“Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the
four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of
Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.’”
We do not know why Ahab consented to this gathering. Maybe he thought the people of Israel would do
Ahab’s dirty work by killing Elijah out of anger about the drought. Maybe he thought Elijah was going to remove
the drought in the presence of the gathering of these folks. We do not know the thoughts of Ahab, but it
did appear he was reticent to harm Elijah.
As to Elijah’s thoughts, it is clear he was led by God to create such a
contest, as he would otherwise be in disobedience with “You shall not tempt the LORD your God as you tempted Him in Massah.”
(Deuteronomy 6:20) In other words, do
not try this at home.
“And Elijah came to
all the people, and said, ‘How long will you falter between two opinions? If
the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.’ But the people answered him not a word.” (1
Kings 18:21) In place of or in addition
to the ‘worship’ of Jehovah by the people of Israel the worship of Baal was added
to their religious repertoire, either as a backup plan or to appease the harsh rulers
of the land. “At some point, we have to
make up our minds: Will we serve God or not? Is He who He claims to be, or not?
We have to take a stand and move on from there. No one can “Keep their options
open” forever.” (Charles Stanley) Today
there are some who attend church who have still not committed to God. They try to serve both sin and to serve
God. They have not yet submitted to the
dominion of Christ and remain under the dominion of lust. Jesus said “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love
the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew
6:24) “God demands no more from us than
He can make out a title to.” (Matthew Henry)
Yet the people seemed to be convinced Elijah presented a fair and reasonable
trial…”It is well spoken,” they said, and agreed to the contest.
From a worldview, Elijah was the underdog. He was outnumbered: 450 priests of Baal and
400 prophets of Asherah against one prophet for Jehovah. Those priests and prophets were well fed, from
the table of the royal court even.
Elijah was sustained on a daily basis with bread and water. The priests got to choose the bulls and they
got to go first. But we know better. It is not how well you look to the world, it
is all about the God you serve.
What a riotous noise and scene the priests must have made;
450 men leaping about and calling out to their god. Time wore on and there was no fire. At noon, Elijah began to mock them, telling
them to cry louder, maybe their god is on a journey, or ‘busy’ – which some
scholars say is a term to mean he is indisposed in the bathroom. “The worship of idols is a most ridiculous
thing, and it is but justice to represent it so and expose it to scorn. This
will, by no means, justify those who ridicule the worshippers of God in Christ
because the worship is not performed just in their way. Baal’s prophets were so
far from being convinced and put to shame by the just reproach Elijah cast upon
them that it made them the more violent and led them to act more ridiculously.”
(Matthew Henry) The priests begin to cry
aloud and cut themselves, but there was no voice, no one answered, no one paid
attention. It is not about sincerity of
the worshipper, it is about the validity of the God you worship. I am so glad our God does not require us to
undergo the physical sufferings demonstrated by the priests of Baal. God is actually against it. “You
are the children of the LORD your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave
the front of your head for the dead.” (Deuteronomy 14:1)
Elijah waited until the time of the evening sacrifice – as
it would be in Jerusalem. He repaired
the altar of the LORD, a model of repairing the faith of the people. Elijah’s faith was so strong, he had the
opposing team pour water on his bull, the wood, and even dug a trench around it
all so that all the sacrifice was standing in water. His prayer was simple. He asks God to let the people know that He
is God in Israel, that Elijah is His servant, and that all things he did were
at God’s direction. He asks God to hear
him, again so that the people will know He is the LORD God and that the people
had turned their backs on Him. “Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed
the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up
the water that was in the trench.” (1 Kings 18:38)
The people’s hearts, at least at this moment, were turned
back to God and they killed all the priests of Baal in accordance the law
(Deuteronomy 13:5). Before God would
bring rain to restore the land, He first gave this demonstration of fire. Fire is used in scripture to show judgment. We must first see the judgment of God before
we will see the healing of God. Does
that mean God first needs to punish you for your sins? No. He
has already punished Jesus for your sins and all you need to do is surrender to
Jesus. Then the spiritual healing can
begin.
God had His purposes for this particular showdown. We do not see other examples of it in
scripture. What we do see is that there
will come a time – and pray all those you know have surrendered to Christ
before this time comes – when the devil will deceive many by bringing down
fire. “He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from
heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the
earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast,
telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was
wounded by the sword and lives.”
(Revelation 13:13-14) Those who
have not surrendered to Jesus, who do not hear the voice of their Good
Shepherd, will be deceived into worshipping a false god. Take heed that you not be deceived.
May you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
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