I Kings 18:20-39
I Kings 18:20-39 relates another incident in the public ministry of Elijah in the great drought, focusing on the ordeal on Carmel. Some 150 years after King David, Elijah can still summon the tribal federation to do battle against Baal. Elijah viewed the matter as either/or, which must have come as a surprise to many of his contemporaries. 20 So Ahab sent to all the Israelites, and assembled the prophets at Mount Carmel, at the south end of modern Haifa, the seaward end of a range that rises to 1600 feet. 21 Elijah then came near to all the people, and said, “How long will you go limping with two different opinions? The phrase refers to trying to seek support of both Yahweh and Baal. If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” The rhetorical question indicates that Israelites supported both Baal and the Lord. In polytheistic pluralism, this was a valid position. Elijah was intolerant of the both/and situation. He recasts Israelite options into an either/or choice for which they will have to bear consequences. The people did not answer him a word. Ahab receives no credit, and it does not justify his behavior when he did not have the insight or the courage to decide.[1] The commandment to have no other god was not one against which Israel simply rebelled. Rather, they wanted to worship and serve the will of Yahweh while at the same time serve the surrounding gods, especially Baal.[2]They did not want to lose Yahweh but did not want to miss Baal. They did the one, serve Yahweh, but did not leave the other undone, worship of Baal. 22 Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets number four hundred fifty. Elijah thinks of himself as the only prophet of the Lord left. The competition is for rain and who can bring the rain to end the drought. Both have altars. 23 Let two bulls be given to us; let them choose one bull for themselves, thereby eliminating suspicion of fraud, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it; I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. 24 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 is indeed God.” All the people answered, “Well spoken!” 25 Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many; then call on the name of your god, but put no fire to it.” 26 So they took the bull that was given them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, crying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no answer. They limped about the altar that they had made. 27 At noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud! Surely he is a god; either he is meditating, or he has wandered away, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” These sarcastic comments are intended for the audience. 28 Then they cried aloud and, as was their custom, they cut themselves with swords and lances until the blood gushed out over them. 29 As midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice, no answer, and no response. Elijah taunts them. 30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come closer to me”; and all the people came closer to him. First he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down, fallen into disuse. The altar can only have been erected after the time of David, since before him the land was outside the territory of the tribal federation. The worship of the Lord must have represented an invasion in Carmel. The mountain had long been the domain of Baal and his worshippers. The worship of the Lord at this altar may have set aside Baal for a time, but later the indigenous worship of Baal on Carmel revived. By now, the two altars existed next to each other. The co-existence of these two different forms of worship was intolerable to Elijah.[3] 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, in Genesis 35:1-15, “Israel shall be your name”; 32 with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. Then he made a trench around the altar, large enough to contain two measures of seed. 33 Next he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. He said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” 34 Then he said, “Do it a second time”; and they did it a second time. Again he said, “Do it a third time”; and they did it a third time, 35 so that the water ran all around the altar, and filled the trench also with water. The point is that even if Baal failed to ignite his own sacrifice, he might be powerful enough to stop the Lord. The power of the Lord is also heightened, as the Lord ignites the soaking wet altar and sacrifice.
36 At the time of the offering of the oblation, the prophet Elijah came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your bidding. The question before the people is the Lord or Baal. Who is to answer? Only the Lord could answer. Yet, everything depends upon the primal force of Elijah, who has confidence in his own prophetic powers. The Lord is the one who will testify after a period of apostasy and syncretism, while Elijah comes with no remarkable powers or qualities that made him eminent. He was simply a servant through whom the Lord would witness.[4] 37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” The text links knowledge of the deity of the Lord to the occurrence of events that the prophet predicts in the name of the Lord. Such an approach is one of many biblical ideas of revelation.[5] 38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and even licked up the water that was in the trench. The message was clear as the fire consumed everything. 39 When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord indeed is God; the Lord indeed is God.” What the prophet predicted has taken place, becoming a revelation of the deity of the Lord that leads to confession of faith. The cry, which we also read in Deuteronomy 4:35, 39, indicates that they opted for the Lord. They are the culminating confession of faith at the conclusion of Yom Kippur.
I offer a little humorous reflection on the miraculous in our age.
My advice to those of you
just starting out: don't expect too much,
or to make a big splash.
They're all so jaded now, what with all
this technology. Not like the old days,
when all you had to do
was throw your voice on the wind,
cry tears through a statue, maybe just appear
in times of great stress, looking your most
diaphanous
No, now they've got
their own miracles, like cell phones
and videos - who needs a visitation
when they've got their own apparitions
appearing and disappearing, all night
on Extended Basic Cable?
With advances like that,
a voice from heaven is not all that impressive,
nor the sight of winged creatures hovering
in a golden shaft of light.
I guess I would say
just stick to the basics, the stuff
that always works. Like birthing babies,
and healing the folks the doctors thought hopeless.
Maybe pull the stalled car off the train tracks
at the very last second. When things look grim
give 'em the old "Jesus' face in a potato chip," or
maybe a squirrel's nest that becomes, at dusk,
the spitting image of St. Francis in profile.
It might sometimes seem
like a thankless job but when you
do it right, just watch them pack up
for a road trip pilgrimage
with their picnic baskets and instamatics.
Watch their eyes widened in innocence again,
to see the Mary Magdalene in a cloud formation,
or the Enquirer's MOSES ZUCCHINI.
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[6] Poem: "The Angel's Retirement Speech" by Annie Farnsworth, from Bodies of Water, Bodies of Light.
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