1 Kings 18:17-39
17 When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” 18 He answered, “I have not troubled Israel; but you have, and your father’s house, because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals. 19 Now therefore have all Israel assemble for me at Mount Carmel, with the four hundred fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
20 So Ahab sent to all the Israelites, and assembled the prophets at Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah then came near to all the people, and said, “How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” The people did not answer him a word. 22 Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets number four hundred fifty. 23 Let two bulls be given to us; let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it; I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. 24 Then you call on the name of your god and I will call on the name of the Lord; the god who answers by fire is indeed God.” All the people answered, “Well spoken!” 25 Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many; then call on the name of your god, but put no fire to it.” 26 So they took the bull that was given them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, crying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no answer. They limped about the altar that they had made. 27 At noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud! Surely he is a god; either he is meditating, or he has wandered away, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” 28 Then they cried aloud and, as was their custom, they cut themselves with swords and lances until the blood gushed out over them. 29 As midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice, no answer, and no response.
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come closer to me”; and all the people came closer to him. First he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down; 31 Elijah took 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 your name”; 32 with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. Then he made a trench around the altar, large enough to contain two measures of seed. 33 Next he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. He said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” 34 Then he said, “Do it a second time”; and they did it a second time. Again he said, “Do it a third time”; and they did it a third time, 35 so that the water ran all around the altar, and filled the trench also with water.
36 At the time of the offering of the oblation, the prophet Elijah came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your bidding. 37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” 38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and even licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord indeed is God; the Lord indeed is God.”
This story of Elijah versus the prophets of Baal is a great story. I know it is a long one, but well worth the read!Here’s some history before we get to Elijah. We go back about six hundred years before Elijah to the days of Moses and the Israelites leaving Egypt, spending forty years in the wilderness, then entering into the Promised Land. For forty years in the wilderness, there was no need to farm, for God provided manna and quail for food.
Once the people entered into the land God had promised them, the manna and quail came to an end. Now they had to live off the land. Forty years of not farming, and you forget how it’s done. So, what do you do? You ask the locals, “How do you go about raising crops?” Those in the land worshiped fertility gods and would pray for the gods to send rain down on the crops. They used temple prostitutes who would act out the fertility process (I am trying to say this as politically correct as I can without getting graphic – you’re going to need to fill in the details on your own!).
So, the Israelites started to worship these other gods, which got Yahweh upset. Remember the Ten Commandments? Remember #1? I AM the Lord your God. You shall have NO other gods.
This went on for centuries. The people would fall away from Yahweh and worship other gods. God would get upset and send nations to battle against Israel. Israel would cry out for help. God would deliver them.
In today’s lesson, we have the Main Event – Elijah vs. the 950 prophets of Baal and Asherah. The event was to call down fire from above and light a stack of wood on fire for a sacrifice.
The prophets of Baal tried to no avail. Then it was Elijah’s turn. To up the ante, so to speak, he first had the wood soaked with water three times, offered a prayer and God delivered!
You shall have no other gods. A god is where we place our trust, our hope, our energy.
You shall have no other gods. Sometimes we focus on the actions we think we need to go through to get God’s attention: the “good things I need to do and the bad things I need to stop doing” in order for God to act. That focus becomes our god instead of simply focusing on God.
You shall have no other gods.
Return to the Lord your God, for God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.
Let us pray:
Forgive me when I put my trust elsewhere. Bring me back to your promises. We pray this in Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord. Amen.