Word Weld

Ahab

4. Confrontation at Carmel

And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain on the earth. 2 And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria. 3 And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly; 4 For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) 5 And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts. 6 So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah wen another way by himself.

– I Kings 18:1-6

After three years and six months (as we know from the New Testament), God tells Elijah that it is time for the rains to come. God is going to show his mastery over the imaginary god Baal not merely by banishing all rain, and all moisture from the atmosphere, but by returning it at His own exact time. As we saw, the book of James tells us that Elijah’s prayers were integral to this, and evidence of his ability to stay in complete synch with God. This also tracks with Jesus in the New Testament, as Jesus also prayed in perfect synch with God the Father, even when His soul was troubled at the prospect of His imminent death on the cross. God has preserved Elijah from the famine, and those with him, and also kept Jezebel from finding him, despite being in her own country.

And this is significant, as we see in verse 4 that in addition to Ahab making Baal worship the national standard, Jezebel has taken it one step further, taking it upon herself to wield her power as Queen to hunt down anyone who dared preach for God or against her false god. The word translated “cut off” is a nice way of saying that she destroyed them, killed them, slaughtered them. The word can also refer to being eaten or consumed, and with that meaning you get an idea of just how “tolerant” Jezebel was of contrary religious views. However, we also see in this passage that in spite of Ahab’s and Jezebel’s efforts to stamp out worship of Jehovah, they were unable to fully do so. Not only were there a hundred prophets who followed Jehovah, but the man hiding them was Ahab’s own governor! His name is Obadiah. Now you’d think his name would be a dead giveaway, as it literally means “servant of Jehovah.” But family names were very much the norm and not everyone’s name fit their life, so Obadiah literally went under the radar.

Obadiah is an interesting case, because it says that he feared the Lord “greatly.” Here he was, the governor of the house of the most wicked man to ever sit upon the throne in the Northern Kingdom to date, and he had a close relationship with the true God. But he had to hide it. It is very likely that he had to lie to do so, even lie convincingly. Now keep in mind, this is not the same thing as being ashamed of his faith, as Jesus warns about in the New Testament. Obadiah fully followed God and would have gladly proclaimed it, but if he had, he would have died, and not him only, but all of the prophets of God who were depending on him for food.

I recently watched a reel of Frank Turek, in which he was asked by a member of the audience if lying is always a sin. And Frank showed that he is a seasoned debater because he did not say what many of us would. He did not say, “Yes, absolutely! God hates lying in every case!” He responded by saying that, according to the Ten Commandments, we should not bear false witness. Sometimes this applies to ordinary lying, yes, and sometimes it applies only to matters of legality. But why? Because the context of the lie makes all the difference. At Jerico, Rahab lies outright to the guards to hide the Hebrew spies. Do you think that Moses’ parents did not lie to Pharoah’s baby-hunting guards? The Hebrew midwives of that same time lied outright to Pharaoh’s face, and God blessed them for it. David’s wife lied to Saul, and David himself lied to the priest Ahimelech in an attempt to save both their lives. So the answer to “is lying always wrong” a simple “yes.” Because to lie to evil people in an attempt to save innocent lives, to do good, to help God’s people, is not sinful. Obadiah was the governor of Ahab’s house. Do you think he had to lie to maintain his position? Do you think he had to lie about the food that he was taking to feed the prophets of God in that cave? Do you think he had to lie to Jezebel’s face when she might ask him, “Did you find any prophets of Jehovah in Samaria?” This is not an attempt to somehow justifying lying. God does hate lying, but God also tolerates and even rewards doing so for the right reasons. Now we do have to be careful with this, because this does not justify lying for any reason we perceive as a good reason. God does hate lying, as He is a God of truth, but I view this similarly to violence. Violence is a bad thing morally speaking, objectively speaking. But since evil uses violence to destroy, violence must be used against it. We can back this up even further, and realize that in a perfect world, there is no anger either. Anger is associated with violence and evil, but because this world is fallen, being angry about evil becomes necessary. And we can go even further. Death itself, as we’ve talked about, is not something God wanted the world or His children to know, but it became a necessary consequence of sin, and without it, there would be no need for it. Similarly, violence, anger, and lying have utility only so much as they are used against evil, and that is what we see here with Obadiah. He hid the prophets of God, and while we are not told he lied, I think it is an extremely likely presupposition that he did.

Now, after we are told that God is sending Elijah back to confront Ahab and bring the rains back, and are introduced to Obadiah, the godly man hiding at the very top of Ahab’s idolatrous court, we are told that Ahab calls Obadiah before him, and gives him a mission. He tells him that he is going to head in one direction, and Obadiah is going to head in another, and they are going to check every spring, brook, and creak that they know of, and try to find water. The passage has already established that the famine was extremely severe by this time. Water and food are becoming impossible to find, but he tells Obadiah to go check for water at everywhere they know water is likely to be found. Is this to ease the suffering of his people? Not a bit. Notice that he does it to save the horses and the mules. Here Ahab is, putting animals above his people, because he is more concerned about his army and his might and his power (and specifically, losing it), than he is the welfare of Israel. And that is backed up by the fact that he and Obadiah, notice, go alone. I find it highly unlikely that the King of Israel, or even his governor, would go searching through the land alone, without any escort or guard, unless they did not want it to be known.

So Ahab has not changed his ways at all. He’s still letting Jezebel kill off God’s prophets, he’s still worshipping Baal himself, and he’s still selfish and cruel. But it is time for the people of Israel, weakened as they are by this ongoing judgment, to be brought back to God, in spite of their king and his wicked wife. I think it is a reasonable assumption that Ahab went east and Obadiah went west, because as Obadiah is going, he encounters Elijah, who has been sojourning with the widow in Zidon, which is by the coast of the Mediterranean Sea to the west.

7 And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him: and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Art thou that my lord Elijah? 8 And he answered him, I am: go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. 9 And he said, What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me? 10 As the LORD thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not there; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not. 11 And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. 12 And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the LORD from my youth. 13 Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the LORD, how I hid an hundred men oof the LORD’s prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water? 14 And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here: and he shall slay me. 15 And Elijah said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely shew myself unto him to day.

– I Kings 18:1-6

Obadiah is traveling through the countryside, trying probably unsuccessfully to find enough water to keep Ahab’s horses and mules from dying, and as he is travelling east, he just happens upon Elijah. Maybe there was a main road from Zidon to Samaria, and they happened to meet on it. Or perhaps God told Elijah to leave exactly when he did so that he would encounter Obadiah. I personally think there are no accidents. As Obadiah is riding by, he stops because he recognizes the man before him. He has seen him at least once before, though probably briefly, but it is also possible that Elijah had been to Samaria to give Ahab messages from God many times. But, whether because he never spoke to Elijah personally, or because Elijah was wearing different clothes, or was thinner because of the famine, or it was dusty on the road, he is unsure and asks Elijah if it really is him. Imagine his surprise. We find out in his conversation with Elijah that Ahab and Jezebel have been hunting for Elijah this entire time. He was on Samaria’s Most Wanted. Elijah was so hated by Ahab and Jezebel that they had even sent word of him to other, neighboring countries and kingdoms. Obadiah reveals that Ahab would send messengers to ask if the neighboring kingdoms had seen him, and if they said they hadn’t, then he would require an oath from them. This implies that if Ahab found out that they were lying and concealing Elijah, that he would probably have retaliated against that kingdom militarily. God had clearly, miraculously preserved Elijah, even to the point where Obadiah believes that if he goes back to give Ahab word that Elijah is there, that God will literally spirit him away. And if that happens, and Ahab has already promised retribution upon other kingdoms who hide or fail to reveal Elijah to him, Obadiah rightly fears that he will lose his life.

This is another situation where we find some parallels with the life and ministry of Jesus. Jesus too is hunted and attacked, yet in every case, up until the night He is betrayed, He miraculously escapes from his enemies. Luke 4:29-39 tell of the inhabitants of a city who thrust him out and plan to throw him down a cliff, but Jesus “passing through the midst of them went his way.” In John 7, Jesus goes to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, and after teaching for a while they sent men to arrest him, but it says that, inexplicably, “no man laid hands on him.” And this was to the point the men sent to take Jesus are questioned, and have no explanation as to why they did not arrest him, saying only that he spoke like no one they’ve ever heard. And after hearing this, the angry Pharisees also do not pursue the matter, but return to their own homes. Elijah in our passage, having left Israel to go to Zidon, Jezebel’s home town, is miraculously preserved by God, yet when the time comes, he encounters Obadiah. Not a chance meeting, but one ordained by God, to set up the meeting that will follow. This is what we call Providence, or the ability of God to interact with the world He made in order to affect outcomes to His end. Providence is not the same thing as fate or destiny, because it does not override, command, or prevent human will. It moves along side. In a way, we can say Providence is how we see God’s will moving alongside the will of human beings. I say alongside because it is necessary that God’s will not negate the will of any human. That does not mean that God’s will can’t be completely contrary to human will or even prevent the will of men from coming about, only that the will of God cannot remove the will of man. Human beings must be able to make their own choices, as this is the reason for everything, the whole creation, and all of God’s actions within it.

But when we look at Providence, we see the will of God being performed, and yet not so overtly that a man would be forced to believe it was God. As we’ve seen, there are some who will not believe regardless, as in the story of Richard Dawkins in the interview, but there are some who would be convinced by an overt appearance of God, and God is not going to do that in our day. Doing so would eliminate the need for faith, and faith is of utmost importance to God. Blessed are they, says the Lord Jesus, who have not see, but believe.

God’s Providence sees Obadiah and Elijah meet upon the road, and Obadiah laments that if he tells Ahab that he knows where Elijah is, God will spirit Elijah away to safety, but this time is different. Elijah assures Obadiah that this day Elijah will meet with Ahab today.

16 So 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 unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? 18 And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim. 19 Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table.

– I Kings 18:16-19

Obadiah returns and tells Ahab that Elijah, his hated enemy, has appeared once more out of hiding, and Ahab immediately drops everything and goes to find him. True to his word, Elijah has remained where Obadiah found him, and Ahab meets him at last. We have discussed much about Ahab’s wickedness, but he does not miss an opportunity to display it. He accuses Elijah of being a trouble-maker, of harming Israel, but this is a classic example of calling good evil and evil good. You hear it all the time, that Christians are hateful and everyone else is loving. The people who will burn, loot, and assault other people who disagree with them are loving, but the Christians who respect the law and other people are evil. Words are violence when you’re a Christian, but violence is justice when you’re a Marxist. Ahab askes Elijah a rhetorical question: “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” But Elijah will have none of it. No Ahab, you have troubled Israel. The choice of the word “trouble” is interesting to me too. In Hebrew, the word is the same word they would use to describing the roiling of water, which is like boiling, but it is more descriptive, referring to taking serene water and causing it to become full of chaos, agitation, and disorder. And indeed, this is exactly what Ahab has done. Israel has become idolatrous, but is still following a shadow of the worship of the True God, and the result is chaos. But, the time has come for Elijah to appear before Israel and let them decide where the truth lies.

He tells Ahab to gather all of the prophets of Baal, 450 men, and the prophets of the groves, who facilitate the worship of Baal’s consort goddess, Asherah, and to meet him at Carmel, along with all of the northern kingdom of Israel. He specifically mentions Jezebel as well, saying that these prophets and priests are there at the behest of Jezebel, making her seem like a high priestess to Baal, and is a reminder to Ahab that he is responsible for this, for bringing Jezebel into his house and giving her the power to corrupt and trouble Israel.

20 So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel. 21 And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. 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. 23 Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: 24 And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.

– I Kings 18:20-24

We don’t know for sure why Ahab agreed to do what Elijah said. It could be that he feared him. After all, God had used him to bring a 3 year famine, so his prayers were powerful. He might also have wondered if the famine would not end at all if Elijah was killed or disobeyed, which would mean the end of his kingdom. It is also possible that Ahab thought that he could publicly shame and discredit Elijah, and that would strike a blow to the small rebellion of people in Israel who still felt the need to keep worshipping Jehovah. Perhaps he thought that in this moment he could completely wipe out all worship of Jehovah. Now they were worshipping God incorrectly, for they still had abandoned Moses’ Law and had been worshipping before the golden calves and with their own high places and groves, but the object of that worship was still the God who had brought them out of Egypt. They were just worshipping Him their own way, and not His way. It was a simple case of divided loyalties. The Israelites had their traditions, corrupted traditions, but clearly Israelite traditions, of their own God. But Ahab and Jezebel had forced the nation to adopt a completely different God, and had oppressed all those who preached or spoke in the name of the One True God. So there was confusion, and corruption, and a division of loyalty.

Elijah puts it really well, “How long halt ye between two opinions?” The word for “halt” there is a Hebrew word that actually refers to skipping or even dancing. He’s telling the people of Israel, how long will you be bouncing back and forth, dancing back and forth between Jehovah and Baal. And the application for us is pretty straightforward. How often do we bounce back and forth? In our modern day, it can take a lot of different forms, both for saved people and unsaved people. Unsaved people often want to believe in God, but don’t want to accept their responsibility to Him. They like the idea of a loving God who forgives everybody but don’t like the idea of a just God who punishes evil. They like the idea of God’s love and forgiveness but they don’t like the idea that forgiveness comes with a debt to Jesus, to owe Him obedience, because he paid for the evil we ourselves do, absorbing the justice of God, and His wrath. The unsaved go back and forth, or try to blend them, just as Israel had with God and Baal.

And as much as we don’t like to admit it, we as Christians can fall into the idea of bouncing back and forth. If it were not so, John would not have had to write about it in I John 2:15-17.

15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

– I John 2:15-17

John warns us that we are not to bounce back and forth between God and world. Remember that John was writing to Christians, which is why he refers to his readers as “my little children.” And John warns Christians that the love of the world drives out God’s love that is supposed to live inside us. We become divided, and full of “trouble,” full of chaos and instability. I hesitate to make this analogy but it is vivid so I’m going to do it: this division is similar to a man cheating on his wife.

When I was a kid I remembered watching a film that my mother absolutely loved. The film was Dr. Zhivago. The story was about a Russian man, a physician around the time of the WWI and the fall of Tzarist Russia, who has a wonderful wife and family at home in Russia, but when he is on the front lines healing the wounded, he is involved in a nurse that works with him. The tries to tell the story of a man who supposedly loves two women equally, which is why it was very popular, even apparently among women. But even in the film, he can’t really have them together, because loyalty is not something that can be split. The world likes to encourage promiscuity and so-called “open marriages,” but in the end it comes down to loyalty, and the love we have for our spouse was hard-wired to be exclusive. This is why you have Will Smith in the famous interview he had with his own wife, where she is casually talking about how she has relations with other men, and you can see Will barely holding it together, trying to maintain that facade that the world wants him to have, but fighting the very real hurt that he has because he, and anyone who isn’t a complete sociopath feels the need for our relationship to a spouse to be based on loyalty and exclusivity. This woman belongs to me, and I belong to her, and there is nothing and no one in between. Wives and sometimes husbands too feel the same way even about non-person interests. Wives may feel jealous if their husband spends too much time at work, or watching sports, or hanging out with friends. Men even might feel neglected or jealous if their wives doing their hobbies or hanging out with their mother or friends.

And our attempts to have it both ways also fall flat. James talks about being double-minded, warning that it will undermine our faith, and rob us of fellowship with God, and stand in the way of answered prayers. Paul talks about such people with Timothy, warning him that such people have a form of godliness, but possess none of its power. In Revelation Chapter 2, Jesus warns the church at Ephesus that even though they have some good things, they have left their first love. They didn’t follow God with their whole heart, and that’s where the trouble comes, the roiling, because God will not have you half-way. You’re not going to get His blessings if He only has a part of you. You’re not going to see His miracles, His provision, His answers to your prayers, His fellowship, His very presence, if your heart isn’t all His. As always, Jesus says it best Himself:

22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

– Matthew 6:22-23

Jesus tells us that if your eye is “single,” your body will be full of light. This is a metaphor, and a powerful one. The word “single” is haplous, which in Greek is an adjective that means clear, unobstructed, or undivided. That’s why you have to read verse 24 with verses 22-23, as verse 24 is the interpretation of the metaphor used in the other two. Jesus says, if your eye is clear and unobstructed, if there’s nothing else in it, then you will have light, you will see. But, if part of your eye is obstructed, if there’s something there that shouldn’t be, something trying to share that space, your eye will “be darkness.” In other words, you won’t be able to see. One could say, well, you’ll be able to see a little, right? Would that be better than blindness, really? Would it be better to be blind or to live your life being tormented by a tiny bit of visible light, with the rest of your world wrapped in darkness? Jesus says it’s just as bad, just as dark, indeed He says, “how great is that darkness!” The people of Israel were divided, their vision clouded, and they were attempting to serve two masters, something Jesus Himself says is impossible.

What are some ways that our loyalty gets divided? How do we sometimes find ourselves loving the world, even though we’re saved?

And I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that this passage in I Kings 18, and the parallel passage in Matthew 6 that we just looked at, both handily dismantle the unitarian arguments that we see bandied about so often. You know what I’m talking about, right? The Tick-Tock videos and video reels online, where smarmy middle aged women in witch’s hats and pretentious shirtless men with a tattoo of Jesus on one arm and one of Mohammed on the other try to explain to you that somehow we all worship the same thing. They condescendingly tell you that the exclusivism you believe in is just a result of your own unenlightened interpretation of the universe, and that if you really look hard, everything leads to what you call God, which is somehow the same as Allah, and Nirvana, and personal godhood, and being part of the collective consciousness. But Jesus says there is only one way. James says you cannot be in fellowship with God if you are double-minded. Paul tells us that we cannot have only a form of godliness, but actually God! And Elijah tells us we cannot continue to dance around between God and a dozen other things. And really, this is one of the weakest positions to have, because the reality is that all of the other belief systems are just as mutually exclusive as the True Faith! The core tenants of Islam do not preach peaceful coexistence, but Jihaad. Catholicism requires you to adhere to their traditions, as do the Eastern Religions, and all of the cults. They do not gain from people being in-between any more than God does. The only one who gains from people being in-between is Satan. He knows, after all, that people with divided loyalty will ultimately fall, and people who believe they know God and don’t are in far greater danger than people who don’t know God at all. After all, who is harder to witness to: a child in a bad neighborhood who has never heard of Jesus before, or a Jehovah’s Witness who’s at your door? See, when we have a form of godliness, we have a stronghold in our hearts, and we start to get confident in it, proud of it, sure of it. Suddenly when that stronghold is challenged, it isn’t the stronghold that’s getting challenged, it’s us. We start to identify with and as the stronghold, so that we cannot separate ideas from personhood. It is far easier to teach someone something new than to correct someone who has learned something wrong. Doing so requires a certain amount of maturity and humility that people do not naturally have. People tend to get their identities wrapped up in their likes, dislikes, hobbies, carriers and philosophies. The hardest people to share with are the people who believe that they understand and know God, but who in reality don’t.

This is why it is so important to not only allow your children to question what you believe, but encourage them to do so. Because at some point someone is going to question them, and then they will question themselves, and the ideas they espouse merely because they were following you. But then you won’t be there, it will be just your child and that challenger. Do you believe that if challenged repeatedly by a convincing opponent, that your child will not be weakened or fall? Don’t fool yourself. Most children don’t even give it much thought, until the time comes. But if you build them up, train them up, and prepare them by practicing against you, they will be much better equipped to handle the unforgiving world that wants to swallow them up.

But back to our text. Elijah goes to Mt. Carmel and waits, watching as not just Ahab, his kingly entourage, and his priests arrive, but a huge congregation from all Israel. The priests of Baal were already nearly a thousand men, and probably a good number of women as well, as we’ve already seen that sexual deviance was often a part of the worship of these pagan gods, there were likely an unknown number of ritual prostitutes and priestesses. Then when you add in the congregation, there were likely thousands of people present. Mr. Carmel’s original geographical location is a little tough to identify, as in modern times the name refers to a range of mountains in northern Israel. The word Carmel means “vineyard of God,” (remember that the word “el” almost always refers to God) and so it was likely already a populous area even in ancient times, with fertile land and many towns and cities. In addition to its central location, it was a great place to address a lot of people, since there were no microphones or sound systems, and Elijah’s voice would carry quite far. Biblically, you find many people using mountains for this purpose, notably David when he speaks to Saul, and Jotham the son of Gideon, who addresses his murderous half-brother Abimelech and the men of Shechem who supported him in wiping out the rest of Gideon’s family (which is found in the book of Judges). Jesus also delivers the Sermon on the Mount in such terrain, for the same reason. But not only did Elijah (or God) choose this site for its central location to much of northern Israel, and for its practical advantages, but because there was already an altar to the Lord there, as we will see. This altar is not mentioned anywhere else specifically, and Elijah will repair it in verse 30, because the text says it “was broken down.” The phrase “was broken down,” is actually a single word in the Hebrew, and it carries the connotation of being destroyed, intentionally broken, overthrown, or ruined. Now, this altar may have been used in Jeroboam’s false worship of God, and likely was, but chapter 19:10, when Elijah is talking to God, he mentions:

The children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword.”

– I Kings 19:10

So this altar was likely destroyed by the worshippers of Baal. Remember, Carmel was a prosperous location with many settlements, so Jezebel and her followers could not have worship of Jehovah, no matter if it was correct or not. So they had gone around destroying whatever altars they could, and this was one of them. If you look at the text carefully, it is possible that there was also an altar and possibly a grove to Baal in this location as well. It was already a high place, and the altar of God was specifically mentioned to be broken down, but as we’ll see in verse 26 of chapter 18, the end of the verse talks about “the altar which was made.” While this could be referring to the altar of God, I don’t think it is. Firstly, I don’t think the prophets of Baal would use an altar to Jehovah, and secondly, I don’t think it could be used in its present state. After all, Elijah has to repair it before he can use it, which implies the existence of a second altar. I think this is strengthened by the idea that if the priests of Baal were going to call literal fire from Baal, they would try to get everything just right in their rituals, and that would include the use of an altar to Baal, and a grove.

When everyone arrives, Elijah wastes no time in getting to the point. After issuing his indictment about the Israelites waffling back and forth, he observes to Israel that the priests of Baal and his pantheon of false gods are many. He is setting them up, as it were, like a carefully planned hustle. They have the home field advantage, after all, as they are so many, he is just one man. They have, as it would seem, nothing to fear from one lonely prophet of the Lord, when he is being pitted against the king of Israel and a host of Jezebel’s prophets. He invites his opponents to make a sacrifice with him, but the catch is that they are going to directly involve the deity they follow. Both sides will place the sacrifice on the altar, and both sides will do whatever they can to cause their god to act openly. In a way, this is a test similar to Gideon’s fleece, but this time to be performed openly, in front of all Israel. And when he puts this challenge forward, the people of Israel immediately agree. They want to see who is real. Not which god has the most zealous followers, or the biggest temples, or the most support from the crown, but which god will actually step in and act.

And that is why true Christianity is starting to have a foothold again among younger people in this country, and why Christian values are starting to draw attention once again: real Christianity has real results. Don’t be fooled, it’s not Donald Trump or the Republicans in congress. It’s not Joe Rogen’s doing, or even really Charlie Kirk’s work, death, or successors. It’s the fact that, roughly starting in the 60s, America got bored with traditional values based in the Bible, and started dabbling in everything else. We abandoned marriage and family. We removed the Bible from wherever we could, especially schools. Universities originally founded on Christian values and principles rejected them, and the country turned to evolutionary theory, Freudian psychology, normalized homosexuality, gender bending, third wave feminism, moral relativism, and nature worship. And the further our culture sinks into immorality, hedonism, the more it flirts with utter chaos of the mind. This has not escaped our youth. More and more young people are becoming disillusioned with the very things that their society has told them are of the utmost value. As men and women who assure them that science has to be trusted for all the answers, they find that science indeed has no answers, only more and more questions, forcing science worshippers to constantly change their “settled science” on a regular basis. Politicians on both sides of the isle do not even advance their own causes when they have the opportunity, giving the youth the impression that no one really believes what they say they believe. They want authenticity, and you can no longer find that in American society, as every sociopolitical avenue contradicts every other. Billionaires misusing their power and money are backing Marxism, judges let clearly guilty men go free and punish the innocent, feminists insist men are destructive and unnecessary while simultaneously hailing biological men as somehow women. No one is real, no one is genuine, everyone is trying to get something out of the youth of our country, except real Christianity. It offers them an interpretation of science that somehow jives with reality, a basis for morality that is solid and easy to understand, and hope for the future, which is something nothing else can give them. As the great preacher and writer A. W. Tozer once said:

“But if my fire is not large it is yet real, and there may be those who can light their candle at its flame.”

– A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

More and more young people are hungry for something to believe in that is real, and Christians who exemplify that conviction in their lives and unapologetically stand for what we believe will see that make a difference to those who hear us and see our lives. The opposite cannot be said to be true, for the humanists, feminists, and moral relativists of our time have nothing real to offer, no real conviction of belief and nothing real to believe in, and certainly no hope. The Bible offers something real, something that can be tested and that endures, a God that does answer by fire, if you will.

But the new rebel is a skeptic, and will not entirely trust anything. He has no loyalty; therefore he can never be really a revolutionist. And the fact that he doubts everything really gets in his way when he wants to denounce anything. For all denunciation implies a moral doctrine of some kind; and the modern revolutionist doubts not only the institution he denounces, but the doctrine by which he denounces it. Thus he writes one book complaining that imperial oppression insults the purity of women, and then he writes another book in which he insults it himself. He curses the Sultan [hedonists] because Christian girls lose their virginity, and then curses Mrs. Grundy [prudish people] because they keep it. As a politician, he will cry out that war is a waste of life, and then, as a philosopher, that all life is waste of time. A Russian pessimist will denounce a policeman for killing a peasant, and then prove by the highest philosophical principles that the peasant ought to have killed himself. A man denounces marriage as a lie, and then denounces aristocratic profligates [elites] for treating it as a lie. He calls a flag a bauble [meaningless decoration], and then blames the oppressors of Poland or Ireland because they take away that bauble. The man of this school goes first to a political meeting, where he complains that savages are treated as if they were beasts; then he takes his hat and umbrella and goes on to a scientific meeting, where he proves that they practically are beasts. In short, the modern revolutionist, being an infinite skeptic, is always engaged in undermining his own mines. In his book on politics he attacks men for trampling on morality; in his book on ethics he attacks morality for trampling on men. Therefore the modern man in revolt has become practically useless for all purposes of revolt. By rebelling against everything he has lost his right to rebel against anything.

– G. K. Chesterton

This hypocrisy is what our youth are growing tired of, and Northern Israel also seems to be tired of the “trouble,” the roiling, the chaos that Ahab and his heathen wife have foisted upon them. But it is time to turn the lights on, and pull the curtain back, and see which God is real, and which is just the Wizard of Oz. Most of us know the story already. Elijah lets his opponents go first, and they make a grand show of it. To their credit, some of them at least believed that Baal was real, as the passage talks about them cutting themselves until the blood was running down the altar. So at least some of them were zealous enough in their belief that they were willing to hurt themselves if it meant that they could get Baal to prove himself, and I think that, given the amount of blood spilled, at least some of them truly believed that Baal could answer them, if they did exactly the right process. But though they spend hours dancing, crying out until they are hoarse, and cutting themselves until they were likely endangering their health, there is no answer. They might have been surprised, but you can imagine Elijah checking his watch, so to speak. He, at least, knew that nothing was going to happen.

But I would purpose to you this idea: I think the Israelites watching, and probably Ahab too, thought that nothing would happen too. None of the false gods of the people ever did anything, after all, that’s what made them false gods! Sometimes, perhaps, the priests might use witchcraft like Pharoah’s magicians, enlisting demonic help to perform some kind of miracle, but nothing like this, nothing like calling fire from the sky. Remember that Baal was a god of storms, so they would have expected lightning, but remember too that there was not a cloud in the sky, no water in the atmosphere at all. While it is possible that Ahab and his court were devoted followers of Baal, I think it more likely that they simply used religion as a tool to control the people, and Ahab was just waiting for the completely neutral outcome so that he could take Elijah and have him executed. We know that Jezebel was not present, as we read in the next chapter, but I think it likely that Ahab was pretty confident that this event would end with him seizing Elijah and killing him, just as with so many other prophets of God, or he would not have agreed to it. Obadiah was also likely there too, watching, not knowing exactly what would happen, but believing that God would spirit Elijah away at least.

But Elijah, in a rare display in Scripture, spends the time by actively mocking the followers of Baal, which I find to be truly fascinating. God does not scold him about this at all, and we know that Elijah was in the center of the Will of God at this time, and in perfect fellowship with Him. Verse 27 tells us that he goads them to be louder, as perhaps Baal can’t hear them yet, or is busy or sleeping. This fits, as the false gods were basically supermen. They behaved exactly like human beings do, but with superpowers. They slept, they ate, they bickered and fought, they had wives and mistresses. They were not omnipresent, and could not hear, see, and act everywhere at once. But Elijah’s God was not like those gods. He is a spirit, and He does not sleep or eat, He does not take time to listen to your prayers (He knows them before you utter them), He does not get tired, and He knows everything, is everywhere, and hears all at once. He does not use sound to hear, He understands thought. He does not get “busy” as you and I understand it. Millions of prayers reach him every day and He doesn’t get swamped, or overwhelmed. He doesn’t run out of bandwidth. And this is why I think God sanctioned this sardonic mockery from Elijah: because it was not against a person, it was against this fake, insulting idea that they were pretending was somehow worthy of being even compared with the true God. The very idea of this “competition” between God and Baal was an insult to God, for Baal wasn’t even a person that he should be given even the most basic respect. He was a corrupt creation of men’s minds, a fairy tale that men were pretending mattered in any way. And so Elijah mocks them. I don’t understand it any better than you do, but God has something like emotions. He can be angry, and He can be grieved, and He can be pleased, and He can also laugh.

Thou therefore, O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah. They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go around the city. Behold they belch out with their mouth: swords are in their lips: for who, say they, doth hear? But thou, O LORD, shalt laugh at them; thou shalt have the heathen in derision.

– Psalm 59:5-8

And so, as Elijah mocks, the heathen worshippers and priests continue all the way to midday with their rituals and rites. Hours have gone by, until finally it stops. And when the prophets of Baal are all exhausted, Elijah calmly steps up to the altar, and repairs it.

32 And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. 33 And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, 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 of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of 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 at thy word. 37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. 38 Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 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. 40 And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.

– I Kings 18:32-40

He performs the sacrifice just as Moses had instructed, then he has them soak the wood and sacrifice with water, and indeed the whole altar, and even a trench around the perimeter. We should all know the significance of this. Water was scarce: people were starving, thirsty. The brooks were all dried up, and what springs there were barely sustaining the people. On top of that, the process was repeated 3 times. Dumping this much water out for what most people there believed would just be a neutral outcome almost certainly angered everyone. Ahab was probably rubbing his hands eagerly. Elijah was one man, and he had just angered everyone by dumping all of this precious water on the ground. In a few moments, after he got done doing whatever rituals he thought would awaken Jehovah, and nothing happened, he could take Elijah and have him killed, and all of the angry people around would thank him. Ahab, I am sure, was fully convinced that this would work out for him, and he could be rid of Elijah once and for all. Elijah could do a few minor miracles, sure, but no one can call fire into existence.

But then Elijah prays, and when Elijah prays, things happen, as James tells us. He was in the exact center of God’s will, in that miracle ground, and when he calls upon the Lord, fire comes from heaven. And it was immediate. Elijah wasn’t cutting himself, dancing for hours, or making a grand display. Here was one man, alone, praying. What a message that is! A man filled with the spirit prays to God in God’s will, and a miracle happens, a miracle that no one expected. I’ve heard a lot of messages on this story, as I’m sure you have, and emphasis is often put on the water being evaporated, or the dust being destroyed, but to me the most impressive thing is the stones themselves. It’s well known that stone is one of the most resistant materials to heat. It tends to conduct heat, and excessive heat can cause it to shatter or even melt. But the fire of the Lord didn’t melt the stones (Hebrew has words for that), it consumed them. This fire, which I doubt was like any fire we would imagine, ate the stones, the meat, and even the dust. It says that it “licked up” the water. This chosen word almost gives the fire itself personification. The Bible sometimes describes God’s Spirit, or even God Himself, as a fire, which makes you wonder about the true nature of this “fire.” This fire falls (presumably from Heaven, but it only says “fell” which implies that it was from above), accomplishing the complete annihilation of the altar and everything around it; a blast from heaven so powerful that there is no further need for debate. The people immediately respond.

“The LORD he is the God!” they chant. The word used there is Elohim, which is one of the many names for God, but could refer to other gods as well, depending on the context. It is a plural word in Hebrew, which is a fascinating thing, because when used without the article, it means that God has a name that is plural. When this name of God is used, by its very nature it tells us that the ancient Hebrews understood that while the Godhead is single (one God), there is a plurality within it (the Trinity). Thus, the name Elohim itself is evidence of the Trinity in the Old Testament. There are other passages in the Hebrew Scriptures that also imply that the Jews understood that the Godhead was singular but was also plural in person, but we won’t get into that. It is a fascinating study and I do mention it here because of the unusual construction of this chanted phrase. But the article is used with it in this case: YHWH ha-Elohim. This was because in this context, the Israelites who were present were taking the name (a plural word), and singularizing it with the article the, thus not referring to God’s multiple persons, but rather contrasting His singularity among the gods of the lands. This is why Hebrew is such a difficult language to translate, and is such a rich and nuanced language.

Ahab is helpless at this point. And likely his faith is also shaken. I imagine him sitting in his grand pavilion, on his throne, dumbfounded, perhaps even in a stupor, as he watches Elijah command his own soldiers, who are so afraid of Elijah that they do whatever he says. The prophets and priests of Baal are slain, and the whole nation is turned against the religion that Ahab and his wicked bride have chosen. Not only is this a shift religiously, but it directly undermines and challenges Ahab’s rule. And when he comes back to himself, we see that Ahab does not repent. He does not fall on his face and say “the Lord He is the God.” He whines to Jezebel. Even after Elijah sends rain upon the earth, just as he had said to Obadiah and Obadiah had related to him. God had shown Himself faithful. But Ahab is just like the Pharisees and their lackies, who followed Jesus to every miracle he performed and yet somehow would not believe. Indeed, each miracle that Jesus performed only made the Jewish leaders hate Him more. And Elijah experiences this as well.

And what is our application here? Do we believe God when He shows up in our lives? Or are we like Ahab, so focused on accomplishing what we want to accomplish that we don’t even appreciate a miracle when we see it. We see that after Elijah kills the prophets of Baal, which would have taken some time to do by himself, that he prays for rain. And the Lord sends rain. God not only proves His existence, but His ability to answer the prayers of those faithful to Him, and to provide rain to the relief of all Israel, and yet Ahab does not repent. He does not admit defeat. His stubbornness is legendary. He reminds me of the Jews who watched Lazarus, three days dead, come out of the tomb, only to say, “We should go tell the Pharisees about this!” The fact is, they don’t want God to be real, just like Richard Dawkins. As soon as God becomes real, all of the little things that we put so much of our time and effort in become meaningless, or even offensive, because many of them do go against God, and if God is real, then He is able to judge us. That is ultimately what I learn from this passage: unbelief is a choice, and miracles can only be seen with those who are willing to accept the reality behind them. As Jesus said many times, those who have eyes to see, and ears to hear. Because there are many who do not, and will not. That is the sin of unbelief, and it is a terrible thing.