1Ki 18:26-30 | KingComments | STEP | Baal’s prophets prepare everything in the way Elijah has indicated. Then the spectacle breaks loose. That must have been impressive. Eight hundred and fifty prophets are a lot. At a distance stands the lonely Elijah. A little further on stands the mass of the people, still silent. It does not matter to them from whom the rain comes, from Baal or from God. Elijah is not silent. When the prophets have been trying to get their god to take some action for a long time without any result, Elijah starts to ridicule their foolish attempts with biting mockery. The prophets of God have always mocked the idols ( ). Elijah ridicules their god by assuming he is occupied and has no time to answer. He is a god who cannot do two things at the same time. It may also be that he has gone aside, that is to say that he is on the toilet to do his needs and then of course he can’t hear them. He cannot do that either when he is travelling, because he is a very limited god with only a small area as his terrain. On the other hand is the God of Elijah, our God, the all-powerful God, the God of the universe, Who created heaven and earth and maintains everything. He is also the all-present God, Who is present everywhere, and the all-knowing God, Who is involved in all things, and to Whose attention nothing escapes. According to their heathen customs, the prophets cut themselves to arouse the compassion of their god. What a god who should be brought to action with such actions! But all the toil and self-chastisement of the prophets is answered with total silence on the part of Baal. Of course Baal remains dead, for there is only one living God. What a defeat for the prophets of Baal. In this manner they continue until the time of the offering of the [evening] sacrifice or the evening grain offering. The whole chapter lights up against the background of the cross. It is the ninth hour. At that hour Christ died as the real grain offering and burnt offering on the cross. It is the moment that Daniel receives an answer to his prayer, as well as Ezra, and as Cornelius, the first convert from the Gentiles ( ; ; ). When the gods are silent and the people are silent, the God of Elijah answers.

‏ 1 Kings 18:26-30

Baal Is Called On

Baal’s prophets prepare everything in the way Elijah has indicated. Then the spectacle breaks loose. That must have been impressive. Eight hundred and fifty prophets are a lot. At a distance stands the lonely Elijah. A little further on stands the mass of the people, still silent. It does not matter to them from whom the rain comes, from Baal or from God.

Elijah is not silent. When the prophets have been trying to get their god to take some action for a long time without any result, Elijah starts to ridicule their foolish attempts with biting mockery. The prophets of God have always mocked the idols (Isa 44:12-20). Elijah ridicules their god by assuming he is occupied and has no time to answer. He is a god who cannot do two things at the same time. It may also be that he has gone aside, that is to say that he is on the toilet to do his needs and then of course he can’t hear them. He cannot do that either when he is travelling, because he is a very limited god with only a small area as his terrain.

On the other hand is the God of Elijah, our God, the all-powerful God, the God of the universe, Who created heaven and earth and maintains everything. He is also the all-present God, Who is present everywhere, and the all-knowing God, Who is involved in all things, and to Whose attention nothing escapes.

According to their heathen customs, the prophets cut themselves to arouse the compassion of their god. What a god who should be brought to action with such actions! But all the toil and self-chastisement of the prophets is answered with total silence on the part of Baal. Of course Baal remains dead, for there is only one living God. What a defeat for the prophets of Baal.

In this manner they continue until the time of the offering of the [evening] sacrifice or the evening grain offering. The whole chapter lights up against the background of the cross. It is the ninth hour. At that hour Christ died as the real grain offering and burnt offering on the cross. It is the moment that Daniel receives an answer to his prayer, as well as Ezra, and as Cornelius, the first convert from the Gentiles (Dan 9:21; Ezra 9:4-5; Acts 10:3). When the gods are silent and the people are silent, the God of Elijah answers.

Elijah Prepares the Sacrifice

Then it’s Elijah’s turn. He commands the people to come forward, to him. He distracts the attention of Baal to focus it on himself and then on the LORD. They come. They must see clearly that he restores the altar of the LORD, which has been overthrown. He does not build a new, different altar. Nor does he renew the old altar. He rebuilds the altar from twelve stones to “the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob”, who is made “Israel” by God’s grace. “Jacob” is the name of weakness and failure. On that basis, judgment should be executed. But the LORD has given him the name “Israel”. This is what God has made of him, and then there is blessing.

With the restoration of the altar, Elijah expresses the unity of the people of God. He does this as a loner, the man of God, but he does so “in the name of the LORD”. He thereby confesses His authority. The authority of that Name is still the basis for making the unity of the church visible, even if only with a few (Mt 18:20). It comes down to personal faithfulness in the acknowledgment of the authority of the Name of the Lord Jesus.

He continues to set up the altar for the purpose for which he is building it: that God may glorify Himself through it. He places wood on the altar. Then he cuts the ox of the second choice in pieces. He then orders the pouring of water on the altar. This is done by means of a total of twelve pitchers with water, which also reminds us of the twelve tribes. He does so three times, just as he has stretched himself upon the boy three times (1Kgs 17:21). Only God can give life out of death, of which the number three speaks.

In this way, Elijah avoids any suspicion that he would have used some sort of trick to bring the fire on the sacrifice. Every human intervention is eliminated. In practical terms, he will have had the water taken from a nearby spring. Spiritually we see that a man of God has always hidden sources.