WWUTT 474 Elijah vs the Priests of Baal?

There is a popular story in 1 Kings chapter 18 concerning the prophet Elijah and the priests of Baal. And one of the questions that Elijah presents to the people of Israel is a question that is being presented to us even now when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text as an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty, visit our website at www .utt .com.

Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Elijah’s Confrontation with Ahab and the Drought in Israel

Thank you, Becky. Today we get to a very famous story in our study, the book of 1 Kings, the showdown between Elijah and the priests of Baal. Elijah built an altar to his God. The priests of Baal built an altar to their God to see which one would respond with fire from heaven.

And of course we know which one. But before we get to that story in chapter 18, first we're introduced to the prophet in chapter 17. So last week when we were in chapter 16, we buzzed through several kings who were reigning over Israel until we got to the notorious Ahab.

So he's who's sitting on the throne in Israel by the time we get to chapter 17. Now Elijah, the Tishbite of Tishbe in Gilead said to Ahab, as the Lord, the God of Israel lives before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years except by my word.

Now what's the significance of that curse? Well Baal is the thunder God, if you'll remember. So it is up to Baal to be able to provide rain for the Israelites. But Elijah, by the word of the true God saying, nope, it's not going to rain.

Baal does not have claim over this land. The Lord God of Israel does. And if he decides that he's going to dry up the water, then it's going to be dried up and all you're praying to Baal will be for not.

So verse two, and the word of the Lord came to him, depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the brook and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.

So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan and the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening and he drank from the brook and after a while the brook dried up because there was no rain in the land.

So you see God's sovereignty even over nature that he commands rain and withholds rain and he even commands the birds to bring Elijah food. Verse eight, then the word of the Lord came to him, arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon and dwell there.

Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you. So he arose and went to Zarephath and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks and he called to her and said, bring me a little water in a vessel that I may drink.

And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, bring me a morsel of bread in your hand. And she said, as the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug.

And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son that we may eat, that we may eat it and die. And Elijah said to her, do not fear, go and do as you have said, but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me and afterward make something for yourself and your son.

For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, the jar of flour shall not be spent and the jug of oil shall not be empty until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth. And she went and did as Elijah said, and she and her household ate for many days.

The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah. They were always full, always producing flour, always producing evil as long as the drought remained in the land.

Verse 17, after this, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house became ill and his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. And she said to Elijah, what have you against me, O man of God?

You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son. And he said to her, give me your son. And he took him from her arms and carried him up to the upper chamber where he lodged and laid him on his own bed.

And he cried to the Lord, O Lord, my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourned by killing her son? Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, O Lord, my God, let this child's life come into him again.

And the Lord listened to Elijah and the life of the child came into him again and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother.

And Elijah said, see, your son lives. And the woman said to Elijah, now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth. Notice that the woman believed that the power of life and death was in God's hand, the true God of Israel.

When her son died, she said to Elijah, is this what you've come here for? To remind me of my sin, believing that some sin she had committed in the past was the reason why God took her son's life from him.

But then when Elijah takes him up to his room and lays him on the bed and then lies prostrate across him three times, crying out to the Lord and the scripture doesn't tell us why he did that. Perhaps the reason is to point toward Christ, who was in the grave for three days, just as Elijah called out to God three times.

And then the boy's life was restored to him. And when he gave the boy back to his mother, she said, now I know that you are from the Lord and the word of the Lord that you speak is the truth. And this testimony from this woman is going to go all the way to the kings of Israel and Judah who will hear about this man of God who brought back to life the son of hers who had died.

And there's also another significance to this, that God would restore his life to him. Remember, when we talked about Baal, one of his enemies is Mot, which is the God of death. This is part of the whole mythos behind Baal.

There's another false God who is considered to be Baal's adversary, and it is Mot who is the God of death. But here, this boy's life was taken from him and God restored his life to him to show that God has the power over life and death.

Baal has no power whatsoever, not only against this false God, but against the true God of Israel. So that's another significance to this particular miracle as it pertains to Elijah and the woman's testimony, which will even reach the kings.

So now we come to chapter 18. After many days, the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year saying, go show yourself to Ahab and I will send rain upon the earth. So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab.

Now the famine was severe in Samaria and Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly and when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water.

And Ahab said to Obadiah, go through the land to all the springs of water into all the valleys. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive and not lose some of the animals. So they divided the land between them to pass through it.

Ahab went in one direction by himself and Obadiah went in another direction by himself. Now this is not the same Obadiah who wrote the book of Obadiah in the minor prophets, shortest book in the old Testament, because that book was written after the fall of Jerusalem, which clearly hasn't happened yet in the story.

Obadiah is a common Old Testament name. So this is just a different prophet named Obadiah, but he's quite significant to the story here in first Kings verse seven now. And as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him and Obadiah recognized him and fell on his face and said, is it you my Lord Elijah?

And he answered him, it is I go tell your Lord behold, Elijah is here. And Obadiah said, how have I sinned that you would give your servant into the hand of Ahab to kill me as the Lord, your God lives.

There is no nation or kingdom where my Lord is not sent to seek you. And when they would, when they would say he is not here, he would take an oath of the kingdom or nation that they had not found you.

And now you say, go tell your Lord behold, Elijah is here. And as soon as I have gone from you, the spirit of the Lord will carry you. I know not where. And so when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me.

Although I, your servant have feared the Lord from my youth. Has it not been told my Lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred men of the Lord's prophets by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water.

And now you say, go tell your Lord, behold, Elijah is here and he will kill me. And Elijah said to the panicked Obadiah, as the Lord of hosts lives before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.

So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, is it you, you troubler of Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but you have and your father's house because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals.

Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table. So Ahab sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel.

The Contest on Mount Carmel: Baal’s Silence and the Fire of the Lord

And Elijah came near to all the people and said, how long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. And the people did not answer him a word.

Then Elijah said to the people, I, even I only am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets are 450 men. Let two bulls be given to us and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it.

And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it. And you call upon the name of your God, and I will call upon the name of the Lord. And the God who answers by fire, he is God.

And all the people answered, it is well spoken. Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first for you are many and call upon the name of your God, but put no fire to it.

And they took the bull that was given to them and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, oh, Baal, answer us. But there was no voice and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made limping around the altar, meaning that they were making it look like that they were injured, kind of like a a hobbled animal.

So maybe if they they limped around like a hurt beast, then Baal would would prey upon them, because if you had like a deer or an antelope that was wandering around in the wilderness and had a limp, more than likely a predator is going to come upon that animal and stalk it for a while, realizing, hey, it's been injured and then leap upon it.

So maybe if these people kind of disheveled themselves, perhaps Baal would then come down seeing that the people were so helpless. This is also a form of asceticism or self punishment, as though they are punishing themselves for their own transgressions to make themselves worthy before Baal.

And they'll do this even further when they start cutting on themselves. Verse twenty seven. And at noon, Elijah mocked them, saying, cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing or he is relieving himself or he is on a journey or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.

Yes, Elijah just said, maybe your god is taking a leak. That's maybe he's on the john. That's that's really what it is that Elijah has said, although they wouldn't have said.

It that way.

You know, the reason why we use that term on the john or we call a toilet a john is because the first flushing toilet was invented by a man named John Harrington, the British poet back in the 1500s. And that's why we call the toilet a john.

There's your useless bit of trivia for the day. So Elijah is making fun of the priests of Baal. He says to them, cry aloud, for he is a god. So he's a god. He lives somewhere else far away from you. Maybe he can't hear you.

So you have to cry louder. Either he is musing. In other words, he's distracted or he's doing something else. Can't do two things at once. Or he's relieving himself. Now, remember, Baal is the Thunder God.

This is the one that they pray to to get rain. So Elijah is kind of making fun of the fact that maybe the rain you get is Baal's pee and he's dumping it somewhere else. So you need for him to come and pee on your crops.

Or he is on a journey. He's wandered off to another land and is blessing them and cannot be bothered with you. Or he is asleep and must be awakened. It was believed that when the winter time would come or the non-rainy season, then Baal would go to sleep.

And then at the time that the rainy season was supposed to arrive, when crops were supposed to be planted and needed to be watered, then that was when they would call out to Baal. And so Elijah here is basically saying maybe he just got weak and fell asleep at the time that he wasn't supposed to fall asleep.

Either way, however you look at it, Baal is weak and he has limitations and the priests must be the ones to summon him to do anything because Baal can't be depended upon to do it on his own. What a fun custom.

Because he's not real. So he can't respond. This was an altar that had been a place where sacrifices to God had been offered. Verse 31. Elijah took 12 stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came saying, Israel shall be your name.

That's Jacob. His name was also Israel. 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 sayers of seed. And he put the wood in order and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood.

And he said, fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood. And 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.

And the water ran around the altar and filled the trench also with water. And by the description of how deep the trench was, it would have been over his knees. So it kind of shows you how deep that trench would have been.

And Elijah did all that himself, except for the water, which he had someone else do so that he could show the people of Israel there was no trickery going on here. These guys have wet the sacrifice, the wood, the altar, and the water has filled up in the trench.

Verse 36. And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah, the prophet, came near and said, O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and that I have done all these things at your word.

Answer me, O Lord, answer me that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have turned their hearts back. Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering in the wood 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 said, The Lord, he is God, the Lord, he is God. And Elijah said to them, Seize the prophets of Baal, let not one of them escape. And they seized them.

And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there. They were already pretty weak after the little dance and display that they had done and cutting all over themselves. So they were simply gathered and taken down to the trenches and were killed.

And notice here, too, that that in this sacrifice, in the preparation of this sacrifice, that Elijah had erected 12 stones that represented the 12 tribes of Israel, and they were consumed by the fire.

And and so the people of Israel would have been terrified by that. These are the 12 tribes. We could all be wiped out by God right now. And so they fell before the Lord and called upon his name and begged for his mercy.

Verse 41. And Elijah said to Ahab, Go up, eat and drink. For there is the sound of of the rushing of rain. So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel. And he bowed himself down to the earth and put his face between his knees.

And he said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up and looked and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. And at the seventh time, he said, Behold, a little cloud, like a man's hand is rising from the sea.

And he said, Go up, say to Ahab, Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you. And in a little while, the heavens grew black with clouds and wind. And there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel.

And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah. And he gathered up his garment and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. Elijah's a hoss, man, all this stuff that he has done, taking care of the bull and the altar and all that himself.

A Call to Undivided Loyalty to the Lord

And then now he's running in front of Ahab all the way to Jezreel. This guy is is a fit prophet. Let me tell you this. All right, let me let me come back in the story here and make a particular point as we bring these things to a close.

So Elijah said, and this is back in verse 21, he said to the people of Israel, How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. Perhaps you'd heard the news yesterday regarding Eugene Peterson, author of the Message Bible, which isn't a true translation of the Bible.

It's Peterson's paraphrase. But that's what it is that he is famous for. In an interview with Religion News Service, he was asked by Jonathan Merritt concerning his views regarding same-sex marriage.

And Peterson said that he was for same-sex marriage and if asked to do a same-sex marriage ceremony, that he would do it. Now, thankfully, Lifeway, the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, has responded by saying that they're going to pull all of Peterson's books, including the message, and not sell them anymore.

If after contacting Peterson's people, they can confirm that this truly is his position based on what what was reported in Religion News Services, which I'm glad that Lifeway is responding that way. But they should have yanked his books a long time ago.

It should not have had to have waited until this particular interview. But with this news that has come out regarding Peterson, and we've also heard, you know, Jen Hatmaker's views, and there are more pastors that are going to follow others who are going to come out and say that they are for same-sex marriage, mainstream pastors, and popular megachurch pastors.

And so the question is really being put in front of the church in America. How long are you going to go limping between two different opinions if you believe that the Lord is God and you believe the Bible is his word?

And when it says homosexuality is a sin that he will judge, that will keep a person out of the kingdom of God, do you believe it? Then stand upon it. And if not, well, may those individuals be exposed so we know who truly adheres and submits to the authority of God's word and who does not.

And so this same question being posed before us at the in the church in various ways. This is just one way that has been most recent in the news. But there are other ways in which we are being asked if you believe that God is the true God and the Bible is his word, then believe it, follow it, submit to its authority.

Prayer for Obedience, Repentance, and Faithfulness to God’s Word

Let's pray. Our Lord God, I pray that we would store these words up in our hearts and we would believe that this is not just stories that we are reading here. This is your word. These are the things that you have commanded.

And because we desire to worship the Lord Christ, who bought and paid for us with so great a sacrifice on the cross for our sins, was resurrected from the grave and ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God, interceding for us before the father.

Because we desire to show our worship of our Lord who has done this for us, keep us obedient to the commands that have been written in your word and let us call others to repentance and faith so that they will not perish, but have eternal life in Jesus Christ.

And I pray for men like Eugene Peterson or women like Jen Hatmaker, that they would repent of this foolishness that they have believed and are duping other people into believing. And they too would come back into submission to the truth of God's word.

We know that the judgment of God is coming. Keep us steadfast and obedient. In Jesus' name, amen.

Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas. Find out more online at www .utt .com.