Lesson 5 - 1 Kings 18:20-39 - GOD OR BAAL ON MOUNT CARMEL
INTRODUCTION: Last week, in 1 Kings 17:1-24, we moved forward about 70 years and were introduced to the prophet Elijah as God sent him on a mission to the pagan city of Zarephath in Phoenicia where he was directed to stay with a poor widow whom God had instructed to provide for him. Before this time, Elijah had challenged King Ahab of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, who had become a Baal worshiper, and the prayed that the LORD God would cause a severe drought, which God sent almost immediately. Since the drought had also afflicted Phoenicia, the poor widow and her young son in Zarepheth were on the brink of dying of thirst and starvation. When Elijah asked the widow for water and bread, the widow informed him that she only had enough for one last meal for herself and her son. But Elijah told her not to fear, that there would be enough for her and her son after she provided for him and promised her that the LORD would provide for her until the drought ended. In a giant leap of faith, the widow obeyed and Lord continued to provide water and meal day by day. Then when the widow's young son died, she indirectly blamed Elijah. Elijah took the boy upstairs, and after stretching himself over him, prayed that the Lord would let the child return to life, and the boy was raised from the dead. The point of the story was that even small ministries to obscure people like this widow are important to God and that He can use any of us for His glory.
This week, in 1 Kings 18:20-39, while the drought was continuing, we catch up with Elijah as he returns to Israel and challenges King Ahab and the prophets of Baal to a contest between the LORD God and Baal to determine which one is truly God. He, in effect, dares Ahab when he says: "Now then, send orders and gather to me all Israel at Mount Carmel, together with 450 prophets of Baal and four hundred prophets of the Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table" (18:19).
Read 1 Kings 18:20-24 - SO AHAB SENT ORDERS AMONG ALL THE SONS OF ISRAEL
20 So Ahab sent orders among all the sons of Israel and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel. 21 Then Elijah approached all the people and said, "How long are you going to struggle with the two choices? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people did not answer him so much as a word. 22 Then Elijah said to the people, "I alone am left as a prophet of the LORD, while Baal's prophets are 450 men. 23 Now have them give us two oxen; and have them choose the one ox for themselves and cut it up, and place it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other ox and lay it on the wood, and I will not put a fire under it. 24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD; and the God who answers by fire, He is God." And all the people replied, "That is a good idea."
v. 20: "So Ahab sent orders among all the sons of Israel and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel." - Ahab, unprepared to refuse, complies with Elijah's request and assembles his people and prophets at Mount Carmel, which is located near the Mediterranean Sea about 20 miles northeast of Jezreel (see map), just south of the Phoenician border.
v. 21: "Then Elijah approached all the people and said, "How long are you going to struggle with the two choices? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people did not answer him so much as a word." - Israel, despite being in a covenant relationship with the Lord God since the Exodus, has been tempted from the beginning to worship false Gods. In this instance, Queen Jezebel has not only persuaded Ahab and all Israel to worship Baal, but has also had most of the LORD God's prophets put to death. The people, caught between Elijah and a king who worships Baal and kills God's true prophets, are afraid to utter a word.
v. 22: "Then Elijah said to the people, "I alone am left as a prophet of the LORD, while Baal's prophets are 450 men." - Elijah, standing alone, asks Ahab to assemble the 450 prophets of Baal plus the 400 prophets of Asherah (named in v. 19). He doesn't mention the 100 prophets of the LORD hidden away by Obadiah (we don't know if this the same Obadiah named in the prophetic books).
v. 23: "Now have them give us two oxen; and have them choose the one ox for themselves and cut it up, and place it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other ox and lay it on the wood, and I will not put a fire under it." - At this juncture, Elijah proceeds to set forth the terms of the contest: Two oxen are to be provided as a sacrifice, and Elijah further specifies that the prophets of Baal will be allowed to choose the one they want, and Elijah will take the other. Next, he specifies that each ox is to be cut up and placed on top of wood, but that no fire will be located under it. As we'll see, Elijah will continue to give them this sort of preferential treatment throughout the story as a means of emphasizing the fairness with which he is conducting this contest. His objective is that the fairness of the contest will make it unmistakably clear that the LORD is the One True God.
v. 24a: "Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD; and the God who answers by fire, He is God." - This is the bottom line. Elijah outlines the final piece of the contest in clear, unambiguous language. This is yet another feature of the challenge where Elijah allows the prophets of Baal an advantage: Since they believe that Baal is the god of fertility and rain, he also controls lightening; and if he has any power, he should easily by able to send lightening to utterly consume the sacrifice offered by his prophets.
v. 24b: "And all the people replied, "That is a good idea." - Earlier, in v. 21, the people, caught between king Ahab and Elijah, were unwilling to get involved in the contest. Now, however, given the evident fairness of Elijah's terms, they are now willing to admit it's "a good idea."
Read 1 Kings 18:25-29 - NO ONE ANSWERED
25 So Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one ox for yourselves and prepare it first for you are many, and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it." 26 Then they took the ox which was given them and they prepared it and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon saying, "O Baal, answer us." But there was no voice and no one answered. And they leaped about the altar which they made. 27 It came about at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, "Call out with a loud voice, for he is a god; either he is occupied or gone aside, or is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and needs to be awakened." 28 So they cried with a loud voice and cut themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out on them. 29 When midday was past, they raved until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice; but there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention.
v. 25: "So Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, 'Choose one ox for yourselves and prepare it first for you are many, and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.'" - Elijah repeats the terms of the contest specified in vv. 23-24, but this time he issues them as instructions to the prophets of Baal: he allows to choose the ox that they prefer and to prepare it. The statement "for you are many," reiterates the obvious and overwhelming superiority of their numbers: 450 against one man.
v. 26a: "Then they took the ox which was given them and they prepared it and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon saying, 'O Baal, answer us.'" - The prophets of Baal spent hours calling on their God with no response, nothing. Observing all of this, the people of Israel could not help but notice that nothing has happened so far that would persuade them to believe in Baal.
v. 26b: "But there was no voice and no one answered. And they leaped about the altar which they made." - Earlier, Elijah accused the people of "struggling"-hesitating-"between two choices" (v. 21); and now they are watching the prophets of Baal hysterically leap around their altar like a group of mad hatters. It's obvious to anyone that they are completely powerless.
v. 27: "It came about at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, 'Call out with a loud voice, for he is a god; either he is occupied or gone aside, or is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and needs to be awakened.'" - In his mockery, Elijah pushes the prophets of Baal to try harder. He infers that Baal must be out of town or taking a nap. He encourages them to take sterner measures.
v. 28: "So they cried with a loud voice and cut themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out on them." Now the prophets of Baal resort to desperate measures and begin inflicting injuries on themselves out of an effort to capture their god's attention. This is bizarre, hideous, and disgusting; and the people are watching them.
v. 29: "When midday was past, they raved until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice; but there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention." - The hours wear on, Noontime has come and gone. The prophets of Baal have been at it for hours and hours, and other than the spectacle they have made for themselves, absolutely nothing has happened. Baal can't "answer" because he's nonexistent and impotent. Notice, the people no longer pay "attention."
Read 1 Kings 18:30-35 - HE BUILT AN ALTAR IN THE NAME OF THE LORD
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come near to me." So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD which had been torn down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, "Israel shall be your name." 32 So with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD, and he made a trench around the altar, large enough to hold two measures of seed. 33 Then he arranged the wood and cut the ox in pieces and laid it on the wood. 34 And he said, "Fill four pitchers with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood." And he said, "Do it a second time," and they did it a second time. And he said, "Do it a third time," and they did it a third time. 35 The water flowed around the altar and he also filled the trench with water.
v. 30: "Then Elijah said to all the people, 'Come near to me.' So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD which had been torn down." - Elijah is now the only prophet left on the mountain. When it became his turn to offer sacrifice, Elijah's first priority was to get the attention of the people-both for their own benefit and for the benefit of the LORD, not for Elijah himself. Jezebel had ordered the LORD's altar torn down as part of her anti-YHWH campaign.
v. 31: "Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, 'Israel shall be your name.'" - Elijah used 12 stones to connect the LORD's altar to God's people and their Covenant heritage. The twelve stone symbolized the 12 tribes and alluded to the building of the 12-stone altar after the people of Israel crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land (Josh. 4:1-9).
v. 32: "So with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD, and he made a trench around the altar, large enough to hold two measures of seed." - A Hebrew "measure" was about one-third of a bushel, so that a trench large enough to contain two of them would have been relatively shallow.
v. 33: "Then he arranged the wood and cut the ox in pieces and laid it on the wood." - As the next step, Elijah placed wood around the altar, cut the ox into pieces, and laid them on top of the wood.
v. 34a: "And he said, 'Fill four pitchers with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.'" - Now Elijah commands the people to bring four jars of water to pour them onto the offering and the wood. If these jars are like those used by Jesus at the wedding in Cana (John 2:1-12), they hold about 100 gallons apiece. Since the drought was still ravaging the land, using that much water to wet the altar represented a great display of faith both for Elijah and for the people who brought up the water.
v. 34b: "And he said, 'Do it a second time,' and they did it a second time. And he said, 'Do it a third time,' and they did it a third time." - Elijah commands the people to bring four more jars of water, then calls for four more. After three years of severe drought, this request was tantamount to a sacrificial act.
v. 35: "The water flowed around the altar and he also filled the trench with water." - This was enough water to not only completely saturate the ox pieces and the wood they rested on, but was also adequate to fill the trench full of water and saturate all the soil around it. Seemingly fireproof, yes? By this action, Elijah makes it clear that the LORD is powerful enough to do what's needed in spite of all the human intervention to prevent it.
Read 1 Kings 18:36-39 - LET IT BE KNOWN THAT YOU ARE GOD IN ISRAEL
36 At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, "O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and I have done all these things at Your word. 37 Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that You, O LORD, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again." 38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, "The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God."
v. 36: "At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, 'O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and I have done all these things at Your word.'" - Unlike the prophets of Baal, Elijah doesn't make a spectacle of himself. He simply prays to "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel" (connecting the people again to their history with the LORD) and asks that He will make it known that He is "God in Israel" and will authenticate Elijah as His "servant."
v. 37: "Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that You, O LORD, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again." - These words get to the heart of what's happening here: God's main interest is not to entertain His audience, but to turn their hearts back to the true faith-to restore the covenant relationship that they have broken and to secure their repentance so that He might forgive them of their sins. This was one of Solomon's petitions in 1 Kings 8:31-53.
v. 38: "Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench." - The fire coming from heaven burned so fiercely that it consumed everything at once-the offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and all the water. It was a magnificent display of divine power and authority.
v. 39: "When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, "The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God." - Elijah prayed twice that the people would know that the LORD is the One True God, and so now, his prayer has been answered.
APPLICATION-Never Underestimate the Power of Prayer:
1. The actions of Elijah on Mount Carmel grants us with a model for the power of prayer. Elijah prayed for the rain to stop and then prayed for the rain to return. Significantly, Elijah prayed for the will of God-for what God wanted done-in order to show His covenant people that he is the One True God. And when God answered Elijah's prayer, our text reports that the people "fell on their faces"...and then confessed, "The LORD, He is God." This is how Jesus teaches us to pray-to pray for God's will to be done in heaven and on earth (Matt. 6:9-13).
2. The actions of Elijah on Mount Carmel authenticate the importance of intercessory prayer. In our text, Elijah prayed to the Lord on behalf of His people Israel (v. 37). And people in general (includes you and me) need a righteous one to plead on our behalf. We should see that Elijah's prayer on behalf of the people was a foreshadowing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who right now sits at God's right hand, interceding for us as our High Priest (Heb. 4:14-16). As saved believers, we need to intercede for (a) people who don't know God, because God desires that all sinners be saved (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9; Ezek. 18:23; Matt. 23:37) and (b) for those like the Israelites who believed but have fallen away (Ex. 21:9-14; Matt. 24:10-13; Heb. 3:12-19; 6:4-6; Rev. 2:4-5).
