1 Kings 18:31, commentary and pictures

Elijah on Mount Carmel repairs the broken-down altar of Jehovah with twelve stones corresponding to the twelve tribes of the sons of Jacob, honoring God's covenant with Israel though the nation has apostatized. He works alone in full view of the people and the priests of Baal, treating that heap of ruins as more sacred than the magnificent altars of heathendom around it during the drought. With those stones he builds an altar in the name of the Lord for the test between the Lord and Baal, putting it in order according to God's word before the fire can fall. That stand casts down idolatry, stirs the people to acknowledge the Lord as God, and leads to Elijah's earnest prayer on Carmel for the rain that testifies to blessing waiting for Israel. The preparing of the altar shows that becoming empty of self and yielding to God's guidance is required for His fire to come, giving courage to those standing for the right amid apostasy, though Elijah's afterward flight before Jezebel shows even the fearless witness can falter when faith lets go its hold on infinite power.

Altar Rebuilt on Carmel

The summons is to Mount Carmel for an unusual confrontation between Elijah and the prophets of Baal and Ashtoreth. The setting is during the drought, when the broken-down altar of Jehovah stood in sharp contrast to the altars of Baal and Ashtoreth in the leafless groves. Elijah chose a highly visible place so that God's power would be displayed openly and the honor of His name vindicated after idolatrous worship had dishonored Him there.

At the hour of the evening sacrifice Elijah called the people to come near while he turned away from the prepared altars of Baal to the broken-down altar where men had once worshiped the God of heaven. He repaired it alone without calling any of the people to help in the laborious work, treating that heap of ruins in its unsightly state as more sacred and precious than all the magnificent altars of heathendom. The disappointed priests of Baal looked on in fear and hatred after their vain efforts had exposed their weakness.

He took twelve stones according to the number of the twelve tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name. The twelve stones matched the twelve tribes descended from Jacob and showed that the ruined altar had belonged to the worship of the God of heaven. They showed respect for the Lord's covenant with His people made when they crossed the Jordan into the promised land, although they had apostatized.

With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord as the place for laying the wood and the sacrifice in the test between the Lord and Baal, presenting two contrasting altars. The altar had to be put in order according to God's word before the fire could burn, showing that God's work is carried out under His guidance and not according to human preference. The verse stands within the Mount Carmel account that leads to Elijah's strong and earnest prayer for rain on the top of Carmel, offered cast down upon the earth with face between the knees in a painful humiliating position, with sorely tried but continuing faith until rewarded by tokens of rain.

Victory Weakness and Application

The twelve-stone altar belongs to a time of widespread wickedness and idolatry, when Elijah serves as a preacher of righteousness chosen by God and guided by the Holy Spirit with divine wisdom. After bearing a heavy burden for Israel, faithfully warning against national idolatry, and maintaining trust in Jehovah during three years and a half of famine while watching and waiting for some token of repentance, he stands alone and undaunted as the sole witness to the true God before King Ahab and the whole nation of Israel with the 450 prophets of Baal at their head. Through the power of faith his stand casts down idolatry in a contest between life and death that gives wonderful exhibitions of God's power and shows that Jehovah, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, is God. The people are deeply stirred, declare their allegiance to God and acknowledge the Lord as God, the false prophets are slain by commission of the God of heaven, many return to the worship of God and forsake Baal worship, and the blessed rain that follows testifies to the showers of blessing waiting to be poured upon Israel and opens the way for still greater victories.

The record of Elijah's life-work gives courage to those standing for the right amid apostasy and is relevant to later times because idolatry and opposition to God recur in new forms. God's commission to Elijah to return to Israel and stand before the idolatrous priests on Carmel comes after the sendings to the brook Cherith and to the widow of Sarepta and before God girds him with strength to guide the king's chariot to the gate of Jezreel. After the signal triumph on the heights of Carmel, Elijah is turned away from those wonderful opportunities and flees for his life before the threats of idolatrous Jezebel. The flight shows that even someone who stood fearlessly for God and whose triumph seemed to make despondency impossible can afterward be overcome when human strength fails, will power weakens in weariness, and faith for the moment lets go its hold upon infinite power and ceases to repose in God.

In that time of weakness Satan assails with fiercest temptation to shake confidence in God, as he prevails over those who have stood long and valiantly for the right, showing Elijah had not yet learned to trust wholly in God to complete his work and to occupy the vantage-ground the Lord would have him occupy. As applied to the soul, the preparing of the altar according to God's word shows that becoming empty of self, yielding to His guidance, and being molded by Him are required so that Christ can fill the heart and the fire of God can come.