Yashar shook with excitement. Elijah’s turn had come. “I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord,” the prophet had roared up top the mountain as his enemies looked on. “Soon the God of Israel will put to shame the false gods of your imaginations.” He stacked wood and placed the cut-up bull for the offering upon it. When done with that he turned and said, “Get four vessels of water and pour it on the offering and the wood.”
They were furious at Elijah’s commanding tone but, when their murmuring died of its own emptiness, Ahab sighed and told them, “Do as the prophet says.”
“Go down that way,” Elijah said, pointing in the direction of the Kishon Stream, “and you will find the water that you need.”
Several went down and returned not long after, straining as they hauled up four brimming vessels. After Ahab nodded, they poured all the water upon the altar Elijah had made.
“Now,” Elijah said when they had finished, “do the same a second time.”
There was no fight left in them. A new group grabbed the empty vessels and returned from the stream not long afterward to douse the altar a second time. Elijah looked at the altar, the wood and the bullock, all soaking wet, and said, “Now do it a third time.”
They did so and, afterward, puddles lapped at the lip of the encircling ditch. The king, his servants and bowmen, the water carriers, all the men of Israel and even the wounded priests of Baal seemed dismayed at the sight. The altar and sacrifice were thoroughly drenched.
“Have you cursed us again, prophet?” Ahab asked.
Elijah raised his arms so quickly that everyone gasped. “O Lord,” he cried, “God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Israel, let it be seen this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant and that I have done all these things by your hand. Give me an answer, O Lord.”
A handful of the sons of Israel fell to their knees and wept, asking forgiveness for the nation’s sin.
“Give me an answer,” Elijah finished, “so that this people may see that you are God.”
“Hallelujah,” Yashar shouted, but no one seemed to care. The entire world seemed to be holding its breath before the most amazing thing happened.
*
“Hear me, that this people may know that you are the Lord God…” Elijah thundered and the fire of the Lord came down and devoured the offering, the sodden wood exploding like tinder under a concussion of flames, “…and that you have turned their heart back again.”
The mountain shook with the impact and everyone fell back, their robes charred and whiskers singed (except for Elijah and Yashar who had managed to stand their ground).
“For we did not make this land ours by our swords,” the prophet said, “and it was not our arms which kept us safe but your right hand, O Lord, and your arm, and the light of your face because you had pleasure in us for a day.”
When the fire of the Lord withdrew, the mountain ceased to shake. Yashar checked his face for blisters. Israel stood quivering after having seen what the living God had wrought. The altar stones had exploded. Every drop of water had been consumed.
Israel fell to their faces and repeated…
The Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God.
Yashar joined them, full of awe, for no man or boy had ever witnessed such a thing! Mighty Ahab, who had fallen beside the others with his face flat on the ground, rose to his knees and began to heave and cry. Elijah walked among them all, pointing at each and repeating, Thus says the Lord! Thus says the Lord!
All lies fade when God’s truth shines bright. Ahab seemed to understand what had to happen next. Without the first glimmer of pity in his otherwise compassionate eyes, Elijah pointed toward the fallen priests and said to the men of Israel, “Take them. Let not one get away.”
No one moved at first, aware of Jezebel’s passion for those men, but when they turned to Ahab for direction he only continued to weep. And so they herded Jezebel’s defeated hundreds down from the summit to beside the Kishon Stream and put each one to death.
Yashar stayed up top during the slaughter with his hands clasped over his ears. When the men had returned from their dirty work, he heard Elijah say, “Up, Ahab! Take food and drink for there is a sound of much rain.” Yashar checked the sky, the heavens were as pale as ever, but Ahab went down the mountain to take food and drink as Elijah had commanded and the men of Israel followed.
Elijah dropped down and prayed with his face between his knees. “Go now, boy,” he said after a moment, “look in the direction of the sea.”
Yashar ran to the edge of the summit and peered out over the water. It seemed silly to do so; no one in the world had seen a cloud for a thousand days. As always, the sea lay beneath a cloudless sky, calm as milk in a bowl.
“Nothing,” Yashar told Elijah upon his return. “Maybe it will take God a day or two?”
Elijah said, “Go again, boy, seven times.”
That seemed unnecessary but, mumbling only a little, Yashar ran point to point again, seven times as ordered, each time until the seventh seeing that nothing had changed at all. But after his final glimpse at the Western Sea, streaked to the horizon by the rays of the setting sun, Yashar ran back to report, “I see a cloud coming up out of the sea as small as a man’s hand.”
Elijah rose quickly from his knees, clapped, hopped in place and said, “Go and say to Ahab, Get your chariot ready and go down or the rain will keep you back.”
“I saw but a puff, Prophet.”
“It is ended, boy,” Elijah said, tapping Yashar’s chin with his hairy knuckles. “By God’s unfathomable mercy, Israel is forgiven and blessed with rain again.”
“Washed clean,” Yashar said.
Elijah grinned at first, pleased by Yashar’s words but then, with tears welling in his eyes he added, “But I fear we’ve learned nothing. Even this gesture of God’s abundant grace will, in time, pass unappreciated.”
How difficult it must be to frequently hear the voice of God.
*
As Yashar watched from the top of the mountain, the heavens darkened and fingers of vapor spiraled up from the sea. A fresh wind rose from nothing and blew sand across the summit. Suddenly thunder shook the mountain and lightning split the sky.
Rain, rain, rain, Israel cried out when it began. All down the hillside Yashar saw men who moments earlier had been staggering upon their staffs suddenly leaping, hopping and bucking like calves in the torrent. He hurried down and ran circles around them, his arms out like birds’ wings, pelted by cold, clean water to the point of pain.
Ahab, standing drenched to the side of the celebration, nodded solemnly toward Elijah. The prophet bowed slightly in return. At that moment only, Yashar pitied the king.
Ahab stepped into his chariot, summoned his escort and readied to ride away.
“Today did not unfold as the king had hoped,” Elijah said. “His anger has become bewilderment. He soon must face his queen.”
“But it is raining,” Yashar said, “surely even Jezebel will be thrilled.”
“What of the queen’s dead holy men, boy? What of the embarrassment to her gods?”
Yashar had not considered it.
“Make your way to Jezreel,” Elijah said, “it’s but a short day’s walk from here if you go a good pace and don’t get lost. At the city, climb the ascent to the plaza and wait for me at the top by the gates.”
Yashar began to protest but Elijah raised a finger. “No more questions,” he said. “You’ve seen fire fall from heaven. You’ve seen a cloudburst explode from a wisp of smoke; doubt nothing of the Lord’s work again.”
Yashar hung his head.
“Go back up the face now,” Elijah said, pointing. “Sit high enough to see the valley floor.”
“Why, sir?” Yashar asked.
But Elijah refused to say more.
*
As ordered, Yashar found a sheltered spot up top from where he could see the valley. Lines of men had left the celebration and begun to snake down the mountain’s eastern face toward the flats, soaking wet and headed home. Upon the plain, Yashar spotted the king’s chariot pitching fantails of mud as it raced away. Somehow, Yashar’s vision improved. There was Elijah, obviously touched by the Lord, running ahead of Ahab’s rig. Even as the mountain’s shadows grew longer and the rain fell harder, Yashar saw every stride Elijah took as he ran ahead of Ahab’s racing chariot, all the way to Jezreel.