CHAPTER XVIII
_Elijah is commanded by the Lord to show himself to Ahab_, 1, 2.
_Ahab, and Obadiah his steward, search the land to find_
_provender for the cattle_, 3-6.
_Obadiah meets Elijah, who commands him to inform Ahab that he_
_is ready to present himself before him_, 7-15.
_Elijah and A... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:3. _OBADIAH FEARED THE LORD GREATLY_] He was a
sincere and zealous worshipper of the true God, and his conduct
towards the persecuted prophets was the full proof both of his _piety_
and _humanity_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:4. _FED THEM WITH BREAD AND WATER._] By these are
signified the necessaries of life, of whatsoever kind.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:5. _UNTO ALL FOUNTAINS OF WATER_] All marshy or
well-watered districts, where grass was most likely to be preserved.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:10. _THERE IS NO NATION OR KINGDOM_] He had sent
through all his own states and to the neighbouring governments to find
out the prophet, as he knew, from his own declaration, that both rain
and drought were to be the effect of his prayers. Had he found him, he
no doubt intended to o... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:12. _THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD SHALL CARRY THEE_]
Obadiah supposed that the Spirit of the Lord had carried him to some
strange country during the three years and a half of the drought; and
as he had reason to think that Ahab would slay Elijah if he found him,
and that the God of the pr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:13. _WHEN JEZEBEL SLEW THE PROPHETS_] This
persecution was probably during the dearth, for as this bad woman
would attribute the public calamity to Elijah, not being able to find
him, she would naturally wreak her vengeance on the prophets of
Jehovah who were within her reach.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:18. _I HAVE NOT TROUBLED ISRAEL_] Here the _cause_ of
the dearth is placed on its true ground: the king and the people had
forsaken the true God, and God _shut up the heavens that there was_
_no rain_. Elijah was only the minister whom God used to dispense this
judgment.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:19. _GATHER TO ME ALL ISRAEL_] The heads of tribes
and families; the rulers of the people.
_THE PROPHETS OF BAAL FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY - THE PROPHETS OF THE_
_GROVES FOUR HUNDRED_] The king and queen had different religious
establishments; the king and his servants worshipped Baa... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:21. _HOW LONG HALT YE BETWEEN TWO OPINIONS?_]
Literally, "How long hop ye about upon two boughs?" This is a metaphor
taken from birds hopping about from bough to bough, not knowing on
which to settle. Perhaps the idea of _limping_ through _lameness_
should not be overlooked. They we... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:22. _I ONLY, REMAIN A PROPHET OF THE LORD_] That is,
I am the only prophet of God _present_, and can have but the influence
of _an individual_; while the prophets of Baal are _four hundred and_
_fifty_ men! It appears that the queen's prophets, amounting to _four_
_hundred_, were no... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 24. _THE GOD THAT ANSWERETH BY FIRE_] Elijah gave them every
advantage when he granted that the God who answered by _fire_ should
be acknowledged as the true God; for as the Baal who was worshipped
here was incontestably _Apollo_, or the sun, he was therefore the _god
of fire_, and had only to... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 25. _FOR YE_ ARE _MANY_] And therefore shall have the
preference, and the advantage of being first in your application to
the deity.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:26. _FROM MORNING EVEN UNTIL NOON_] It seems that the
priests of Baal employed the whole day in their desperate rites. The
time is divided into two periods:
1. _From morning until noon_; this was employed in preparing and
offering the sacrifice, and in earnest supplication for the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:27. _AT NOON - ELIJAH MOCKED THEM_] Had not Elijah
been conscious of the Divine protection, he certainly would not have
used such freedom of speech while encompassed by his enemies.
_CRY ALOUD_] Make a great noise; oblige him by your _vociferations_ to
attend to your suit.
_FOR HE... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 28. _THEY CRIED ALOUD_] The poor fools acted as they were
bidden.
_AND CUT THEMSELVES AFTER THEIR MANNER_] This was done according to
the _rites_ of that barbarous religion; if the blood of the bullock
would not move him they thought their _own blood_ might; and with it
they smeared themselve... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 29. _THEY PROPHESIED_] They made incessant _prayer_ and
_supplication_; a farther proof that _to pray_ or _supplicate_ is the
proper ideal meaning of the word נבא _naba_, which we constantly
translate _to prophesy_, when even all the circumstances of the time
and place are against such a meani... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 30. _HE REPAIRED THE ALTAR OF THE LORD_] There had been an altar
of Jehovah in that place, called, even among the heathens, _the altar
of Carmel_, probably built in the time of the judges, or, as the
rabbins imagine, by _Saul_. _Tacitus_ and _Suetonius_ mention an altar
on Mount Carmel, which... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 31. _TOOK TWELVE STONES_] He did this to show that all the
twelve tribes of Israel should be joined in the worship of Jehovah.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 32. _HE MADE A TRENCH_] This was to detain the water that might
fall down from the altar when the barrels should be poured upon it, 1
Kings 18:35.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 33. _FILL FOUR BARRELS_] This was done to prevent any kind of
suspicion that there was _fire concealed under the altar_. An ancient
writer under the name of _Chrysostom_, quoted by Calmet, says that he
had seen under the altars of the heathens, holes dug in the earth with
funnels proceeding fr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 36. _LORD GOD OF ABRAHAM_] He thus addressed the Supreme Being,
that they might know when the answer was given, that it was the _same_
God whom the patriarchs and their fathers worshipped, and thus have
_their hearts turned back again_ to the true religion of their
ancestors.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:36. _THEN THE FIRE OF THE LORD FELL_] It did not
_burst out_ from the altar; this might still, notwithstanding the
water, have afforded some ground for suspicion that fire had been
concealed, after the manner of the heathens, under the altar.
Pindar's account of the Rhodians' settl... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 39. _FELL ON THEIR FACES_] Struck with awe and reverence at the
sight of this incontestable miracle.
_AND THEY SAID_] We should translate the words thus: _JEHOVAH, He_ _is
the God! JEHOVAH, He is the God_! Baal is not the God; Jehovah alone
is the God of Israel.
As our term _Lord_ is very eq... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 40. _LET NOT ONE OF THEM ESCAPE._] They had committed the
highest crime against the state and the people by introducing
idolatry, and bringing down God's judgments upon the land; therefore
their lives were forfeited to that law which had ordered every
idolater to be slain. It seems also that A... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:41. _GET THEE UP, EAT AND DRINK_] It appears most
evidently that Ahab and the prophet were now on good terms, and this
is a farther evidence that the slaying of the false prophets was by
the king's consent.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:42. _PUT HIS FACE BETWEEN HIS KNEES_] He kneeled
down, and then bowed his head to the earth, so that, while his face
was between his knees, his forehead touched the ground.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:43. _LOOK TOWARD THE SEA._] From the top of Mount
Carmel the Mediterranean Sea was full in view.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:44. _THERE ARISETH A LITTLE CLOUD OUT OF THE SEA,
LIKE A_ _MAN'S HAND._] איש ככף _kechaph ish, like the hollow of
a man's hand._ In the form of the hand bent, the concave side
downmost. I have witnessed a resemblance of this kind at sea
previously to a violent storm, a little cloud... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:46. _RAN BEFORE AHAB_] Many think that Elijah ran
before the king in order _to do him honour_; and much learned labour
has been spent on this passage in order to show that Elijah had put
himself at the head of a company of chanters who ran before the king
reciting his praises, or t... [ Continue Reading ]