1 Kings 18:1-46

God’s lessons from history

1 Kings

Philip Smith

Chapter 18

God sends Elijah to King Ahab

v1 After there had been no rain for three years, the *Lord spoke to Elijah. ‘Go and meet King Ahab. Then I will send rain.’ v2 So Elijah went to meet Ahab.

Now there was a very great lack of food in Samaria. v3 Ahab called in Obadiah who was in control of the palace. [Obadiah was a loyal *worshipper of the *Lord. v4 While Jezebel was killing the *Lord’s *prophets, Obadiah took 100 of them. He hid them in two caves, 50 in each. And he gave them food and water.] v5 Ahab said to Obadiah, ‘Go and look at every fountain and river in the country. Perhaps we will find enough grass to keep the horses and *mules alive. Then we will not have to kill any of our animals.’ v6 So they divided the country between them. Ahab went one way and Obadiah went the other way.

There had been no rain for three years. Elijah had spent one year by the stream. Then he had spent two years with the widow. Now it was the right time to meet Ahab.

Obadiah was a good man who gave honour to the *Lord. The king trusted him and gave him a good place with the king. Obadiah was still loyal to God.

We can see that Queen Jezebel was already very wicked. She was trying to force everyone to *worship only the false gods called *Baal and Ashtoreth. So she had decided to kill all the *prophets of the *Lord.

It is interesting that there were still so many *prophets of the *Lord. For many years since the rule of Jeroboam, people had *worshipped *idols in *Israel. This was the official religion, and most people followed it. But it is clear that a large number of people were still *worshipping the *Lord.

Among those people was Obadiah, who seems to be Ahab’s chief official. At great personal risk Obadiah hid the *prophets. They were in two caves. Obadiah gave them food and water.

The king told Obadiah to help him in order to find water for the horses. Some people think that Ahab had over 2000 of these.

Sometimes it is right for a good man to serve a bad ruler. He may then stop him doing bad deeds. Daniel served the kings in Babylon. We must always give honour to God. But often we can still work for people who do not respect him. We can show our belief by the things that we do. Jesus said, ‘Give the Emperor (the ruler of the country) what belongs to him. But give God what belongs to God’ (Luke 20:25).

v7 As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah knew who he was. He *bowed to the ground and spoke to him. ‘Are you really Elijah?’

v8 ‘Yes’, replied Elijah. ‘Go. And tell your master that I am here.’

v9 ‘What have I done wrong?’ asked Obadiah. ‘If I do that, Ahab will kill me. v10 I declare this by the God who lives. The king has searched for you in every country. Usually a country or *kingdom said you were not there. Then he made them declare by a serious promise that they could not find you. v11 Now you want me to go and say to my master, “Elijah is here.” v12 I do not know where the *Spirit of God will take you. This may happen after I leave. I may go to tell Ahab that you are here. But if he does not find you, he will kill me. But I have *worshipped the *Lord since I was a boy. v13 Have you heard what I did? Jezebel was killing the *prophets of the *Lord. I hid 100 of the *Lord’s *prophets in two caves, 50 in each. I also gave them food and water. v14 And now, you tell me to inform my master that Elijah is here. Ahab will kill me!’

v15 Elijah said, ‘I promise this in the name of the *Lord who is completely powerful. I will meet Ahab today.’

Obadiah greeted Elijah in a manner that showed great honour for Elijah. Elijah then told Obadiah to tell the king that he was there. Obadiah was very afraid to do this. Obadiah was aware that Elijah was a great *prophet. Perhaps he had heard about the *miracles that Elijah had carried out by God’s power. So Obadiah was already expecting more *miracles. He was afraid that, perhaps, the *Spirit of God might take Elijah away. Then the king would be angry and he would kill Obadiah.

Obadiah then told Elijah what he had done to look after the *prophets. He worked for the king, but he served the *Lord. Elijah promised that he would meet the king. So Obadiah could be confident. He did not need to worry.

v16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him. Ahab went to meet Elijah. v17 When he saw Elijah, he said, ‘So it is you, the man who makes trouble for *Israel.’

v18 ‘I have not made trouble for *Israel’, Elijah replied. ‘You and your father’s family have. You have not obeyed the *Lord’s commands but you have *worshipped the *Baals. v19 Now call the people from all over *Israel to meet me on *Mount Carmel. Bring the 450 *prophets of *Baal and the 400 *prophets of Asherah for whom Jezebel provides.’

v20 So Ahab ordered all the *Israelites and the *prophets of *Baal to meet at *Mount Carmel.

Ahab greeted Elijah in an unpleasant manner. People who serve God often have suffered such insults. In Acts 17:6 the crowd called Paul a maker of trouble. Paul did not deserve that insult, and Elijah did not deserve Ahab’s insult. Elijah said that Ahab had made trouble. Rain had stopped because he *worshipped *Baal gods. People thought that these gods would send rain for their crops. But really, the *Lord is the only God. Only he can send rain. And soon Elijah would prove that this is true.

Elijah *challenged Ahab to a meeting on *Mount Carmel. This mountain was one of the places where people gave honour to the *Baal gods. People from all the *tribes of *Israel came. So did the *prophets who led the *worship of the *Baal gods. Perhaps Ahab was afraid not to obey Elijah. Perhaps Ahab thought that he would do anything to get rain. So, on this occasion, Ahab obeyed Elijah. But Ahab still did not want to obey God.

Elijah and the *prophets of *Baal

v21 Elijah spoke to the people. ‘How much longer will you take to decide? If the *Lord is God then follow him. If *Baal is God then follow him.’ However, the people said nothing. v22 Then Elijah said, ‘I am the only *prophet of the *Lord who is still here. *Baal has 450 *prophets. v23 Bring two *bulls. The *prophets of *Baal should choose one and kill it. Then they must cut it in pieces and put it on the wood. But they must not light a fire. I will prepare the other *bull and put it on the wood. And I will not light a fire. v24 Then you pray to your god and I will pray to the *Lord. Only one God is able to send fire. He is the real God.’

The people said, ‘What you say is good.’

v25 Then Elijah said to the *prophets of *Baal, ‘There are so many of you. So choose one of the *bulls and prepare it first. Pray to your god but do not light the fire.’

v26 So they took the *bull and they prepared it. Then they prayed to *Baal from morning until midday. They shouted, ‘*Baal answer us.’ But there was no reply. There was no answer. They danced round the *altar which they had made.

v27 At noon, Elijah began to laugh at them. ‘Shout louder!’ he said. ‘You say that *Baal is a god! Perhaps he is concentrating on something else. Perhaps he is busy. Perhaps he has gone on a journey. Or maybe he is asleep and you must wake him up.’

v28 So they shouted louder. They cut themselves with swords and long *weapons with a metal point until their blood flowed. That was their custom. v29 After midday they continued their desperate prayers. They did this until it was time for the evening *sacrifice. But there was no answer. Nobody replied. Nobody paid attention.

This is a very powerful story. The purpose of the event was to show which God was the real God. The other was not really a god. The people wanted to mix the *worship of God with the *worship of *Baal. Elijah told the people that they could not do this. Like Joshua (Joshua 24:15), he told the people to chose the god whom they would serve.

Today, people still try to *worship different gods. They *worship the *Lord when they want his help. But they are not loyal to God. Usually, they prefer their own false gods. Sometimes those false gods are the *idols of false religions. But many people do not even realise when they are *worshipping false gods. Popular false gods today include money, ambition and power. Other false gods include sex, pleasure and luxury. People begin to love these things until such things become the most important things in their lives. They believe that such things provide a successful or worthwhile life. So these people think about such things in the same manner as other people think about *idols.

But the real God does not allow people to *worship any false god (Deuteronomy 5:8-9). In fact, people have long *worshipped things like money and sex as gods. Jesus warned people that they must not *worship money (Matthew 6:24). And Paul mentioned people who *worship the human body as a god (Romans 1:24-25). So still today, people must choose the god whom they will serve. And any god who is not the *Lord, is a false god. Everyone who *worships a false god is wasting their time. Only the real God can provide a person with a worthwhile life. Only the real God can answer prayer. Only the real God can save a person from *sin and hell. And as Elijah would prove, only the real God could send fire on *Mount Carmel.

Elijah allowed the *prophets of *Baal to pray to their god first. There were more of them. They prayed in the manner that their religion ordered. When *Baal did not answer their many prayers, they became more and more desperate. They shouted and they cut themselves. They hoped that their blood would make their god listen. (In Deuteronomy 14:1, the *Lord forbade his people to cut themselves.) Elijah laughed at them. If *Baal were a god, surely he would hear them. But perhaps he was thinking about something else. Perhaps he was too busy to answer their prayers. The *Lord is present everywhere (Psalms 139). But Elijah suggested that *Baal might be too weak to be a real god. Perhaps he had travelled elsewhere. The *Lord never sleeps. He is always looking after his people (Psalms 121:4). Elijah again suggested that *Baal was too weak. Perhaps he had gone to sleep and they should wake him up. The *prophets of *Baal shouted for another three hours until 3 o’clock in the afternoon, but nobody answered.

Like all false gods, their god was without any real power whatever. Sometimes a false god may seem to have some power. There are reports of magic and *miracles that come from false gods. These reports are often false. But if they are true, they are the work of the devil. The Bible does not deny that the devil still has some power (Ephesians 6:12; 1 Peter 5:8). But he always uses his power for wicked purposes. And he is much weaker than God is. Jesus, by his death, has already defeated the devil completely (1 Corinthians 15:55; Hebrews 2:14).

v30 Then Elijah told all the people to come closer to him. They came to him and he repaired the *Lord’s *altar. The people had neglected it. v31 He took 12 stones, one for each of the *tribes who were Jacob’s *descendants. The *Lord had given Jacob the name *Israel. v32 With the stones he built an *altar for the *worship of the *Lord. He dug a ditch round it. This was large enough to hold about 4 gallons (15 litres) of water. v33 Then he put the wood on the *altar. He cut the *bull in pieces and he put it on the wood. Then he told the people to fill 4 large jars with water. He told them to pour the water on the *offering and the wood.

v34 ‘Do it again’, he said. So they did it again.

‘Do it a third time’, he ordered. They did it a third time. v35 The water ran down round the *altar and it filled the ditch.

v36 At the time of *sacrifice, the *prophet Elijah went close to the *altar and he prayed. ‘*Lord, you are the God of Abraham, Isaac and *Israel. Show now that you are God in *Israel. Show that I am your servant. And show the people why I have done all these things. I have done all these things because you told me to do them. v37 Answer me, *Lord, answer me. Then these people will know that you, *Lord, are God. They will know that you are turning them back to you again.’

v38 Then the *Lord sent fire down. It burnt up the *sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil. It also dried up the water in the ditch.

v39 When the people saw this, they fell on the ground. They shouted, ‘The *Lord is God. The *Lord is God!’

v40 Elijah ordered them to seize the *prophets of *Baal. ‘Do not let any of them escape.’ The people seized them all. Elijah took them to the Kishon valley and he killed them there.

Elijah repaired an *altar that people had used to *worship God. He did this to show that he was not introducing a new religion. Instead he wanted to bring back the belief and *worship of the real God. He used 12 stones to show that all the people still belonged to God. Because of the events when Jeroboam became king, the 12 *tribes were in two separate countries. And the northern country, which Ahab ruled, was following different religions. But Elijah showed that God still cared about them all.

Elijah poured water (perhaps from the sea) to show that he was not cheating. Everyone could see that Elijah had not lit a fire. And the *altar was too wet for anyone to start a fire there.

Then Elijah prayed to God in a humble manner. He prayed that people would know two things. The first was that God was the real God. The second was that he was a God of *mercy. He still wanted the people to turn back to him. He still wanted to show them his kindness.

Suddenly, something happened that astonished all the people. Fire came down from the sky. The fire destroyed the *sacrifice and the *altar. It also burnt the soil and dried up the water. It seems that this event caused great terror. The *prophets of *Baal had failed. Elijah had proved that God was the real God. The people agreed but not all of them would continue to follow God. But Elijah acted quickly. With the help of the people, he killed the *prophets of *Baal. This was probably because of the command in Deuteronomy 13:13-15.

God told the *Israelites to kill those who led them to *worship other gods. We would not do that today, but, in Colossians 3:5 and Colossians 3:8, Paul uses a similar description. He is explaining how, with God’s help, Christians must end their own wrong desires. He writes this: ‘Kill the bad desires in you. These include wrong use of sex, wrong desires for sex and a strong desire for wealth and power. This is like when people give honour to *idols. You must remove anger, hate, insults and lies.’ If we really follow God, we will obey him.

God sends rain

v41 Then Elijah said to Ahab, ‘Go. Eat and drink. I can hear the sound of heavy rain.’ v42 Ahab went to eat but Elijah climbed to the top of *Mount Carmel. He bent down to the ground. And he put his face between his knees.

v43 Then Elijah told his servant to go and to look towards the sea.

The servant went and returned. ‘I did not see anything’, he said.

Seven times Elijah told him to go back. v44 The seventh time the servant came back and said, ‘A cloud is coming up from the sea. But it is tiny. It seems as small as a man’s hand.’

So Elijah gave an order to his servant. ‘Go and say to Ahab, “Get into your *chariot. Go home before the rain stops you.” ’

v45 Soon dark clouds covered the sky. The wind increased and heavy rain began to fall. Ahab rode back to Jezreel. v46 The power of the *Lord came upon Elijah. He fastened up his clothes and he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

Now it was clear that the *Lord was the real God. Elijah could then pray for rain. People would know that *Baal did not send it. This was clear because the *prophets of *Baal were dead. Elijah sent Ahab to eat and to drink. He had probably not done so all day.

Elijah went to pray. He probably thanked God for his answer by fire. Now he asked him to answer with water. He prayed on the top of Carmel on his own. He bent down because he was humble. He told his servant to look for a cloud. It would come up out of the sea. The servant came back 6 times. He said that he could not see anything. Elijah did not give up. He continued to pray until God answered his prayer (James 5:16-18).

Then at the 7th time, Elijah’s servant saw a small cloud. Elijah told Ahab to hurry home. God gave Elijah great strength to run with Ahab’s *chariot. Elijah ran 17 miles to Jezreel. On this occasion, Elijah went with Ahab. He did not want to oppose the king. He wanted to persuade him to *worship the *Lord.

Lord ~ the name of God. It can translate either of two words in Hebrew, which is the original language of this book. The word ‘Yahweh’ is God’s most holy name, and means ‘God always’. The word ‘Adonai’ means ‘master’.
prophet ~ a person who prophesies.
prophesy ~ to speak God’s word; or, to say what will happen in the future.
mule ~ an animal that is born after a horse mates with a similar animal called a donkey. A mule can carry heavy burdens.
burden ~ a heavy thing to carry; or, a difficult duty.
worship ~ to praise God and to give thanks to him; to show honour to God; to say that we love him very much. But some people worship false gods instead of the real God.
Baal ~ a false god.
idol ~ the image of a god to whom people give honour.
Israel ~ the country or nation of people who are descendants of Jacob; the northern part of that country after it divided.
descendants ~ people in your family who live after you.
bow ~ to lower the head or the body; this action shows that you respect someone.
kingdom ~ a country or nation that a king or a queen rules.
spirit ~ the part of a person that is alive, which we cannot see. Also, there are spirits that we cannot see; such spirits can be good or bad. The word may also refer to God’s Holy Spirit.
holy ~ morally good; something people consider very important in their religion.
miracle ~ a wonderful work that God does by his power and which human knowledge cannot explain.
Mount ~ a short word for mountain; small mountain.
Israelite ~ someone who lives in Israel; or, a descendant of Jacob.
Israel ~ the country or nation of people who are descendants of Jacob; the northern part of that country after it divided.
descendants ~ people in your family who live after you.
challenge ~ to invite someone to fight; or to invite someone to prove something.
tribe ~ a group of people; a family or people that have the same ancestors; family from one man. Israel came from the 12 sons of Jacob. These 12 families formed the 12 tribes of Israel.
ancestor ~ any person from the past from whom the families of your father or mother have come.
Israel ~ the country or nation of people who are descendants of Jacob; the northern part of that country after it divided.
descendants ~ people in your family who live after you.
bull ~ the male animal that mates with a cow.
altar ~ a table on which people offer or burn gifts or sacrifices to a god.
sacrifice ~ something valuable that people offered to a god.
weapons ~ tools of war, for example swords, which people use to cause pain, injury and death.
sacrifice ~ something valuable that people offered to a god.'sin/sinful ~ an action that is wrong or wicked. It is against a religious or moral law.
religious ~ about religion.
descendants ~ people in your family who live after you.
mercy ~ kindness or forgiveness instead of punishment.
forgiveness ~ when somebody decides to forgive a person who has done something wrong. The person who forgives is not still angry with that other person.
chariot ~ a cart with two wheels that soldiers used. Horses pulled it.