He addressed himself to God as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, acting faith on God's ancient covenant, and reminding people too (for prayer may prevail) of their relation both to God and to the patriarchs. His interview with all Israel upon Mount Carmel, in order to a public trial of titles between the Lord and Baal; a most distinguished solemnity it was, in which, 1. It was strange that so good a man as Obadiah would accept of preferment in a court so addicted to idolatry and all manner of wickedness. 29 And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded. And they limped [they hobbled] around the altar that they had made." I don't think those two uses of the word limp or hobble are an accident. King Ahab sent for Obadiah, who was in charge of the king's palace. Let it for ever be looked upon as a point adjudged against all pretenders (for it was carried, upon a full hearing, against one of the most daring and threatening competitors that ever the God of Israel was affronted by) that Jehovah, he is God, God alone. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly: 4 For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) The sailors at this day call it Cape Carmel. Based only on the sighting of a cloud that was as small as a mans hand, he knew a torrent was on the way. Then let them put the meat on the wood, but they are not to set fire to it. Little wonder, then, that when King Ahab chose to marry a woman from Baal territory, the farmers in Israel built a house for this new god and welcomed him to the neighborhood (see 1 Kings 16:31). Those few that escaped the sword were forced to abscond, and hide themselves in caves, where they were buried alive and cut off, though not from life, yet from usefulness, which is the end and comfort of life; and, when the prophets were persecuted and driven into corners, no doubt their friends, those few good people that were in the land, were treated in like manner. Click to enable/disable _gat_* - Google Analytics Cookie. But his corruptions got the better of his convictions, and he was glad to get clear of him, as Felix of Paul, when he dismissed him, and adjourned his conference with him to a more convenient season. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there. Ahab is the Achan, the troubler, who follows Baalim, those accursed things. If we, in sincerity, offer our hearts to God, he will, by his grace, kindle a holy fire in them. 1. A fight to the finish. Why did king Ahab have to die? Elijah's Trial of the False Prophets; the Destruction of Baal's Prophets. He would have the king know before, that it might not be a surprise to him and that he might be sure it was the prophet's own act to present himself to him. Ahab's care was not to lose all the beasts, many being already lost; but he took no care about his soul, not to lose that; he took a deal of pains to seek grass, but none to seek the favour of God, fencing against the effect, but not enquiring how to remove the cause. II. This will, by no means, justify those who ridicule the worshippers of God in Christ because the worship is not performed just in their way. From Genesis to Revelation, we see that one of our Creator Kings primary qualities is his lavish generosity. Also bring the four hundred fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebels table.. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. As one having authority immediately from the King of kings, he ordered a convention of the states to be forthwith summoned to meet at Mount Carmel, where there had been an altar built to God, 1 Kings 18:30; 1 Kings 18:30. Though ten of the tribes had revolted to Baal, he would look upon them as belonging to God still, by virtue of the ancient covenant with their fathers: and, though those ten were unhappily divided from the other two in civil interest, yet in the worship of the God of Israel they had communion with each other, and they twelve were one. He also brought them food and water.) What would be some verses from the Bible to save a marriage? So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. Excerpted from "Practicing the King's Economy: Honoring Jesus in How We Work, Earn, Spend, Save, and Give," by Michael Rhodes, Robby Holt and Brian Fikkert. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website. To this fair proposal of the case, which Elijah here makes, the people knew not what to say: They answered him not a word. Yet, bad as things were. What occasion for addition to that which is perfect? Note, Those who profess religion should study to recommend themselves to the esteem even of those that are without by their integrity, fidelity, and application to business. He stood by them, and patiently heard them for so many hours praying to an idol, yet with secret indignation and disdain; and at noon, when the sun was at the hottest, and they too expecting fire (then if ever), he upbraided them with their folly; and notwithstanding the gravity of his office, and the seriousness of the work he had before him, bantered them: "Cry aloud, for he is a god, a goodly god that cannot be made to hear without all this clamour. He turned the hearts of his people back to himself. The people, as the jury, gave in their verdict upon the trial, and they are all agreed in it; the case is so plain that they need not go from the bar to consider of their verdict or consult about it: They fell on their faces, and all, as one man, said, "Jehovah, he is the God, and not Baal; we are convinced and satisfied of it: Jehovah, he is the God" (1 Kings 18:39; 1 Kings 18:39), whence, one would think, they should have inferred, "If he be the God, he shall be our God, and we will serve him only," as Joshua 24:24. I will prepare the other bull, putting the meat on the wood but not setting fire to it. Behold the bullock and the wood; but where is the fire?Genesis 22:7; Genesis 22:8. 31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name: 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. It seems, this was the manner of the worshippers of Baal. Those who are called to appear and act in public for God must yet find time to be private with him and keep up their converse with him in solitude. Stop for a moment. "Shout louder!" he said. After Israel had gone more than three years without rain as a judgment for their idolatry, the prophet Elijah confronts the evil king Ahab and challenges him to a spiritual showdown. In the book of Acts, we read a most interesting and revealing number. Leviticus 19:28 Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD. You have gone after the Baals. They danced around the altar they had built. There he set himself, as it were, upon his watch-tower, like the prophet, Habakkuk 2:1. III. 13Havent you been told what I did? Jesus reminds us that when we try, we risk devoting ourselves to money and hating him (see Luke 16:13). III. Elijah, in answer to him, [1.] Elijah vs. the priests of Baal. God demands no more from us than he can make out a title to. Thou employest me; Lord, make it appear that thou dost so;" see Numbers 16:28; Numbers 16:29. All the people agreed that this was a good idea. Had it been true that he was the troubler of Israel, Ahab, as king, would have been bound to animadvert upon him. Note, 1. Clarify V. Elijah hereupon hastened Ahab home, and attended him himself. They leaped up and down, or danced about the altar (so some): they hoped, by their dancing, to please their deity, as Herodias did Herod, and so to obtain their request. (Mark 6:20). In the end, Those who make [idols] will end up like them, as will everyone who trusts in them (Ps. They worshipped God to please the prophets, but worshipped Baal to please Jezebel and curry favour at court. Vote Up Baal's prophets were so far from being convinced and put to shame by the just reproach Elijah cast upon them that it made them the more violent and led them to act more ridiculously. According to one ancient Canaanite myth, the father of Baal slashes his chest, arms, and back upon learning of his son's death. Two things he pleads here:-- (1.) When Baals people died, it was Elijah who raised them to life (v. 22). 25 And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under. Then the hand of the LORD came upon Elijah; and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab: This was an obviously supernaturally empowered 14-mile cross-country run. Now in their experiment observe. Hence we read of those that hide themselves in the top of Carmel,Amos 9:3. In it, Elijah, the prophet of Gd, puts to the test what was at the time perceived as the most supreme and powerful of all the godsBaal. if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. No one answered; no one paid attention" (v. 29 ESV).. Elijah is not the Achan: "I have not troubled Israel, have neither done them any wrong nor designed them any hurt." God expressly forbade his worshippers to cut themselves, Deuteronomy 14:1. One true prophet against 450 false prophets. God has his remnant among all sorts, high and low; there were saints in Nero's household, and in Ahab's. i. Click to enable/disable Google reCaptcha. Probably on that mountain they had an eminent high place, where formerly the pure worship of God had been kept up as well as it could be any where but at Jerusalem. But in this chapter his appearance was as public as before his retirement was close; the days appointed for his concealment (which was part of the judgment upon Israel) being finished, he is not commanded to show himself to Ahab, and to expect rain upon the earth, 1 Kings 18:1. How did the spirit of God move upon the face of the waters in Genesis 1:2? In Pauls opinion, love of money wounds the worshiper, woos them away from the faith, and wells up in all sorts of other evils. 30 And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. I. Elijah did not interrupt them, but let them go on till they were tired, and quite despaired of success, which was not till the time of the evening sacrifice,1 Kings 18:29; 1 Kings 18:29. Those that were firm for God doubted not but it would end to his honour; those that were indifferent were willing to be determined; and Ahab and the prophets of Baal durst not oppose for fear of the people, and hoped that either they could obtain fire from heaven (though they never had yet), and the rather because, as some think, they worshipped the sun in Baal, or that Elijah could not, because not at the temple, where God was wont thus to manifest his glory. Paul declares that greed is idolatry, that to be greedy is to worship other gods (see Col. 3:5; Eph. God never required his worshippers thus to honour him; but the service of the devil, though in some instances it pleases and pampers the body, yet in other things it is really cruel to it, as in envy and drunkenness. The manager of God's cause was but one man, lately a poor exile, hardly kept from starving; so that God's cause has nothing to support it but its own right. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. When Jezebel was killing all the LORD's . It was great condescension in God that he would suffer so plain a case to be disputed, and would permit Baal to be a competitor with him; but thus God would have every mouth to be stopped and all flesh to become silent before him. Perhaps Jezebel persecuted God's prophets under pretence that they were the cause of the judgment, because Elijah had foretold it. Once we remember that the Jews saw idolatry as the ultimate sin that put one outside the community of faith, we can hear the full force of Pauls words. Micah 6:7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? These were the 450 prophets of Baal; the 400 prophets of the groves (who, some think, were Sidonians), though summoned (1 Kings 18:19; 1 Kings 18:19), yet, as it should seem, did not attend, and so escaped this execution, which fair escape perhaps Ahab and Jezebel thought themselves happy in; but it proved they were reserved to be the instruments of Ahab's destruction, some time after, by encouraging him to go up to Ramoth-Gilead, 1 Kings 22:6; 1 Kings 22:6.

Who Killed Charlie Stubbs In Coronation Street, Australia Post Mail Sorting Centre Locations Nsw, Great Value Toaster Pastries Discontinued, Palantir Hiring Manager Interview, American Airlines Swot Analysis 2019, Articles W