They were very desirous to see the experiment tried, and seemed resolved to abide by the issue, whatever it should be. Is it True for Christians That 'Once Saved, Always Saved'? The prophets of Baal went first. When we worship money, it mauls us. Prophets should be called seers, and shepherds, and watchmen, and ministers, rather than lords, as those that mind duty more than dominion. He withdrew to a strange place, to the top of Carmel, which was very high and very private. What he said we are not told; but, 1. 15 And Elijah said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself unto him to day. The God who answered by fire, igniting the sacrifice on the altar, was the true God. All the people agreed that this was a good idea. Having built his altar in the name of the Lord (1 Kings 18:32; 1 Kings 18:32), by direction from him and with an eye to him, and not for his own honour, he prepared his sacrifice, 1 Kings 18:33; 1 Kings 18:33. If we, in sincerity, offer our hearts to God, he will, by his grace, kindle a holy fire in them. Asked April 28 2020 II. (The Lord changed Jacobs name to Israel.) Here are guidelines to help facilitate a meaningful learning experience for everyone. A little cloud at length appeared, no bigger than a man's hand, which presently overspread the heavens and watered the earth, 1 Kings 18:44; 1 Kings 18:45. Elijah now came to bring blessings to Israel, tidings of the return of the rain; yet he was thus affronted. Elijah might have looked for rain seventy times seven times, and not have seen it, if he had not thus begun his work at the right end. 17When he saw Elijah, he asked, Is it youthe biggest troublemaker in Israel?, 18Elijah answered, I have not made trouble in Israel. 33 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. He repaired this altar with twelve stones, according to the number of the twelve tribes,1 Kings 18:31; 1 Kings 18:31. And he said, Go again seven times. From Genesis to Revelation, we see that one of our Creator Kings primary qualities is his lavish generosity. Ahab agrees with the request, but only 450 of the 850 priests (those who serve Baal) accept the challenge and show up (1Kings 18:22). He also recognized, though, that people in his day faced a new, subtler, and perhaps even stronger temptation: to treat money as an idol like Baal, an idol to worship as a god to get what they wanted. V. Elijah hereupon hastened Ahab home, and attended him himself. 30Then Elijah said to all the people, Now come to me. So they gathered around him, and Elijah rebuilt the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. For the nations around Israel, Baal was the rider of the clouds, who brought the rains and blessed the earth.When Baal showed up, the heavens rained oil, the rivers ran with honey, mothers gave birth to healthy children, and even the dead could be raised. They thought to trim the matter, and play on both sides, as the Samaritans, 2 Kings 17:33. 39When all the people saw this, they fell down to the ground, crying, The Lord is God! 10 million Ukrainians without power because of Russia. It seems, this was the manner of the worshippers of Baal. Mauled by Money: The Cost of Economic Idolatry, The Bible also teaches us that the wages of our economic idolatry is death. What is the meaning of the parable of the rich man and his manager? Obadiah would not have accepted the place if he could not have had it without bowing the knee to Baal, nor was Ahab so impolitic as to exclude those from offices that were fit to serve him, merely because they would not join with him in his devotions. One may guess how people stand affected to God by observing how they stand affected to his people and ministers. Obadiah feared God greatly; Ahab had sold himself to work wickedness; and both discovered their character by the manner of their address to the prophet. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly: 4 For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. I will prepare the other bull, putting the meat on the wood but not setting fire to it. 18During the third year without rain, the Lord spoke his word to Elijah: Go and meet King Ahab, and I will soon send rain. 2So Elijah went to meet Ahab. Practicing the King's Economy: Honoring Jesus in How We Work, Earn, Spend, Save, and Give. The Bible states that during the encounter with Elijah the prophets of Baal, "And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them." ( 1 Kings 18:28 ) Where Do We See God's Power over Baal? You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. II. Baal promised the rains, so God sent a drought at the word of his prophet (see 1 Kings 17:1). We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. They explore six key biblical themes of worship, community, work, equity, creation care, and rest to dig into what the Gospel means for how we use our resources. The wind began to blow, and soon a heavy rain began to fall. We become increasingly committed to a lifestyle of an abundance of possessions. b. 1 And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth. [2.] He cast himself down on his knees upon the earth, in token of humility, reverence, and importunity, and put his face between his knees (that is, bowed his head so low that it touched his knees), thus abasing himself in the sense of his own meanness now that God had thus honoured him. They likely continued going to church, paying their tithes, and saying a prayer or two now and againespecially on holidays. Stop for a moment. He himself retired to pray (for though God had promised rain, he must ask it, Zechariah 10:1), and to give thanks for God's answer by fire, now hoping for an answer by water. Ahab issued out writs accordingly, for the convening of this great assembly (1 Kings 18:20; 1 Kings 18:20), either because he feared Elijah and durst not oppose him (Saul stood in awe of Samuel more than of God), or because he hoped Elijah would bless the land, and speak the word that they might have rain, and upon those terms they would be all at his beck. "Shout louder!" he said. But God made them know the contrary, for the famine continued till Baal's prophets were sacrificed, and so great a scarcity of water there was that the king himself and Obadiah went in person throughout the land to seek for grass for the cattle, 1 Kings 18:5; 1 Kings 18:6. The people must be brought to repent and reform, and then they may look for the removal of the judgment, but not till then. We have here the meeting between Ahab and Elijah, as bad a king as ever the world was plagued with and as good a prophet as ever the church was blessed with. 40 And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. Yet his guilty conscience gave him little reason to hope for it, but, rather, to fear some other more dreadful judgment. 3 And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. 16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him: and Ahab went to meet Elijah. There he spoke with us. We are made in the image of this generous King, wired to reflect his generosity to the rest of creation. Get the BEST VALUE in digital Bible study as you prepare for Easter. No one who was present that day missed the point. As he had shown the tenderness of a father to the sons of the prophets, so he showed the reverence of a son to this father of the prophets; and by this made it appear that he did indeed fear God greatly, that he did honour to one that was his extraordinary ambassador and had a great interest in heaven. 10As surely as the Lord your God lives, the king has sent people to every country to search for you. If Ahab had paid the respect to Elijah that he deserved he would have taken him into his chariot, as the eunuch did Philip, that he might honour him before the elders of Israel, and confer with him further about the reformation of the kingdom. 35 And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water. Elijah's God was neither talking nor pursuing, needed not to be either awakened or quickened; while he was yet speaking, the fire of the Lord fell, and not only, as at other times (Leviticus 9:24; 1 Chronicles 21:26; 2 Chronicles 7:1) consumed the sacrifice and the wood, in token of God's acceptance of the offering, but licked up all the water in the trench, exhaling that, and drawing it up as a vapour, in order to the intended rain, which was to be the fruit of this sacrifice and prayer, more than the product of natural causes. Baal was chief of the Canaanite gods. You can also change some of your preferences. [2.] [1.] 44 And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. 4. IV. What occasion for addition to that which is perfect? They cut themselves and cried out to Baal for hours, but 1 Kings 18:26 says, "There was no voice; no one answered." Their god was a non-entity, a nothing. Even on Baals home turf, people starved while waiting for Baal to bring his promised abundance. As one having authority immediately from the King of kings, he ordered a convention of the states to be forthwith summoned to meet at Mount Carmel, where there had been an altar built to God, 1 Kings 18:30; 1 Kings 18:30. They prayed to Baal from morning until noon, shouting Baal, answer us! But there was no sound, and no one answered. Rain is the river of God,Psalms 65:9. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. (2.) Log in, Barton W. Stone: The Preachers Are Working While the People Are Gazing, Thoughts on the Asbury Revival (02.23.23), The Serious Sin of Proselytism (02.16.23), Christians Becoming a Minority Group in America (02.02.23), Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Follow Christ's journey to the Cross. His interview with all Israel upon Mount Carmel, in order to a public trial of titles between the Lord and Baal; a most distinguished solemnity it was, in which, 1. 6:9). " By afternoon, worshippers of Baal were cutting themselves up and ripping off their clothes, writhing in unspeakable suicidal frustration.When he called on them to shout and wake up . To win his people back, God demonstrated his power and mocked Baal along the way. Now if, upon trial, it appears that Baal is that one infinite omnipotent Being, that one supreme Lord and all-sufficient benefactor, you ought to renounce Jehovah and cleave to Baal only: but, if Jehovah be that one God, Baal is a cheat, and you must have no more to do with him." (28-29) The prophets of Baal work harder at their prayer. The prophets of Baal, as criminals, are seized, condemned, and executed, according to law, 1 Kings 18:40; 1 Kings 18:40. When Jezebel was killing all the LORD's . God has his remnant among all sorts, high and low; there were saints in Nero's household, and in Ahab's. That word occurs again in verse 26b when the prophets of Baal are desperate trying to get their god to answer them: "'O Baal, answer us!' But there was no voice, and no one answered. 6 So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself. "Surely he is a god! Paul goes even further. 1621), of rich men sent to hell for their failure to let go of their wealth for the sake of their neighbor (see Luke 16:1931), and of eternal judgment declared on the basis of ones willingness to share with those in need (Matt. Elijah told him to go and look again. III. 2. The Baalites are forced to give up their cause, and now it is Elijah's turn to produce his. Vote Up "In reconcilable differences (says bishop Hall) nothing more safe than indifferency both of practice and opinion; but, in cases of such necessary hostility as betwixt God and Baal, he that is not with God is against him." Has the book of Amos been fulfilled or is it a reference to end times? 5. Start FREE. As for why the worship of Baal and Asherah specifically was such a problem for Israel, there are several reasons we can cite: first, the worship of Baal and Asherah held the allure of illicit sex, since the religion involved ritual prostitution. At the end of the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit had . [2.] Show these people that you commanded me to do all these things. Word of his house bring blessings to Israel, tidings of the day of Pentecost when the Spirit... Elijah hereupon hastened Ahab home, and soon a heavy rain began to blow, told! Meet Elijah people and ministers answer us day of Pentecost when the Holy had. 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