1 Kings 18:24, commentary and pictures

Elijah set the test on Carmel with two altars of bullocks laid on wood with no fire under, one for Baal's prophets and one for himself, each side to call on the name of his god. The terms were that the God who answered by fire was to be acknowledged as the true God. Baal gave no answer, and the enemy was restrained so he could not kindle even a spark for his worshipers, while the God of heaven answered Elijah's fervent prayer at once and proved that Jehovah the Creator is God. The display overthrew idolatry, stirred the people to return to God's worship and declare their allegiance, and was followed by the slaying of the false prophets. It stands as a call to undaunted faith that casts down idolatry, for the world is still idolatrous without shrine or image in its worship of riches, fame, pleasure, false doctrines, and deified nature.

The Challenge at Carmel

The challenge belongs to Elijah's summons for all Israel to gather at Mount Carmel, where the people came expecting some unusual event and traveled with foreboding, wondering what new calamity was about to fall. The mountain was a highly visible place where people across the land could witness the display, and though dishonored by idolatrous worship it was fitting for a public vindication of God's name and power.

The test he proposed centered on two altars with two bullocks cut in pieces and laid on wood with no fire placed under. One was to be prepared by the prophets of Baal and one by Elijah himself, and each side was to call on the name of his god, with the God who answered by fire to be acknowledged as God. He set this test after asking the people how long they would halt between two opinions, standing alone as the sole witness for the true God. Against him stood four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, backed by the whole nation with King Ahab at their head.

The people answered that the proposal was reasonable, good, and well spoken, and their agreement helped set the test that would decide between the Lord and Baal. The prophets of Baal did not object to the arrangement and did not dare object.

The proposal was divinely directed work that God commissioned Elijah to do as a preacher of righteousness in a time of widespread wickedness and idolatry under Ahab and Jezebel. It required undaunted courage in a contest between life and death before the king, the priests, and the people. God sent him to stand before the idolatrous priests on Carmel by commission, just as He had sent him to the brook Cherith and afterward to the widow of Sarepta, and just as He gave him strength to guide the king's chariot to the gate of Jezreel.

Fire Answers from Heaven

The test was that the God who answers by fire should be acknowledged as God, so that all might see which god should be recognized and that the Lord and not Baal is God. In the contest Baal did not answer, while the God of heaven answered Elijah at once. Satan himself would have kindled fire for Baal's worshipers if he could, but Jehovah restrained his power so that the enemy could not produce even a spark at Baal's altar. Elijah's appeal was simple and fervent, asking God to show His superiority over Baal so that Israel would turn back to Him. The wonderful exhibition of power in answer, fire from heaven, proved that Jehovah, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, is God.

That answer brought Israel's idolatry to an end and overthrew it, deeply stirring the people so that many returned to the worship of God. After the contest the people declared their allegiance to God. The false prophets were slain. The rain that followed testified to the blessings and showers of blessing awaiting the nation.

The Carmel account ends with blessing, for Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, cast himself down upon the earth with his face between his knees, and prayed strongly and earnestly for rain. His faith was sorely tried as he continued in that painful, humiliating position until rewarded by tokens of rain. He had borne a heavy burden for Israel with faithful warnings against national idolatry and deep solicitude through three years and a half of famine, watching and waiting for some token of repentance. The triumph opened the way for still greater victories among those seduced into Baal worship, yet Elijah was disappointed and had hoped for more from the miracle. The display should have strengthened his confidence in God and helped bring about reformation among the king and the people, and he could not complete his work for them until he learned to trust wholly in God.

Faithfulness and Modern Idolatry

Elijah maintained his trust in Jehovah through the years of drought and famine during three years and a half of watching and waiting with deep solicitude and faithful warnings against national idolatry for some token of repentance in Israel. On the terrible, trying day on Carmel he stood as the sole witness to the true God, standing firm through the whole day and standing undaunted before Ahab the king, before the priests, and before the whole nation of Israel with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal at their head. It was a contest between life and death in which the God who answers by fire would be acknowledged as God, and the wonderful exhibition of power in answer proved Jehovah, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, to be God. Through the power of faith idolatry was cast down there, the false prophets were slain, the people declared their allegiance to God, and the blessed rain that followed testified to the showers of blessing waiting to be poured upon Israel.

Even after standing long and valiantly for the right in that public victory, his strength failed in its aftermath. In a moment of weariness he allowed the fear of death to overcome his faith in God, his faith let go its hold upon infinite power, and he fled for his life into the wilderness before the threats of idolatrous Jezebel. This shows that it is at the time of greatest weakness that Satan assails with the fiercest temptations. When will power weakens and faith fails, even those who have stood long and valiantly for the right can yield, so watchfulness remains needful after the false prophets are slain and allegiance has been declared.

Elijah's life-work of standing for the right in the midst of apostasy brings inspiration and courage to all called to stand in apostasy. For those upon whom the ends of the world are come it has special significance because history is being repeated. His triumph on Carmel opened the way for still greater victories among those seduced into Baal worship, yet he could not complete his work for them until he learned to trust wholly in God.

Baal, the sun-god of Phenicia and Phoenicia, is an example of replacing the true God with a false conception of Him. The world today has its Ahabs and its Jezebels and is as verily idolatrous as in Elijah's day, though with no outward shrine or image for the eye. Men follow after gods of riches, fame, pleasure, and pleasing fables that permit following the inclinations of the unregenerate heart, and multitudes with a wrong conception of God and His attributes are as truly serving a false god as the worshipers of Baal. It is as easy to make an idol of false doctrines and theories as to fashion an idol of wood or stone, for in rejecting truth men reject its Author, and in trampling upon the law of God they deny the authority of the Lawgiver. Satan leads men to conceive of God in a false character as having attributes He does not possess, a philosophical idol is enthroned in the place of Jehovah while the true God as revealed in His Word, in Christ, and in the works of creation is worshiped by but few, thousands deify nature while they deny the God of nature, and the god of many professedly wise men, of philosophers, poets, politicians, journalists, of polished fashionable circles, of many colleges and universities, even of some theological institutions, is little better than Baal. Many who claim to be Christians have allied with influences unalterably opposed to God and His truth, turning away from the divine and exalting the human. The victory declares that faith lifts up and unbelief means failure, and that sin brings only shame and loss while God's mercy reaches to the deepest depths.