This chapter is based on 1 Kings 18:19-40.
(SS 75)
Standing before Ahab, Elijah commanded, “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.”
(SS 75.1)
Ahab obeyed at once, as if the prophet were monarch, and the king a subject. Swift messengers were sent with the summons. In every town and village the people prepared to assemble at the appointed time. As they journeyed toward the place, the hearts of many were filled with strange forebodings. Why this summons to gather at Carmel? What new calamity was about to fall?
(SS 75.2)
Mount Carmel had been a place of beauty, its streams fed from never-failing springs and its fertile slopes covered with flowers and flourishing groves. But now its beauty languished under a withering curse. The altars erected to Baal and Ashtoreth stood in leafless groves. On the summit of one of the highest ridges was the broken-down altar of Jehovah.
(SS 75.3)
Carmel’s heights were visible from many parts of the kingdom. At the foot of the mount were vantage points from which could be seen much of what took place above. Elijah chose this elevation as the most conspicuous place for the display of God’s power and the vindication of His name.
(SS 75.4)
Early on the morning of the day appointed, the hosts of Israel gathered near the top of the mountain. Jezebel’s prophets marched in imposing array. In regal pomp the king appeared at the head of the priests, and the idolaters shouted his welcome. But the priests remembered that at the word of the prophet the land of Israel for three years and a half had been destitute of dew and rain. Some fearful crisis was at hand, they felt sure. The gods in whom they had trusted had been unable to prove Elijah a false prophet. To their frantic cries, their prayers, their revolting ceremonies, their costly sacrifices, the objects of their worship had been strangely indifferent.
(SS 75.5)
Facing King Ahab and the false prophets, and surrounded by the assembled host of Israel, Elijah stood, the only one who had appeared to vindicate the honor of Jehovah. He was apparently defenseless in the presence of the monarch, the prophets of Baal, the men of war, and the surrounding thousands. But around him were angels that excel in strength.
(SS 76.1)
Unashamed, unterrified, the prophet was fully aware of his commission to execute the divine command. In anxious expectancy the people waited for him to speak. Looking first on the broken-down altar of Jehovah and then on the multitude, Elijah cried out in trumpet tones, “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him.”
(SS 76.2)
The people answered not a word. Not one in that vast assembly dared reveal loyalty to Jehovah. Deception and blindness had overspread Israel, not all at once but gradually. Each departure from rightdoing, each refusal to repent, had deepened their guilt and driven them farther from Heaven. And now, in this crisis, they persisted in refusing to take their stand for God.
(SS 76.3)
The Lord abhors indifference in a time of crisis. The whole universe is watching with inexpressible interest the closing scenes of the great controversy between good and evil. What can be of more importance to the people of God than to be loyal to the God of heaven? All through the ages, God has had moral heroes, and He has them now—those who, like Joseph, Elijah, and Daniel, are not ashamed to acknowledge themselves His peculiar people. His special blessing accompanies men of action, men who will not be swerved from duty, but who will inquire, “Who is on the Lord’s side?” (Exodus 32:26)—men who will demand that those who choose to identify with the people of God shall step forward and reveal their allegiance to the King of kings. Such men make their wills subordinate to the law of God. For love of Him they count not their lives dear unto themselves. Fidelity to God is their motto.
(SS 76.4)
While Israel on Carmel hesitated, the voice of Elijah again broke the silence: “I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord: and the God that answereth by fire, let Him be God.”
(SS 77.1)
The proposal of Elijah was so reasonable that the people answered, “It is well spoken.” The prophets of Baal dared not dissent; and, addressing them, Elijah directed, “Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many.”
(SS 77.2)
With terror in their guilty hearts, the false priests laid on the wood and the victim. Then they began their incantations. Their shrill cries echoed through the forests and the surrounding heights: “O Baal, hear us!” Leaping, writhing, and screaming, with tearing of hair and cutting of flesh, the priests pleaded with their god to help them. Morning passed, noon came, and yet there was no reply to their frantic prayers. The sacrifice remained unconsumed.
(SS 77.3)
As they continued their frenzied devotions, the crafty priests continually tried to devise some means to kindle a fire on the altar. But Elijah watched every movement; and the priests, hoping against hope for some opportunity to deceive, continued their senseless ceremonies.
(SS 77.4)
“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. And it came to pass, when midday was past, ... that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.”
(SS 78.1)
Gladly would Satan have helped those who were devoted to his service. Gladly would he have sent lightning to kindle their sacrifice. But Jehovah had set Satan’s bounds, and he could not convey one spark to Baal’s altar.
(SS 78.2)
At last, their voices hoarse with shouting, the priests became desperate. With unabated frenzy they mingled with their pleading terrible cursings of their sun-god. Elijah continued to watch intently. He knew that if by any device the priests should succeed in kindling their altar fire, he would instantly be torn to pieces.
(SS 78.3)
Evening drew on. The prophets of Baal were weary, faint, confused. One suggested one thing, and another something else, until finally in despair they retired from the contest.
(SS 78.4)
All day long the people had witnessed the baffled priests’ wild leaping around the altar, as if they would grasp the burning rays of the sun to serve their purpose. The people had looked with horror on their self-inflicted mutilations and had reflected on the follies of idol worship. Many were weary of the exhibitions of demonism and now awaited with deep interest the movements of Elijah.
(SS 78.5)
At the hour of the evening sacrifice, Elijah bade the people, “Come near unto me.” He turned to the broken-down altar where once men worshiped the God of heaven and repaired it. To him this heap of ruins was more precious than all the magnificent altars of heathendom. Choosing “twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, ... he built an altar in the name of the Lord.”
(SS 79.1)
The disappointed, exhausted priests of Baal waited to see what Elijah would do. They hated the prophet for proposing a test that had exposed their gods; yet they feared his power. Almost breathless with expectancy, the people watched. The calm demeanor of the prophet stood in sharp contrast with the senseless frenzy of the followers of Baal.
(SS 79.2)
The altar completed, the prophet made a trench about it. Having put the wood in order and prepared the bullock, he laid the victim on the altar. “Fill four barrels with water,” he directed, “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.”
(SS 79.3)
Reminding the people of their long apostasy, Elijah called on the people to humble their hearts and turn to the God of their fathers, that the curse on the land might be removed. Then, bowing reverently before the unseen God, he raised his hands toward heaven and offered a simple prayer. Baal’s priests had screamed and leaped, from early morning until late in the afternoon. But as Elijah prayed, no senseless shrieks resounded over Carmel’s height. He prayed simply and fervently, asking God to show His superiority over Baal that Israel might be led to turn to Him:
(SS 79.4)
“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.”
(SS 79.5)
A silence, oppressive in its solemnity, rested upon all. The priests of Baal trembled with terror, conscious of their guilt.
(SS 80.1)
No sooner was the prayer of Elijah ended than flames of fire, like flashes of lightning, descended from heaven on the altar, consuming the sacrifice, licking up the water in the trench, and consuming even the stones of the altar. The brilliance of the blaze illumined the mountain and dazzled the eyes of the multitude. In the valleys below, where many were watching, the descent of fire was clearly seen, and all were amazed at the sight.
(SS 80.2)
The people on the mount prostrated themselves. They dared not continue to look on the Heaven-sent fire. Convicted of their duty to acknowledge the God of Elijah as the God of their fathers, they cried out with one voice, “The Lord, He is the God; the Lord, He is the God.” The cry resounded over the mountain and echoed in the plain below. At last Israel was aroused, undeceived, penitent. At last the people saw how greatly they had dishonored God. The character of Baal worship in contrast with the reasonable service required by the true God, stood fully revealed. The people recognized God’s justice and mercy in withholding the dew and rain until they had been brought to confess His name.
(SS 80.3)
But the priests of Baal, even in their discomfiture and in the presence of divine glory, refused to repent. They would still remain the prophets of Baal. Thus they showed themselves ripe for destruction.
(SS 80.4)
That repentant Israel might be protected from those who taught them to worship Baal, Elijah was directed by the Lord to destroy these false teachers. The anger of the people had already been aroused, and when Elijah gave the command, “Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape,” they were ready to obey. They took them to the brook Kishon, and there, before the close of the day that marked the beginning of decided reform, the ministers of Baal were slain.
(SS 80.5)