CSSA 1-3-07 - THE CONTEST ON MOUNT CARMEL

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57. THE CONTEST ON MOUNT CARMEL

"If Yahweh be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him"

Aim

To show how God proved to the people on Mount Carmel that He was the true and living God.

The drought continued in Israel for three and a half years (Luke 4:25). The land was dry and parched. The springs and brooks were gradually drying up, and food was scarce. In the fourth year of the drought, God spoke to Elijah: "Go, shew thyself unto Ahab: and I will send rain upon the earth " (v 1). So Elijah prepared to announce to Israel the good news of coming rain € but first, the people must be made to see that Yahweh was the true and living God.

1 Kings 18

ELIJAH RETURNS: 1 Kings 18:1-24

While Elijah was on his way to meet Ahab, the king himself was out with his chief servant Obadiah, looking for grass and water for the royal horses and mules. Ahab went one way and Obadiah went another way by himself. Suddenly Obadiah, a man "who feared Yahweh greatly ", was startled to come face to face with Elijah the prophet, whom he had not seen since the day he had announced the beginning of this terrible drought. Elijah now asked him to go and tell his master that he had come to speak to him.

As Ahab approached the prophet Elijah, he said to him, "Art thou he that troubleth Israel?" (v 17).

"/ have not troubled Israel," Elijah replied, "but thou and thy fathers house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of Yahweh, and thou hast followed Baalim" (v 18).

Ahab had learned nothing in the past three years of drought. He still thought that Elijah was the cause of all his troubles.

"Gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel and the prophets of Baal", Elijah told the king (v 19). So Elijah stood before them there on the mountain.

He said to them all, "How long halt ye between two opinions? If Yahweh be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him" (v 21). He suggested a contest right there on the mountain to show quite clearly who was the true God. The prophets of Baal were to offer a bullock to Baal and call on their gods to send fire from heaven to consume their sacrifice. Likewise, Elijah would prepare a sacrifice and call upon the name of Yahweh. "The God that answereth by fire, let Him he God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken " (v 24).

THE CONTEST ON MOUNT CARMEL: 1 Kings 18:25-29

So the contest began. "Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and call upon the name of your gods, but put no fire under ", Elijah told the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal (v 25). When all was ready they called unto their god to send fire. From morning till noon they cried to their god, "O Baal, hear us (v 26). Again and again they cried, leap ing up and down before their altar, ''but there was no voice, nor any that answered"'.

Elijah had been very patient. He knew their cries were in vain, for the gods of the nations are only dumb idols (Psalm 135.15-18). Now he began to mock them. Perhaps they should shout louder: their god may be taking a journey, or even asleep! All afternoon they cried out frantically, and cut themselves with knives. Still no answer came.

YAHWEH ANSWERS WITH FIRE: 1 Kings 18:30-40

By now it was the time of the evening sacrifice. The prophets of Baal were exhausted. Elijah called to all the people, "Come near unto me". He began to repair the altar of God that had not been used for so long. He took twelve unhewn stones, one for each of the tribes of Israel, and set them one upon another. Then he dug a trench around the altar. He put the wood in place and cut the bullock in pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he called for four barrels of water and poured it over the sacrifice and the wood and filled the trench round about. Three times this was done until the sacrifice and the wood and the altar were well soaked.

Everything was now ready. In front of all the people, Elijah began to pray. "Yahweh, God of Abraham, Isaac and of Israel, let it be known this day that Thou art God in Israel, and that I am Thy servant, and that I have done all these things at Thy word" (v 36). Suddenly, "the fire of Yahweh fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench " (v 38). When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, "Yahweh, He is the God; Yahweh, He is the God" (v 39).

One thing remained to be done. "Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape ", said Elijah. So they caught the prophets as they tried to flee for their lives and slew them.

GOD SENDS RAIN: 1 Kings 18:41-46

Elijah knew that it was going to rain. He went up to the top of Mount Carmel and "cast himself down upon the earth" to pray to God. He sent his servant to go and look towards the sea. The servant looked and saw nothing. Seven times Elijah sent him, while he continued in prayer. At last the servant returned and told him that he saw a little cloud rise out of the sea, "like a man's hand". This was the sign Elijah was waiting for. He sent his servant to find King Ahab, with a message that he should prepare his chariot quickly and get down from the moun tain before the rain stopped him. Dark storm clouds were gathering fast and heavy rain began to come from the direction of the sea. The king hurried back to his chariot, knowing that once the rain came he could easily be bogged in the valley. Yet though he drove fast, God gave Elijah strength that day to run before the king to the gate of Jezreel.

LESSON FOR US

All Israel suffered in the long drought, because they had turned to worshipping idols. In Deuteronomy 11:16-17, God warned Israel that He would not send rain if they turned away from Him to worship other gods. When the people could see that Baal had no power and cried out, "Yahweh, He is God", and killed the prophets of Baal € then God sent rain. What a lesson this is for us, never to turn from worshipping the true God! "For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do wit" (1 Peter 3:12).

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