When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!” (1 Kings 18:29, NIV 1984).
My Musings – What was it that caused such a reaction from the people of Israel? A display of God’s might and sovereignty that had not been seen in many years. “Ahab went to meet Elijah. When he saw Elijah, he said to him, ‘Is that you, you troubler of Israel?’ ‘I have not made trouble for Israel,’ Elijah replied. ‘But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals. Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel.'” (1 Kings 18:16-19, NIV 1984).
Ahab had indeed caused trouble for Israel by serving Baal and worshipping the Baals rather than God. This is what caused the trouble that Elijah had brought, “neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at [Elijah’s] word,” (1 Kings 17:1, NIV 1984), resulting in a severe famine in the land. Ahab should have remembered the Lord’s words to Moses. “Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain, and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you.”(Deuteronomy 11:16-17, NIV 1984).
After three years, that “word” was about to come. It was time to confront Ahab’s Baal worship before it took down the whole nation “from the good land the Lord had [given them],” as it ultimately would many years later. So, Elijah set forth this challenge. “Bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table. I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. Get two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 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—he is God.” (1 Kings 18:19, 22-24, NIV 1984).
Quite a challenge. But Elijah knew his God, and he knew that Baal and Asherah were no gods at all. Mere superstitions, or demons deceiving the people. But this demonstration was not just for Ahab and Jezebel. “Elijah went before the people and said, ‘How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.’ But the people said nothing.” (1 Kings 18:21, NIV 1984). That was about to change. The people would find their tongues.
The challenge went just about as you would expect. The prophets of Baal “called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. ‘O Baal, answer us!’ they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. So, they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.” (1 Kings 18:26, 28, NIV 1984).
Elijah was a good sport about it. “‘Shout louder!’ he said. ‘Surely, he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.'” (1 Kings 18:27, NIV 1984). Well, maybe not quite a good sport. Elijah knew that “before me [God Almighty] no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.” (Isaiah 43:10, NIV 1984). And he wanted the people to know this too.
“Then Elijah said to all the people, ‘Come here to me.’ He built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it…He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, ‘Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood. Do it again,’ he said, and they did it again. ‘Do it a third time,’ he ordered, and they did it the third time. The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.” (1 Kings 18:30,32-35, NIV 1984). Elijah was leaving no room to question “if the Lord is God.”
“Elijah stepped forward and prayed: ‘O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.’ Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.” (1 Kings 18:36-38, NIV 1984). No, no doubt at all.
“When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, ‘The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!'” (1 Kings 18:29, NIV 1984).
My Advice – How about you? We know He is God. But He wants to be our Lord. “I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior.” (Isaiah 43:11, NIV 1984). Similar words have echoed through the ages. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12, NIV 1984).
The Brew Is A Musing 