Chapter XXVI: The Lord Answers Elijah by Fire

1 KINGS 18, 19

THEN after a long time, the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year of the famine, saying to him, "Go, show thyself to Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth."

So Elijah went back from Zarephath, and came down to Samaria to show himself to Ahab; and the famine was very sore there.

Ahab had a trusted servant called Obadiah, who was governor of his house; and this man "feared the Lord greatly."

That meant, he did that which would please God, and earnestly obeyed Him in all things. Once, when the wicked queen, Jezebel, tried to kill all the Prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took fifty of them and hid them in a cave, and fed them with bread and water, and so saved their lives.

So because the famine was very terrible in Samaria, Ahab called Obadiah, and told him that they would both go out into the country with the horses and mules and find all the brooks and streams that were left, where a little grass might be growing, to save the horses alive.

Ahab went one way and Obadiah another, and as Obadiah was seeking for water, he met Elijah, who was on his way to Ahab, as the Lord had told him. When Obadiah saw him, he bowed himself to the earth before God's Prophet; and then Elijah said, "Go and tell thy lord that Elijah is here."

Obadiah hesitated very much to carry this message, as he was afraid that the Spirit of the Lord might carry Elijah away, so that he could not be found. He reminded Elijah that he had "feared the Lord" since he was a child, but that Ahab would certainly slay him if he carried such a message to him as that!

Then Elijah promised him, that he would surely show himself to Ahab that very day.

So Obadiah went and told Ahab, and the king came out to meet Elijah.

Then Ahab said to him, "Art thou he that troubleth Israel?"

And Elijah answered, "It is thou and thy father's house that have troubled Israel, because ye have forsaken the Lord's commandments and have worshipped Baal!"

Then he told Ahab to gather together the people, and all the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of the grove, who sat down daily at Jezebel's table, and to take them to Mount Carmel, and meet him there.

So a number of the people, and all the prophets of Baal, came together to Mount Carmel.

And Elijah came to the people, and he said, "How long do you mean to halt between two opinions? If the LORD be God, follow Him! but if Baal, then follow him."

And the people did not answer a word.

Then Elijah said, "I am the only Prophet of the Lord, and Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty. Let them therefore give us two bullocks, and let them choose one for themselves and slay it, and dress it, and put it on the altar, with no fire under."

"And I will slay and dress the other bullock, and put it on the altar, and put no fire under. And the God that answereth by fire, let Him be God!"

So the priests of Baal took their bullock and did as Elijah had said; and they cried unto the name of their god from morning until noon, saying, "O Baal, hear us!"

But there was no voice nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the Altar which was made.

Then Elijah mocked them, and told them to cry aloud, as their god was talking, or on a journey, or asleep, and must be awaked! And they cried aloud, and cut themselves with knives. And thus they went on till the time of the evening sacrifice. But there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.

Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come near unto me."

And he repaired the Altar of the Lord that was broken down, and built it up with twelve stones for the twelve tribes of Israel; and he cut a deep trench round the Altar, and put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces and laid him on the wood.

Then he told the men to fill four barrels with water, and to pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood; and this he ordered to be done three times, so that the water ran all about the Altar; and he filled the trench with water.

Elijah knew what his God, Jehovah, was going to do, and what a glorious ending there would be!

So at the time of the evening sacrifice Elijah drew near to the Altar and prayed: and he said, "Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that Thou art God . . . and that I am Thy servant, and that I have done all these things at Thy word."

"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."

"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!"

"And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal, let not one of them escape! And they took them and brought them down to the brook Kishon." And they were all killed. The children of Israel had acknowledged their God at last!

Then Elijah turned to Ahab the king, who, like the people, had cast himself in awe and reverence upon the ground. And he said to Ahab, "Arise, and eat, for there is a sound of abundance of rain!"