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God Vindicated on Mount Carmel
71
The Prophets of Baal Give Up
Evening drew on. The prophets of Baal were weary, faint, and
confused. One suggested one thing, and another suggested some-
thing else, until finally in despair they withdrew from the contest.
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 tired of the exhibitions of demonism and
now waited with deep interest to see what Elijah would do.
At the hour of the evening sacrifice, Elijah invited the people,
“Come near to me.” He turned to the brokendown altar where once
Israel had worshiped the God of heaven, and he repaired it. To him
this heap of ruins was more precious than all the magnificent altars
of the heathen world. 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.”
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 prophet’s calm manner
stood in sharp contrast to the senseless frenzy of Baal’s followers.
When he completed the altar, the prophet made a trench around
it. He put the wood in order and prepared the bull, then laid the
victim on the altar. “Fill four waterpots with water,” he directed,
“‘and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.’ Then he said,
‘Do it a second time,’ and they did it a second time; and he said,
‘Do it a third time,’ and they did it a third time. So the water ran all
around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water.”
[54]
Reminding the people of their long apostasy, Elijah called on
them 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 echoed over Carmel’s height. He prayed simply