1 Kings 18:19, commentary and pictures

Elijah spoke with heaven's authority to command Ahab to gather all Israel with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of the groves who ate at Jezebel's table to Mount Carmel, and Ahab obeyed at once and sent messengers through the kingdom to assemble them. The summons came at the end of three and a half years when dew and rain were withheld and famine fell for the sins into which Ahab had led the people, after Ahab charged Elijah with troubling Israel and Elijah laid the blame on Ahab and his father's house for forsaking God's commandments and following Baalim. Carmel was a conspicuous mountain visible across much of the kingdom and a fitting public place to vindicate God's honor where idol worship had dishonored Him, with altars of Baal and Ashtoreth standing among withered groves and the broken altar of Jehovah lying neglected on a high ridge. The gathering set a public test of whether Baal or the Lord controls rain and sustains life, in which Elijah stood alone against hundreds of false prophets, and by faith the seducing idolatry received a decided check when God's power showed Jehovah Creator to be God, the false prophets were slain, the people returned to His worship, and the rain that followed testified of blessing. Though appearing defenseless as the sole witness to the true God, Elijah stood undaunted amid angels and triumphed in a contest of life and death, teaching that God's servants must not withdraw in fear but give active witness, for making an idol of false doctrines and a false character of God is as truly idolatry as worshiping Baal, the sun-god of Phoenicia.

Gathering on Mount Carmel

Elijah commanded Ahab to send and gather all Israel to Mount Carmel, together with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of the groves, of Asherah or Ashtoreth, who ate at Jezebel's table. The command carried the authority of Jehovah, so Ahab obeyed at once, trembling under that authority, and sent messengers throughout the kingdom to assemble the people. The summons came at the end of the three years, three and a half years, in which the Lord withheld dew and rain and sent great famine as His wrath for the grievous sins into which Ahab had led the people. When Ahab met Elijah he charged him with troubling Israel instead of searching his own life and the lives of the people for the cause, but Elijah denied that he had troubled Israel and laid the blame on Ahab and his father's house for forsaking the commandments of the Lord and following Baalim.

The people gathered with apprehension, expecting an unusual event or a new calamity. The prophets gathered as a large, imposing group of eight hundred and fifty, but they feared a crisis. During the drought their gods had failed to answer their cries, prayers, and sacrifices and appeals, and had not been able to prove Elijah a false prophet.

Carmel was a conspicuous mountain visible across much of the kingdom, making it a fitting public place for God to display His power and vindicate His honor, especially because idolatrous worship on its slopes had dishonored Him. Once beautiful and fertile with streams, flowers, and flourishing groves, it had withered under the curse. The altars of Baal and Ashtoreth stood among leafless groves, while Jehovah's neglected, torn-down, broken altar lay on a high ridge. Thus the scene presented two contrasting altars, with the Baal altars in view of the altar of Jehovah.

The numbers show the scale of Israel's apostasy and separation from Jehovah and grave spiritual decline: four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and four hundred prophets of the groves, eight hundred and fifty false prophets in all. All were supported by Jezebel, with thousands of worshipers, while Elijah stood publicly for God amid widespread apostasy. This was in the dark idolatrous reign of Ahab and the heathen Jezebel, when Baal, the sun-god of Phoenicia, was worshiped on Carmel, and the nation needed God's intervention and a mighty prophet to lead many back to Him.

Contest Over Baal Worship

The gathering on Carmel was a public confrontation over the nation's idolatry, held before Ahab with apostate Israel assembled around Elijah and the altars of Baal in view of the neglected, torn-down altar of Jehovah. There Elijah stood alone against hundreds of Jezebel's prophets, challenging Baal to prove he could send dew and rain and sustain vegetation without heaven's rain. The long drought thus became the test itself, deciding whether Baal or the Lord controls rain and fertility.

He stood there as God's instrument for the overthrow of gigantic evils and as a preacher of righteousness in the dark, idolatrous reign of Ahab and Jezebel. Acting under God's commission and the Holy Spirit's guidance, he carried divine wisdom and warning and fought the Lord's battles by confronting the nation's wickedness and calling Israel with the prophets of Baal and of the groves to the mountain. That return to Israel to stand before the idolatrous priests was God's assignment to him, following God's sending of him to the brook Cherith and afterward to the widow of Sarepta.

The summons brought all Israel with the prophets of Baal and Asherah, including those supported at Jezebel's table, so that Elijah faced the whole nation with 450 prophets of Baal. It was a contest between life and death in which, with undaunted courage, he triumphed over the king, the priests, and the people. Through faith the confrontation gave the seducing idolatry a decided check and cast it down.

That day was marked by wonderful exhibitions of God's power showing that Jehovah, the Creator of heaven and earth, is God. On that terrible day of the contest the false prophets were slain. The whole people of Israel were deeply stirred and declared their allegiance to God, with many returning to His worship. The rain that followed testified to the blessings awaiting Israel.

In revenge for the slaying of Baal's prophets, Jezebel swore in the name of her pagan gods to do to Elijah in the presence of Israel as he had done to the priests of Baal. Afterward God girded Elijah with strength to guide the king's chariot to the gate of Jezreel.

Lesson for Faithful Witnesses

Elijah kept his trust in Jehovah through the years of drought and famine, and on the trying day that began with the summons to Carmel he stood before the whole nation of Israel as the sole witness to the true God. Though he appeared defenseless before Ahab, the prophets, and the assembled people, and stood alone to vindicate the honor of Jehovah, he was surrounded by heaven's protecting angels. He stood undaunted through the contest on that terrible day, showing undaunted courage in a contest between life and death and triumphing over the king, the priests, and the people. That day was marked by wonderful exhibitions of the power of God showing that Jehovah, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, is God, and by the slaying of the prophets of Baal.

That bold stand before Ahab with the whole nation and the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal at their head was followed by the terrible day when the false prophets were slain and the people declared their allegiance to God, and then by flight for life before the threats of the idolatrous Jezebel. He who had stood long and valiantly for the right was overcome when strength failed and faith let go its hold upon infinite power. His fear, weariness, and failure of faith cut short the work he had begun, showing that one who has stood courageously for God can be overcome when weakness and fear take hold. Satan assails in the time of greatest weakness to shake confidence in God, and weakness can make even a faithful servant vulnerable to temptation.

After the contest God gave him strength to guide Ahab's chariot to Jezreel, and his commission to return to Israel and confront the idolatrous priests on Carmel shows that God's servants are called to active service. They are not to withdraw in fear or let their voices be silenced, and the call to Elijah applies to Christians commissioned to preach the gospel throughout the world.

The 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of the groves, all supported by Jezebel, show how far Israel had fallen into apostasy and how the nation needed God's intervention and a mighty prophet to lead many back to Him. That Baal worship, the worship of Baal the sun-god of Phoenicia on Carmel in stand against Jehovah, exists just as truly in the Christian world today. To make an idol of false doctrines and theories is as truly making an idol as fashioning one of wood or stone, and to conceive of God in a false character with attributes He does not possess is to enthrone a philosophical idol in the place of Jehovah. The god of many professedly wise men, philosophers, poets, politicians, journalists, polished fashionable circles, many colleges and universities, and even some theological institutions is little better than Baal, while the true God as revealed in His Word, in Christ, and in the works of creation is worshiped by few, with thousands deifying nature while denying the God of nature.