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longer resound over Mount Carmel. With weakness and despair they
retire from the contest.
The people have witnessed the terrible demonstrations of the un-
reasonable, frantic priests. They have beheld their leaping upon the
altar as though they would grasp the burning rays from the sun to serve
their altars. They have become tired of the exhibitions of demonism,
of pagan idolatry; and they feel earnest and anxious to hear what Elijah
will speak.
Elijah’s turn has now come. “And Elijah said unto all the people,
Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he
repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. 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,
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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 at the hour of evening sacrifice repairs the altar of God which
the apostasy of Israel has allowed the priests of Baal to tear down. He
does not call upon one of the people to aid him in his laborious work.
The altars of Baal are all prepared; but he turns to the broken-down
altar of God, which is more sacred and precious to him in its unsightly
ruins than all the magnificent altars of Baal.