Mount Carmel: Yahweh vs. Baal

Mount Carmel and Elijah’s Showdown with Baal

Mount Carmel was the site of one of the greatest showdowns in the Old Testament. It was here at Mount Carmel that Elijah took on 450 prophets of Baal. In February of 2020, I went to Israel with Harvest of Israel tours out of Morristown, Tennessee.

The second stop on our first day was Mount Carmel. Mount Carmel is in a wooded mountain range not far from the Mediterranean coast near Haifa. In ancient times, in the days of Elijah, Mount Carmel was a high place where false gods were worshipped, principally the false god Baal.

In this video, we're going to watch a recording of Dean Hahn as he taught us a Bible lesson at the top of Mount Carmel. The audio is a little less than perfect because it was recorded from a radio receiver that all of us were wearing so that we could hear Dean and our Israeli tour guide.

We got a little bit of interference from an adjacent tour group from their transmitter, so there's a time or two in here when there's a little bit of static and interference. Stick around to the end of Dean's lesson, and I will show you some of the views that we could see from the top of the monastery at Mount Carmel.

A great spot that Shraga has brought us to because sometimes it's so crowded we have to go out in the grass and everything else, but this allows us to sit down. Now what does anybody remember, what is the significance of Mount Carmel?

Elijah, in the days of Elijah, does anybody remember what had been going on for three and a half years? A drought had been going on in the days of Elijah. Ahab and Jezebel actually blamed Elijah for the drought, and isn't that the way the world.

Does?

You know, they blame us for everything, but that's okay, that's okay. But it was here on this mountain, and one of the reasons that we believe it was this particular mountain, this particular area, is this is one of the highest places.

And the pagan prophets of Baal always built their high places on the high places, if that makes sense. In other words, you wouldn't worship your God on a lower hill, you would worship him on the higher hill.

And in just a few moments, we're going to go up top, on the top of the monastery is a flat roof, and you'll be able to see the entire area. In fact, just over here to my right is the Valley of Armageddon, or the Jezreel Valley, and we'll see that in just a moment.

The Numbers, Choice, and Noise on Baal’s Side

That's another story. Let's back up to 1 Kings chapter 18, and in your book, it is page 43. What I'm going to have Ray do is I'm going to give you the little word that we're going to fill in, and then I'm going to have him read it to us right out of scripture, okay?

So what do we know about this story of Elijah challenging the prophets of Baal? Let's see who God really is. Let's see who the true God really is. Here's what I want you to notice in this story in 1 Kings 18.

The prophets of Baal seemed to have at least seven advantages over Elijah and over his God, the God of Israel. What were those seven advantages? Here's a good way to outline this story, all right? First of all, I'm going to have Ray to read from 1 Kings 18, verses 20 through 22.

Just read that to kind of get the idea of what's going on in the story.

So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel. And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him.

But if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord. But Baal's prophets are 450 men.

If you add the prophets of Asherah, you will see that Elijah was outnumbered 850 to 1. So here's the first answer in your blank. What advantage did these false prophets have? Well, they seemed to have the advantage of numbers.

That's the first word. They seemed to have the advantage of numbers. Here's a second advantage they seemed to have. They had the choice of which bull to use on the altar. So there's no possibility here of fraud, all right?

It's not like Elijah has some kind of explosive device inside his bull that would light it.

Up.

No.

So they got to choose the bull, so they had the advantage of choice as well. Listen to verses 23 through 25.

Let them therefore give us two bullocks, and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it into pieces, and lay it on the 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 answers by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, it is well spoken. And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first, for you are many, and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire.

Under.

So they had the advantage of numbers. They had the advantage of choice, so there would be no fraud involved. They got to choose the bull on the altar. Here's a third advantage they seemed to have. Look at the very first part of verse 26.

They also had volume on their side, noise on their side. Ray, read for us the first of verse 26.

And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us.

So here they are. They were so passionate, were they not? So they had all this volume. You know, it was loud. It was noisy. I mean, they were calling and shrieking and crying out to their false god, Baal.

Look at the fourth thing. They also seemed to have zeal on their side. Zeal. Look at the last part of verse 26.

Leaped upon the altar was made.

They were leaping around and dancing and calling on their god, but nothing was happening. Look at the advantage. When you get close, you get interference from the prophets.

Spit the blood.

Look at it in verse 28.

And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their manor with knives and lancets till the blood gushed out upon them.

Here's a sixth advantage.

Time.

They churned and they chanted all day long. Listen to verse 29.

And it came to pass when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice nor any to answer nor any that regarded.

So look at all these advantages. They had the numbers. They had the choice of which bull to use on the altar so there's no possibility of fraud by Elijah doing some kind of trick and his god answering by fire.

They had the volume. They had the zeal. They had the self-sacrifice, willing to spill their own blood.

They had time.

They cried out all day long. Here's the seventh advantage. They even had dry wood for their altar, and Elijah poured water on his. Listen to verses 30 through 35.

And Elijah said to 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 12 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 my 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.

So they had dry wood. Greater possibility, if some kind of fire was going to happen, that their fire would ignite. But Elijah even poured water. By the way, they were going through a what? Drought. And he pours water on the wood.

The Fire of the Lord and the People’s Response

And then what happens? I want you to get this last blank in your note. Look at the seven advantages that the prophets of Baal seem to have. But what was the one thing that Elijah had? He had the power of God.

He gives a 64 word prayer to the Lord and all the heavens open up. Listen to it in verses 36 through 39.

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 has turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and 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 they said, the Lord, he is the God, the Lord, he is the God.

By the way, I just want to say this in Hebrew. The Lord is God is L .E .A. Elijah. So it always makes me wonder, were they giving God the glory for this incredible miracle or were they saying, Elijah, you demand.

We have never seen anything like this. Why do I say that? There was no indication of real revival that came in the life of those people. They were still, in spite of this incredible sign, steeped in their paganism.

We must be careful that we don't base our faith merely on the scene and miracles and what we can see. We must base our faith on faith, faith and trust in our God. God is powerful and God is great. And to him be the glory for all things that are done.

The Kishon Brook, the Drought’s End, and the View from Mount Carmel

Now read the rest of the story. A couple of more things when we go up on top, you will be able to see this where what brook was the prophets of Baal slain? Do you see that in verse 40? Do you see on down in the story?

The Kishon, Nahar Kishon, the brook Kishon. You're going to see it with your own eyes. We're going to look down in the valley in just a moment and you're going to see the Kishon brook, all right? And it's probably got a lot of water in it right now because it operates on a lot of water, all right?

Now, also remember Elijah goes back and he says to Ahab, or he goes back and they see a small cloud coming from what direction? From the sea, right over there and you'll probably, if it's clear enough, be able to see the Mediterranean Sea.

So the cloud would have come this way. The storm would have come this way and ended the drought. So those are just a couple of things.

After Dean's lesson, we made our way up to the top of the monastery and once at the top, looking to the east, there was a fantastic view of the Jezreel Valley. If you look down at the foot of the mountain, starting on the left of your screen, you'll see a small red line that's winding its way across from left to right.

This is the location of the Kishon brook where Elijah killed the 450 prophets of Baal. First Kings 18 .40 says, 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. What you're looking at here at the foot of the mountain is the place where Elijah had those false prophets executed. Out in the distance, it was a little bit too hazy on the horizon, but there's a callout on the screen here that's showing you the location of Mount Tabor and also Nazareth.

Over to the right was the ruins of the biblical city of Megiddo. Standing here on top of the monastery, if we turn around in the opposite direction and look west, you can see towards the Mediterranean Sea.

Again, it was a little bit hazy in the distance, so we couldn't quite make out the ocean. And then just down the coast is Caesarea, where we had just been a few hours earlier. This is the direction that Elijah's servant would have been looking when he saw the small cloud rising up out of the sea, which signaled the end of the drought.

As Dean pointed out in his lesson, the prophets of Baal had the upper hand here. They had the advantage in every way but one. They served false gods, and Elijah's true advantage in his showdown with these false prophets was that he served and worshipped the true and living God, and it was his confidence and faith in God that allowed him to prevail here at the top of Mount Carmel.

I'll be making more videos from my trip to Israel, so if you like them, please subscribe and click the little bell so that you'll get notified when I post new videos. Thank you for watching.