Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left as a prophet of Yahweh; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred fifty men. Let them therefore give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under; and I will dress the other bull, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under it. You call on the name of your god, and I will call on Yahweh’s name. The God who answers by fire, let him be God.” All the people answered, “What you say is good.”
Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves, and dress it first; for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.”
They took the bull which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, “Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice, and nobody answered. They leaped about the altar which was made. At noon, Elijah mocked them, and said, “Cry aloud; for he is a god. Either he is deep in thought, or he has gone somewhere, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he sleeps and must be awakened.”
They cried aloud, and cut themselves in their way with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. When midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the evening offering; but there was no voice, no answer, and nobody paid attention.
Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me!”; and all the people came near to him. He repaired Yahweh’s altar that had been thrown down. Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom Yahweh’s word came, saying, “Israel shall be your name.” With the stones he built an altar in Yahweh’s name. He made a trench around the altar, large enough to contain two seahs of seed. He put the wood in order, and cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. He said, “Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the burnt offering, and on the wood.” He said, “Do it a second time;” and they did it the second time. He said, “Do it a third time;” and they did it the third time. The water ran around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water.
At the time of the evening offering, Elijah the prophet came near, and said, “Yahweh, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Hear me, Yahweh, hear me, that this people may know that you, Yahweh, are God, and that you have turned their heart back again.”
Then Yahweh’s fire fell, and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces. They said, “Yahweh, he is God! Yahweh, he is God!”
Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Don’t let one of them escape!” They seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and killed them there.
Elijah said to Ahab, “Get up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.”
So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he bowed himself down on the earth, and put his face between his knees. He said to his servant, “Go up now, and look toward the sea.” He went up, and looked, and said, “There is nothing.” He said, “Go again” seven times.
On the seventh time, he said, “Behold, a small cloud, like a man’s hand, is rising out of the sea.” He said, “Go up, tell Ahab, ‘Get ready and go down, so that the rain doesn’t stop you.’ ”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv24, 26, 27, 32, 35, 37, 40, 43 By sending down fire from heaven to burn the…
By sending down fire from heaven to burn the sacrifice.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv22–44 1Ki 18:22 Then said Elijah unto the people, I,…
1Ki 18:22 Then said Elijah unto the people, I, [even] I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets [are] four hundred and fifty men.
Ver. 22. I, even I, only remain.] So Paphnutius in the Nicene Council carried it for the truth. So before him, did Nicodemus, {Joh 7:51; Joh 7:53} as after, Athanasius and Luther, qui totius orbis impetum soli sustinuerunt. God is the more seen in such cases.
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 vv22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43 I only remain, to wit, here present, publicly to…
I only remain, to wit, here present, publicly to own and plead the cause of God; for he opposeth himself only to Baal’s four’ hundred and fifty prophets, because they only were present; the prophets of the groves being, it seems, not permitted by Jezebel (through her pride, or obstinacy, or care and kindness to them) to go thither. See 1Ki 22:6. As for the other prophets of the Lord, many of them were slain by Ahab or Jezebel, others banished, or hid in caves.
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 v41 Israel being thus far reformed that they had acknowledged…
Israel being thus far reformed that they had acknowledged the Lord to be God, and had consented to the execution of Baal's prophets, that they might not seduce them any more, though this was far short of a thorough reformation, yet it was so far accepted that God thereupon opened the bottles of heaven, and poured out blessings upon his land, that very evening (as it should seem) on which they did this good work, which should have confirmed them in their reformation; see Hag 2:18, Hag 2:19.
I. Elijah sent Ahab to eat and drink, for joy that God had now accepted his works, and that rain was coming; see Ecc 9:7. Ahab had continued fasting all day, either religiously, it being a day of prayer, or for want of leisure, it being a day of great expectation; but now let him eat and rink for, though others perceive no sign of it, Elijah, by faith, hears the sound of abundance of rain, Kg1 18:41. God reveals his secrets to his servants the prophets; and yet, without a revelation, we may foresee that when man's judgments run down like a river God's mercy will. Rain is the river of God, Psa 65:9.
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II. He himself retired to pray (for though God had promised rain, he must ask it, Zac 10:1), and to give thanks for God's answer by fire, now hoping for an answer by water. What he said we are not told; but, 1. He withdrew to a strange place, to the top of Carmel, which was very high and very private. Hence we read of those that hide themselves in the top of Carmel, Amo 9:3. There he would be alone. Those who are called to appear and act in public for God must yet find time to be private with him and keep up their converse with him in solitude. There he set himself, as it were, upon his watch-tower, like the prophet, Hab 2:1. 2. He put himself into a strange posture. He cast himself down on his knees upon the earth, in token of humility, reverence, and importunity, and put his face between his knees (that is, bowed his head so low that it touched his knees), thus abasing himself in the sense of his own meanness now that God had thus honoured him.
III. He ordered his servant to bring him notice as soon as he discerned a cloud arising out of the sea, the Mediterranean Sea, which he had a large prospect of from the top of Carmel. The sailors at this day call it Cape Carmel. Six times his servant goes to the point of the hill and sees nothing, brings no good news to his master; yet Elijah continues praying, will not be diverted so far as to go and see with his own eyes, but still sends his servant to see if he can discover any hopeful cloud, while he keeps his mind close and intent in prayer, and abides by it, as one that has taken up his father Jacob's resolution, I will not let thee go except thou bless me. Note, Though the answer of our fervent and believing supplications may not come quickly, yet we must continue instant in prayer, and not faint nor desist; for at the end it shall speak and not lie.
IV. A little cloud at length appeared, no bigger than a man's hand, which presently overspread the heavens and watered the earth, Kg1 18:44, Kg1 18:45. Great blessings often arise from small beginnings, and showers of plenty from a cloud of a span long. Let us therefore never despise the day of small things, but hope and wait for great things from it. This was not as a morning cloud, which passes away (though Israel's goodness was so), but one that produced a plentiful rain (Psa 68:9), and an earnest of more.
V. Elijah hereupon hastened Ahab home, and attended him himself. Ahab rode in his chariot, at ease and in state, Kg1 18:45. Elijah ran on foot before him. If Ahab had paid the respect to Elijah that he deserved he would have taken him into his chariot, as the eunuch did Philip, that he might honour him before the elders of Israel, and confer with him further about the reformation of the kingdom. But his corruptions got the better of his convictions, and he was glad to get clear of him, as Felix of Paul, when he dismissed him, and adjourned his conference with him to a more convenient season. But, since Ahab invites him not to ride with him, he will run before him (Kg1 18:46) as one of his footmen, that he may not seem to be lifted up with the great honour God had put upon him or to abate in his civil respect to his prince, though he reproved him faithfully. God's ministers should make it appear that, how great soever they look when they deliver God's message, yet they are far from affecting worldly grandeur: let them leave that to the kings of the earth.
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 vv22–44 And call ye on the name of your gods,....…
And call ye on the name of your gods,.... The Baalim, the many lords and gods they served:
and I will call on the name of the Lord; the one true Jehovah and God of Israel, whom I serve:
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and the God that answereth by fire; by causing fire to come down upon the sacrifice, and consume it:
let him be God; accounted, owned, and acknowledged as the true God, and so afterwards worshipped as such:
and all the people answered and said, it is well spoken; they thought it a very reasonable proposal, a very good method to determine the controversy, and come at the truth, and know who was the true God, and who not.
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 vv22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 I only - Here present, to own the cause…
I only - Here present, to own the cause of God. As far the other prophets of the Lord, many of them were slain, others banished, or hid in caves.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 Verse 22. I only, remain a prophet of the…
Verse 22. I only, remain a prophet of the Lord] That is, I am the only prophet of God present, and can have but the influence of an individual; while the prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty men! It appears that the queen's prophets, amounting to four hundred, were not at this great assembly; and these are they whom we meet with 1Kg 22:6, and whom the king consulted relative to the battle at Ramoth-gilead.
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 vv22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 1Ki 18:22. I only remain a prophet of the…
1Ki 18:22. I only remain a prophet of the Lord — Namely, here present, publicly to own and plead the cause of God. As for the other prophets of the Lord, mentioned 1Ki 18:13, we can hardly imagine that they, in general, were men actually inspired and invested with the prophetic character; but such only as were disciples of the prophets, and candidates for the office of prophecy. But if they were even prophets, in the proper sense of the word, many of them doubtless had been slain by Ahab or Jezebel, and others banished, or hid in caves. Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men — He opposes himself only to these, because, it seems, these only were present; the prophets of the groves not being permitted by Jezebel, (through her pride and obstinacy, or care and kindness to them,) to go as far from the royal city as Carmel.
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 vv22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 32, 33, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 I, even I, only remain - He means, “I…
I, even I, only remain - He means, “I only remain in the exercise of the office of a prophet.” The others (Compare 1Ki 18:4) had been forced to fly and hide themselves in dens and caves of the earth; their voices were silenced; they had not ventured to come to Carmel. Elijah contrasts his solitary appearance on the side of Yahweh at the great gathering with the crowd of those opposed to him.
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 vv22, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 34, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 44 I. Hebrew repeats "I," to make the contrast more…
I. Hebrew repeats "I," to make the contrast more striking. Elias alone was present, in this assembly, as the prophet of the Lord. (Haydock) --- He knew that Abdias had preserved 100: but they were concealed. --- Men. The other 400 of Jezabel did not appear.
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv42–44 ELIJAH, BY PRAYER, OBTAINS RAIN. (Kg1 18:41-46)
ELIJAH, BY PRAYER, OBTAINS RAIN. (Kg1 18:41-46)
Ahab went up to eat and to drink--Ahab, kept in painful excitement by the agonizing scene, had eaten nothing all the day. He was recommended to refresh himself without a moment's delay; and, while the king was thus occupied, the prophet, far from taking rest, was absorbed in prayer for the fulfilment of the promise (Kg1 18:1).
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put his face between his knees--a posture of earnest supplication still used.
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 vv22, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 22. I only — Strange contrast, and, apparently, unequal…
22. I only — Strange contrast, and, apparently, unequal contest! Other true prophets may have been hidden in caves, (1Ki_18:4,) but Elijah alone appeared for Jehovah on this occasion. On the one side stood the lone prophet with flowing beard and leathern girdle, (2Ki_1:8,) on the other, four hundred and fifty splendidly robed (2Ki_10:22) priests of Baal, and on the neighbouring slope were assembled thousands of Israelites to witness the memorable contest. It seems that for some reason the queen had kept her Asherah prophets away from the scene of conflict.
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 vv22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 22. I, even I only, remain] R.V. am left.…
22. I, even I only, remain] R.V. am left. As in 1Ki_19:10 for the same word. Elijah means that he is the only one who now stands forward in Jehovah’s name. No doubt there were others of those saved by Obadiah and in other ways, but in such dangerous days they kept out of sight. The scene on Carmel is full of sublimity. Elijah alone against the host of Baal-priests, and with the calm dignity befitting so solemn a time, in the midst of them all, proceeding to repair the broken altar of the Lord.
The LXX. adds at the close of this verse ‘and the prophets of the grove four hundred.’
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 vv24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 36, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43 (24) And call ye on the name of your…
(24) And call ye on the name of your gods.—This gift of a “sign from heaven”—not unfamiliar to Israelite experience (see Lev_9:24; 1Ch_21:26; 2Ch_7:1)—which may not, as our Lord teaches us (Mat_12:38-39; Mat_16:1-4), be craved for or demanded as a ground of faith, is, like all other miracles, granted unasked when it is seen by God’s wisdom to be needed, in order to startle an ignorant and misguided people into serious attention to a message from heaven. In this instance the worship of Baal was a worship of the power of Nature, impersonated perhaps in the sun; and the miracle therefore entered (so to speak) on the visible sphere, especially usurped in his name, in order to claim it for the Lord Jehovah.
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 vv22–44 Then said Elijah unto the people, l, even I…
Then said Elijah unto the people, l, even I only, remain Heb. I, I am left alone. Cf. tatov Gen_32:24; monw a prophet of the Lord Thenius hence concludes that the "hundred prophets" of whom we read in vers. 4, 13 had been discovered in their hiding place and had been put to death. But this by no means follows from Elijah"s statement here or in ch. 19:10 (where see note); and we know that the schools of the prophets had not ceased to exist (2Ki_2:3, 2Ki_2:5, 2Ki_2:7; cf. 1Ki_22:8) All that Elijah says is that he stood that day alone as a prophet of Jehovah. "I only remain in the exercise of the office of a prophet" (Rawlinson). The rest might well hesitate, after me fierce persecution which they had undergone, to face the king and their bitter enemies, the Baal prophets. It must be remembered that Elijah had had no opportunity of communicating with them, and he may have been quite ignorant as to what number had remained steadfast and true. One thing he knew, that he alone was left to prophesy, and to confront the whole hierarchy of the false God; but Baal"s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. It is clear, not only from the silence of this verse and of ver. 25, respecting them, but still more from the fact that they escaped in the general slaughter (ver. 40), that the prophets of Astarte were not present, and the natural inference is that either Jezebel had forbidden their presence or that they shrank from the ordeal. The LXX inserts "and the prophets of the grove, four hundred," but the words are evidently added from ver. 19. The Baal prophets would doubtless have been only too glad to do the same, but they were under the immediate command of the king. It is not certain that they had any forebodings of evil, or dreaded reprisals on Elijah"s part, but they had had proof conclusive of his power and of their impo-fence. We must remember that all through the triennium prayers and sacrifices had, no doubt, been constantly offered with a view to procure rain. We learn from Menander Jos 8, 13:2 that even in Phoenicia supplication had been made for rain by Ethabaal.
Vers. 22-24.
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The Test of Fire.
Elijah had appealed to the people on their inconsistency in hesitating between services so widely different and so utterly irreconcilable as those of Jehovah and Baal. He got no response. "The people answered him not a word." Then he proposed the test of fire to determine which was worthy. The conclusiveness of such an appeal could not be challenged; so the people with one voice answered, "It is well spoken.
I THE TEST WAS UNEXCEPTIONABLE.
1. For Baal was the fire god.
(1) His name designates him as the lord or ruler. It comes from the verb (lb) to own or possess, to be master of. But the sun, from its splendour and central position, accounted the visible lord in the material heavens, was their Baal. Sanchoniathon says the Phoenicians thought the sun to be the only lord of heaven, calling him Beelsamen, which in their language is lord of heaven. In "Beelsamen" we at once recognize the Hebrew lb.
(2) Baal was the fire or body of the sun, rather than its light. So in 2Ki_23:5 we find Baal (lb) distinguished from ( the solar light. (See Parkhurst under Parkhurst points out that the Runic or Islandic BAAL signifies fire, the Saxon BAEL, and BAEL-FYR, a burning pile, a pyre, a bonfire. Probably our bonfire is simply a corruption of Bael-fyr.
(3) The image of this idol was a bull. This animal was by the ancients regarded as the emblem of fire. The similitude seems to have been in its red colour, in the curled hair upon its forehead giving the idea of flame, in the horns budding from its head suggesting the darting of rays of light from the sun. In Tobit (1:5) we read of "the heifer called Baal." We have the name of this god still preserved in our English bull.
2. The controversy was whether Baal was independent of Jehovah.
(1) His worshippers claimed this for him.
(2) Elijah maintained the opposite. And with cogent reason, for during three years and six months Jehovah made Baal punish his votaries.
(3) Now the prophet proposes the further test of a sudden miracle. If Baal be god, if he be independent of Jehovah, let him come down and consume the sacrifice offered to him. If he cannot, then why should he be worshipped? If Jehovah can send fire on his sacrifice, then is He manifestly Lord of Baal, and should be so acknowledged.
(4) That suitable acknowledgment of God which such a miracle demands, implies
(a) Recognition of His almighty providence and lordship over the material and moral universe.
(b) The engagement of all our powers in His worship and service.
II SO WAS THE MANNER OF THE TEST.
1. The prophets of Baal had precedence.
(1) Not because Baal was entitled to it, for that would be a concession of the argument, but because they were many. Elijah stood alone the prophet of the Lord, while the idolatrous prophets were 850 men.
(2) They were to provide the sacrifices. They were wealthy. Elijah was poor. They could not object to the test when the sacrifices were of their own selection.
2. The experiment was to be fair.
(1) Not only might the priests of Baal choose their bullock, cut it in pieces after their approved method, lay it on the wood of the altar; but they must "put no fire under." Else where would be the proof of the ability of Baal? Under some heathen altars holes were dug in which fire was concealed, which communicating with the alter set the wood on fire to make the simple people believe that the sacrifice was consumed by miraculous fire. This Elijah would not permit.
(2) Ordinarily the sacrifices offered to Baal were offered in fire; and sometimes human sacrifices were so offered. "They built the high places of Baal to burn their sons with fire, for burnt offerings". (Jer_19:5) The Phoenician Baal seems to have been identical with the Ammonite Molech. "They built the high places of Baal which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech". (Jer_32:35)
(3) Ashtaroth also were virtually the same as "Baalim," under which plural term are included diversified Baals, as Baal Peor, etc.; and so in ver. 25 the prophets of Baal are said to have ( "gods," in the plural
(4) These had their various images, in some of which the man and bull came into union. The Assyrian man bull so conspicuous in the Nineveh marbles, is probably one of these.
Let us bless God for our Christianity. It is pure light. Compared with it other systems are dark with ignorance, superstition, and error. It is supreme benevolence. Happy is its contrast to the characteristic cruelties of idolatry. J.A.M.
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 vv24, 30, 36, 39, 40, 41, 43 The God that answereth by fire, let him be…
1Ki_18:24
The God that answereth by fire, let him be God.
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The God that answereth by fire
Here are some lessons suited to all times, certainly not least to our time. The God that answereth by fire.
I. The religion of God must bring the proofs of its Divine origin. Elijah stands as the very type and emblem of the religion of God; it is always in the world as a daring intruder; a stern reformer. Such a disturber of the peace must carry his credentials with him. Look at the very nature of this holy religion. It comes with a demand so lofty, so searching, and yet so humiliating. It tells the man in all the pride of his intellect that he has no power to see the kingdom of God, until he is born again.
1. Christianity by her very triumphs gives the challenge of the world a greater force and urgency. There are two blessings which Christianity has brought to many lands and is surely bringing to all--liberty and light. The more perfectly men are brought into freedom the more naturally will they ask the ground of claims like these. Because light sets men thinking for themselves, is light therefore an evil? Do not let us talk as if it were in any degree possible. Thank God for light; it is the wise men who, when they find the young Child, shall lay at His feet the costly gifts of gold and myrrh and frankincense. It is the freest men who can render the most worthy because the most willing service. Christianity is lost when it takes to coercion.
2. Every age must have its own proof. The Church cannot inherit the evidences, she must create them. The prophet does not stand and tell the people of the wonders that God has wrought for their fathers in Egypt and the Red Sea. If the Gospel cannot do to-day what it did aforetime, it is a failure. What is it to tell me of Bethesdas ancient fame, if I come and expect no expectant crowd, and no sign of the angel, and no cripples healed, and none laughing in the gladness of new life? I conclude naturally enough that Bethesda is a failure. The only evidence of Christianity that can satisfy me is when it does as much for me as it has ever done for others. If the Church of God do live at all, :she lives by the breath of the Almighty. If that inspire her she can do as great wonders as ever.
II. The appointed proof. The religion of God has nothing but the fire to mark her off from the false religions of the world.
1. And of the two all the advantage is on the side of Baal. The royal patronage and the popular favour, the priests of Baal and the glittering attractions are with the false god. The priests of Baal had all the further conditions of success. Theirs is the passionate earnestness, the furious persistent prayer, the fierce self-denial, the agony of entreaty.
2. But now comes the time of the man of God. Then forth from the reddened sky there fell the fire of the Lord and consumed the burnt-sacrifice and the wood and the stones, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it they fell on their faces, and they said, The Lord, He is the God; the Lord, He is the God. This is ever the proof appointed by God, and this is always the proof accepted by men--the God that answereth by fire. (M. G. Pearse.)
Elijahs challenge
Moses challenged the necromancers of Egypt, Elijah challenged the priests of Baal, Christ challenges the world. At first the challenge was more strictly physical, now it is intensely spiritual. What religion produces the highest and finest type of character? That is the challenging question! Where, in Christian or in pagan lands, have we the finest men, the purest character, the most sensitive honour? Where are schools, hospitals, asylums, and charities of every kind most abundant? That Christian countries are disgraced by some of the foulest crimes possible in human life, may but show that their very foulness and atrocity never could have been so vividly seen and so cruelly felt but for the enlightenment and culture furnished by Christianity. In any other countries they would have been matters of course; in Christian lands their abomination is seen by the help of Christian light. To-day Christianity appeals not to a few sectarian prophets, or a few bewildered speculators, nor to a few scientists who are wild with boy-like joy because they have found a birds nest, but have never seen the bird that built it; Christianity makes its appeal to the great, broad heart of human nature, to the common sufferings of the race, to the indestructible sentiments of mankind--to the people first and the prophets next, and calls upon the people in all their multitudinousness to force their mumbling prophets to bring the mumble that chokes their throat to distinct and calculable articulation, and to compare the noise of charlatanism with the music of Divine teaching. In Elijahs day the people said, It is well spoken, and of Christ it is said, The common people heard Him gladly. Full opportunity has been given to men to show the worth of their idolatries and superstitions. In this controversy the prophets of Baal had the first chance. Elijah stood back that they might do their best. False religions cannot complain that they have not had field enough. There was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded (1Ki_18:29). It is precisely so with every false creed, every false science, every false prophet to-day. There is nothing to show! All effort ends in silence. Prodigious exertions finish in prodigious emptiness. Of every teacher, other than Christian, we ask: Where are the sinners whom you have released from the torment of remorse? Where are the mourners whose tears you have dried? Millions of men praise Christ. Sinners will stand up thick as armies, filling the valleys, thronging the hills, declaring that in Christ they have found the joy of pardon. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Altars and altar fires
I suppose that the altars built by Elijah and the prophets of Baal would be very much alike. To all outward seeming they were equally promising, and we should have been unable to surmise to which of them the fire would be sent. Anybody can build an altar; we need a God for the creation of a fire!
1. Any one can build an altar; it requires a God to provide the flame. Anybody can build a house; we need the Lord for the creation of a home. A house is an agglomeration of bricks and stones, with an assorted collection of manufactured goods; a home is the abiding-place of ardent affection, of fervent hope, of genial trust. There is many a homeless man who lives in a richly furnished house. There is many a fifteen-pound house in the crowded street which is an illuminated and beautiful home. The sumptuously furnished house may only be an exquisitely sculptured tomb; the scantily furnished house may be the very hearthstone of the eternal God. Now the Christian religion claims to be able to convert houses into homes, to supply the missing fire, and to bring an aspiring flame to the cold and chilling heap. Here, then, are two houses. In both of them there is no love, no joy, no peace, no rest. There is no flame of geniality and radiant hope. Let us bring the Christian religion into one of the houses, and do as you please with the other. In one house the tenants shall all kneel before King Jesus. They shall be one in common purpose, and they shall strive together with common mind and will. What will assuredly happen? With absolute certainty the house will become a home! That is a glorious commonplace in the history of the Christian faith. Where Christ has been enthroned, and every member of the family becomes a worshipper, there steals into the common life a warmth of affection which converts even trivial relationships into radiant kinships. God changes houses into homes; let Him be God!
2. Any one can proclaim a moral ideal; we need the Lord for the creation of moral enthusiasm. But the possession of a moral ideal does not necessarily transfigure the life. A man might draw up, for the guidance of his fellow-men, an exalted code, and yet he may be the most notorious scamp in the city. The erection of moral ideals is the building of an altar. Now we want the flame, the fire of a passionate, moral enthusiasm. Where shall we get the fire? We exalt our moral ideals in the minds of our children, but bow shall we get them to love the right, and to fervently aspire after it? The Christian religion claims to answer the question. Here are two lives. In both of them there is knowledge of the moral ideal. In both of them the character is immoral. Let us bring the Christian religion to the one, and you shall do as you please with the other. He will baptize with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. The issue of fellowship with the Christ is to be the inspiration, whose influence shall be felt like fire. Love becomes a factor in the life, and cold duty becomes a fervent delight. How will you deal with the other man? How will you bring to him the fire? I confess I know no answer. Apart from the Christ, there seems to be no way of bringing fire on to cold altars.
3. Any nation can make legal enactments against crime. We need the law to make men hate it. The only defence against crime is not a punitive law, but a passionate, spiritual recoil. If we would deliver men from sin, we must make them loathe it. Some way or other we must kindle a holy hatred in man, the fire of blazing indignation. There are many men who are kept from crime, who nevertheless do not dislike it. We must make men hate it. How shall we light the fire? Let us turn to the Christ. Let a man love the virtuous, and he will loathe the vicious.
4. Any municipality can coerce men into charity. We need the Lord for the creation of philanthropy. The Poor Law system may compel us into giving, but in the gift there may be nothing of the fervour of a passionate goodwill. How can we get cold charity converted into radiant philanthropy? Who will bring the fire to the frozen altar? There is an old man in the Christian Scriptures who speaks in this wise: He loved me and gave Himself for me; we love, because He first loved us; the love of Christ constraineth me. Out of that love for the Master there spring all the beautiful ministries which seek the welfare of our fellow-men. Love for the Lord just blossoms into philanthropy. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)
The fire of the Lord
The challenge of Carmel was a challenge of Gods. The elect symbol of the God of Israel was fire, and Baal was the heathen God of fire. The prophets of Baal contended that Baal was God, and Elijah, the solitary prophet of the God of Israel, declared that Jehovah was the one and only true God. Such a question cannot be settled by words. The claim to Deity must be established in deeds that only God can do. It is not a matter of argument but demonstration. The fire was Gods sign of acceptance. Perhaps it was by this sign the two first brothers knew that Abels offering was accepted and Cains rejected. When Abraham prepared a sacrifice by which the covenant was to be sealed, he watched until the evening, and then the fire of God passed through the divided portions. At the dedication of the Tabernacle there came fire from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat. When the Temple was consecrated we read, When Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices. The altar fire was the sign of the Divine Presence. No human hand kindled it. No material fuel replenished it, and yet it burned continually, a visible assurance of Jehovahs presence with His people. In Elijahs day the fire had gone out. The glory of Israel had departed. No man could rekindle it. Neither could any other fire take its place. The carriers of strange fire in the holy place were consumed on the spot. None but God could relight the altar fire. Elijah inaugurated a new order, and this is the reason of his appearance with Moses in the Mount of Transfiguration. By him God relit the sacred fire. Then! When was that? what had made possible that momentous moment? Is it possible to discover the conditions which bring the fire of the Lord? Nothing is lawless. The then is indicative of more than time. It marks the moment when the conditions of Divine demonstration were fulfilled.
1. The fire of the Lord came when the cause of Jehovah had reached its lowest point. Ahab had provoked the Lord God of Israel more than all that were before him. He was the kind of man still much applauded. He established great cities, gathered great wealth, and built a great palace.
2. The fire of the Lord came after the altar had been restored. The fire follows the altar. In itself the altar is nothing. It was built of unhewn stones, unchiselled and unshaped, but it was the place of sacrifice, the centre of fellowship, and the sign of the covenant. When the altar is neglected the fire goes out. Mans work is to repair the altar and provide the offering; God lights the fire.
3. The fire of the Lord came in response to faith and prayer. The faith of Elijah was sublimely heroic. What confidence he had! He could mock their frenzy because he was sure of his triumph. Faith never screams. In quietness and assurance it knows how to wait. How he laughed at difficulties! They might flood the altar and the sacrifice with their cold water till it seemed as if nothing could burn; he knew in whom he had believed. He had faith in God. (S. Chadwick.)
The fire of the Lord
The great need of the Church in the present day is the fire of the Lord, the power of the Holy Ghost. We shall do more good in an hour of Pentecostal baptism than in ten years of Church reform, theological strife, doctrinal discussion. God has promised the fire: I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh. Ye shall receive power. Promises never cancelled; Spirit given and never recalled. We need the fire, for the same reason as Elijah, combating error and sin. If we have physical or mental work to do we require physical or mental strength and vigour; spiritual work requires spiritual power.
I. We must erect our altar and make the sacrifice before we can have the fire. The sacrifice must be
(1) complete,
(2) perpetual. All on the altar; all kept there.
II. The sacrifice will be accepted; God will answer by fire. Consecration is giving ourselves to God to be sanctified, cleansed, and filled with the Spirit. The altar sanctifies the gift.
III. The effects of fire are these.
1. It refines. The Holy Spirit will remove unholiness (Eze_36:25-27).
2. It illuminates. Light is the source of
(1) joy and safety. The Holy Ghost, shining in the heart, scatters darkness and gives security. The light of reason is insufficient; it is like the light of the moon, fair, beautiful, but deceptive, unreliable.
(2) Activity. When the sun shines upon us we wake to energy and usefulness; baptized with the Holy Ghost we are zealous of good works.
3. It warms. Light and heat do not necessarily go together, but fire and heat do. If the sun gave light but no heat, the world would be a vast, icy, lifeless mass, nothing but brilliantly-illuminated death. Warmth is necessary to vitality: spiritual life depends upon spiritual heat, which dispels spiritual coldness.
4. It assimilates, transforms, spreads, Fire means power. Fire spreads: when filled with the Spirit our influence will spread, for fire cannot be confined in a narrow little circle when surrounded with inflammable material. Shall we erect our altar to receive the fire? (Charles Cross.)
Fire from heaven
The ordeal proposed was peculiarly appropriate. Jehovah had often in old times answered by fire. Fire from heaven fell upon the cities of the plain. To Moses too God appeared as a fire that burned, but did not consume. And if Baal was what his prophets declared him to be, what more reasonable than that he, too, should answer by fire? For he was supposed to be the god of Nature; the fruitfulness of the land was accredited to his bounty, and the thunder and lightning were frequently pointed to as evidences of his power. It was a sad but most suggestive sight. Their numbers were large--four hundred and fifty as against the solitary prophet of Jehovah. Truth does not always rest with majorities. Yea, the real majority is where God is. Then their social influence was great. They held high positions in the Court and throughout the kingdom. Then those men were in earnest. It is the inevitable result in the case of all who come by some other way pleading some other name. Men say, Earnestness is everything; it matters not what views you hold, so long as you are in earnest. Of what avail, however, is the earnestness of the drowning man who clutches at what he believes to be a solid spar, but is only drifting seaweed? Natural religion, evolved out of the spirit and temper of the age, will always command a large following of thoughtful people, apparently sincere and earnest, and, thanks to the Christian environment of these days, far superior to the worshippers of Baal in morality and uprightness; but in time of need, when death is near, or the heart is breaking beneath some crushing sorrow, the result will be the same, No voice, nor any to answer. It is not so, however, with those who seek the living God. The testimony of every true believer is this: It is good for me to draw near to God. But we must draw near in the appointed way. See how careful Elijah was in preparing his sacrifice. He began by repairing the altar that was broken down, building it up with twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. The Established Churchman and the Free Churchman must alike build the altar of twelve stones if they really desire fire from heaven. There must be no despising any of whatever church or society who have the Spirit of Christ. The sacrifice was so saturated with water that only fire from heaven could ignite it. Amanda Smith said, some years ago, When God Almighty does a miracle, He likes to do it handsome. Elijah evidently felt the same. What a lesson, too, for the Church of the constant need of cleansing through the word, and of that separation from an ungodly generation which obedience to Gods Word invariably causes. If the water and the trench are lacking in our sacrifice, what wonder if there is no fire from heaven? And when Elijahs faith thus challenged the ear of heaven, there came at once the answer of the Living God. The fire of the Lord fell. It was a supernatural flame. It came direct from heaven. And so comes the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, into our hearts with a supernatural illumination and Divine enkindling. It came to consume the sacrifice; and to-day the fire of God will consume all that is carnal and evil within us, and cleanse and inspire all that is good and true. It wrought conviction of a kind in the minds of the people. (F. S. Webster, M. A.)
The God that answers by fire
The utterance of these words marked a great occasion. No criticism of details can annul the essential greatness of the hour when men seek, in the measure of their light, to know and acknowledge God. It is a fateful hour for the seekers themselves, and has, besides, important bearings upon the spiritual progress of the race. The form of the quest in one generation may appear crude to the critics of a later period, but they are poor readers of history who lay very much stress on form. The true student of life will always hasten to discover the soul that lives beneath the form, and to learn the permanent and essential significance of the event. A crude and rudimentary form may enshrine a sublime spirit, while a developed form may possibly enclose no spirit to speak of. It is easy to look down from the embellished eminence of modern knowledge upon the setting up of a fire test on Mount Carmel, for the discernment of the true God. We have advanced beyond the form of this appeal, and have been taught a more excellent way. But a careful study of the inward spirit and meaning of this ancient test may possibly take some of the conceit out of us, and lead us to pray for a double portion of the spirit of the old prophet, in order that we may more worthily animate our superior forms with prophetic power. Beneath the contests with the priests of Baal lay the perennial problem of the human heart. How can God be known? By what means can His presence be recognised in the world? In this great scroll of creation, in which a steady procession of laws and forces are registering their achievements, how shall we recognise the special and personal entry of the Divine Hand? the direct and holy signature of God? The test on Mount Carmel was not arbitrary. The appeal to fire went to the very centre and mystery of material forces. It was the subtlest point to which the material test could be carried This element of fire was a profound mystery which seemed to pass inwards and impinge upon the very soul of existence. The test recognised that God held His court in the inner recesses of being and in the temple of uncomprehended mystery. The form was material, though very subtly so, but the underlying conception was spiritual. In the New Testament the form itself is spiritualised, and the true meaning of the ideal of Carmel is conveyed in the words, He shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and in fire.
I. The challenge of the text reminds us of the subtleness of Gods self-manifestation. The manifestation of the true God must be sought, not in gross, but in the subtlest forms. He is the God that answers by fire. Sift the world of perception and knowledge down to its most ethereal elements, pass through the crude outer crust of things into the inward heart of life, penetrate beneath the surface of existence until you reach its centre of fire, and you will stand where God reveals Himself to the spirits that worship Him. The material perceptions which bulk and obtrude upon our life are but the outskirts of His ways. The pure manifestation of His presence is in the ethereal and inward energy of fire. The spirit that informed this grand ordeal on Carmel is as evident as it was just. It is an infirmity of the flesh to desire the manifestation of God in crude and obtrusive forms. The spirit and disposition of unbelieving scepticism is specially prone to this egregious infirmity. With the confidence born of fatuous miscomprehension, the sceptic issues the challenge--If there is a God, why does He not show Himself? This infirmity finds its unwisest expression in the seats of scepticism, but Christian people also need to be on their guard against it. The pure idea of the self-revealing God is attained only by the inward purification of the soul from the bias of sense. I do not seek to interdict the prayer of faith for material things, or for a moment question the personal intervention of the redeeming God in the material domain. I hold, on the contrary, that such unmistakable intervention is not only recorded in the pages of the sacred Word, but also in the experience of Gods saints in all generations. But such intervention is not primary, but secondary; the corollary of the kingdom of love. Let us approach God worthily. He is too great to be for ever crudely advertising His presence on the common hoardings of sense.
II. We are led by an obvious step to recognise the naturalness of Gods self-manifestation. His kingdom is not the contradiction of nature, but the glorification of it. His secret glories pour themselves through the channels of being, and diffuse themselves through all the avenues of natural law. In the main He fulfils His glory through the common orbits and courses of created things, charging every shining point of creation with gleams of His spiritual glory. The stars fight for Him without leaving, or halting in, their courses. The heavens declare His glory, and the firmament showeth His handiwork. His lightnings fly very swiftly. His way is in the sea, and His path in the deep waters. He crams the earth with His invisible fires, and kindles in every bush the flame of His presence. In creation and in the history of man He works out His holy purpose by ordered and consistent laws, by gloriously natural processes. Through the ages one increasing purpose runs. The natural and the spiritual coalesced on Mount Carmel into wedded unity, so that you cannot say where the one ends and the other begins. Miracles are simply natural law written in capital letters. They serve to introduce new epochs, just as capitals are used to announce a new chapter. Let us look reverently for God in the beaten paths of universal law and life, for it is there He will reveal Himself. He will not go back upon the glorious order which He Himself has created and ordained. Learn the essence of the flame that leaps along the lightnings track and the essence of the victorious power which is impelling the human race onward and upward; for they am both one. They are the potency of the God that answers by fire.
III. Our thought naturally expands further into the unlimited freedom of Gods self-manifestation. Who will clip the wings of flame, or make curbs for the secret energies of fire? Who will pluck the ambushed lightnings out of their secret lairs, imprison them one and all behind impassable barriers, and say to the incarcerated legions, Thus far shall ye go, and no farther? A planet is fixed in its appointed orbit, and the wandering star is drawn back from its wanderings by invisible chains; but fire has the freedom of the universe, and pours its mysterious force from the centre to the circumference of all created existence. The God that answers by fire is a God whose self-manifesting energy is unlimited and free. Human history illustrates and demonstrates the absolute freedom of Gods revelation of Himself to men. In history, as Emerson has well shown, every man is introduced into a universal atmosphere. Hero we touch and perceive, and appropriate that which is common to all humankind. Every man is elected a freeman in the imperial city of history. It knows no class distinctions, no party privileges. What, then, do we find when we come to search in history for the revelation of God to men? What limitations do we discover in the descent of the Divine fire into the lives of men? Has God limited His goings to artificial grooves, and to barriered avenues? Nay, His fires have been kindled on every headland. Has Spirit has whispered its naming secret of truth and love and hope to every nation under the sun. We can see His goings in the history of all nations, and trace the progress of His redeeming work in all generations. He has kindled His holy fires in the hearts of men as far as He has sent His sunlight to bless the face of the earth. Once, indeed, an attempt was made, through lack of knowledge, to make a single nation the one channel of Divine grace, but the barriers were thrown down with a crash which still vibrates in the words, Is God the God of the Jews only? Nay, but of the Gentiles also. We refer with sorrow, not untinged with indignation, to those who in the present day would audaciously circumscribe the communication of the grace of God, and limit the freedom of the heavenly fire. (J. Thomas, M. A.)
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 v41 .- 1Ki_18:41-46
THE RAIN
.- 1Ki_18:41-46
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"Are there any of the vanities of the nations that can cause rain?"
- Jer_14:22
BUT the terrible excitement of the day was not vet over, nor was the victory completely won. The fire had flashed from heaven, but the long desired rain on which depended the salvation of land and people still showed no signs of falling. And Elijah was pledged to this result. Not until the drought ended could he reach the culmination of his victory over the sun-god of Jezebels worship.
But his faith did not fail him. "Get thee up," he said to Ahab, "eat and drink, for there is a sound of the feet of the rain-storm." Doubtless through all that day of feverish anxiety, neither king nor people, nor prophet had eaten. As for the Prophet, but little sufficed him at any time, and the slaughter of the defeated priests would not prevent either king or people from breaking their long fast. Doubtless the kings tent was pitched on one of the slopes over the plain. But Elijah did not join him. He heard, indeed, with prophetic ear the rush of the coming rain, but he had still to wrestle in prayer with Jehovah for the fulfillment of His promise. So he ascended towards the summit of the promontory where the purple peak of Carmel-still called Jebel Mar Elias ("the hill of Lord Elijah")-overlooks the sea, and there he crouched low on the ground in intense prayer, putting his face between his knees. After his first intensity of supplication had spent itself, he said to his boy attendant, traditionally believed to have been the son of the widow of Zarephath whom he had plucked from death:-"Go up now, look towards the sea."
The youth went up, and gazed out long and intently, for he well knew that if rain came it would sweep inland from the waters of the Mediterranean, and to an experienced eye the signals of coming storm are patent long before they are noticed by others. But all was as it had been for so many weary and dreadful months. The sea a sheet of unruffled gold glared under the setting sun, which still sank through an unclouded sky. Can we not imagine the accent of misgiving and disappointment with which he brought back the one word:-"Nothing."
Once more the Prophet bowed his face between his knees in prayer, and sent the youth; and again, and yet again, seven times. And each time had come to him the chilling answer, "Nothing." But the seventh time he called out from the mountain summit his joyous cry: "Behold, there ariseth a cloud out of the sea, as small as a mans hand."
And now, indeed, Elijah knew that his triumph was completed. He bade his servant fly with winged speed to Ahab, and tell him to make ready his chariot at once, lest the burst of the coming rain should flood the river and the road, and prevent him from getting over the rough ground which lay between him and his palace at Jezreel.
Then the blessed storm burst on the parched soil with a sense of infinite refreshfulness which only an Eastern in a thirsty land can fully comprehend. And Ahab mounted his chariot. He had not driven far before the heaven, which had for so long been like brass over an iron globe, was one black mass of clouds driven by the wind, and the drenching rain poured down in sheets. And through the storm the chariot swept, and Elijah girded up his loins, and, filled with a Divine impulse of exultation, ran before it, keeping pace with the kings steeds for all those fifteen miles, even after the overwhelming strain of all he had gone through, apparently without food, that day. And as through the rifts of rain the king saw his wild dark figure outrunning his swift steeds, and seeming "to dilate and conspire" with the rushing storm, can we wonder that the tears of remorse and gratitude streamed down his face?
The chariot reached Jezreel and at the city gate. Elijah stopped. Like his antitype, the great forerunner, Elijah was a voice in the wilderness; like his Lord that was to be, he loved not cities. The instinct of the Bedawin kept him far from the abodes of men, and his home was never among them. He needed no roof to shelter him, nor change of raiment. The hollows of Mount Gilboa were his sufficient resting place, and he could find a sleeping place in the caves near its abundant Eastern spring. Nor was he secure of safety. He knew in spite of his superhuman victory, that a dark hour awaited Ahab when he would have to tell Jezebel that the people had repudiated her idol, and that Elijah had slain her four hundred and fifty priests. He knew "that axe-like edge unturnable" which always smote and feared not. Ahab was but as plastic clay in the strong hands of his queen, and for her there existed neither mystery nor miracle except in the worship of the insulted Baal. Was not Baal, she said, the real sender of the rain, on whose priests this fanatic from rude Gilead had wrought his dreadful sacrifice? Oh that she could have been for one hour on Carmel in the place of her vacillating and easily daunted husband! For was she not convinced, and did not the pagan historian afterwards relate, that the ending of the drought was due to the prayers and sacrifices, not of Elijah, but of her own father who was Baals priest and king?
Yet, for all her spirit of defiance, we can hardly doubt that the feelings of Jezebel towards Elijah had much of dread mingled with her hatred. She must have felt towards him much as Mary Queen of Scots felt towards John Knox-of whom she said that she feared his prayers more than an army of one hundred thousand men.
"May we really venture," asks Canon Cheyne, "to look out for answer to prayer? Did not Elijah live in the heroic ages of faith? No; God still works miracles. Take an instance from the early history of Christian Europe. You know the terror excited by the Huns, who in the sixth century after Christ penetrated into the very heart of Christian France. Already they had occupied the suburbs of Orleans, and the people who were incapable of bearing arms lay prostrate in prayer. The governor sent a messenger to observe from the ramparts. Twice he looked in vain, but the third time he reported a small cloud on the horizon."
"It is the aid of God," cried the Bishop of Orleans. It was the dust raised by the advancing squadrons of Christian troops.
A much nearer parallel, and that a very remarkable one, may be quoted. It records-and the fact itself, explain it how men will, seems to be unquestionable-how a storm of rain came to answer the prayer of a good leader of the Evangelical Revival-Grimshaw, rector of Haworth. Distressed at the horrible immoralities introduced among his parishoners by some local races, and wholly failing to get them stopped, he went to the racecourse, and, flinging himself on his knees in an agony of supplication, entreated God to interpose and save his people from their moral danger. He had scarcely ceased his prayer when down rushed a storm of rain so violent as to turn the racecourse into a swamp, and render the projected races a matter of impossibility.
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 v41 1Ki_18:41. Sound of abundance of rain—The cause of the…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
1Ki_18:41. Sound of abundance of rain—The cause of the curse of drought being now removed, the blessing came quick.
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1Ki_18:42. Cast himself down upon the earth—Betook himself to prayer. This kept him from becoming elate, and indicated his deep concern for the mercy of God to come upon the stricken land.
1Ki_18:46. Hand of the Lord—Supernatural energy, and a Divine ecstacy. Entrance of Jezreel—Where Ahab had a summer palace (1Ki_21:1).—W. H. J.
HOMILETICS OF 1Ki_18:41-46
SUGGESTIVE PHASES OF THE PRAYING SPIRIT
I. It is quick to perceive the indications of coming blessing (1Ki_18:41). “There is a sound of abundance of rain.” To the keen, sensitive ears of the prophet, the splash of the long-wished for rain was already falling on the parched soil, and roaring along the hitherto empty torrent beds. He heard in reality, or by anticipation, the gentle wind sighing through the forest of Carmel, and waving the tree tops which have been poetically spoken of as so many bell summoning this lone worshipper to prayer: and in the East the wind is the precursor of the approaching shower. A certain Polish Jew, whose great musical genius raised him to eminence and wealth, had become so familiar with the different kinds of wood of which he made his flutes and reeds when in the capacity of a poor shepherd, that he knew every tree of the forest by the peculiarity of its sound. So, long practice in prayer sharpens every sensibility of the soul, and familiarizes it with the faintest indications, unheard by other ears, of the nearness and character of advancing benedictions.
II. It seeks retirement (1Ki_18:42). “Elijah went up to the top of Carmel.” Leaving Ahab to take his meal at the place where the sacrifice had been consumed, the prophet ascended not quite to the highest elevation, as appears from his words to his servant (1Ki_18:43), but to a point little below the highest, whence the sea was not visible. He needed to retire only a short distance to the West, and there, on the slope just below the summit, sequestered by bushes and trees, such as are still to be found there, he could pour out his heart to God in secret. Devotion needs times of quietness and solitude in order to store up spiritual strength for the bustle and conflict of life. How often is it said of the great prophet of mankind that “he went up into a mountain apart to pray!” And all who would catch his spirit and tone, in however humble a degree, must seek it in private communion (Mat_6:6).
III. It has ever some special subject for personal supplication. Elijah had prayed before that it might not rain, and a prolonged period of drought and famine was the answer. But now the great burden of his prayer was for the rain that had been so long withheld (Jas_5:17-18).
1. This supplication was intensely earnest. “He cast himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees” (1Ki_18:42), by this unusual attitude indicating the extraordinary intensity of his prayer. The highest results of prayer can be attained only by fervent, agonising efforts. The greatness of the blessing sought stimulates the urgency of the petitioner.
2. This supplication was persevering (1Ki_18:43). “Go again seven times.” There was spiritual discipline here. Delaying is not denying. The blessing is withheld, partly to certify the fact that it comes from God, to show the necessity of hourly dependence, and to teach that, whatever apparent difficulties there may be in the way, “men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” Six times the messenger returned with the disappointing intelligence, “There is nothing”; but the Tishbite’s faith was undaunted; he had unswerving confidence in the prayer hearing God. Though he had the definite promise of God that rain should be sent (1Ki_18:1), and had caught with prophetic instinct the precursive sign of its coming (1Ki_18:41), yet he continued pleading with unabated earnestness. Persevering prayer wins the victory.
IV. It is privileged to witness substantial answers to prayer (1Ki_18:44-45). “A speck at length darkens the distant heavens.
Comes a vapour from the margin, blackening over heath and holt,
Cramming all the blast before it, in its breast a thunderbolt.
It is the first that has been seen for three years and a half. It is abundantly visible in a sky which too clear, like a too beautiful cheek, tells there is surely something wrong. It rises higher and higher—it becomes broader and broader—it moves with amazing celerity. The glow of the sunset is lost in gloom. Long raven wings are extended all over the hill. The banks of the Kishon put on a ghastlier hue. It breaks; and there, amid a hoarse thanksgiving murmur from the forest around, rains down the grateful deluge—token that the prayers of the bent prophet have been graciously heard, and that his victory over Baal is now, in fire and water, visibly complete.” Few of God’s praying people but can refer to some period in their history when their prayers were answered with overwhelming copiousness.
V. It is the best preparation for active and important service (1Ki_18:46). Divinely directed and divinely upheld, Elijah, instead of resting after the excitement and fatigues of the day, girded up his loins, and ran in advance of the king’s chariot, which was no doubt driven at speed, the entire distance of at least sixteen miles to the entrance of Jezreel. He thus showed himself ready to countenance and uphold the irresolute monarch, if he would turn from his evil courses, and proceed to carry out the religious reformation which the events of the day had inaugurated (Speaker’s Comm.). The stern and fiery-spirited prophet was, after all, a faithful and obedient subject; though severe in matters of religion, he was constitutional and loyal in matters of state. His aim was, not to injure king or people, but to defend and restore the worship of the God of Israel. Praying and working must never be disjoined. The best work is done by him who prays the best.
LESSONS:—
1. Some characters would have no greatness at all if it were not for their spirit of prayer.
2. Prayer should not be less, but more, earnest because of the evident approach of the answer.
3. Prayer is absolutely essential for efficiency in all Christian work.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1Ki_18:41-46. The rain. In this incident Elijah reaches the great crisis of his life. It was to him a time of suspense and anxiety. He would wonder whether God would now hear him by sending rain, as He had recently done by sending fire. If God should answer him this time, then his great work would be accomplished, and he should experience the joy of success. It was for this hour he had been living during the last few years. This was to be the crowning point of his life—that point in which the past and the future meet—when his soul would be filled with anxiety and concern as to the issue. Such were the feelings with which Elijah for the second time ascended Carmel to seek the manifestation of God’s presence and power. Notice—
I. The object of his faith. To procure rain for the parched land Let us learn from his example to keep a clearly defined object before our faith. With regard to God—His fatherhood, His mercy and love, His nearness to us and readiness to help: with regard to our life—the conquering of sinful temper or passion, the increase of holiness and devotedness to God: with regard to our work—in the family, in the Sunday school class, in the pulpit.
II. The means by which he sought this object. The attitude of prayer. He might have been tempted to have left God to fulfil His own promise, but he did not. His faith was operative, and led him to pray earnestly. True faith will always influence us to labour and pray for its object. III The encouragement he received. “A sound of abundance of rain.” This was an indication of God’s nearness to him, and a token that his prayer would be answered. This sound, in all likelihood, was heard only by himself. And so is it ever with the man who has strong faith in God, and who lives in close union and intimate fellowship with Him. He has visions of God unseen by others. It is by such tokens that he is sustained and stimulated in the work God has given him to do.
IV. The discouragement he met with. “There is nothing.” He hoped for intelligence of the clouds rising and bearing in their bosoms the plentiful showers; but there was no sign of them. The discouragement came to Elijah from the servant and the circumstances of the case; not from God—from Him he received encouragement and stimulus. Like the prophet, we receive discouragement every day from men and from circumstances. From men and things we receive constant disappointment; but from God we receive no disappointment—He never fails.
V. The perseverance he manifested. “Go again seven times.” Many a one would have grown weary on being told by the servant two or three times, “There is nothing.” But Elijah was not to be turned aside from his object by having to wait. He continues to watch and pray. While doing so he was the object of conflicting influences, of a discouraging and encouraging character; but by the assistance of the latter he was enabled to overcome the former, and to persevere. Like him we are exposed to the two classes of influences, but we are encouraged to persevere.
VI. The success realized. “There was a great rain.” Though he had to wait, yet God heard him. Who can imagine the feeling of joy that would rush into the prophet’s heart as he received the answer to his prayer? His character as a true prophet would be established, and God would be honoured by the steadfastness and perseverance of His servant.—The Study and Pulpit.
1Ki_18:41-42. 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 that 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, and make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us (Psa_51:3; 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!—Krummacher.
1Ki_18:41. The sensitiveness of faith.
1. Is on the alert for answers to prayer.
2. Is conscious of the nearness of great blessings.
3. Prepares the soul for the reception and use of heavenly visitations.
4. Gives additional urgency to prayer.
—No ears but Elijah’s could as yet perceive a sound of rain: the clouds were not yet gathered, the vapours were not yet risen, yet Elijah hears that which shall be. Those that are of God’s counsel can discern either favours or judgments afar off. The slack apprehensions of carnal hearts make them hard to believe that as future which the quick and refined senses of the faithful perceive as present.—Bp. Hall.
—Glad and grateful must that moment have been to the many thousands of Israel, when the gasping earth that had for three long years suffered in dumb agony, drank in the refreshing flood of God; when the true church, who had beheld in that sky of brass and these furrows of iron the visible tokens of the Divine curse, now witnessed the heavens unfolding their black, inky scroll, with the joyful tidings that the curse was removed! Can we participate in this joy in a loftier spiritual sense? Do we see the curse of sin taken away; God propitiated; and from the rain with which He is filling the pools, are we drawing all needful supplies for our parched souls? If we are drooping and desponding; if our cry is, “My flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is”; we again echo Elijah’s words, “Get thee up, for there is the sound of abundance of rain.” Our privileges are many. The spirit of God is ever and anon moving “on the tops of the mulberry trees.” The small clouds have been rising, and copious showers have fallen. Go, get thee, like Elijah, get thee to the oratory, pray that the cloud may spread, that it may stretch across the heavens!—Macduff.
1Ki_18:42-43. Elijah praying. We propose to consider the conduct of Elijah as suggestive of important lessons to the people of God in reference to a subject which claims their utmost solicitude, namely, the descent of spiritual blessing, the coming of a gracious rain upon the church and the world. Mark—I. The circumstances by which Elijah’s prayer is distinguished.
1. The place to which he resorted. He “went up to the top of Carmel.” It was a place of privacy, retirement, seclusion. Hence we read of those who did “hide themselves in the top of Carmel” (Amo_9:3). It is by secret prayer manifestations of power and blessing are secured, and revivals ushered in. “Come! my people! enter into thy chambers, and shut thy door about thee!” “Enter into thy closet,” &c. (Mat_6:6).
2. The attitude he assumed. “He cast himself down upon the earth,” &c. Indicative of reverence, humility, fervour. Our prayers should be thus distinguished. Think of the majesty of the Being we address; the disparity existing between ourselves and Him; the infinite importance of the blessings sought (Isa_6:3; Gen_19:27; Exo_3:5).
3. The faith which he exercised. That for which Elijah prayed, God had promised (1Ki_18:1). The promise of God is faith’s warrant. Prayer is the condition, the promise, the encouragement (Eze_30:3-7). Elijah believed God; hence he “said to his servant, Go up now, and look toward the sea,” whence clouds and vapours usually arise. Oh! how unlike Elijah have we frequently been! How does his conduct proclaim, “Have faith in God.”
4. The perseverance he manifested. Six times he sent his servant up the hill, and he sees nothing, brings no good news to his master; yet Elijah continues praying. Like his father Jacob, his conduct says, “I will not let thee go unless Thou bless me.” (See 1Ki_17:21; Psa_80:5-7; Psa_90:13-16.) Delays are not denials. “Though the vision tarry, wait for it.” Send your prayers up the hill of Zion, not seven times, but seventy times seven. Though the cloud cannot be seen, the promise can.
“Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees,
And looks to that alone.”
II. The success with which Elijah’s prayer was crowned.
1. And it came to pass at the seventh time (44, 45). The cloud was small at first; but it was the precursor of “a great rain.”
2. Every succeeding age has supplied examples equally remarkable. The disciples in the “upper room”; Cornelius at Cæsarea; Paul and Silas at Philippi; Peter in prison, &c.
3. Other instances besides those which the inspired record supplies—e.g., the Reformation of the sixteenth century; the Wesleys at Oxford; the Revival in America and Ireland in 1857; personal history. You prayed till you could praise—the blessing came, &c. III. The encouragement which Elijah’s servant, and that of past ages, supplies to the church of the present day. Seen in the unchangeable character of God. “I am the Lord, I change not.” What He was to Elijah on Mount Carmel, He is to us.
2. The unalterable efficacy of prayer. It is still the way of approach, the medium of success, the hand which moves the arm which moves the world.
3. The immutability of God’s promises. The great rain which is to precede the world’s harvest is the subject of explicit promise (see Isa_44:3; Joe_2:29; Psa_72:6-8; Num_14:21).—The Lay Preacher.
1Ki_18:42. The worldly and the religions spirit—a contrast.
1. The worldly spirit finds relief in festivity; the religious spirit in prayer.
2. The worldly spirit is but temporarily affected by the most imposing spectacles of divine power; the religious spirit bows in reverence and humility before God.
3. The worldly spirit is more intent in looking for temporal results; the religious spirit for spiritual reformation.
1Ki_18:43-44. All that while is the prophet in his prayers, neither is any whit undaunted with that delay. Hope holds up the head of our holy desires, and perseverance crowns it. If we receive not an answer to our suits at the sixth motion, we may not be out of countenance, but must try the seventh. At last a little cloud arises out of the sea—a handbreadth. So many, so fervent prayers cannot but pull water out of heaven as well as fire: those sighs reflect upon the earth, and from the earth reflect upon heaven, from heaven rebound upon the sea, and raise vapours up thence to heaven again. If we find that our prayers are heard for the substance, we may not cavil at the quantity. From how small beginnings have great matters arisen! It is no otherwise in all the gracious proceedings of God with the soul. Scarce sensible are these first works of His spirit in the heart which grow up at last to the wonder of men and applause of angels.—Bp. Hall.
1Ki_18:43. “There is nothing.” A common verdict.
1. Of the world concerning the church. 2. Of the church concerning the world.
3. Of the disappointed worshipper concerning idolatry.
4. Of the baffled inquirer concerning infidelity.
5. Of the surfeited votary concerning pleasure.
—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 re double 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. A man must not weary of prayer, even though it appears to him useless (Jer_18:1; Col_4:2; Eph_6:1).—Menken.
—“Go again seven times.” Here was an act of faith on Elijah’s part, and on that of his servant, and also a prophecy. The cloud, which promised the long expected rain, appeared at the seventh time. The walls of Jericho fell down after they had been compassed seven times, on the seventh day (Jos_6:15-20). Naaman was cleansed after he had washed seven times (2Ki_5:14). There are seventy-seven generations from Adam to Christ.—Wordsworth.
1Ki_18:44-45. 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. Let the man rejoice who sees even so much as a little cloud of divine mercy and peace arising upon the horizon of his life! The time approaches when this cloud will cover his whole heaven. When the hour strikes, help comes in with mighty power; and, to put thy mistrust to shame, it must come unexpectedly.—Lange.
1Ki_18:44. “There ariseth a little cloud like a man’s hand.” The gradual development of the greatest good.
1. In the world of nature.
2. In the world of mind.
3. In the spiritual sphere.
4. In the aggregate of national life.
5. In the conversion of the world to Christianity.
1Ki_18:46. Divine strength.
1. Increases the capacity for physical endurance.
2. Makes us willing to occupy the humblest position to gain over the morally weak.
3. Prepares us for future obedience and service.
—The picture of the fleet runner is suggestive to the Christian of many profitable thoughts, and chiefly of this, that loyalty to God is simply “running in the way of His commandments.” And with this let nothing interfere. Let us run in the right spirit, stripped of every encumbrance, with concentration of purpose, in humble reliance on God. Elijah-like, in the way, His strength and support shall never be wanting; for, “the hand of the Lord” shall be on us; and then, in the end, we shall have, what at least at Jezreel Elijah had not, the chaplet of glory to crown our brow. There is an old eastern tale of the swift Persian Shatirs. To one his sovereign had promised the hand of a princess if he accomplished in running a certain feat. Girt as tightly as possible, when to stoop was death, he ran for miles like a gazelle in front of the royal train. Alarmed at his success, and fearing the promise would have to be kept, the monarch dropped his whip; but, scarce pausing in his progress, the adroit, skilful runner picked it up with his foot. Next the monarch dropped his ring, and finding that that he could not recover with his foot, the runner exclaimed, “O King, you have broken your word, but I am true to the last”—stooped to the ground, picked up the ring with his finger, gave a deep groan of pain, fell down, and expired. But with God and the runner in the Christian race there is no deceit. He who has said, “So run that ye may obtain,” will confer the mark of the high calling of God on the humblest who reaches the goal at the last.—Howat.
—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.
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.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v25 1 Kings
1 Kings
THE TRIAL BY FIRE
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1Ki 18:25 - 1Ki 18:39.
The place, the purpose, and the actors in this scene, make it among the grandest in history. A nation, with its king, has come together, at the bidding of one man, to settle no less a question than whom they shall worship. There, on the slope of Carmel, with the brassy heaven gleaming hard and dry above them, and the yellow, burnt-up plain of Jezreel at their feet, the expectant people stand. The assembly was a singular proof of Elijah’s ascendency; for Ahab’s bluster had sunk, cowed in his presence, and he had meekly done the prophet’s bidding in summoning ‘all Israel’ and the eight hundred and fifty Baal and Asherah prophets, for an unexplained purpose. The false priests would come unwillingly; but they came.
Then Elijah takes the command, and, though utterly alone, towers above the crowd in the courage of his undaunted confidence in his message. His words have the ring of authority as he rebukes indecision, and calls for a clear adhesion to Baal or Jehovah. If the people had answered, the trial by fire would have been needless. But their silence shows that they waver, and therefore he makes his proposal to them.
Note that the priests are not consulted, nor is Ahab. The former would have had some excuse for shirking the sharp issue; but the people’s assent forced them to accept the ordeal,-reluctantly enough, no doubt.
I. The vain cries to a deaf God. It is strange that one of the parties to the test has power to determine its conditions, especially as Elijah’s prophetic authority was one of the things in dispute; but it is a sign of the magnetic power which one bold man with absolute confidence in his own convictions exercises over men. The Baal prophets are given every advantage in priority of action. Error is best unmasked by being allowed free opportunity to do its best; for the more favourable the circumstances of trial, the more signal the defeat. God’s servants must never be suspected of unfair tricks in their controversy with error. They can afford to let it try first. Notice the substitution of ‘your god,’ in the Revised Version, for ‘your gods’ in the Authorised Version. That is obviously right; for the only question was about one god,-namely, Baal.
So, in the early morning, with all the people gazing at them, the Baal priests or prophets begin their attempt. It was easy to prepare the sacrifice, and lay it on the altar,-though, no doubt, it was done sullenly, with foreboding of the coming exposure. The whole account of the wild invocations of the priests may suggest some of the characteristics of idolatry, and touch our hearts with pity, as well as with the sense of its absurdity, which animated Elijah’s mockery.
Note, then, the vivid picture, in 1Ki 18:27, of the long hours of vain crying. On the one hand, we hear the wild chorus echoing among the rocks; on the other, we feel the dead silence in the heavens.
The monotonous and almost mechanical repetition of the invocation, prolonged till the syllables have no meaning to the yelling crowd, is characteristic of the frenzied excitement so common in idolatry. To call such howlings prayer, degrades the name. They are the very opposite of that sacred communion of a believing soul with the God whom it knows, trusts, and beseeches with submission. Neither knowledge nor trust is in these shrieks, which seek to propitiate the stern god by repeating his name as a kind of charm. Heathenism has no true prayer. Wild cries and passionate desires, flung upwards to an unloved god, are not prayer; and that solace and anchor of the troubled soul is wanting in all the dreary lands given up to idolatry.
The melancholy persistence of the unanswered cries may stand as a symbol of the tragic obstinacy with which their devotees cling to their vain gods,-a rebuke to us with a more enlightened faith. The silence, which was the only answer, is put in strong contrast with the continuous roar of the four hundred and fifty,-so long and loud the hoarse cries here, so unmoved the stillness in the careless heaven. That, too, is typical of heathenism, which is sad with unavailing cries and ignorant of answers to any. As the day wore on, and the voices grew hoarse, and hope declined, more violent bodily exercise was resorted to, and the shouting crowd danced {or, perhaps, as the margin says, ‘limped,’-a picturesque and contemptuous word for the grotesque contortions around the altar}, as if that might bring the answer. That again is a feature common to all heathenism. No wonder that Elijah’s scorn broke forth vehemently at such a sight. Noon was the hour of the sun’s greatest power, and, since Baal was probably a solar deity, it was the hour when, if ever, he would spare one of his abundant fiery beams to light the pyre. So Elijah’s taunts came just when they were most biting, and none can say that they were undeserved. His fiery zeal and his naturally stern character broke out in the bitter irony with which he imagines a variety of undignified positions for Baal.
Sarcasm is not the highest weapon, and the ‘spirit of Elijah’ is not the spirit of Jesus; but the exposure of the absurdity of idolatry is legitimate, and even ridicule may have its place in pricking wind-distended bladders. A man throttling a serpent may be excused using anything that comes handy for the purpose. But, at the same time, the right attitude for us as Christians in the presence of that awful fact of idolatry, is neither contempt nor scientific curiosity, but pity deep as Christ’s, and earnest resolve to help our darkened brethren. The taunts stirred to fiercer excitement and more extravagant acts, as ridicule is wont to do, and therein proves itself an unreliable instrument of controversy. Laughing at a man generally makes him more obstinate. The priests answered Elijah by savagely gashing their half-naked bodies with knives and lances,-a ready way to make blood come, but not to bring fire. The frenzy became wilder as the day declined, and at last, covered with blood, hoarse with shouting, panting with their gymnastics, they ‘prophesied,’ having wrought themselves into that state of excitement in which incoherent rhapsodies burst from their lips. What a scene to call worship! That is what millions of men are ready to practise to-day. And all the while there is no voice, no answer, no care for them, in the pitiless sky. The very genius of idolatry is set before us in that tumultuous crowd on Carmel.
II. The sacrifice of faith and the answer by fire. We pass from a scene of wild commotion into an atmosphere of sacred calm in 1Ki 18:30. The contrast is striking. The fiery fervours of the day are past, and the sun is sinking behind the top of Carmel, and there is much to do before it sets. Elijah with his own hands, as would appear, repairs a ruined altar among the woods. Probably it had been erected for secret worship of Jehovah by some faithful amid the national apostasy, when access to Jerusalem was forbidden them, and had been destroyed by Ahab in his crusade against Jehovah worshippers. The selection of the twelve stones was symbolical of the unbroken unity of the nation, and was Elijah’s protest against the very existence of the Northern kingdom, and its assumption of the name of ‘Israel’ The writer explains what was meant, when he reminds us that Israel was the name given to Jacob, and therefore, as he would have us infer, was the common property of all his descendants. Judah was a part of Israel, and Israel should be an undivided whole, uniting in all its tribes in bringing offerings to Jehovah.
It was a daring thing to do before Ahab’s face; but the weak king was, for the time, subjugated by the imperious will and courage of Elijah. The building of the altar, with its mute witness to God’s purpose, would touch some hearts in the gazing, silent crowd. The next step was, of course, meant to make the miracle more conspicuous by drenching everything with water, probably brought, even in that drought, from the perennial fountain near at hand. Perhaps, too, the number of barrels was intended, again, as symbolical of the twelve tribes.
One can fancy the wonder and eagerness of the people, and the dark frowns of the baffled and exhausted Baal priests, as they gradually came out of their frenzy, and knew that they had lost their opportunity. The tranquil though earnest prayer of the prophet is in sharpest contrast with the meaningless bellowings to Baal. Note in it the solemn invocation. The great Name, which all listening to him had deposed from rule over them, is set in the front; and the ancestral worship, as well as the divine gifts and dealings with the patriarchs, is pleaded with God as the reason for His answer now. The name of ‘Israel’ instead of the more common ‘Jacob,’ has the same force as in 1Ki 18:31.
Note the substance of the petitions. The deepest desire of a truly devout soul is that God would make His name known. Zeal for God’s honour and love for men who have gone astray from Him, conspire to make that the head and front of His true servant’s prayers. It is God, not his own credit, about which Elijah thinks first. For himself, all that he desires is to be known as an obedient servant, and as not having done anything at the bidding of his own will or judgment, but in accordance with the all-commanding Voice.
Clearly we must suppose that in all the ordering of this sublime trial by fire, Elijah had been acting ‘at Thy word,’ even though we have no other record of the fact. He had no right to expect an answer unless he had been bidden to propose the test. God will honour the drafts which He bids us draw on Him; but to suspend our own or other people’s faith in Him, on the issue of some experiment whether He will answer prayers, is not faith, but rash presumption, unless it is in obedience to a distinct command. Elijah had such a command, and therefore he could ask God to vindicate his action, and to prove that he was God’s servant. His last petition is beautiful, both in its consciousness of power with God and recognition of his place as a prophet, and in its lowly subordination of all personal aims to the restoration of Israel to the true worship. He asks, with reiteration which is earnestness and faith, and therefore the sharpest contrast to the mechanical repetition by Baal’s priests, that God would hear him; but his sole object in that prayer is, not that his name may be exalted as a prophet, or that any good may come to him, but that the blinded eyes may be opened, and the hearts, that have been so sadly led astray, be brought back to the worship of their fathers’ God.
The whole brief prayer, in its calm confidence; its adoring recognition of the name and past dealings of Jehovah as the ground of trust; its throbbing of earnest desire for the manifestation of His character before men; its consciousness of personal relation to God, which humbles rather than puffs up; its beseeching for an answer, and its closing petition, which comes round again to its first, that men may know God, and fasten their hearts on Him,-may well stand as a pattern of prayer for us.
The short prayer of faith does in a moment what all the long day of crying could not do. The language in which the answer is described emulates the rapidity of the swift tongues of fire which licked up sacrifice, altar, and water. They were the tokens of acceptance, reminding of the consuming of the first sacrifices in the Tabernacle, and, like them, inaugurating a new beginning of the worship of God. The burning of the altar, as well as of the sacrifice, expressed the acceptance of the people whom it, by its twelve stones, symbolised. And the people, on their part, were-for the time, at all events-swept away by the miracle, and by the force of the prophet’s example and authority. Short-lived their faith may have been, as certainly it was superficial; but the fire had for the time melted their hearts, and set them flowing in the ancient channels of devotion. The faith that is founded on miracle may be deepened into something better; but unless it is, it speedily dies away. The faith that is due to the influence of some strong personality may lead on to an independent faith, based on personal experience; but, unless it does, it too will perish.
We may find a modern reproduction of the test of Carmel in the impotence of all other schemes and methods of social and spiritual reformation and the power of the Gospel. In it and its effects God answers by fire. Let the opposers, who are so glib in demonstrating the failure of Christianity, do the same with their enchantments, if they can.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv22, 25, 27, 30, 33, 36, 38, 41, 43 I, I alone, am left
I, I alone, am left
The word "I" is repeated for emphasis.
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450 men
"four hundred and fifty men" (See: Numbers)
call on the name of your god ... call on the name of Yahweh
"Name" is metonymy for the reputation and honor of someone and "calling on" him represents an appeal. AT: "call to your god ... call to Yahweh" (See: Metonymy)
all the people answered and said, "This is good."
"all the people said, 'This is a good thing to do.'"
translationWords
Elijah
prophet
Baal
cow
fire
call
name
false god
God
good
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 vv22, 23, 27, 28, 31, 33, 36, 37, 38, 41 18:22 the only prophet of the Lord: Obadiah had…
18:22 the only prophet of the Lord: Obadiah had previously hidden two groups of fifty prophets to protect them from Jezebel’s purge (18:4, 13). However, Elijah’s public stature must have left him feeling alone in his struggle against false religion (see 19:10, 14); certainly, he did stand alone in confronting the 450 prophets of Baal.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.