Obadiah takes Elijah to Ahab
18
📚And it came about after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, “Go, appear to Ahab, and I will send rain 📖 on the earth”. 2 📚And Elijah went to appear to Ahab. And there was a severe famine in Samaria.18:2 Observe Elijah’s unquestioning obedience in everything (1 Kings 17:5, 10; 1 Kings 18:36; 1 Kings 19:15, 19). A possibility of danger in meeting Ahab did not deter him. Truly he stood as a servant in the presence of God (1 Kings 17:1).⚜
3 📚And Ahab called Obadiah, who was over his house. (Now Obadiah 📖 feared the LORD greatly; 4 📚for it happened, when Jezebel 📖 cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them 📖 by fifties in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) 5 📚And Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go throughout the land, to all the springs of water and to all the streams. Perhaps we may find grass to keep the horses and mules alive, so that we do not lose all the animals”. 6 📚So they divided the land between them to survey it; Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.
7 📚And as Obadiah was on the way, suddenly Elijah met him, and Obadiah knew him and prostrated himself and said, “Are you my master Elijah?”
8 📚And he answered him, “I am. Go, tell your master, ‘Look, Elijah is here.’ ”
9 📚And he said, “What sin have I done, that you would deliver your servant into the hands of Ahab to kill me? 10 📚As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent to seek you; and when they said, ‘He is not there’, he made that kingdom and nation swear that they could not find you. 11 📚And now you say, ‘Go, tell your master, Look, Elijah is here.’ 12 📚And it will happen, as soon as I have gone from you, that the Spirit of the LORD will carry you I don’t know where; and so when I go and tell Ahab, and he cannot find you, he will kill me. But I your servant have feared the LORD from my youth. 13 📚Was it not told my master what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the LORD, how I hid a hundred 📖 of the LORD’s prophets by fifties in a cave, and fed them with bread and water? 14 📚And now you say, ‘Go, tell your master, Look, Elijah is here’; and he will kill me”.
15 📚And Elijah said, “As the LORD of hosts 📖 lives, before whom I stand, I will surely appear to him today”.
Elijah and Baal’s prophets on Carmel
16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17 📚And it came about, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, “Are you the one who is troubling Israel 📖?”
18 📚And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you, and your father’s house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and have followed the Baals 📖. 19 📚Now therefore send and gather in my presence at Mount Carmel 📖 all Israel, and the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of the groves 📖 who eat at Jezebel’s table 📖”.
20 📚So Ahab sent to all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together at mount Carmel.
18:20 Ahab was willing to accept the challenge. After all, it seemed that the odds were 850 to 1 against Elijah. For a similar contest see note at Ex 7:11.⚜
21 📚And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you limp between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him, but if Baal, then follow him”. And the people did not answer him a word.
18:21 Ex 32:26; Matt 6:24. Men must decide what is true and what they will follow. Many people consider it broad-minded and tolerant to try to accept every outlook on life as legitimate or good. And some like to think that all religions are good, and that all gods are one. Elijah and the God of the Bible, the only true and living God, will have no part in such thinking. They knew that to worship Baal was to reject the true God, to follow the true God meant to reject Baal. Israel could not succeed in its attempt to have both. So it is now. Those who want to worship and serve the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ must reject all other gods. See also Josh 24:14-15; 2 Kings 17:32-33, 41; Isa 42:8.⚜
22 📚Then Elijah said to the people, “I, I alone, remain a prophet of the LORD, but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.
18:22 1 Kings 19:10, 14. Elijah felt how alone he was. Compare Ps 12:1. His meaning is that he was the only one to make a public stand to fight against false religion.⚜
23 Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it. And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it. 24 📚And you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD; and the God who answers by fire 📖, let him be God”. And all the people answered and said, “It is well spoken”.
25 And Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “You choose one bull for yourselves, and prepare it first, for there are many of you; and call on the name of your gods. But do not put any fire under it”.
26 📚And they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning to noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice or anyone who answered 📖. And they leaped 📖 on the altar which was made.
27 📚And at noon it came about that Elijah mocked 📖 them and said, “Call with a loud voice, for he is a god! Either he is conversing, or is pursuing someone, or is on a journey. Or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened!” 28 📚And they called out with a loud voice, and cut themselves according to their custom with knives and lances until the blood gushed 📖 out on them. 29 📚And it came about, when noon was past, and they had prophesied 📖 until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice 📖, that there was no voice, or anyone to answer, or anyone who paid attention 📖.
30 📚And 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 torn down 📖. 31 📚And 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, “Your name will be Israel”. 32 📚And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD, and he made a trench around the altar 📖, large enough to hold two measures of seed. 33 📚And he put the wood in order, and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood, and said, “Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood”.
18:33 This was to show the undeniable genuineness of the miracle which followed.⚜
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 he also filled the trench with water.
36 📚And it came about 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 today that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.
18:36 Contrast Elijah’s brief believing prayer with the long frantic praying of the false prophets. See Matt 6:7-8.⚜
37 📚Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so that this people may know that you are the LORD God, and that you have turned their heart back again”.
18:37 Observe the object Elijah had in mind – he did not want to put on a spectacular show, or call attention to himself, or gain any kind of personal benefit. His desire was that people might know who the true God is. This most important matter is everywhere emphasized in the Bible – Ex 9:16; Josh 4:24.⚜
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.
18:38 Verse 24. Observe the willingness of God to reveal Himself when there is obedience and believing prayer. Compare John 14:21, 23.⚜
39 📚And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and said, “The LORD, he is the God! The LORD, he is the God!”
18:39 Verses 21,24,37. The object of this contest (v 37) was achieved. But the results were not permanent. Before long the people and their rulers forsook God again. See 2 Kings 17:7-17.⚜
40 📚And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Don’t let one of them escape!” And they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and killed them 📖 there.
41 📚And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain 📖”.
Elijah’s prayer for rain
42 📚So Ahab went up 📖 to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, and threw himself down on the ground, and put his face between his knees, 43 📚and said to his servant, “Go up now. Look toward the sea”. And he went up and looked, and said, “There is nothing”. And seven times 📖 he said, “Go back”.
44 📚And it came about at the seventh time that he said, “Look, a little cloud is rising from the sea, like a man’s hand”. And he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot, and go down, so that the rain does not stop you.’ ”
45 📚And in the meantime it came about that the sky was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. 46 📚And the hand of the LORD 📖 was on Elijah, and he tucked up his robe and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.