May 21, 2025
This account takes place around 900 BC, when the nation of Israel had turned away from worshipping God to worship the pagan god Baal. At this time in history, Israel was under the reign of Ahab, its worst king to date, who was greatly influenced by his foreign wife, Jezebel. Under their rule, the prophets of the true God were systematically killed (1 Kings 16:30–33). God sent His prophet, Elijah, to warn Israel of the evil of their ways and he had prophesied that a drought would come upon the whole land as a consequence for Ahab’s evil (1 Kings 17:1).
Three years had passed since Elijah stood in Ahab’s court and announced the coming of the great drought, which had come to pass as he foretold. Part of this time he had spent by the brook Cherith and part with the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:8–24). Many times during these lonely days he must have wondered what God was planning to do next for His people. Had they learned their lesson yet? Were they ready to turn from their idols? Someday the Lord would end the drought, but how and when?
The famine was at its most severe in the land when the word of the Lord came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth” (1 Kings 18:1). He set out at once for Samaria, approximately 150 miles to the south of Zarephath.
On the way, Elijah ran into Obadiah, the governor of Ahab’s house, who was searching for pasture for the horses and mules that were still alive. Obadiah was one of the few leaders who remained loyal to God. He had shown his loyalty by hiding a hundred of God’s prophets in two caves for two years when Jezebel was trying to kill them, and supplied them with food and water (1 Kings 18:4).
Recognizing Elijah, he dropped to his knees and cried, “Is it really you, my lord Elijah?” “It is,” replied Elijah. “Go tell your master, King Ahab, ‘Elijah is here’” (1 Kings 18:7–8).
“I can’t,” said Obadiah, as he feared for his life. “As surely as the Lord your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you.” There had been many false reports as to where Elijah had been seen, which had further angered the king.
“I don’t know where the Spirit of the Lord may carry you when I leave you,” said Obadiah. “If I go and tell Ahab that you are here, and he finds that you have vanished again, he will kill me!” (1 Kings 18:9–14).
Elijah replied, “As the Lord Almighty whom I serve lives, I will surely present myself to Ahab today.” Obadiah believed him and rode off to find the king (1 Kings 18:15–16). On hearing the news, Ahab went at once to the place where his servant had said he would find Elijah. “Is that you, the troubler of Israel?” he demanded angrily as he approached Elijah.
“I haven’t caused any trouble for Israel,” replied Elijah without flinching; “but you and your father’s family have by abandoning the Lord’s commands and worshipping Baal.” Ahab viewed Elijah, the prophet who pronounced God’s judgment, as the cause of the nation’s trouble, but Elijah rightly pointed out that Ahab, who had turned to other gods, was the true troubler of Israel.
Elijah went on to challenge Ahab: “Now summon the people from all Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel, and bring the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table” (1 Kings 18:18–19).
God had shown Elijah a plan. It was time for a showdown, as there is no such thing as the peaceful coexistence of good and evil. The people were going to have to decide once and for all whether they were going to serve the God of heaven or the false gods of the Canaanites, whose idols had been set up all over the land.
So the king sent out messengers, calling the people and all the false prophets to assemble at Mount Carmel. Thousands of men, women, and children came to the place of meeting. None were quite sure why they had been summoned, only that the king had sent out the call. It was rumored that Elijah would be there, but similar tales had been told about the prophet for the past three years, and he had never appeared. Hadn’t the king himself been searching for him all this time?
The people made their way toward the top of Mount Carmel until all the slopes were covered. Suddenly someone cried out, “Look, Elijah is here!” Instantly the word swept through the waiting throng, and the people strained to see the man who had dared to defy the king.
“Hush!” cried someone. “Elijah is speaking!” Silence fell upon the milling crowd. Then from the top of the mountain came that deep, powerful voice once heard in Ahab’s court. “How long will you waver between two opinions?” cried the prophet. “If the Lord is God, then follow Him; but if Baal is God, then follow him!” Nobody responded, as the people did not say a word (1 Kings 18:21).
Elijah went on to say, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, while Baal has 450 prophets! So get two bulls—one for each of us. Let Baal’s prophets cut one into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is the true God” (1 Kings 18:22–24).
“Well said; that’s fair enough,” cried the people, eager to witness such a test of the powers of rival gods, as they watched and listened with riveted interest. Turning to the prophets of Baal, Elijah said, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.”
Eager to prove that Baal was the greatest god on earth, his prophets seized their bull, prepared it, and set it on the altar they had built. Then they began to implore their god to send fire to burn the sacrifice. “O Baal, hear us!” they shouted. But there was no response. So they started dancing around the altar they had made, crying, “Baal, answer us!” but still no fire came (1 Kings 18:25–26).
All morning long they continued their wild dancing and shouting. At noon Elijah started to taunt and mock them, saying, “Shout louder! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or maybe he’s traveling. Or could it be that he is sleeping and must be awakened?” So they shouted even louder and began to cut themselves with knives, as was their custom, until their blood was gushing out. But all to no avail. Midday passed, the afternoon came. The sun began to sink toward the sea. Still “there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention” (1 Kings 18:27–29).
Then Elijah spoke again to the people, who were tired and weary as this spectacle had gone on all day. “Come near to me,” he shouted, and the crowd surged forward. Then they watched as he repaired the altar of the Lord, which used to stand upon this mountaintop but had been torn down. Taking twelve stones, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel, he rebuilt the altar, and dug a large trench around it. He arranged the wood, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood (1 Kings 18:30–31).
Then, to everybody’s surprise, Elijah said, “Fill up four large jars with water, and pour it on the offering and on the wood.” The water was brought and poured out on the altar. Some said, “Does he expect it to burn, with all that water on it?” But if Elijah heard, he took no notice. “Do it again,” he said, and they did. “Do it the third time,” he said. The sacrifice was soaked again until water poured into the trench and filled it (1 Kings 18:32–35). The whole area was so saturated with water that nobody could claim that Elijah set fire to the sacrifice himself. If this offering was consumed in fire, it would have to be the Lord’s doing.
Suddenly a hush fell over the great assembly as Elijah raised his voice in prayer. Everybody listened, even the prophets of Baal, who had ceased their shouting.
“Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel,” he cried, “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. Answer me, O Lord, that this people may know that You are God, and that You have turned their hearts back again” (1 Kings 18:36–37).
Scarcely had he finished praying when there was a flash of flame from the skies as “the fire of the Lord fell on the altar, and consumed the sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.” Terrified, and realizing that this was an act of God, the people fell on their faces, crying, “The Lord—He is God; the Lord—He is God!” (1 Kings 18:38–40). After this great victory over the false prophets and the repentance of the people, rain once again fell on the land, ending the drought (1 Kings 18:41–46).
The prophet Elijah is one of the most colorful prophets in the Bible, and he is referenced numerous times in the New Testament. John the Baptist was called “Elijah” because he came in the “spirit and power of Elijah,” as the New Testament forerunner who points the way to the arrival of the Lord (Matthew 11:14; Luke 1:17). Elijah was also present at Jesus’ transfiguration, along with Moses, when they talked with Jesus (Mark 9:2–7).
The book of James highlights Elijah as an example of prayer, as even though he “was a human being, even as we are,” yet “he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not,” and when he prayed that it would rain, it did (James 5:17–18). “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results” (James 5:16).
From an article in Treasures, published by the Family International in 1987. Adapted and republished May 2025.
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