1 And it came to pass after many days, that the word of Jehovah came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself to Ahab; and I will send rain upon the face of the earth.
2 And Elijah went to shew himself to Ahab. And the famine was severe in Samaria.
3 And Ahab called Obadiah, who was the steward of his house (now Obadiah feared Jehovah greatly;
4 and it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of Jehovah, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and maintained them with bread and water);
5 and Ahab said to Obadiah, Go through the land, to all the fountains of water and to all the torrents, perhaps we may find grass to save the horses and the mules alive, so that we may not have to destroy some of [our] beasts.
6 And they divided the land between them to pass through it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.
7 And as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him; and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Is it indeed thou, my lord Elijah?
8 And he said to him, I [am he]: go, say to thy lord, Behold Elijah!
9 And he said, What have I sinned, that thou givest thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to put me to death?
10 As Jehovah thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom whither my lord has not sent to seek thee; and when they said, He is not [here], he took an oath of the kingdom or nation that they found thee not.
11 And now thou sayest, Go, say to thy lord, Behold Elijah!
12 And it shall come to pass when I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of Jehovah shall carry thee whither I know not; and when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he will kill me; and I thy servant fear Jehovah from my youth.
13 Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of Jehovah, how I hid a hundred men of Jehovah's prophets by fifty in a cave, and maintained them with bread and water?
14 And now thou sayest, Go, say to thy lord, Behold Elijah! and he will kill me.
15 And Elijah said, As Jehovah of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will certainly shew myself to him to-day.
16 Then Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him. And Ahab went to meet Elijah.
17 And it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, Is it thou, the troubler of Israel?
18 And he said, I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of Jehovah, and thou hast followed the Baals.
19 And now send, gather to me all Israel to mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the Asherah four hundred, who eat at Jezebel's table.
20 So Ahab sent to all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel.
21 Then Elijah drew near to all the people, and said, How long do ye halt between two opinions? if Jehovah be God, follow him; and if Baal, follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
22 And Elijah said to the people, I, only I, remain a prophet of Jehovah; and Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men.
23 Let them therefore give us two bullocks: and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and put it on the wood, and put no fire; and I will sacrifice the other bullock, and put it on the wood, and put no fire.
24 And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of Jehovah; and the god that answers by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, The word is good.
25 And Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, Choose one bullock for yourselves, and sacrifice it first; for ye are the many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire.
26 And they took the bullock which had been given them, and sacrificed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, O Baal, answer us! But there was no voice, and none answered. And they leaped about the altar that had been made.
27 And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, Cry aloud; for he is a god; for he is meditating, or gone aside, or he is on a journey; perhaps he sleeps, and will awake.
28 And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with swords and spears, till the blood gushed out upon them.
29 And it came to pass when midday was past, that they prophesied until the [time] of the offering up of the oblation; but there was neither voice, nor any that answered, nor any attention.
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, Draw near to me. And all the people drew near to him. And he repaired the altar of Jehovah which was broken down.
31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of Jehovah came saying, Israel shall be thy name;
32 and with the stones he built an altar in the name of Jehovah, and made a trench round about the altar, of the capacity of two measures of seed;
33 and he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid it on the wood. And he said, Fill four pitchers with water, and pour it on the burnt-offering, and on the wood.
34 And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time.
35 And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.
36 And it came to pass at [the time of] the offering up of the oblation, that Elijah the prophet drew near, and said, Jehovah, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things by thy word.
37 Answer me, Jehovah, answer me, that this people may know that thou Jehovah art God, and [that] *thou* hast turned their heart back again.
38 And the fire of Jehovah 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 And all the people saw [it], and they fell on their faces and said, Jehovah, he is God! Jehovah, he is God!
40 And Elijah said to them, Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape! And they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the torrent of Kishon, and slaughtered them there.
41 And Elijah said to Ahab, Go up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.
42 And Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he bowed down on the earth, and put his face between his knees.
43 And he said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up and looked, and said, [There is] nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.
44 And it came to pass at the seventh time that he said, Behold there is a cloud, small as a man's hand, arising out of the sea. And he said, Go up, say to Ahab, Harness and go down, that the pour of rain stop thee not.
45 And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heavens became black [with] clouds and wind, and there was a great pour of rain. And Ahab got on the chariot, and went to Jizreel.
46 And the hand of Jehovah was upon Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jizreel.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 1 Kings 18
Commentary on 1 Kings 18 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 18
1Ki 18:1-16. Elijah Meets Obadiah.
1. the third year—In the New Testament, it is said there was no rain "for the space of three years and six months" [Jas 5:17]. The early rain fell in our March, the latter rain in our October. Though Ahab might have at first ridiculed Elijah's announcement, yet when neither of these rains fell in their season, he was incensed against the prophet as the cause of the national judgment, and compelled him, with God's direction, to consult his safety in flight. This was six months after the king was told there would be neither dew nor rain, and from this period the three years in this passage are computed.
Go, show thyself unto Ahab—The king had remained obdurate and impenitent. Another opportunity was to be given him of repentance, and Elijah was sent in order to declare to him the cause of the national judgment, and to promise him, on condition of his removing it, the immediate blessing of rain.
2. Elijah went—a marvellous proof of the natural intrepidity of this prophet, of his moral courage, and his unfaltering confidence in the protecting care of God, that he ventured to approach the presence of the raging lion.
there was a sore famine in Samaria—Elijah found that the famine was pressing with intense severity in the capital. Corn must have been obtained for the people from Egypt or the adjoining countries, else life could not have been sustained for three years; but Ahab, with the chamberlain of his royal household, is represented as giving a personal search for pasture to his cattle. On the banks of the rivulets, grass, tender shoots of grass, might naturally be expected; but the water being dried up, the verdure would disappear. In the pastoral districts of the East it would be reckoned a most suitable occupation still for a king or chief to go at the head of such an expedition. Ranging over a large tract of country, Ahab had gone through one district, Obadiah through another.
3. Obadiah feared the Lord greatly—Although he did not follow the course taken by the Levites and the majority of pious Israelites at that time of emigration into Judah (2Ch 11:13-16), he was a secret and sincere worshipper. He probably considered the violent character of the government, and his power of doing some good to the persecuted people of God as a sufficient excuse for his not going to worship in Jerusalem.
4. an hundred prophets—not men endowed with the extraordinary gifts of the prophetic office, but who were devoted to the service of God, preaching, praying, praising, &c. (1Sa 10:10-12).
fed them with bread and water—These articles are often used to include sustenance of any kind. As this succor must have been given them at the hazard, not only of his place, but his life, it was a strong proof of his attachment to the true religion.
7-16. Obadiah was in the way … Elijah met him—Deeming it imprudent to rush without previous intimation into Ahab's presence, the prophet solicited Obadiah to announce his return to Ahab. The commission, with a delicate allusion to the perils he had already encountered in securing others of God's servants, was, in very touching terms, declined, as unkind and peculiarly hazardous. But Elijah having dispelled all the apprehensions entertained about the Spirit's carrying him away, Obadiah undertook to convey the prophet's message to Ahab and solicit an interview. But Ahab, bent on revenge, or impatient for the appearance of rain, went himself to meet Elijah.
17, 18. Art thou he that troubleth Israel—A violent altercation took place. Ahab thought to awe him into submission, but the prophet boldly and undisguisedly told the king that the national calamity was traceable chiefly to his own and his family's patronage and practice of idolatry. But, while rebuking the sins, Elijah paid all due respect to the high rank of the offender. He urged the king to convene, by virtue of his royal mandate, a public assembly, in whose presence it might be solemnly decided which was the troubler of Israel. The appeal could not well be resisted, and Ahab, from whatever motives, consented to the proposal. God directed and overruled the issue.
19. gather … the prophets of Baal … the prophets of the groves—From the sequel it appears that the former only came. The latter, anticipating some evil, evaded the king's command.
which eat at Jezebel's table—that is, not at the royal table where she herself dined, but they were maintained from her kitchen establishment (see on 1Sa 20:25 and 1Ki 4:22). They were the priests of Astarte, the Zidonian goddess.
20. mount Carmel—is a bold, bluff promontory, which extends from the western coast of Palestine, at the bay of Acre, for many miles eastward, to the central hills of Samaria. It is a long range, presenting many summits, and intersected by a number of small ravines. The spot where the contest took place is situated at the eastern extremity, which is also the highest point of the whole ridge. It is called El-Mohhraka, "the Burning," or "the Burnt Place." No spot could have been better adapted for the thousands of Israel to have stood drawn up on those gentle slopes. The rock shoots up in an almost perpendicular wall of more than two hundred feet in height, on the side of the vale of Esdraelon. This wall made it visible over the whole plain, and from all the surrounding heights, where gazing multitudes would be stationed.
21-40. Elijah said unto all the people, How long halt ye?—They had long been attempting to conjoin the service of God with that of Baal. It was an impracticable union and the people were so struck with a sense of their own folly, or dread of the king's displeasure, that they "answered not a word." Elijah proposed to decide for them the controversy between God and Baal by an appeal, not to the authority of the law, for that would have no weight, but by a visible token from Heaven. As fire was the element over which Baal was supposed to preside, Elijah proposed that two bullocks should be slain and placed on separate altars of wood, the one for Baal, and the other for God. On whichever the fire should descend to consume it, the event should determine the true God, whom it was their duty to serve. The proposal, appearing every way reasonable, was received by the people with unanimous approval. The priests of Baal commenced the ceremony by calling on their god. In vain did they continue invoking their senseless deity from morning till noon, and from noon till evening, uttering the most piercing cries, using the most frantic gesticulations, and mingling their blood with the sacrifice. No response was heard. No fire descended. Elijah exposed their folly and imposture with the severest irony and, as the day was far advanced, commenced his operations. Inviting the people to approach and see the entire proceeding, he first repaired an old altar of God, which Jezebel had demolished. Then, having arranged the cut pieces of the bullock, he caused four barrels or jars of water to be dashed all over the altar and round in the trench. Once, twice, a third time this precaution was taken, and then, when he had offered an earnest prayer, the miraculous fire descended (Le 9:24; Jud 6:21; 13:20; 1Ch 21:26; 2Ch 7:1), and consumed not only the sacrifice, but the very stones of the altar. The impression on the minds of the people was that of admiration mingled with awe; and with one voice they acknowledged the supremacy of Jehovah as the true God. Taking advantage of their excited feelings, Elijah called on them to seize the priestly impostors, and by their blood fill the channel of the river (Kishon), which, in consequence of their idolatries, the drought had dried up—a direction, which, severe and relentless as it seems, it was his duty as God's minister to give (De 15:5; 18:20). The natural features of the mount exactly correspond with the details of this narrative. The conspicuous summit, 1635 feet above the sea, on which the altars were placed, presents an esplanade spacious enough for the king and the priests of Baal to stand on the one side, and Elijah on the other. It is a rocky soil, on which there is abundance of loose stones, to furnish the twelve stones of which the altar was built—a bed of thick earth, in which a trench could be dug; and yet the earth not so loose that the water poured into it would be absorbed; two hundred fifty feet beneath the altar plateau, there is a perennial fountain, which, being close to the altar of the Lord, might not have been accessible to the people; and whence, therefore, even in that season of severe drought, Elijah could procure those copious supplies of water which he poured over the altar. The distance between this spring and the site of the altar is so short, as to make it perfectly possible to go thrice thither and back again, whereas it would have been impossible once in an afternoon to fetch water from the sea [Van De Velde]. The summit is one thousand feet above the Kishon, which nowhere runs from the sea so close to the base of the mount as just beneath El-Mohhraka; so that the priests of Baal could, in a few minutes, be taken down to the brook (torrent), and slain there.
1Ki 18:41-46. Elijah, by Prayer, Obtains Rain.
42. 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 (1Ki 18:1).
put his face between his knees—a posture of earnest supplication still used.
43. Go up now, look toward the sea—From the place of worship there is a small eminence, which, on the west and northwest side, intercepts the view of the sea [Stanley; Van De Velde]. It can be ascended in a few minutes, and presents a wide prospect of the Mediterranean. Six times the servant went up, but the sky was clear—the sea tranquil. On the seventh he described the sign of approaching rain [1Ki 18:44].
44. Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand—The clearness of the sky renders the smallest speck distinctly visible; and this is in Palestine the uniform precursor of rain. It rises higher and higher, and becomes larger and larger with astonishing celerity, till the whole heaven is black, and the cloud bursts in a deluge of rain.
Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not—either by the river Kishon being suddenly so swollen as to be impassable, or from the deep layer of dust in the arid plain being turned into thick mud, so as to impede the wheels.
45. Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel—now Zerin, a distance of about ten miles. This race was performed in the midst of a tempest of rain. But all rejoiced at it, as diffusing a sudden refreshment over all the land of Jezreel.
46. Elijah … girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab—It was anciently, and still is in some countries of the East, customary for kings and nobles to have runners before their chariots, who are tightly girt for the purpose. The prophet, like the Bedouins of his native Gilead, had been trained to run; and, as the Lord was with him, he continued with unabated agility and strength. It was, in the circumstances, a most proper service for Elijah to render. It tended to strengthen the favorable impression made on the heart of Ahab and furnished an answer to the cavils of Jezebel for it showed that he who was so zealous in the service of God, was, at the same time, devotedly loyal to his king. The result of this solemn and decisive contest was a heavy blow and great discouragement to the cause of idolatry. But subsequent events seem to prove that the impressions, though deep, were but partial and temporary.