1 Kings 18:30

THE GOD OF ISRAEL ANSWERED ELIJAH'S PLEA WITH FIRE

"And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me; and all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of Jehovah that was thrown down. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of Jehovah came, saying, Israel shall be thy name. And with the stones he built an altar in the name of Jehovah; 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 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 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. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening oblation, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, O Jehovah, the God of Abraham, of 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 us, O Jehovah, hear me, that the people may know that thou, Jehovah, art God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. Then the fire of Jehovah fell, and consumed the burnt-offering, 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, Jehovah, he is God; Jehovah, he is God. And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them; and Elijah took them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there."

"Here for the first time we learn that the gods of Canaan, as well as Jehovah, had their prophets. Carmel was chosen as the spot for this contest because it was recognized as sacred by both parties. It was a Phoenician sanctuary, and we know that there was an altar to Jehovah there (1 Kings 18:30) which had been thrown down,"[15] and which was rebuilt by Elijah in this episode.

The feature of this paragraph is that magnificent prayer of Elijah, and it is especially significant that the NAME OF JEHOVAH which he invoked here, namely, "The God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel," was used, "Only once before, and that was by God Himself before the giving of the Law, at the burning bush."[16] This name of Jehovah is the "Great Memorial Name of God"; and we have discussed this at length in our consideration of all the nonsense that has been written about the Tetragrammaton (Y-H-W-H). (See my commentary on Exodus, pp. 32-34.)

"Pour it (the water) upon the offering, and upon the wood" (1 Kings 18:33). Unbelievers diligently, but vainly, seek contradictions and "impossibilities" in the Bible; and Thenius wrote of this line that "The author evidently forgot about that terrible drought,"[17] when he put that in about pouring all that water over everything! Keil, however, assures us on the best authorities that there were perpetual springs of water very near the scene of this great wonder.[18]

"Then the fire of Jehovah fell" (1 Kings 18:38). Matheney wrote that, "This probably means lightning";[19] and Snaith likewise explained this fire in the words, "It may well have been lightning."[20] In fairness to these, and other scholars of the same opinion, it should be noted that they did not deny the miraculous element in this wonder, supposing that the miracle consisted in the timing of the lightning stroke. "The miracle consists in this coincidence."[21] We consider these views of what happened inadequate, because lightning does not "consume" stones, nor dust. Furthermore, the fact of its having been a cloudless day makes the probability of lightning almost, if not completely, impossible. God does NOT need the help of rationalists who attempt to explain all of his wonders in terms of the ordinary.

Despite our disagreement about the wonder having been a stroke of lightning, we heartily agree with Matheney's summation regarding this event.

This miracle falls into the category of the mighty acts of God in salvation-history.[22]

"And they took them ... brought them dozen to the brook Kishon, and slew them there" (1 Kings 18:40). This action was just and necessary. "It was an appropriate retribution for Jezebel's slaughter of the priests of Jehovah, and at the same time it was in obedience to the sacred law of God that required the execution of the death penalty upon false prophets (Deuteronomy 7:2f; 13:130."[23]