b.
Opening up the heavens to rain
18:1-46
1)
God sending Elijah to Ahab
vv. 1-2
1 Kings 18
:1
18:1
Then after many days the word of Jehovah came to
aElijah in the third year, saying, Go, present yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain upon the face of the earth.
1 Kings 18
:2
18:2
And Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. And the famine was severe in Samaria.
2)
Ahab sending Elijah through Obadiah
vv. 3-16
1 Kings 18
:3
18:3
And Ahab called for Obadiah, who was over his house. (Now Obadiah feared Jehovah greatly.
1 Kings 18
:4
18:4
And when Jezebel cut off the prophets of Jehovah, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a
acave and kept them fed with bread and water.)
1 Kings 18
:5
18:5
And Ahab said to Obadiah, Go through the land, to all the springs of water and to all the brooks; perhaps we will find grass to keep the horses and the mules alive and not lose some of the animals.
1 Kings 18
:6
18:6
And they divided the land between them in order to pass through it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.
1 Kings 18
:7
18:7
And while Obadiah was on the way, Elijah met him at that moment; and he recognized him and fell on his face and said, Is it indeed you, my lord Elijah?
1 Kings 18
:8
18:8
And he said to him, It is I. Go
and say to your lord, Elijah is here.
1 Kings 18
:9
18:9
And he said, What sin have I committed, that you give your servant into the hand of Ahab to put me to death?
1 Kings 18
:10
18:10
As Jehovah your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom that my lord has not sent
men into in order to seek you; and when they said, He is not here, he had an oath taken from the kingdom or nation that they had not found you
there.
1 Kings 18
:11
18:11
And now you say, Go
and say to your lord, Elijah is here.
1 Kings 18
:12
18:12
And it will happen that when I go away from you, the
aSpirit of Jehovah will carry you off, I know not where; and when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find you, he will slay me, although
I your servant have feared Jehovah since my youth.
1 Kings 18
:13
18:13
Was it not told my lord
awhat I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of Jehovah, that I hid a hundred of Jehovah’s prophets by fifties in a cave and kept them fed with bread and water?
1 Kings 18
:14
18:14
And now you say, Go
and say to your lord, Elijah is here; and he will slay me.
1 Kings 18
:15
18:15
Then Elijah said, As Jehovah of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will present myself to him today.
1 Kings 18
:16
18:16
Then Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and he told him. And Ahab went to meet Elijah.
3)
The test on Mount Carmel to prove who the real God is
vv. 17-40
1 Kings 18
:17
18:17
And when Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, Is that you, the troubler of Israel?
1 Kings 18
:18
18:18
And he said, I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of Jehovah and have gone after the
aBaals.
1 Kings 18
:19
18:19
And now send
word, and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, as well as the
afour hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of the Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.
1 Kings 18
:20
18:20
So Ahab sent
word to all the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel.
1 Kings 18
:21
18:21
Then Elijah came near to all the people and said, How long will you go hopping between
atwo opinions?
BIf Jehovah is God, follow Him; but if Baal is, follow him. And the people did not answer him a word.
1 Kings 18
:22
18:22
And Elijah said to the people, I alone am left as a prophet of Jehovah, but Baal’s
aprophets are four hundred and fifty men.
1 Kings 18
:23
18:23
Let them therefore give us two bulls. And let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and put it on the wood, but let them apply no fire; and I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood, and I will apply no fire.
1 Kings 18
:24
18:24
Then call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of Jehovah; and the God who answers by
afire, He will be God. And all the people answered and said, The word
seems good.
1 Kings 18
:25
18:25
And Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, Choose one bull for yourselves, and prepare it first, for there are many of you. And call on the name of your god, but apply no fire.
1 Kings 18
:26
18:26
So they took the bull which had been given them and prepared
it; and they
acalled on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, O Baal, answer us! But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they leaped around the altar that had been made.
1 Kings 18
:27
18:27
Then at noon Elijah mocked them and said, Cry out with a loud voice, for he is a god; for he is meditating or has wandered off or is on a journey. Perhaps he is asleep and will awake.
1 Kings 18
:28
18:28
And they cried out with a loud voice and cut themselves, according to their custom, with swords and spears until blood gushed out all over them.
1 Kings 18
:29
18:29
And when noon had passed, they prophesied until
the time of the offering up of the
ameal offering; but there was no voice nor any that answered nor any attention paid.
1 Kings 18
:30
18:30
Then Elijah said to all the people, Come near to me. And all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of Jehovah which was
abroken down.
1 Kings 18
:31
18:31
And Elijah took
atwelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob (to whom the word of Jehovah came, saying,
bIsrael shall be your name);
1 Kings 18
:32
18:32
And with the stones he built an altar in the name of Jehovah, and he made a trench around the altar, with a capacity of two measures of seed.
1 Kings 18
:33
18:33
And he arranged the wood and cut the bull in pieces and laid
it on the wood. And he said, Fill four jars with water, and pour
the water on the burnt offering and on the wood.
1 Kings 18
:34
18:34
And he said, Do it a second time. And they did it a second time. And he said, Do it a third time. And they did it a third time.
1 Kings 18
:35
18:35
And the water went around the altar, and he filled the trench also with water.
1 Kings 18
:36
18:36
Then at
the time of the offering up of the meal offering, Elijah the prophet came near and said, O Jehovah, God of
aAbraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be
bknown today that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and that I have done all these things by Your word.
1 Kings 18
:37
18:37
Answer me, O Jehovah; answer me, that this people may know that You, O Jehovah, are God and
that You have turned their heart back again.
1 Kings 18
:38
18:38
And the
afire of Jehovah fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.
1 Kings 18
:39
18:39
And when all the people saw
this, they fell on their faces and said,
aJehovah — He is God! Jehovah — He is God!
1 Kings 18
:40
18:40
And Elijah said to them,
aSeize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape! And they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there.
4)
The great downpour of rain
vv. 41-46
1 Kings 18
:41
18:41
Then Elijah said to Ahab, Go up; eat and drink, for there is the sound of an abundance of rain.
1 Kings 18
:42
18:42
And Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, and he bowed down on the earth and put his face between his knees.
1 Kings 18
:43
18:43
And he said to his attendant, Go up now; look toward the sea. And he went up and looked and said, There is nothing. And he said seven times, Go back.
1 Kings 18
:44
18:44
And at the seventh time
the attendantt said, Now there is a
acloud, small as a man’s hand, coming up out of the sea. And
Elijah said, Go up
and say to Ahab, Prepare
a chariot and go down, so that the rain does not stop you.
1 Kings 18
:45
18:45
And in the meantime the heavens became black with clouds, and there was wind and a great
arain. And Ahab mounted his chariot and went to Jezreel.
1 Kings 18
:46
18:46
And the
1ahand of Jehovah was upon Elijah; and he
bgirded up his loins and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
