part0048

At the end of the three years and six months of no rain and still before it had rained, the Prophet Elijah had met with King Ahab. He had first rebuked the king for not having obeyed the Lord's commandments. He had then told him to bring all of the people to Mount Carmel along with the false prophets of Baal and the false prophets of the groves. That would have been a total of eight hundred and fifty false prophets. I Kings 18:16-20 says, "So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him: and Ahab went to meet Elijah. And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim. Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred , which eat at Jezebel's table. So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel."

One might recall from chapter thirty-one and the previous chapter of this text that the above reference to the groves had been to the female goddess Asherah who had been the counterpart to the male god Baal. So once everyone had gathered, Elijah had first rebuked the people for their having worshipped those two idols. He had told them to choose their God and serve Him rather than straddling the fence between the two. I Kings 18:21 says, "And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word." He had then challenged the false prophets of those two idols to present a burnt offering without starting their own fire. The idea had been to have the one true God start the fire for the offering. It had also been to let the people see which God is true and which ones are false. As the challenge began, the false prophets had not been able to get Baal and Asherah to respond to their requests for fire. So Elijah had used that opportunity to make fun of their failure. I Kings 18:27-28 says, "And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked. And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them."

So the false prophets had become very desperate to get fire from their false gods. But everything that they had tried had been to no avail. When it had finally become Elijah's turn, he had asked the Lord to provide the fire for His burnt offering. He had even first carefully drowned his offering in water. But despite all of the water, the result had been immediate. I Kings 18:30-39 says, "…And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name: And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood. And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time. And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD 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 . Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the LORD 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 . And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God."

Elijah had won a great victory for the Lord on that day. He had then told the people to kill the false prophets of Baal. After that, he had told King Ahab that the rain was coming. I Kings 18:40-41 says, "And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there. And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain." So for three years and six months it had not rained at the voice of the prophet Elijah. Then he had declared that it would rain, and it did. Thus, he had been a man that had clearly had power with the Lord. James 5:17-18 says, "Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit."