1 Kings 18:30, commentary and pictures

On conspicuous Mount Carmel Elijah gathers the trembling people close around him and single-handedly rebuilds the broken-down altar of the Lord with twelve stones for the tribes of Israel, honoring God's covenant and treating those ruins as more sacred than all heathen altars. After the voiceless failure of Baal's prophets he prays simply at the evening sacrifice, and fire from heaven consumes sacrifice, wood, stones, dust and water, so the people fall down confessing the Lord as God and the false prophets are slain at Kishon. That triumph checks the idolatry encouraged by Ahab and Jezebel, stirs the nation to return to God, and opens the way to reformation. Through faith the repaired altar brings the blessed rain, for which Elijah prays earnestly on Carmel until the heavens blacken and great rain falls. The altar had to be put in order according to God's word before the fire could burn, which calls for purifying the soul by surrendering self so Christ may fill it, giving courage to stand for right amid end-time idolatry of wealth, pleasure and false ideas of God.

Ruined Altar Rebuilt

The altar stood on a high ridge of Mount Carmel, whose heights were visible across much of Israel, in sharp contrast to the altars of Baal and Ashtoreth among the leafless groves. Because idolatrous worship there had dishonored God, that conspicuous place was chosen to display His power and vindicate the honor of His name. The Lord's altar there lay broken down, neglected and torn down through Israel's apostasy, which had allowed the priests of Baal to destroy it. Its ruined condition stood before the assembled people as a visible sign of Israel's desolation and departure from God.

Elijah called all the people to come near to him, and they drew near tremblingly and watched expectantly. His calm manner stood in contrast to the frenzied efforts of Baal's priests. He first drew their attention to the ruined altar and then challenged them to choose whether to follow the Lord or Baal, while their silence showed they would not openly take their stand for God.

At the hour of the evening sacrifice he turned to the broken-down altar where the God of heaven had once been worshiped and repaired it without asking anyone to help. That heap of ruins he treated as more sacred and precious than all the magnificent and splendid altars of heathendom. He rebuilt it with twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came saying Israel shall be thy name. This honored God's covenant with Israel made when they crossed the Jordan into the promised land and represented all twelve tribes descended from Jacob. With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, made a trench about it as great as would contain two measures of seed, put the wood in order, cut the bullock in pieces and laid it on the wood, and had four barrels of water poured on the burnt sacrifice and wood a second and a third time. The altar had to be put in order according to God's Word before the fire could burn.

Fire, Confession, and Rain

The repairing of the altar came only after the prophets of Baal had called upon their god from morning until the time of the evening sacrifice and received no voice, no answer, and no regard, leaving the test of the God who answers by fire to be decided. Then Elijah prayed simply and fervently to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, asking Him to show that He is God in Israel and that He has turned the people's heart back again. The fire of the Lord fell and consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the dust, and the water in the trench. The people fell on their faces confessing that the Lord is God and declaring their allegiance to Him.

It was a terrible day of contest between life and death in which Elijah stood undaunted and triumphed over the king, the priests, and the people. The false prophets were taken to the brook Kishon and slain, a work God commissioned him to do. That day's wonderful events and exhibitions of power showed that Jehovah, the Creator of heaven and earth, is God. The confrontation checked the idolatry that Ahab and Jezebel had encouraged, stirred the nation, and led many to return to the worship of God and to seek Him. The public display of God's power gave Elijah courage for his work and was meant to make a lasting impression on king and people leading to reformation.

Through the power of faith idolatry was cast down when the broken altar was repaired, and the blessed rain that followed testified to the showers of blessing waiting to be poured upon Israel. On the top of Carmel Elijah prayed earnestly, cast down upon the earth with his face between his knees in a most painful, humiliating position. His faith was sorely tried as he continued in earnest prayer until rewarded by tokens of rain, when the heaven was black with clouds and wind and there was a great rain. There he stood as the sole witness to the true God before Ahab, the whole nation, and the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. He acted as a preacher of righteousness under God's direction and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, accomplishing the work God had given him.

That commissioned stand on Carmel belongs in a sequence directed by God, after being sent to the brook Cherith and afterward to the widow of Sarepta, and before being girded with strength to guide the king's chariot to the gate of Jezreel.

Faith Tested and Applied

The repairing of the broken altar gives courage to all who stand for what is right amid apostasy and wickedness. The public display of God's power on that day was meant to make a lasting impression on king and people that would lead to reformation, and it gave Elijah himself courage for his work. That history has special relevance for the end times, because the idolatry of Elijah's age is repeated. Then as now men worship a false conception of God or of nature instead of the true God, setting up wealth, fame, pleasure, or human ideas in His place.

Elijah had borne a heavy burden for Israel with faithful warnings against national idolatry and had watched through three and a half years of famine for some token of repentance. He had maintained his trust through drought and famine and had stood undaunted before Ahab and before the whole nation with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal at their head as the sole witness to the true God. That commission to return to Israel and stand before the idolatrous priests belonged in a sequence directed by God, after being sent to the brook Cherith and afterward to the widow of Sarepta, and before being girded with strength to guide the king's chariot to the gate of Jezreel. The day ended with the false prophets slain at the brook and the people declaring allegiance to God, turning from the greater victories the repaired altar had opened to them. After standing long and valiantly for the right, weariness let fear of death overcome faith, his strength failed and his faith let go its hold upon infinite power, and he fled for his life before the threats of idolatrous Jezebel and prayed alone in the desert that he might die. This shows how Satan assails in the time of greatest weakness and overcomes when will power weakens and faith ceases to repose in God. That hasty flight into the wilderness was not sent by God, when he needed to trust wholly in God, and by that one failure of faith he cut short his life-work so that the work he had begun he was not to complete and another was to be anointed prophet in his stead.

Yet God had marked his heart-service, so he was not left to perish in discouragement and solitude. He did not go down to the tomb but ascended with God's angels to the presence of His glory. His life declares that unbelief means failure and sin brings only shame and loss, but God's mercy reaches to the deepest depths and faith lifts the repenting soul to share the adoption of the sons of God. The repair itself teaches that God's fire can burn only when the altar is purified according to God's word. Spiritually this calls for surrendering self to God so that Christ may fill the soul.