CHAPTER 18

(906 B.C.)

ELIJAH GOES TO MEET AHAB

¹And it came to pass after many days, that the Word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year (the third year of the drought), saying, Go, show yourself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the Earth. (The New Testament distinctly states that the drought lasted three years and six months [Lk. 4:25; James 5:17]. So, there must have been several months from the time that the Lord spoke to Elijah until he actually did see Ahab, which would total the three and a half years which the drought lasted.)

²And Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria. (The famine that was in the land of Samaria due to the drought was also indicative of the spiritual condition. Presently, despite the innumerable Churches in America, Im afraid the true picture is actually far different than appears on the surface. There is presently a famine in the land, as it refers to the Word of God.)

³And Ahab called Obadiah (this is not the same Prophet who wrote the Book which bears that name), which was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly (the Lord placed this man in this high office in Samaria that He might use him to protect true Prophets of the Lord, among other things):

⁴For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the Prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred Prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)

⁵And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts (as is obvious, the situation had become desperate).

⁶So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.

⁷And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him: and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Are you that my lord Elijah?

⁸And he answered him, I am: go, tell your lord, Behold, Elijah is here.

⁹And he said, What have I sinned, that you would deliver your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me?

¹⁰As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord has not sent to seek you: and when they said, He is not there; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found you not. (Why was Ahab this desperate to find Elijah? The answer is simple; it was Elijah who had stopped the rain, and it was Elijah alone who could bring back the rain [James 5:17-18].)

¹¹And now you say, Go, tell your lord, Behold, Elijah is here.

¹²And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from you, that the Spirit of the LORD shall carry you whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find you, he shall kill me: but I your servant fear the LORD from my youth.

¹³Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the Prophets of the LORD, how I hid an hundred men of the LORDs Prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water? (Considering the drought and the famine, this was a considerable undertaking.)

¹⁴And now you say, Go, tell your lord, Behold, Elijah is here: and he shall kill me.

¹⁵And Elijah said, As the LORD of Hosts lives, before Whom I stand, I will surely show myself unto him to day (because the Lord had told him to do so [Vs. 1]).

¹⁶So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him: and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

¹⁷And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Are you he who troubles Israel?

¹⁸And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but you, and your fathers house, in that you have forsaken the Commandments of the LORD, and you have followed Baalim (in other words, this was the cause of all of Israels problems).

¹⁹Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the Prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebels table (these were two different sets of false prophets, totaling 850; 400 were supported by Jezebel).

THE CONTEST ON MOUNT CARMEL

²⁰So Ahab sent unto all the Children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel (this took some days, and possibly several weeks).

²¹And Elijah came unto all the people (when they all had gathered at Mount Carmel), and said, How long halt you between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word (the objective of Elijah was to prove that Jehovah, and not Baal, was God).

²²Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a Prophet of the LORD (not the only Prophet of the Lord in Israel, but the only one present that day on Mount Carmel); but Baals prophets are four hundred and fifty men (one man against 450).

²³Let 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 (the Lord had no doubt told him to do this):

²⁴And call you on the name of your gods, and I will call on the Name of the LORD: and the God Who answers by fire, let Him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken (Baal claimed to be the Sun-god and lord of the elements and forces of nature; while Jehovah, as well, identified Himself with this token [Lev. 9:24; I Chron. 21:26; II Chron. 7:1]).

THE FUTILE EFFORTS OF BAALS PROPHETS

²⁵And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for you are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under.

²⁶And 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 who answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. (Let the words, there was no answer, be amply heard! Of all the religious superstition in the world presently, there is no answer from that source. As then, so now!)

²⁷And 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 perhaps he sleeps, and must be awakened (in other words, Elijah is mocking them!).

²⁸And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them (they were becoming desperate!).

²⁹And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice (about 3 p.m.), that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any who regarded (their petitions went unanswered).

THE FIRE FROM HEAVEN CONSUMES ELIJAHS SACRIFICE

³⁰And 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. (The Altar was a Type of the coming Cross, and what Jesus would do there. As is obvious, Israel no longer believed in the Altar of Jehovah and, above all, what it represented, namely the Cross. Elijah repaired the Altar, which had once been used, but had fallen into disrepair. The Church presently desperately needs to repair the Altar of the Lord that is broken down. In other words, it desperately needs to re-establish its faith in Christ and the Cross.)

³¹And 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 your name:

³²And with the stones he built an Altar (repaired the Altar) in the Name of the LORD (twelve is Gods number of Government; all of this plainly tells us that Gods Government must have the Cross as its foundation, or else its not Gods Government [I Pet. 1:18-20]): and he made a trench about the Altar (the trench speaks of separation from the world, which the Cross will always bring about), as great as would contain two measures of seed.

³³And he put the wood in order (typifying the Cross), and cut the bullock in pieces (typifying the death of Christ), and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water (typical of the Word of God, with the number four typifying all four corners of the compass, referring to the fact that Jesus died for the whole world [Jn. 3:16]), and pour it on the Burnt Sacrifice, and on the wood (signifying that the Word of God, symbolized by the water, covered everything that Jesus would do).

³⁴And 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 (once again, signifying the Triune God!).

³⁵And the water ran round about the Altar; and he filled the trench also with water (typifying that all were saturated in the Word of God, of which the water was a Type).

³⁶And 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 You are God in Israel, and that I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your Word (in other words, the Lord told him exactly what to do in all of this situation).

³⁷Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their heart back again (all of this would be done to turn the hearts of Israel back to God).

³⁸Then 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 (the fire was a Type of the Judgment of God that would fall on Christ when He hung on the Cross, with Him suffering death, and all on our behalf).

³⁹And 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 (not Baal, but Jehovah).

⁴⁰And 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 killed them there (there is no record that Elijah carried out this task himself, but rather that the people of Israel did).

RAIN IS COMING

⁴¹And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get you up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain (the people had been directed back to the Cross, of which the Altar was a Type, and now the Rain of the Spirit could fall; before the Holy Spirit can work, the Church must come back to the Cross; there is no other way!).

⁴²So 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 (the posture witnessed to the intensity of his supplication),

⁴³And 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 (seven is Gods number of perfection; in other words, the rain that was coming would be in proportion to God Who was sending it; even though the Lord had promised this, we find that Elijah had to persevere; this should be a lesson to us; if we ask and we do not receive, we ought to keep asking [Lk. 11:6-13]).

⁴⁴And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there arises a little cloud out of the sea, like a mans hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare your chariot, and get you down that the rain stop you not.

⁴⁵And 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.

⁴⁶And the Hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel (for Elijah to have been able to physically do this would once again demand the Power of God; it was done in order to show Ahab that the supernatural Power of God was on Elijah the Prophet, as if what had just happened concerning the falling of the fire was not enough!).