1 Kings 18:23

_LET THEM THEREFORE GIVE US TWO BULLOCKS; AND LET THEM CHOOSE ONE BULLOCK FOR THEMSELVES, AND CUT IT IN PIECES, AND LAY IT ON WOOD, AND PUT NO FIRE UNDER: AND I WILL DRESS THE OTHER BULLOCK, AND LAY IT ON WOOD, AND PUT NO FIRE UNDER:_ Let them ... give us two bullocks ... The preparations as described were exactly accordant with the prescriptions of the Mosaic ritual (see the notes at Leviticus 1:1); and the mode of decision suggested by Elijah is borrowed from Leviticus 9:1. There was a close resemblance in the circumstances, though a much greater urgency for a miraculous attestation from heaven in the apostate times of Elijah, and the result was the same (cf. 1 Kings 18:39)....

21-40 Many of the people wavered in their judgment, and varied in their practice. Elijah called upon them to determine whether Jehovah or Baal was the self-existent, supreme God, the Creator, Governor, and Judge of the world, and to follow him alone. It is dangerous to halt between the service of God and the service of sin, the dominion of Christ and the dominion of our lusts. If Jesus be the only Saviour, let us cleave to him alone for every thing; if the Bible be the world of God, let us reverence and receive the whole of it, and submit our understanding to the Divine teaching it contains. Elijah proposed to bring the matter to a trial. Baal had all the outward advantages, but the event encourages all God's witnesses and advocates never to fear the face of man. The God that answers by fire, let him be God: the atonement was to be made by sacrifice, before the judgment could be removed...

EXPOSITION ELIJAH'S RETURN AND THE ORDEAL OF MOUNT CARMEL.—The preceding chapter having been exclusively occupied with the fortunes of Elijah during his enforced absence of three and a half years from the land of Israel, we are left to conjecture what the course of events in the northern kingdom during this period of drought and suffering must have been. But it is not difficult to picture in our minds the steadily increasing alarm and distress which the solemn ban he had pronounced must have occasioned. At one time, it may be, especially if the prophet up to that period had been unknown, both king and people, under the malign influence of Jezebel, professed to regard his threatening with contempt, the more so as the priests of Baal would not fail to assure them of the protection and blessing of "the Lord" of nature. But as the

LET THEM THEREFORE GIVE US TWO BULLOCKS,.... Who, being so many, were better able to be at the expense of them, and having the king on their party too; though perhaps no more is meant than that two bullocks should be brought thither, and presented before them: AND LET THEM CHOOSE ONE BULLOCK FOR THEMSELVES; which of the two they would, if they thought one was any ways preferable to the other, it was at their option to take it: AND CUT IT IN PIECES, AND LAY IT ON WOOD; as sacrifices usually were: AND PUT NO FIRE UNDER; which was wont to be done for burnt offerings, as this was designed to be: AND I WILL DRESS THE OTHER BULLOCK; by slaying and cutting it in pieces; AND LAY IT ON WOOD: as for a burnt offering: AND PUT NO FIRE UNDER; to consume it....

2. ELIJAH ON CARMEL: THE ANSWERED PRAYER CHAPTER 18 _ 1. The command to see Ahab (1 Kings 18:1)_ 2. Elijah's response (1 Kings 18:2) 3. Ahab and Obadiah (1 Kings 18:3) 4. Elijah and Obadiah (1 Kings 18:7) 5. Elijah meets Ahab (1 Kings 18:16) 6. Elijah's demand (1 Kings 18:19) 7. The events on Carmel (1 Kings 18:20

ELIJAH'S MEETING WITH AHAB AND HIS CONTEST WITH THE PRIESTS OF BAAL. The history of Ahab's reign must have been something like the following: On his marriage with Jezebel he must have allowed the worship of the Baal of Tyre and been met with the remonstrances of the prophets. Furious at their opposition, Jezebel had massacred a large number, but the king's steward had supported the cause of Yahweh (1 Kings 18:4); so Ahab cannot have been wholly ill-disposed to those who were faithful to the God of Israel. But he had no mercy for the leader of the whole movement, Elijah, who had prophesied the drought. He was sought in every neighbouring kingdom as the author of all the agitation, the troubler of Israel. In the meantime Jezebel had organised the worship of the Baal, and supported at her own. cost four hundred and fifty prophets ...

_Let them therefore give us_ i.e. Let there be given unto us. Let there be provided, for the trial which I am about to propose. _and let them choose one_ Elijah yields place to them because of their greater number. So 1 Kings 18:25 -for ye are many." _cut it in pieces_ This was a part of the duty of the offerer of a burnt-offering. See Leviticus 1:6; -he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into his pieces." _and I will dress the other bullock_ The Hebrew uses for -dress" the verb עשׂה = _to make_, which, in connexions like this, = -to make ready" a victim for sacrifice. The same word is used Psalms 66:15 -I will _offer_bullocks with goats," also...

B. THE DESCRIPTION OF THE CONTEST 18:21-40 The story of the contest on Carmel is one that has excited the imagination of believers through the centuries. The narrative is somewhat lengthy and may for convenience be discussed under the following heads: (1) The preliminaries of the contest (1 Kings 18:21-24); (2) the prayers of the Baal prophets (1 Kings 18:25-29); (3) the preparations and prayer of Elijah (1 Kings 18:30-38); and (4) the punishment of the false prophets (1 Kings 18:39-40). _1. THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE CONTEST_ ...

18:23 sacrifice (a-34) 'Do;' so vers. 25,26, as Deuteronomy 12:27 ....

JEHOVAH OR BAAL? 1. In the third year] in Luke 4:2; James 5:17 the duration of the famine is given as 3 years and 6 months....