I Kings 18, Battle of the Gods

The prophet Elijah, introduced to us in the last chapter, is trying to survive an intense drought.

1 Kings 18: 1-6, A search for grass

After a long time, in the third year, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: "Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land."

So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria, and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of his palace. (Obadiah was a devout believer in the LORD. While Jezebel was killing off the LORD's prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.)
 

Ahab had said to Obadiah, "Go through the land to all the springs and valleys. Maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive so we will not have to kill any of our animals." So they divided the land they were to cover, Ahab going in one direction and Obadiah in another.

Elijah is finally told to present himself to Ahab.  This will occur while Ahab and Obadiah are searching for green grass for the horses.

Obadiah means "Servant of YAH". Commentators Patterson and Austel argue that this is too early in Israel's history for the prophet Obadiah, who wrote his own short Old Testament book.

Verse 4 mentions a hundred prophets and we will see, in 1 & 2 Kings, from time to time, a school of prophets. Little is known about them but Elijah, Obadiah and Elisha all had contacts with them. They appear again in 2 Kings 4: 1 and 2 Kings 4: 38-44.

1 Kings 18: 7-14, "Why me?"

As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him, bowed down to the ground, and said, "Is it really you, my lord Elijah?"

"Yes," he replied. "Go tell your master, `Elijah is here.'"

"What have I done wrong," asked Obadiah, "that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death? As surely as the LORD your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you. But now you tell me to go to my master and say, `Elijah is here.'  I don't know where the Spirit of the LORD may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn't find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the LORD since my youth. Haven't you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the LORD? I hid a hundred of the LORD's prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water. And now you tell me to go to my master and say, `Elijah is here.' He will kill me!"

 

Obadiah knows that meeting Elijah is very dangerous and fears for his own life. Since Ahab has been hunting for Elijah, Obadiah would be especially in danger if he told Ahab that Elijah was in a certain place and then Ahab did not find Elijah there.

1 Kings 18: 15-19, Bring the prophets of Baal to me

Elijah said, "As the LORD Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today."

So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

When he saw Elijah, he said to him, "Is that you, you troubler of Israel?"

"I have not made trouble for Israel," Elijah replied. "But you and your father's family have. You have abandoned the LORD's commands and have followed the Baals. Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table."

Elijah reassures Obadiah and then presents himself to Ahab.  Ahab calls Elijah a "troublemaker" of Israel, an accusation that Elijah turns on its head, accusing Ahab of gross idolatry.

In the ancient Canaanite godhead, Asherah was often a consort of Baal. While Ahab follows Baal, his wife worships Asherah.

1 Kings 18: 20-24, Challenge

So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him." 

But the people said nothing.

Then Elijah said to them, "I am the only one of the LORD's prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. Get two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The god who answers by fire--he is God." 

Then all the people said, "What you say is good."

Elijah challenges the king and all the prophets of Baal. The prophets arrive (450 of them!) and Elijah sets up a contest. Commentators Patterson and Austel write that Baal's stronghold was Mount Carmel and so Elijah is essentially going into the devil's den!

1 Kings 18: 25-28, The prophets of Baal call out

Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire."

So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. "O Baal, answer us!" they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.

At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!" he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened." 

So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed.

The challenge to the prophets of Baal is to have Baal light the fire.  But Baal does not respond.  Elijah's taunts the prophets, suggesting that Baal is "asleep" or "indisposed". ("Busy" may be a euphemism for "using the toilet.") In attempts to get Baal's attention, the prophets of Baal, in ecstatic dancing, begin cutting themselves. This was apparently a common activity in idol worship and in Leviticus 19: 26-29, the Israelites were prohibited from a number of these religious rituals, including "cutting oneself for the dead."

1 Kings 18: 29-35, Soaking an altar.

Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.

Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come here to me." 

They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD, which was in ruins. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, "Your name shall be Israel." With the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. 

Then he said to them, "Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood."

"Do it again," he said, and they did it again. 

"Do it a third time," he ordered, and they did it the third time. The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.

The prophets of Baal call out to their god all day.  As the day is ending, Elijah gathers everyone and rebuilds an altar apparently previously devoted to YHWH.  He then has the altar repeatedly soaked, so much that the water floods the trenches around the altar. (Note that this is done in a time of intense drought.)

Elijah's choice of twelve stones, one for each tribe of Israel, is an implicit statement on the culture of the day. Instead of ten tribes worshiping Baal at Mount Carmel, Israel should be a united nation worshiping YHWH in Jerusalem.

1 Kings 18: 36-40, Fire from heaven

At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."

Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The LORD--he is God! The LORD--he is God!"

Then Elijah commanded them, "Seize the prophets of Baal. Don't let anyone get away!" They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there.

Once the altar is soaked, Elijah prays.  Fire falls and burns up the sacrifice and everything around it, even evaporating the water in the trench.  This dramatic event is the end of the prophets of Baal, who are now killed for their obvious idolatry.

1 Kings 18: 41-46, Rain

And Elijah said to Ahab, "Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain." 

So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. "Go and look toward the sea," he told his servant. 

And he went up and looked. "There is nothing there," he said. 

Seven times Elijah said, "Go back."

The seventh time the servant reported, "A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea." 

So Elijah said, "Go and tell Ahab, `Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.'"

Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel.

The power of the LORD came upon Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

Elijah has won. He has defeated the prophets of Baal and then, as implied earlier, ends the drought.  Beautiful rain arrives.  Elijah races Ahab back to Ahab's palace in Jezreel, a distance (say Patterson and Austel) of seventeen miles.