1 Kings 18:22

Then said Elijah unto the people, l, even I only, remain [Heb. I, I am left alone . Cf. Genesis 32:24 ; μονώτατος ] a prophet of the Lord [Thenius hence concludes that the "hundred prophets" of whom we read in Genesis 32:4 , Genesis 32:13 had been discovered in their hiding place and had been put to death. But this by no means follows from Elijah's statement here or in Genesis 19:10 (where see note); and we know that the schools of the prophets had not ceased to exist ( 2 Kings 2:3 , 2 Kings 2:5 , 2 Kings 2:7 ; cf. 1 Kings 22:8 ). All that Elijah says is that he stood that day alone as a prophet of Jehovah. "I only remain in the exercise of the office of a prophet" (Rawlinson). The rest might well hesitate, after me fierce persecution which they had undergone, to face the king and their bitter enemies, the Baal prophets. It must be remembered that Elijah had had no opportunity of communicating with them, and he may have been quite ignorant as to what number had remained steadfast and true. One thing he knew, that he alone was left to prophesy, and to confront the whole hierarchy of the false God]; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. [It is clear, not only from the silence of this verse and of Genesis 19:25 , respecting them, but still more from the fact that they escaped in the general slaughter (verse 40), that the prophets of Astarte were not present, and the natural inference is that either Jezebel had forbidden their presence or that they shrank from the ordeal. The LXX . inserts "and the prophets of the grove, four hundred," but the words are evidently added from Genesis 19:19 . The Baal prophets would doubtless have been only too glad to do the same, but they were under the immediate command of the king. It is not certain that they had any forebodings of evil, or dreaded reprisals on Elijah's part, but they had had proof conclusive of his power and of their impo-fence. We must remember that all through the triennium prayers and sacrifices had, no doubt, been constantly offered with a view to procure rain. We learn from Menander (Jos; Joshua 8:1-35 .13. 2) that even in Phoenicia supplication had been made for rain by Ethabaal.