1 Kings 18:25, commentary and pictures

On Mount Carmel before Israel and Ahab, Elijah alone faced the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and told them to take first choice of the two bullocks and dress it first because they were many, then call on the name of their gods while putting no fire under the wood. It was a fair test set by God between the Lord's altar and Baal's altar, in which neither side was to supply the fire so that the God who answered by fire would be shown to be God. Baal gave his prophets no answer to their cries, while Elijah's simple fervent prayer to the God of heaven was answered at once with fire that consumed the sacrifice and the water, moving Israel to acknowledge the Lord and giving idolatry under Ahab and Jezebel a decided check in the slaying of its prophets. God sent Elijah there as His preacher of righteousness to exhibit Jehovah as Creator of heaven and earth, to expose idolatry, to strengthen faith, and to bring the king and people to reformation and open the way for greater victories. His undaunted trust through drought and on Carmel gives courage to those standing for right amid apostasy, while Baal worship as sun-worship shows what idolatry still is today when false doctrines, deified nature, worldly devotion, and exalted human ideas are enthroned in place of Jehovah.

Setting and Fair Test

Elijah commanded that Israel together with the prophets of Baal and of Ashtoreth assemble at Mount Carmel, and Ahab obeyed that command at once. The meeting place was a conspicuous height visible across Israel, chosen so the people could witness God's power and the vindication of His name against idolatry.

There Elijah stood alone as the sole witness to the true God, undaunted before Ahab and the assembled nation. He faced the many prophets of Baal, numbered as four hundred and fifty, with the whole nation of Israel gathered with them at their head. He stood before the idolatrous priests in that confrontation as part of the mission God had given him. That solitary stand for God against Israel's idolatry belonged to a contest in which faith in God would overthrow idolatry.

In the verse he tells Baal's prophets to choose one of the two bullocks with first choice and to dress it first because they are many. They are to prepare their bull first, then call on the name of their gods while putting no fire under the wood. Both sides were to lay a bullock on wood with no fire under it and call on the name of their gods.

The instruction sets the prophets of Baal's altar against the Lord's altar. It is a fair and reasonable test directed by God, in which neither side is to supply the fire, so that the God who answers by fire will be shown to be God and acknowledged as God. Its purpose is to expose idolatry and bring a clear victory for His name. The prophets accepted the conditions and began their rites, with their pagan rites now underway.

Victory and Present Meaning

The prophets of Baal called upon their god and received no answer, while Elijah's simple, fervent prayer to the God of heaven was answered at once with fire that consumed the sacrifice and even the water, thereby displaying God's superiority over Baal and leading Israel to acknowledge the Lord. That answer decided the contest in the defeat of idolatry and the overthrow of Baal's prophets, for the false prophets were slain and the idolatry that had seduced the nation under Ahab and the heathen Jezebel was given a decided check. The whole people were deeply stirred by this public manifestation of divine power, declaring their allegiance to God, with many returning to His worship. It was a terrible day upon Carmel and a contest between life and death in which Elijah triumphed over the king, priests, and people.

The same Carmel victory led directly to rain after three and a half years of famine, testifying to blessings awaiting Israel when faith overthrew idolatry. Having told Ahab to eat and drink for the sound of abundance of rain, Elijah went up to the top of Carmel and cast himself down upon the earth with his face between his knees in a painful, humiliating position. There he continued in strong, earnest prayer with faith sorely tried until he was rewarded by tokens of rain, followed by heaven black with clouds and wind and great rain.

The work was commissioned by God, who sent Elijah there to do it as part of the mission given him. Chosen as a preacher of righteousness and guided by the Holy Spirit, Elijah carried out the Lord's work in a contest that gave wonderful exhibitions of divine power showing that Jehovah, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, was God. That victory through a public manifestation of divine power was meant to strengthen faith and bring the king and people to reformation, and the triumph over Baal worship opened the way for greater victories and further work among those led into idolatry.

Elijah had maintained his trust in Jehovah during the years of drought and famine and stood undaunted before Ahab on the trying day on Carmel as the sole witness to the true God before the whole nation and the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal at their head. That record gives courage to those standing for what is right amid apostasy. Such courage and triumph should have kept him from giving way to despondency and being awed into timidity before Jezebel's threat, leading him instead to meet it with appeal to God for protection. Yet after standing long and valiantly for the right he fled for his life when strength failed and faith let go its hold, afterward losing courage when Jezebel threatened him, proving how Satan prevails by assailing in the time of greatest weakness.

Baal, the god of Phoenicia worshiped in Israel, was a sun-god. Its worship illustrates idolatry as making an idol of false doctrines and theories as truly as fashioning an idol of wood or stone, deifying nature while denying the God of nature, and conceiving of God in a false character with attributes He does not possess. The same idolatry exists in different form today when people serve false gods through devotion to worldly things or by exalting human ideas above God. A philosophical idol is enthroned in place of Jehovah and worshiped by the professedly wise, by philosophers, poets, politicians, journalists, and polished fashionable circles, and by many colleges and universities, even some theological institutions, while the true God as revealed in His Word, in Christ, and in the works of creation is worshiped by but few.