1 KINGS LESSON 24


     We will begin this lesson in I Kings 18:20 "So Ahab sent unto all
the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount
Carmel."

     In the last lesson, Elijah told Ahab to gather all the people,
and the prophets of Baal, and the prophets of the groves to Mount
Carmel. Ahab wants to get this drouth stopped, so he had done as
Elijah asked.

     I Kings 18:21 "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."

     This meeting on Mount Carmel is to decide once and for all, Who
is God. Elijah knows that many of them are still worshipping the LORD.
Some are worshipping Baal. Others cannot make up their minds who they
should worship. We see a very strange gathering here. The prophets of
Baal and Ahab are on one side, and Elijah is on the other side. He
says, "make up your mind". You cannot believe in both at the same
time. Elijah is telling them, if they are convinced, after this
confrontation on the mount, that God is God, worship Him, and no
other. If they decide that Baal is god, then worship him. The people
did not answer, because their conscience was hurting them.

     I Kings 18:22 "Then said Elijah unto the people, I, [even] I
only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal's prophets [are] four
hundred and fifty men."

     This does not mean that the 100 prophets Obadiah had hidden were
dead. It just means they were not at Mount Carmel. Elijah, alone,
stood for the One True God, on Mount Carmel. The 450 prophets of Baal
would make it more dramatic, when God proves Himself here.

     I Kings 18:23 "Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let
them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay
[it] on wood, and put no fire [under]: and I will dress the other
bullock, and lay [it] on wood, and put no fire [under]:"

     Each of these bullocks was to be offered to their god. Elijah
would offer one to the True God, and they would offer theirs to Baal.
The offerings were the same, just dedicated differently. Each offering
must be handled identically for this to be a true test.

     I Kings 18:24 "And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will
call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let
him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken."

     This challenge is fair. No one can say that this is not a test of
who the true God is. All are in agreement, that this should settle the
question. There will be no doubt left.
     I Kings 18:25 "And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose
you one bullock for yourselves, and dress [it] first; for ye [are]
many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire [under]."

     He gives them every advantage. The more lee-way he gives them,
the greater the victory will be for God. The one thing they are not to
do, is put any fire under offering. The fact that they go first is to
show that Baal is truly a nothing. He will be defamed before all of
his prophets this day.

     I Kings 18:26 "And they took the bullock which was given them,
and they dressed [it], and called on the name of Baal from morning
even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But [there was] no voice,
nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made."

     The more they cried out to Baal, the quieter it got. They were so
disappointed that Baal did not answer them, that they began to leap on
the altar.

     I Kings 18:27 "And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked
them, and said, Cry aloud: for he [is] a god; either he is talking, or
he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, [or] peradventure he sleepeth,
and must be awaked."

     Elijah is trying to show that Baal is nothing but a false god. He
cannot hear, or see, or speak. To believe in a false god, that has no
power at all, is foolish.

     I Kings 18:28 "And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after
their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon
them."

     The mocking of Elijah caused them to get more serious about
trying to get the attention of their god. Cutting themselves showed
they were very serious. They danced around the altar, while cutting
themselves. The worship of false gods, sometimes, even involve
sacrificing humans. The cutting, here, is showing their willingness to
die for their god.

     I Kings 18:29 "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."

     Elijah gave them all the time they needed. To pray to a false god
could go on forever without results. He allows them to continue all
day until the time of the evening sacrifice. There was no response
from Baal at all, because he was no god.

     I Kings 18:30 "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 the LORD [that was] broken down."

     Now, it is God's turn. They had gathered around the altar of Baal
waiting for an answer all day, and nothing had happened. Now, they are
to gather around the altar of the LORD. Elijah restores the altar of
God, and proceeds.

     I Kings 18:31 "And Elijah took twelve 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 thy name:"

     It is interesting that he took the twelve stones, instead of the
ten of just Israel. The kingdom might be divided, but with God, they
are still all his people. This reminds them that the law was given to
all of them on the way to their promised land. The name of Jacob had
been changed to Israel, when he became a nation of twelve tribes.

     I Kings 18:32 "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."

     Altars of stones had been used from the time of Abraham. This
altar built to glorify the LORD had represented all the tribes of
Israel. Water will be put in the trench around it.

     I Kings 18:33 "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."

     The order of the wood and the sacrifice was the law observing
these offerings. By doing this, he recognized the law of the LORD. The
four barrels of water poured on the offering was to make the burning
of this offering even more difficult.

     I Kings 18:34 "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."

     This means there were twelve barrels of water poured over the
offering. In the natural, it would have been impossible for this to
burn.

     I Kings 18:35 "And the water ran round about the altar; and he
filled the trench also with water."

     The water was so abundant, it ran into the trench, as well.

     I Kings 18:36 "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." I Kings 18:37 "Hear
me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou [art] the
LORD God, and [that] thou hast turned their heart back again."

     This is an unusual prayer, considering the prayer that the
prophets of Baal had prayed. This prayer of Elijah is simple, but to
the point. God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel recognizes the LORD as
God of all twelve tribes. He is saying, prove to these unbelieving
people that you truly are God. He wants God to turn these people from
the worship of false gods to worship of the One True God. He, also,
asks that God will reveal to them that he is a man of God. The words
he speaks are not his, but the LORD speaking through him. They will
not turn back to God on their own, so he wants God to turn them back
to Him.

     I Kings 18:38 "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."

     This fire of God is so great, it burns everything that had been
soaked with water. The fire even laps up all of the water. Hebrews
12:29 "For our God [is] a consuming fire." Notice, that the fire of
God was so great, that it even burned the stones of the altar.

     I Kings 18:39 "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."

     This would be enough to cause the people to fall on their faces
before the LORD. There is no doubt that the LORD, He is God. The fire
was the presence of the LORD with these people. It is such a shame
that it took a visible manifestation of the LORD, before they accepted
Him as God.

     I Kings 18:40 "And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of
Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah
brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there."

     This is 450 prophets of Baal that are slaughtered at the brook
Kishon. "Kishon" means hardness. This does not mean that Elijah killed
each one of them himself, but he was overseer. Deuteronomy 18:20 "But
the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I
have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of
other gods, even that prophet shall die."

     I Kings 18:41  "And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and
drink; for [there is] a sound of abundance of rain."

     When this terrible false worship is removed from the land, the
drouth is over. Elijah speaks, and the rain comes.

     I Kings 18:42 "So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah
went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth,
and put his face between his knees,"

     Ahab did as Elijah had told him, he ate and drank in expectation
of the rain. Elijah went to the highest point of the mount, and knelt
down with his head between his knees. He was totally humbled before
the LORD.

     I Kings 18:43 "And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward
the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, [There is] nothing. And
he said, Go again seven times."

     Elijah expected the rain. He knew it would be possible to see the
rain from a distance from the top of the mount, looking across the
sea. Seven times he had his servant to look, because he knew in his
heart the rain would come. All the time, he continued to pray.

     I Kings 18:44 "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. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare [thy chariot],
and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not."

     The rain would come in torrents once it began, so Elijah told
Ahab to get in his chariot and hurry home, before the rain caught him.

     I Kings 18:45 "And it came to pass in the mean while, that the
heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And
Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel."

     This was not an ordinary rain, but really was a torrent. This is
a storm with wind, and rain, and would leave the valley very wet and
difficult to cross. Ahab heeded Elijah, and rode his chariot to
Jezreel.

     I Kings 18:46 "And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he
girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel."

     This is a tremendous strengthening of Elijah's body from the
LORD. A man generally can not out-run horses, but that is what Elijah
did. He ran in front of the chariot, pulled with horses, all the way
to Jezreel.





















                        1 Kings 24 Questions


1.  Where were the people and the false prophets gathered with Elijah?
2.  What question did Elijah ask them in verse 21?
3.  What challenge did Elijah place before the people?
4.  Why did the people not answer Elijah?
5.  Who stood with Elijah on Mount Carmel, for God?
6.  How many false prophets represented Baal?
7.  In verse 23, Elijah calls for what to be sacrificed?
8.  How must the True God answer?
9.  Who goes first in this challenge?
10. How long did they call on Baal?
11. What did Elijah say to them in a mocking way about Baal?
12. What did they do in desperation to get Baal to answer them?
13. When did Elijah decide to call on God?
14. What did Elijah do, before he offered the sacrifice?
15. How many stones did Elijah use in rebuilding the altar?
16. What did he build around the altar?
17. How many barrels of water did he pour on the sacrifice?
18. What prayer did Elijah pray?
19. What did he ask God to prove to these people?
20. How did God respond?
21. Quote Hebrews chapter 12 verse 29.
22. When the fire came down, what did the people do?
23. What did the people cry out?
24. What did Elijah tell the people to do with the prophets of Baal?
25. Quote Deuteronomy chapter 18 verse 20.
26. What did Elijah tell Ahab to do, and why did he tell him to do it?
27. Where did Elijah go to wait for the rain?
28. What did he do, while he was waiting?
29. How many times did Elijah send the servant to look for the rain?
30. What did the servant see the last time?
31. What did Elijah tell Ahab to do?
32. Quote 1 Kings chapter 18 verse 46.
33. How did Elijah have strength enough to run in front of the chariot
    of Ahab?