Elijah vs the prophets of Baal  

During the reign of Ahab, and his evil wife Jezebel, Elijah is called to be God's prophet to Israel.  

The land of Israel was filled with idolatry

This was one of the original reasons God gave for  the Israelites to drive out the inhabitants of the land, Deut.7:1-5.

Elijah is a Tishbite from Gillead, Jer.17:1.

Following Omri, an evil king in his own right (1 Kings 16:25), who provoked the Lord to anger, his son Ahab came to the throne, 1 Kings 16:28.

Did Israel get a reprieve?  "Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him." 1 Kings 16:30.

He married Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians

and this evil woman established the Phoenician worship of Baal

She was not content o have it at a local level, but her desire was for the entire nation to worship the god Baal! 

To accomplish this goal, she tried her best to wipe God from the mind of the people

by destroying the prophets of God in great numbers.  1 Kings 18:13; 2 Kings 9:7; Many fled to the hills and caves to avoid her wrath.

Her daughter Athaliah, marries the king of Judah,

introduced Baal worship in Judah!

So the pagan worship was widespread in both Israel & Judah!  

I. Worship of Baal:

            a.  Baal was one of the original gods of the Phoenicians

          although the Moabites and others worshipped him.

b. The worship of Baal goes back to at least the time of Moses.

c.  The image of Baal was that of a man's body and head of a bull.

d.  Some ancients regarded Baal as the god of fire. "Some thought him to be the storm god is expressed on a sculptured stele. In his left hand  he seen grasping a thunderbolt, the extension which converts into a spearhead, in his right hand he is swinging a club overhead.  He dons an helmet with the horns of a bull, which emphasizes his role as the supreme fertility-god of the Ugaritic religion." {INBE, VOl.1, pg.377}

            e. Worship of Baal included human sacrifices, Jer.19:5; (they have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or speak, nor did it come into My mind),

Temples in Jerusalem are mentioned in the Scriptures, 1 Kings 16:32; 2 Kings 11:18.        Erected in the streets of Jerusalem, Jere.11:13.

Broken down and destroyed by Jehu, 2 Kings 10:21-26.

f. Worship of idols is pictured as something that is silly and without sense in Scriptures. Isa 44:14-17

He plants a pine, and the rain nourishes it.  Then it shall be for a man to burn, For he will take some of it and warm himself; Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread; Indeed he makes a god and worships it; He makes it a carved image, and falls down to it.  He burns half of it in the fire; With this half he eats meat; He roasts a roast, and is satisfied.  He even warms himself and says, "Ah! I am warm,  I have seen the fire." And the rest of it he makes into a god, His carved image. He falls down before it and worships it, Prays to it and says, "Deliver me, for you are my god!"

An idol cannot help!         Strictly forbidden by God, Exo.20:3-5; Deut.5:6-9.

II. Ahab & Jezebel:

            Ahab reigned from 874-852 B.C.

He was the son of Omri who reigned from 885-874 B.C.

Both of these kings are described as being worse than all that were before them! 1 Kings 16:25-33.

 Ahab followed a wise policy in defense, entering into alliance with Phoenicia, Judah, and even his erstwhile enemies the Arameans.

 His marriage to Jezebel probably sealed an alliance with Tyre.

 He allowed queen Jezebel to introduced such horrors as tyranny, 1 Kings 21,

 religious persecution, 1 Kings 18:4 and human sacrifices,  1 Kings 16:34.

 Following the murder of Naboth, by his wife Jezebel to obtain his vineyard, his doom is  pronounced by Elijah, 1 Kings 21:19-21.

Jezebel was a Phoenician princess whose name, with that of her father's name, honored Baal (daughter of Ethbaal).

Ahab allowed Jezebel to press idolatry in the land of Israel, erecting an altar for Baal in Samaria.

To this day her name is the personification of evil!

 She was killed by Jehu in Jezreel, 2 Kings 9:30-37   

Now when Jehu had come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she put paint on her eyes and adorned her head, and looked through a window. 31 Then, as Jehu entered at the gate, she said,"Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of your master?"  

32 And he looked up at the window, and said, "Who is on my side? Who?" So two or three eunuchs looked out at him. 33 Then he said, "Throw her down." So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses; and he trampled her underfoot. 34 And when he had gone in, he ate and drank. Then he said, "Go now, see to this accursed woman, and bury her, for she was a king's daughter." 35 So they went to bury her, but they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. 36 Therefore they came back and told him. And he said, "This is the word of the LORD, which He spoke by His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying,'On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel;   37 and the corpse of Jezebel shall be as refuse on the surface of the field, in the plot at Jezreel, so that they shall not say, "Here lies Jezebel.  

III. Elijah:

            a. Elijah is regarded as perhaps the greatest of the prophets, especially the oral prophets. He did not write any books and made few prophecies concerning the future, yet stood strong against idolatry and false worship.

            b. In later years, Malachi promised the return of Elijah before the coming of the Lord,

Mal 4:5   behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.

Although Elijah did appear on the mount of transfiguration with Moses and Jesus,  Jesus said that John the Baptist was indeed "the Elijah to come", Lk.1:17; Matt.11:14.

            c.  So Elijah, the prophet of God, arises to turn the people back to God and deal with the evil of Ahab & Jezebel! His first prophecy to Ahab?-- "And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word."{1 Kings 17:1; Lk.4:25; Ja.5:17,18 }  It did not rain for a period of three years. In reality, this was the law specified as punishment for idolatry in the land,

Deut 11:16-17 Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, lest the LORD's anger be aroused against you, and He shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land which the LORD is giving you.    

            d. During which time Elijah was on the run from the wrath of Ahab,

 During this time Elijah lived by the brook Cherith until it ran dry

 and was fed by ravens sent by God, 1 Kings 17:3-7.

At the end of the third year, Elijah is sent by God to appear to Ahab.

He runs into Obadiah and tells him to send for Ahab.

Elijah gives assurance he will stay and meet with Ahab, 1 Kings 18:9-15.

Ahab gets the message and comes before Elijah. What is his attitude towards him?  

"Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, "Is that you, O troubler of Israel?"{1 Kings 18:17}  

Ahab is wrong--it is Ahab who troubles Israel by his disobedience to God! 1 Kings 18:18.   

His message set the stage for our "test".   

IV. The Contest Between Jehovah & Baal:

            a. Elijah’s  proposal is for Ahab to send for the prophets of Baal and all of Israel to Mount Carmel, 1 Kings 18:19,20.

Elijah asked  a good question! "And Elijah came to all the people, and said, "How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people answered him not a word."{1 Kings 18:21}   

Get off the fence! Make a decision! "The people answered not a word". Silence. Why?

Did they already know that Baal was not a god?

They had witnessed the power of God. Had they witnessed such evidence from Baal?

            b. Elijah suggested a test to determine who is truly God, Jehovah or Baal.  

"Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it.Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD; and the God who answers by fire, He is God. So all the people answered and said, 'It is well spoken."{1 Kings 18:23,24}   

Elijah is one prophet against many of Baal! Do numbers prove a case?  

            c. Elijah, since they are many allows them to go first.

The prophets of Baal cried out unto Baal, but he did not answer.

They jumped on the  altar and even gashed themselves to spill their blood, no response came.

Elijah even mocked them and said perhaps Baal was asleep or on a journey.

So they shouted even louder!

This  went on until the evening sacrifice,  1 Kings 18:25-29.            

d. Then at the time of the evening sacrifice it was Elijah's turn.

 Elijah prepared the altar of the Lord. He commanded a trench be dug around the altar.

 Then he commanded four barrels to be filled with water

            and poured over the altar, the wood and the sacrifice. This was done three times.

 The trench was filled with water and the altar, wood, and sacrifice was soaked.

 Elijah calls upon Jehovah to answer to show  His power to turn the people back to Him.

 God answer's with fire from heaven that consumed the sacrifice, altar, wood and licked the   water from the trench! 1 Kings 18:30-38.             

e.  Afterwards, the people acknowledged and confessed Jehovah as God. The prophets of Baal are killed and the rains that God had promised began to fall, according to His word! 1 Kings 18:39-46.  

V. Lessons Of Application:

            a. Like Eljiah, we must be prepared to stand for what is right and true!

 We must be prepared to engage in spiritual conflict with the whole armor of God,

Humanism, Evolution and Demonationalism are threats to God and His people.

Must oppose no matter how many!  Mt.7:13,14.

b. When serving God, we cannot "halt between two opinions". We must serve Him with all out heart, soul and mind! Matt 22:37

'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'

1 Pet.3:15;   But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear

Matt 6:24   "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. 

c. Faithful servants of God are often charged with "causing trouble", "divisions", and  "problems" when they stand for the truth. Rom.3:8;

And why not say, "Let us do evil that good may come"? — as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just.  

Acts 24:1-9. Paul was accused of sedition before Felix

This ploy of the devil is as old as time.

We must not be ashamed to be servants of God! 2 Tim 1:8;   

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,  

Gal 2:4-5

And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage), 5 to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.  

Titus 1:9

 holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.   

What can we learn from this prophet of old? God cannot be defeated by  men! Whenever men oppose God, or His word, they fight in a battle they can never win. Read and never forget the truths contained in this "test". They are timeless!