1 Kings 18:20-40--The Prophets of Baal Defeated

1 Kings 18:20-40
English Standard Version

The Prophets of Baal Defeated
20 So Ahab sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. 21 And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word. 22 Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of the LORD, but Baal's prophets are 450 men. 23 Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it. 24 And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the LORD, and the God who answers by fire, he is God.” And all the people answered, “It is well spoken.” 25 Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many, and call upon the name of your god, but put no fire to it.” 26 And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made. 27 And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” 28 And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. 29 And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.

30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” And all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that had been thrown down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD came, saying, “Israel shall be your 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 seahs of seed. 33 And he put the wood in order and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” 34 And he said, “Do it a second time.” And they did it a second time. And he said, “Do it a third time.” And they did it a third time. 35 And the water ran around the altar and filled the trench also with water.

36 And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. 37 Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” 38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The LORD, he is God; the LORD, 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 brook Kishon and slaughtered them there.

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Before the LORD sends rain, there will be a showdown between the LORD and His prophet Elijah, and all the prophets of the demon known as Baal (all idolatry is essentially demon worship whether the pagans realize this or not).  The LORD tells the people that they can no longer pretend that they are straddling the fence and worshiping Baal while still being the LORD's people.  They must now choose whether they are going to follow the LORD or Baal.  However, the people refused to answer Elijah's challenge.

Then Elijah immediately forgot what Obadiah had just told him and assumes that he alone is left as a prophet of the LORD in Israel (at least the only one present there for this showdown) and there are 450 prophets of Baal present.  If it was simply a matter of numbers of prophets, the odds are heavily in Baal's favor.  However, it was not a matter of the number of followers.  In paganism the gods become stronger or weaker based off of the number of followers and their worship given to them.  Elijah says that he, the single prophet of the LORD, would challenge all 450 prophets of Baal to see whether the LORD or Baal would accept their sacrifice and answer by fire.  Each side would prepare and altar and bull for sacrifice, but neither would have any fire to burn the offering--the LORD or Baal would have to provide that.

Elijah lets the prophets of Baal go first and try all kind of antics to make Baal answer them.  The whole time, Elijah mocks them suggesting that Baal must be too busy to pay attention to them....in deep thought, or "relieving himself" (going to the bathroom) or perhaps he was asleep and needed to be awakened.  This made the prophets of Baal try to chant louder, dance harder, and even cut themselves.  They carried on past midday until the time of the offering of oblation (the meal offering, not an animal sacrifice that was offered).  This would indicate that it was moving on towards the evening and that Elijah had given them the best part of the day in order for Baal to respond.  No one should be able to say that Elijah didn't give Baal and the prophets of Baal a fair chance.

Then Elijah called the people to him and rebuilt the altar of the LORD that was built there on Mount Carmel, which had been torn down.  He built it back up with the twelve stones that made the altar (probably representing the twelve tribes of Israel), but he wasn't satisfied with a fair fight.  Everyone should know that if you want to catch something on fire, you wouldn't want to drench it with water, but Elijah orders a trench to be dug around the altar and then for water to be poured all over the bull that was on the altar of the LORD until the trench was filled up with water and the bull the wood, and the altar are thoroughly saturated.

Now the time for the offering of oblation came and Elijah prayed to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (invoking His covenant name and reminding the people of the Abrahamic covenant, which is related to the gospel that they know at this point).  Elijah asks for the LORD to act in such a way where it would be known for certain that He alone is God, and that Elijah is His servant (that anyone who messes with Elijah is asking to take on the LORD).  Elijah prays for the LORD to answer him so that the hearts of the people would be turned back to Him.

Then the fire of the LORD fell from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the altar, and all the water that was in the trench.  There was no question with anyone that saw it that the LORD hand answered in a way that Baal was unable to answer and that He did it suddenly (though at a precise time that was His time).  There was only one appropriate response--the people fell on their faces and said "The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God."  (Saying it twice adds extra emphasis much like we have "er" at the end of a word or put "more" before it make a comparison.  The LORD, He is God and Baal is not.

The Elijah commanded that all the prophets of Baal be seizes--all 450 of them--and they were taken to the Kishon Brook where they were executed that very day.  So, in one day Ahab and Jezebel lost all the followers of their false religion and all their priests and prophets of Baal and Asheroth.  That would have been quite the slaughter, but all the people that were there as witnesses participated in the capital punishment of these false prophets and priests of these idols as required by the Law.