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God Vindicated on Mount Carmel
This chapter is based on 1 Kings 18:19-40.
Standing before Ahab, Elijah commanded, “Send and gather all
Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of
Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s
table.”
Ahab obeyed at once, as if the prophet were monarch and the king
his subject. He sent swift messengers with the summons. In every
town and village the people prepared to assemble at the appointed
time. As they journeyed toward the place, a strange dread filled the
hearts of many. Why this summons to gather at Carmel? What new
disaster was about to fall?
Mount Carmel had been a place of beauty, its streams fed from
neverfailing springs and its fertile slopes covered with flowers and
flourishing groves. But now its beauty withered under a curse. The
altars to Baal and Ashtoreth stood in leafless groves. On the summit
of one of the highest ridges was the broken-down altar of Jehovah.
Carmel’s heights were visible from many parts of the kingdom.
At the foot of the mountain were vantage points from which people
could see much of what took place above. Elijah chose this elevation
as the most conspicuous place for God to display His power and
vindicate His name.
Early on the morning of the appointed day, the people of Israel
gathered near the top of the mountain. Jezebel’s prophets marched
in impressive array. In regal pomp the king appeared at the head of
the priests, and the idol-worshipers shouted his welcome. But the
priests remembered that at the word of the prophet the land of Israel
had been destitute of dew and rain for three and a half years. 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. The objects
of their worship had been strangely indifferent to their frantic cries,
their prayers, their revolting ceremonies, and their costly sacrifices.
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