled out either to kill Elijah, or to be killed for him? “Many a hard plunge must that man needs be driven to who would hold his conscience together with the service and favour of a tyrant It is a happy thing to serve a just master; there is no danger, no stain, in such obedience.—Bp. Hall.
1Ki_18:15-16. A consciousness of right. I. Nerves the soul with invincible bravery. II. Brings the soul in contact with the most colossal embodiments of iniquity. III. Prompts the soul to the most faithful denunciations of wrong.
—A strong, resolute word of faith exercises power over the heart. It strengthens the weak, supports the tottering, encourages the fearful, and tranquillizes the anxious-minded. A teacher must not shrink from his office through fear or cowardice, let tyrants look grim as they may (1Pe_3:14).—Lange.
1Ki_18:15. The fear of God putteth out the fear of any mortal wight, as the sunbeams do the fire on the hearth. When Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, said to Dr. Taylor, the martyr—“Art thon come, thou villain? How darest thou look me in the face for shame? Knowest thou not who I am?” “Yes,” quoth Taylor, “I know who you are; you are Dr. Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor, yet but a mortal man, I trow. But if I should be afraid of your lordly looks, why fear you not God, the Lord of us all? How dare you for shame look any Christian man in the face, seeing you have forsaken the truth, denied our Saviour Christ and His Word, and done contrary to your own word and writing? “Thus spake that valiant martyr, like another Elias.—Trapp.
1Ki_18:17-18. The source of national trouble.
1. Is not in the messenger who announces its presence.
2. But in the infidelity and wickedness of the throne.
3. In the national desertion of God.
4. In the adoption and practice of idolatry.
—A remarkable meeting.
1. A numerously attended monarch, and a lonely prophet.
2. The impersonation of great moral weakness in the presence of great moral strength.
3. An angry question met by a calm, overwhelming reply.
4. The authority of the prophet triumphing for the time over that of the king.
—At last the mysterious prophet, whom each had desired to see for so long, appeared suddenly before them. “Behold Elijah!” was the message which the faithful Obadiah was to take back to Ahab—two awful words which he thrice repeats, before he can be induced to return. “Art thou my lord Elijah?” was the reverential salute of the minister. “Art thou the troubler of Israel?” was the angry question of the king. But it was an anger which soon sunk into awe. Face to face at last they met, the prophet and the king. In that hour of extreme despair, the voice of Eiijah sounded with an authority which it had never had before. The drought, we are told, had been threatened by him. It was then, doubtless, as it still is, the belief of Eastern countries that seers and saints have the power of withholding or giving rain. In the convent of Mount Sinai the Arabs believe that there is a book, by the opening or shutting of which the monks can disperse or retain the rain of the peninsula.—Stanley.
1Ki_18:17. Doubtless Ahab, startled to hear of Elijah coming to meet him as one that did not more hate than fear the prophet. Well might he think, “Thus long, thus far, have I sought Elijah; Elijah would not come to seek me but under a sure guard, and with some strange commission. His coarse mantle hath the advantage of my robe and sceptre. If I can command a piece of the earth, I see he can command heaven.” The edge of his revenge is taken off with a doubtful expectation of the issue; and now, when Elijah offers himself to the eyes of Ahab, he who durst not strike, yet durst challenge, the prophet—“Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” Jeroboam’s hand was still in Ahab’s thoughts; he holds it not so safe to smite as to expostulate. He that was the head of Israel speaks out that which was in the heart of all his people, that Elijah was the cause of all their sorrow. Alas! what hath the righteous prophet done? He taxed their sin; he foretold the judgment, he deserved it not, he inflicted it not; yet he smarts, and they are guilty; as if some fond people should accuse the herald or the trumpet as the cause of their war; or, as if some ignorant peasant, when he sees his fowls bathing in his pond, should cry out of them as the causes of foul weather.—Bp. Hall.
1Ki_18:18. This stern rebuke led the poor king to feel that he had his master before him, and that the hairy mantle of the prophet was a symbol of greater power than the royal robe, and his staff an emblem of higher authority than his own sceptre. He quailed before the fearless prophet; and the same facility of temper which inclined him to evil when under the influence of Jezebel, swayed him to good in the presence of Elijah. We have heard of men whose whisper could quell the rage of the wildest horse, and bend him down to sudden tameness. Power of the like kind some men possess over other men. Elijah possessed it eminently; it was the gift of God, and such a man as Ahab was a proper subject for its influence. Besides, Ahab seems to have had some capacities for right feeling when away from under the deadly influence of his wife; and whatever may have been his first purpose when he heard that Elijah awaited him, he had time to cool on the way to the place where he was.—Kitt.
—O, the heroic spirit of Elijah! He stands alone amid all the train of Ahab, and dares not only repel this charge, but retorts it. “I have not troubled Israel, but thou.” No earthly joy can daunt him who hath the clear and heartening visions of God. This holy seer discerns the true cause of our sufferings to be our sins. Foolish men are plagued for their offences, and it is no small part of their plague that they see it not. The only common disturber of men, families, cities, kingdoms, worlds, is sin. There is no such traitor to any state as the wilfully wicked; the quietest and most plausible offender is secretly seditious, and stirreth quarrels in heaven.—Bp Hall.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 1Ki 18:3-4
1Ki 18:3-4
I. All we know of Obadiah is contained in this chapter, and yet he was a great man in his day. He was, it seems, king Ahab’s vizier, or prime minister, the first man in the country after the king. Of all his wealth and glory the Bible does not say one word. His wealth and power did not follow him to the grave, but by his good deed he lives in the pages of the Bible; he lives in our minds and memories; and, more than all, by that good deed he lives for ever in God’s sight. In the day when Elijah met him, Obadiah found that his prayers and alms had gone up before God, and were safe with God, and not to be forgotten for ever.
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II. The lesson for us is to persevere in welldoing, for in due time we shall reap if we faint not. Cast, therefore, thy bread upon the waters, and thou shalt find it after many days. Do thy diligence to give of what thou hast, for so gatherest thou to thyself in the day of necessity, in which with what measure we have measured to others God will measure to us again.
III. A doubt comes in here—what are our works at best? What have we that is fit to offer to God? Bad in quality our good works are, and bad in quantity, too. How shall we have courage to carry them in our hand to that God who charges His very angels with folly, and the heavens are not clean in His sight? Too true if we had to offer our own works to God. But there is One who offers them for us—Jesus Christ the Lord. He cleanses our works from sin by the merit of His death and suffering, so that nothing may be left in them but what is the fruit of God’s own Spirit, and that God may see in them only the good which He Himself put into them.
C Kingsley, Town and Country Sermons, p. 243.
1Ki 18:6
I. There are but two ways; you must choose the one or the other. You must follow Ahab, or you must go with Obadiah. No man can serve two masters. Even the old Latins had a proverb, "Duos qui sequitur lepores, neutrum capit." Don’t imagine for a moment that you are standing between right and wrong, like the embarrassed ass in Aesop’s fable between two equal bundles of hay, as though the bias towards each side were equal. We all incline to the evil rather than the good. If a strong moral force does not govern the will, it is not difficult to tell which side will be chosen.
II. Choose for your associates those with whom you would wish to company all through life. Try and look below the surface, and read the character; and do not give your friendship to any one whom, in your deepest soul, you do not respect. It was an excellent advice which a father gave his son, "Make companions of few; be intimate with one; deal justly with all; speak evil of none."
III. Should your intimate associate prove to be of evil principles, part company with him at once. Pull up the instant you find you are off the road, and take the shortest way back you can find. If the call of duty places you for a time, as it did Obadiah, in bad company, God is able to protect you from the moral taint, as He kept Daniel pure in the midst of Babylon; but not a moment longer than is needful should you tarry in the place of danger, for St. Paul truly says, "Be not deceived; evil company doth corrupt good manners."
J. Thain Davidson, Forewarned—Forearmed, p. 205.
Reference: 1Ki 18:7-22.—J. R. Macduff, The Prophet of Fire p. 97.
1Ki 18:12
It is not a little remarkable that while idolatry and wickedness reigned at the court of Ahab, Obadiah, a pious man and a devout worshipper of God, should have possessed such influence with the king as to be able to retain his high position and office as lord chamberlain, or mayor of the palace. No doubt it was in spite of his religion, and because, like Daniel at the royal court of Babylon, he was found to be thoroughly trustworthy and conscientious.
From the words of the text we may learn two valuable lessons:—
I. The importance of early decision for God. Obadiah was not a particularly young man at this time; that is plain from his language; but his religious earnestness had dated from early life. His piety took the complexion of an awe-inspiring sense of a personal God. This is the most wholesome force by which a man’s life can be guided. When we are on the verge of moral suicide, it is the felt presence of a personal God that holds us back from the pit of pollution. When men abandon this ground, and think of the Deity only as the great presiding force in nature, there is no longer any sound basis of morality or virtue.
II. The second lesson is the importance of courage in openly avowing our religious decision. The first thing is to have sound principles, and the second thing is not to be ashamed of them. Obadiah’s piety must often have put his life in danger; but, for all that, he did not disavow his faith in Israel’s God. The fear of the Lord took away every other fear.
It is a great help to us, if our faith is genuine, to meet with a little opposition at times. A man is none the worse a Christian for having occasionally to stand up for his principles. It makes our religion more real, and gives us greater confidence in its power.
J. Thain Davidson, The City Youth, p. 97.
References: 1Ki 18:12.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxx., No. 1804; J. C. Harrison, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xix., p. 209. 1Ki 18:17, 1Ki 18:18.—R. Heber, Parish Sermons, vol. ii., p. 104. 1Ki 18:17-40.—Parker, Fountain, Feb. 8th, 1877, and vol. viii., p. 32. 1Ki 18:20.—A. Mursell, Lights and Landmarks, p. 126.
1Ki 18:21
Most of us are so conscious of some lurking weakness, and so fearful of ourselves, that we are reluctant to pledge ourselves to any definite course of action. The fact is plain, we do not like to make up our minds. And yet there is this awful law working itself out in the case of every one of us, that, whether we like it or not, our minds are being made up day by day.
The Jews in the time of Ahab found it most convenient to go with the fashion of the time and worship Baal; and when the really critical moment came, there was not a man who was prepared to make his choice between truth and falsehood. "The people answered him not a word."
Let us take the warning of the story. If it be true that life’s great matters are not settled by a single act of choice, but by the habit of choosing rightly; if it be true that one grand critical moment comes to but very few, and that that moment is only the last moment of a chain of other moments, each one of which is as important as its successor, then those who make the choice rightly are the men who look upon the two paths of principle and convenience, of interest and duty, as distinct as honour and shame, as good and evil. The Lord, He is the God, and Him they will serve.
Let us remember that every hour we must look upon as the deciding hour which we will serve, good or evil, Christ or Belial.
A. Jessopp, Norwich School Sermons, p. 87
I. Elijah’s message was limited to his age. He was not a seer of the future; no prophecies, properly so called, have come to us through him. What strikes us specially in him is the remarkable unity of his aim. His one message was the assertion of the to us simple truth of the unity of the true God, and His sole absolute claim on His creatures. It was the union of a grand revelation with the intensest inward fire which formed the force that bore Elijah on.
II. We may learn from the history of Elijah: (1) that the rest we need is to be acquired only by secret communing with God Himself; (2) that strength sufficient to support us when we stand alone is to be found in that simple hold upon God which seemed to be the one truth of Elijah’s teaching.
T. T. Carter, Oxford Lent Sermons, 1869, p. 125.
Strange is it, if we think who God is, what Baal was, that such a choice should have ever had to be put to man; stranger yet that it should have had to be put to a people to whom God had declared His love for them, His individual care of them and of each soul among them.
Human nature remains the same now as then; God’s claim on the sole allegiance of the creatures He has made remains the same; the temptingness of things out of God or contrary to God remains still the same; God’s word speaks to our souls in histories: unlike in form, in their essence they are our very selves.
I. The world is still full of compromises. One might say, the world of this day is one great compromise. It hates nothing so much as Elijah’s choice. The world is lax; it must hate strictness: the world is lawless; it must hate absolute, unyielding law, which presses it: the world would be sovereign, keeping religion in its own place, to minister to its well-being, to correct excesses, to soothe it, when wanted. But a kingdom which, though not of the world, demands the absolute submission of the world, must of course provoke the world’s opposition.
II. Satan’s temptations still begin by compromise. He repeats what was so miserably successful in Paradise: "Hath God indeed said?" He would take us on our weak side. He sees how essential to love and faith in God are humility and purity, and he is wise enough to begin his attacks on either from afar off: on purity by something not felt to be sin; on humility by thoughts of not being behind the age. You hear of the "reign of law" in all the physical creation; but of a reign of law over yourselves, to infringe which is to violate nature itself, of this modern philosophy teaches nothing.
III. Choose Him who alone is to be yours; choose to be henceforth wholly His. Other lords may have had dominion over you. Say this day, with His converted people, "The Lord, He is the God; the Lord, He is the God."
E. B. Pusey, Parochial and Cathedral Sermons, p. 369.
The "halting between two opinions" is one of the evils of the times, to some extent of all times. The world is singularly fond of compromises, and the same spirit finds its way into the Church. The appeal of the text has to do both with principles and practice.
I. It calls for decision as to the truth itself. "If the Lord be God"—that was the first point on which the people were to satisfy themselves. The question which every hearer of the Gospel has to settle for himself is whether he will trust in Christ as his Saviour and serve Him as his Lord. The one condition laid down by Christ Himself, and, indeed, growing out of the nature of the requirement, is that the decision should be clear and absolute.
II. This decision should lead to entire consecration. "If the Lord be God, follow Him." The following of Christ means the consecration of the entire nature—that is, the service of every separate part of the being, and the whole of each.
J. Guinness Rogers, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxviii., p. 41.
References: 1Ki 18:21.—Bishop Harvey Goodwin, Parish Sermons, 3rd series, p. 63; W. Hay Aitken, Mission Sermons, 1st series, p. 185; F. W. Robertson, The Human Race, and Other Sermons, p. 87; A. Tholuck, Hours of Devotion, p. 234; W. Anderson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 309; W. Meller, Village Homilies, p. 219; Gresley, Practical Sermons, p. 319; H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Waterside Mission Sermons, 1st series, p. 77; R. Twigg, Sermons, p. 136; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iii., No. 134; J. Natt, Posthumous Sermons, p. 155; New Manual of Sunday-school Addresses, p. 126; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. i., p. 73; Congregationalist, vol. viii., p. 138; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., p. 119, and vol. iv., p. 330; C. Wordsworth, Occasional Sermons, 7th series, p. 131; Contemporary Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 64; W. M. Taylor, Elijah the Prophet, p. 96. 1Ki 18:21-40.—J. R. Macduff, The Prophet of Fire, p. 113.
1Ki 18:22
I. The lesson of Elijah’s history is the blessing and the glory of a constant will. It was this which made Elijah so great; it is this only which can make us great, for this is at the root of all true greatness. All actions of a seeming greatness which do not spring from this are nothing better than delusions and hypocrisy. Just so far as the will is truly purified by God’s Holy Spirit and rules over all within us, just so far do we, as renewed men, rise up to the greatness of our redemption and answer to our own trial.
II. We may learn here further how this strength of character is gained. One has, as we say, naturally a far stronger character than another; but a constant will, that inner bond of humanity, is within the reach of all. Only let us strive after it aright. (1) We must remember that its right exercise is most properly a habit. All life is full of opportunities of choice, and as we choose in them and abide by our choice, such are we. (2) We should do common actions with an aim at great objects. Habitual converse with such objects is a testimony against the lower life within us, and strengthens mightily the sceptre of the will. He who acts for great objects is great indeed. (3) We must seek earnestly from God the strengthening and the purifying of our will by the renewing of His Holy Spirit. Every other strength of will than that which God gives is itself an evil; it has trodden out affection and fire, and the kindlings of the heart, instead of lifting all up with the glory of its own concentred energy.
S. Wilberforce, Sermons, p. 221.
Reference: 1Ki 18:25-29.—S. Cox, Expository Essays and Discourses, p. 298.
1Ki 18:26
The conduct of the priests of Baal is in many respects well fitted to put to shame the disciples of Christ.
I. Notice first their zeal. They were willing to suffer and cut themselves with knives and lancets till the blood gushed out. The zeal and self-devotion with which idolaters will act on their mistakes ought to put us to the blush for the lukewarmness and cowardice which we often display in acting on our truths. The men who cheerfully acted on the precepts of a sanguinary religion are confronted with those among us who will not submit to the precepts of a mild one.
II. Notice how the idolatrous priests persevered, in spite of the keen ridicule of Elijah. In the matter of religion there is nothing which men find it so difficult to bear as ridicule. It can never be said that the priests of Baal had better reasons for being staunch in their adherence to their idol than the servants of God for confidence in His power and protection. They may be brought up as witnesses against us at the last if we show deficiency either in zeal or courage.
III. These priests furnish us with another lesson by their importunity. They persisted in praying, though no answer was vouchsafed. The silence of their deity appears to have been with them nothing but a reason for greater importunity; they were all the more earnest because they had obtained as yet no answer. Thus they seem to have held fast the principle that the Divine unchangeableness is not an argument against, but for, the possible utility of importunate prayer. We must bring the supremacy of our God to the test to which the idolaters were ready to submit that of Baal. "The God that answereth by fire, let him be God." There are those amongst us who have other gods than Jehovah. But can they answer by fire? It is the promise, the characteristic, of the dispensation under which we live, "Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire."
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1514.
References: 1Ki 18:28.—J. T. Jeffcock, Sermons in Town and Country, p. 56. 1Ki 18:30-40.—Parker, vol. viii., p. 36. 1Ki 18:36.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxi., No. 1832. 1Ki 18:38.—A. J. Griffith, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiv., p. 259. 1Ki 18:38, 1Ki 18:39.—J. M. Neale, Sermons in Sackville College, vol. iii., p. 40. 1Ki 18:39.—G. Moberly, Parochial Sermons, p. 257; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 34. 1Ki 18:40.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xviii., No. 1058; Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 200; H. W. Beecher, Plymouth Pulpit: Sermons, 10th series, p. 473. 1Ki 18:40-46.—W. M. Taylor, Elijah the Prophet, p. 112. 1Ki 18:41-46.—J. R. Macduff, The Prophet of Fire, p. 129; Homiletic Magazine, vol. xiii., p. 78. 1Ki 18:42-44.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 99.
1Ki 18:43
This is one of the parables of nature which we may apply in many directions. It expresses the truth that often out of seeming nothingness there arises the very blessing most desired.
(1) "There is nothing." So the disciples thought when, from the top of Olivet, they gazed into heaven after their departed Master. But was there indeed nothing to come? Yes, there was everything. That little cloud which had shrouded Him from their sight was full of blessings. Christ was gone, but Christendom and Christianity were coming. (2) "There is nothing." So we think as we look into the wide world and see no visible trace of its eternal Maker and Ruler. But the absence of any especial presence is itself an expressive indication of the spiritual nature of things Divine. Let us hold on, "knowing, fearing nothing; trusting, hoping all." (3) "There is nothing." So we say to ourselves as, in the blank desolation of sorrow, we look on the lonely work that lies before us. The voice that cheered us is silent, and the hand that upheld us is cold in the grave. But out of that tender memory comes at last a cloud of blessings. (4) "There is nothing." So it would seem as we look at the small materials with which we have to carry on the conflict against the great powers of nature. (5) "There is nothing." So we sometimes think as we look on the barren fields of theological and metaphysical controversy. (6) "There is nothing." So we think as we look on many a human spirit and think how little there is of good within it, how hard is the ground that has to be broken, how slight is the response that is to be elicited. (7) "There is nothing." So we think of the small effects which any effort after good can accomplish. Yet here also out of that nothingness often rises that little cloud not bigger than a man’s hand, yet the very hand that relieves us, that grasps us, that saves us from perishing. "Be not weary in welldoing." "Patience worketh experience, and experience hope."
A. P. Stanley, Addresses and Sermons in America, p. 172.
References: 1Ki 18:43.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 274; A. K. H. B., Towards the Sunset, p. 167. 1Ki 18—J. Foster, Lectures, 1st series, p. 206. 1Ki 19:1-3.—J. M. Neale, Sermons in Sackville College, vol. iii., p. 47. 1Ki 19:1-4.—J. R. Macduff, The Prophet of Fire, p. 143. 1Ki 19:1-18.—Parker, Fountain, Feb. 22nd, 1877; W. M. Taylor, Elijah the Prophet, p. 129.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Jehovah or Baal?
Jehovah or Baal?
1. In the third year] in Luk_4:2-5; Jam_5:17 the duration of the famine is given as 3 years and 6 months.
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3. The governor of his house] The same office as that alluded to in 1Ki_4:6; 1Ki_16:9. Feared the Lord greatly] His name ('Servant of Jehovah') was a true index of his character.
4. Cut off the prophets] Nothing is related of this beyond what is implied in 1Ki_19:10.
12. The Spirit.. thee] cp. 2Ki_2:16 : the prophet's movements being directed toward different and higher purposes than those of ordinary men, his friends would have no clue to guide them in tracing him.
17. Art thou he.. Israel?] RV 'Is it thou, thou troubler of Israel?': alluding to Elijah's prediction in 1Ki_17:1.
18. Baalim] RV 'the Baalim': i.e. the Baals: see on 1Ki_16:31.
19. Carmel] The only promontory on the coast of Palestine, rising at the summit to nearly 1,800 ft. above the sea. The prophets of the groves] better, 'the prophets of Asherah' (the. term here apparently denoting a deity). These prophets are not mentioned in the sequel.
21. Halt] not in the sense of suspending judgment, but of pursuing a vacillating and irregular course, serving at one time Baal and at another time the Lord (Jehovah). The word literally means 'limping.' And the people, etc.] They were reluctant to break with either form of worship.
22. I, even I only] The other prophets of the Lord, if not destroyed (see 1Ki_18:4), were at any rate silenced.
24. Your gods] RV 'your god': and so in 1Ki_18:25. The Lord] better, 'Jehovah,' and so in v.
39. The God that.. fire] For the consumption of sacrifices by fire from heaven, cp. Lev_9:24; 1Ch_21:26; 2Ch_7:1.
In the minds of the multitude the question to be decided doubtless was not whether Jehovah or Baal was the sole god, but which of them was the more powerful god, and, therefore, had the greater claim upon the nation's devotion. It was not until a later date that it was explicitly asserted by the prophets that Jehovah was the only Deity and that beside Him there was no other (Isa_44:6, Isa_44:8; Isa_45:5-6). Elijah, as his mocking language in 1Ki_18:27 suggests, must have come near to holding the same belief, though the fact that he denounced Ahaziah for consulting a foreign, not an imaginary, god (2Ki_1:6) seems to imply that he had not quite attained to it.
25. Dress it first] The contrast between Jehovah's power and Baal's impotence would thus be more impressive.
26. Leaped upon] RV 'leaped about': lit. 'limped about': i.e. they performed an irregular and uncouth dance round the altar.
27. Talking] RV 'musing': i.e. lost in meditation. Pursuing] RV 'gone aside.'
28. Cut themselves] Gashing the body was frequently practised by the votaries of heathen deities, probably for the purpose of making a 'blood covenant' between themselves and the god they worshipped.
Lancets] should be 'lances.'
29. Prophesied] i.e. gave utterance to fervid and ecstatic cries: cp. 1Sa_10:5. The evening sacrifice] the same as 'the evening meat (i.e. meal) offering' of 2Ki_16:15
30. The altar.. down] Carmel had been a 'high place' dedicated to the worship of Jehovah, but the spread of Baal worship had led to its neglect, and the altar on it had been overthrown (1Ki_19:10).
31. Twelve stones] In spite of the partition of the Hebrew tribes into two kingdoms, a sense of their original unity was continually present with the prophets, and certain of them looked forward to their reunion: see Hos_1:11; Jer_3:18; Eze_37:15-22.
Israel.. thy name] see Gen_32:28; Gen_35:10.
32. Measures] Heb. seahs, a seah being 3/10 of an ephah, about 2 1/2 gallons.
33. Fill.. with water] A well still exists a little below the summit of Carmel.
37. Thou art the Lord God] better, 'Thou Jehovah art God'
39. The Lord.. God] better, 'Jehovah, He (not Baal) is the God'
40. The brook Kishon] a stream flowing into the Mediterranean at the foot of Carmel.
Slew them there] in accord with the spirit of Deu_13:6-11; Deu_17:2-7. The prophet probably was not himself their executioner, but made the people give practical evidence of the sincerity of their conversion.
42. Cast himself down] in fervent prayer: cp. Jam_5:17.
43. Seven times] used vaguely of a considerable number: cp. Psa_12:6; Psa_119:164.
44. Like a man's hand] i.e. in size.
45. There was a great rain] Solomon's prayer (in 1Ki_8:35-36;) that if the people turned from their sin, the Lord would send rain upon the land was now granted.
46. The hand of the Lord.. Elijah] i.e. the prophet acted under a divine impulse: cp. 2Ki_3:15. To the entrance of Jezreel] between 15 and 20 m. from Carmel. Ahab had a palace there (1Ki_21:1).
The contest on Mt. Carmel was of the greatest importance for the future of religion in Israel, for it determined whether Jehovah, whose character was moral and spiritual, was to command the exclusive allegiance of the people, or was to share their devotion with the god of Zidon, who, like other Baals, was a nature-god, and whose worship was associated with unspiritual ideas and immoral rites. But whilst it primarily relatesto a particular crisis in the history of a single people, it is also typical of every conflict in which opposite principles of conduct meet, and in which the need of prompt decision must always be as urgent as in the days of Elijah.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v3 Obadiah In such a time as the reign of…
Obadiah In such a time as the reign of Ahab and Jezebel a believer’s true place was by Elijah’s side. Obadiah is a warning type of the men of God who adhere to the world while still seeking to serve God. The secret of the Lord, and the power of the Lord were with Elijah, the separated servant. Cf. 2Ti 2:20; 2Ti 2:21.
feared (See Scofield "Psa 19:9").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 2. Elijah on Carmel: The Answered Prayer
2. Elijah on Carmel: The Answered Prayer
CHAPTER 18
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1. The command to see Ahab (1Ki 18:1)
2. Elijah’s response (1Ki 18:2)
3. Ahab and Obadiah (1Ki 18:3-6)
4. Elijah and Obadiah (1Ki 18:7-15)
5. Elijah meets Ahab (1Ki 18:16-18)
6. Elijah’s demand (1Ki 18:19-20)
7. The events on Carmel (1Ki 18:20-40)
8. The answered prayer (1Ki 18:41-46)
The judgment of God as announced by Elijah continued its allotted time. A Greek historian, Menander of Ephesus, in his account of the acts of Ethbaal (the father of Jezebel, Ahab’s wife), says: “Under him there was a want of rain from a certain month till the same month the following year.” And Josephus, the Jewish historian who quotes this, adds, “by these words he designed the want of rain that was in the days of Ahab.” It was in the third year of the drought that Elijah is commanded to show himself to Ahab. Elijah obeys. Great distress and famine were everywhere. Then we see Ahab and Obadiah, the governor or steward of his house, looking for a little pasture so that they might save the horses and mules alive. Obadiah (servant of Jehovah), holding a high position with Ahab, feared the Lord greatly. He belonged to the faithful remnant who did not bow the knee to Baal (1Ki 19:18). He must have had severe tests of faith and much courage. It showed faith and devotion in hiding the Lord’s prophets. Jezebel, the wicked idolatrous woman, used the civil power to kill off the true prophets. Her aim was to exterminate completely the men of God who stood for the truth. We find her mentioned in Rev 2:20. There she is used to represent Rome, the harlot, and her spiritual fornication and idolatry. Rome, like Jezebel, has persecuted the Lord’s servants and killed them (Rev 18:24). Jezebel had evidently left the palace of Samaria and was at Jezreel, but Ahab and Obadiah were still in Samaria making a survey of the land. Then Obadiah met Elijah. The prophet requests Obadiah to announce his presence to Ahab. But Obadiah feared that such a message might cost him his life. Had not the whole country been searched for Elijah? And what if the Spirit should carry Elijah away? Then he pleads his kindness to the hundred prophets whom he saved when murderous Jezebel slew the prophets. From all this we learn that Obadiah, pious and faithful, was full of fear and trembling. He and the other faithful ones in Israel during the dark days of Ahab and Jezebel typify that faithful remnant of Israel during the end of the present age, suffering and persecuted during the great tribulation.
Ahab and Elijah met, and the prophet, clothed with power, rebuked the apostate King: “I have not troubled Israel; but thou and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim.” What would have happened if the daughter of Ethbaal, demon-possessed Jezebel, had been present? The great gathering suggested by Elijah would hardly have taken place. But she was in Jezreel and was ignorant of what was taking place. Ahab gathers all Israel and the 450 prophets of Baal upon Mount Carmel as demanded by Elijah. It is said that upon that mountain there stood two altars, one dedicated to Jehovah and another altar of Baal. This place Elijah chose for the vindication of Jehovah. To describe the scene, one of the grandest in the history of Israel, would take many pages. To his solid statement demanding decision--”How long halt ye between two opinions? If Jehovah is God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him”--the people had no answer. Then follows his great declaration as the only prophet of Jehovah, while 450 prophets of Baal stood over against him. Then the sacrifices are suggested “and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God.” And all the people answered, it is well spoken. Then follows the wild crying of the prophets of Baal from early morning till noon; Elijah’s sarcasm and the greater frenzy of the Baal worshippers. A wild scene followed. Crying louder and louder, they cut themselves with knives and lancers till the blood flowed. But there was no answer and no voice. Then Elijah repaired the altar of Jehovah, that was broken down. What a reminder the twelve stones were with which he built the altar! The sacrifice had been put upon the altar with the wood. Three times the altar had been drenched with water, so that the trench was filled with water. And now the time for the evening sacrifice, that significant time had come. A simple prayer follows. Jehovah’s vindication is demanded and that he is Jehovah’s servant. “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.” Then Jehovah answered by fire and everything was consumed. The people who witnessed the indescribable scene fell on their faces and cried: “The LORD He is God--the LORD He is God.” Thus Jehovah manifested His power in the vindication of His name and in answer to His servant’s prayer, and the people were brought back to the confession of the name of the LORD. His great mission to which the Lord had called him had been accomplished and the prophets of Baal, wicked and guilty as they were, received their deserved judgment. And here we have a foreshadowing of events to come.
Apostasy from the Lord and from His Word is increasing. Before the age closes it will be universal, though the Lord will have a faithful remnant even in the dark days of the age. His name is dishonored and rejected. But that blessed name will be vindicated by a manifestation of His power in judgment. “For behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fires. For by fire and by His sword will the LORD plead with all flesh; and the slain of the LORD shall be many” (Isa 66:15-16).
Higher criticism has not left these records unattacked. They speak of “the legendary narratives in which Elijah’s history is enshrined.” All is done to discredit these records and to make them appear doubtful. But the verdict given by these men who sit in judgment upon the Word of God, that the scene on Carmel is unhistorical, is a false verdict which shows lack of real research. Nothing whatever can be brought forward to question the historicity of this great scene, while much confirms it.
Then follows Elijah’s word to Ahab: “Get thee up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of abundance of rain.” It was spoken in faith. The Lord had said to him: “I will send rain upon the earth” (1Ki 18:1). And then came his prayer. He knew the Lord’s will and the Lord’s promise, and then persevered in prayer, and when the answer was in sight then he exercised faith once more by sending a message to Ahab. Then the heaven was black with clouds and wind and there was a great rain. The hand of the Lord was also upon Elijah and he ran before Ahab’s chariot to the entrance of Jezreel. It was supernatural power which sustained him (Isa. 60:31).
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 Elijah Reproves Ahab
Elijah Reproves Ahab
v. 1. And it came to pass after many days, three and one half years after the first announcement of the famine, Luk 4:25; Jas 5:17, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, namely, the third year of his sojourn in Zarephath, saying, Go, show thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth. The present punishment, concerning which a number of parenthetical remarks are now inserted, was to be ended presently.
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v. 2. And Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab, to present himself to ask for an interview. And there was a sore famine in Samaria, the lack of rain had been especially noticeable in that section of Palestine.
v. 3. And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house, the master of the palace, the majordomo, who had charge of the entire royal household. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly, he was one of the few who still adhered to the worship of Jehovah;
v. 4. for it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, for it had been her aim, from the start, to abolish the worship of Jehovah in Israel, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, members of the prophets’ schools or societies which had been in existence since the time of Samuel, and hid them by fifty in a cave, probably in two caverns, in the hills of Ephraim, and fed them with bread and water. )
v. 5. And Ahab said unto Obadiah, this had taken place when the famine had reached its most severe point, Go into the land, making a careful survey of the entire country, unto all fountains, springs, of water, and unto all brooks; peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts, for the lack of water would soon have forced them to kill some of the animals.
v. 6. So they, since the need was so great, divided the land between them to pass throughout it; Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.
v. 7. And as Obadiah was in the way, engaged in this task of finding water for the royal stables, behold, Elijah met him; and he knew him, the prophet being recognizable anywhere by the garments which he wore, 2Ki 1:7-8, and fell on his face, in reverence and in fear, and said, Art thou that, my lord Elijah?
v. 8. And he answered him, I am. Go, tell thy lord, King Ahab, Behold, Elijah is here.
v. 9. And he said, What have I sinned that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab to slay me? He feared lest Ahab conclude that he had known the hiding-place of Elijah during the past years and would therefore wreak his vengeance on him.
v. 10. As the Lord, thy God, liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, namely, of those in the entire neighborhood, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee, for such was his bitterness against the prophet; and when they said, He is not there, he took an oath of the kingdom and nation that they found thee not. In his great fear Obadiah undoubtedly overemphasized this point and became guilty of exaggeration.
v. 11. And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. Since Ahab had looked for Elijah everywhere in vain, the danger that the sudden announcement of his presence in the immediate neighborhood would rouse him to a quick fury was very great.
v. 12. And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither I know not, a possibility which his anxiety caused him to mention; and so when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me, in the supposition that he had willfully misled the king. But I, thy servant, fear the Lord from my youth, this fact being urged to influence Elijah in his behalf.
v. 13. Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord, how I hid an hundred men of the Lord’s prophets by fifty in a cave and fed them with bread and water? He mentioned this one example in order to impress his sincerity upon Elijah and to show him the danger of his own position.
v. 14. And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here; and he shall slay me, since Ahab was enraged even now on account of his religious convictions.
v. 15. And Elijah said, As the Lord of hosts, he who commands the countless host of the mighty angels, liveth, before whom I stand, as a minister and ambassador, I will surely show myself unto him today.
v. 16. So Obadiah, reassured by the definite promise of the prophet, went to meet Ahab and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah.
v. 17. And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel, bringing confusion and misfortune upon the people?
v. 18. And he, turning back the accusation upon the king, answered, I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father’s house, his whole family,in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, rejected the true religion with which the people had always been happy, and thou hast followed Baalim, the chief heathen god in the various activities ascribed to him.
v. 19. Now, therefore, send and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel, the mountain by the Mediterranean Sea, in the southern part of the territory of Asher, and the prophets of Baal, four hundred and fifty, the priests of the idol, who also acted as soothsayers, and the prophets of the groves, the priests of the female idol Astarte, four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table, receiving their entire sustenance from the queen, who was bound to establish idolatry in Israel.
v. 20. So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, proclaiming a great national assembly, and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel. In spite of Ahab’s apparent scorn for Elijah, a superstitious fear caused him to agree to the prophet’s words. Thus even the godless are occasionally filled with a terror which causes them to bow under the Word of God, at least outwardly.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 5 the word of Yahweh came
the word of Yahweh came
This idiom is used to introduce a special message from God. See how you translated this in 1 Kings 6:11. AT: "Yahweh spoke his word" (See: Idiom)
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send rain on the land
"cause rain to fall on the land"
now the famine was severe
The word "now" is used here to mark a break in the main story line. Here the writer tells background information about how the famine had affected Samaria. (See: Background Information)
translationWords
word of God
Elijah
Ahab
send
famine
Samaria
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv2–4 18:2 Elijah continued to obey the Lord’s commands (see…
18:2 Elijah continued to obey the Lord’s commands (see 17:5, 10), despite the personal danger of appearing before Ahab.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.