1 Kings 18:30

_AND ELIJAH SAID UNTO ALL THE PEOPLE, COME NEAR UNTO ME. AND ALL THE PEOPLE CAME NEAR UNTO HIM. AND HE REPAIRED THE ALTAR OF THE LORD THAT WAS BROKEN DOWN._ Elijah said unto all the people, Come near. Since the day was far advanced, Elijah commenced his operations. Inviting the people to approach and see the entire proceeding, he first repaired an old altar of God, which Jezebel had demolished; then, having arranged the cut pieces of the bullock, he caused four barrels or jars of water to be dashed all over the altar, and round in the trench. Once, twice, a third time this precaution was taken, and then, when he had offered an earnest prayer, the miraculous fire descended (Leviticus 9:24; Judges 6:21; Judges 13

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...

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 Vespasian went to consult; there was no temple nor statue, but simply an altar that was respectable for its antiquity. "Est Judaeam inter Syriamque _Carmelus; ita_ vocant montem Deumque: nec simulachrum Deo, aut templum situm tradidere majores: _aram_ tantum, et reverentiam." - TACIT. _Hist_. lib. ii., c. 78. A priest named _Basilides_ officiated at that altar, and assured Vespasian that all his projects would be crowned with success. _Suetonius_ speaks to this purpose: "Apud Judaeam _Carmeli_ Dei oraculum consulentem ita confirmavere sortes, ut quicquid cogitaret volveretque animo quamlibet...

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

AND ELIJAH SAID UNTO ALL THE PEOPLE, COME NEAR UNTO ME,.... And observe what I do, and what will be done at my request: AND ALL THE PEOPLE CAME NEAR UNTO HIM; left the prophets of Baal to themselves, and took no more notice of them, but attended to what the prophet should say and do: AND HE REPAIRED THE ALTAR OF THE LORD THAT WAS BROKEN DOWN; which had been set up when high places and altars were allowed of, while the tabernacle was unsettled, and the temple not built; this is supposed to have been erected in the times of the judges; though, according to a tradition of the Jews d, it was built by Saul, see 1 Samuel 15:12 but had been thrown down by the idolatrous Israelites, who demolished such as were erected to the name of the Lord everywhere, and built new ones for their idols,...

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 ...

REPAIRED. Carmel had been. _local_ altar for _lay_ (individual) offerings, but had been broken down. Compare 1 Kings 19:10. These _lay_ altars had no horns. BROKEN DOWN: i.e. purposely....

_And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down_ On the top of Carmel had been one of the high places where worship was paid to Jehovah, after the manner of the worship in the wilderness, till the place which God had chosen became known and the Temple built there. The custom of worship at such spots was continued for a long time after Solomon's date, and Elijah here treats the altar as a specially sacred erection, to be restored in Jehovah's honour. The LXX. omits this clause here, but introduces one very similar in 1 Kings 18:32....

HE REPAIRED THE ALTAR OF THE LORD THAT WAS BROKEN DOWN— The altar, which the sacred author here calls _the altar of the_ LORD, was certainly one of those which were built in the time of the judges and first kings of Israel, when, for want of a fixed place of worship, such structures were permitted. Both Tacitus and Suetonius speak of the _God of Carmel,_ whom Vespasian went to consult when he was in Judea; but they tell us, that there was neither temple nor statue upon the mountain, except one single altar, plain, but venerable for its antiquity. The altar of Carmel seems to have had its original from the altar of the true God, which the ancient Hebrews first erected, and Elijah afterwards repaired; and which even the heathens held in such veneration, that when they came to be masters of the country, they would not so much as place an image by it....