1 Kings 18:42

_SO AHAB WENT UP TO EAT AND TO DRINK. AND ELIJAH WENT UP TO THE TOP OF CARMEL; AND HE CAST HIMSELF DOWN UPON THE EARTH, AND PUT HIS FACE BETWEEN HIS KNEES,_ Ahab went up to eat and to drink. Ahab, kept in painful excitement by the agonizing scene, had eaten nothing all the day. He was recommended to refresh himself without a moment's delay; and while the king was thus occupied, the prophet far from taking rest, was absorbed in prayer for the fulfillment of the promise (1 Kings 18:1). PUT HIS FACE BETWEEN HIS KNEES - a posture of earnest supplication still used....

41-46 Israel, being so far reformed as to acknowledge the Lord to be God, and to consent to the execution of Baal's prophets, was so far accepted, that God poured out blessing upon the land. Elijah long continued praying. Though the answer of our fervent and believing supplications does not come quickly, we must continue earnest in prayer, and not faint or give over. A little cloud at length appeared, which soon overspread the heavens, and watered the earth. Great blessings often arise from small beginnings, showers of plenty from a cloud of span long. Let us never despise the day of small things, but hope and wait for great things from it. From what small beginnings have great matters arisen! It is thus in all the gracious proceedings of God with the soul. Scarcely to be perceived are the first workings of his Spirit in the heart, which grow up at last to the wonder of men, and applaus...

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....

Ahab could feast; Elijah could not, or would not. Ascending Carmel not quite to the highest elevation 1 Kings 18:43, but to a point, a little below the highest, from where the sea was not visible, he proceeded to pray earnestly for rain, as he had prayed formerly that it might not rain....

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

SO AHAB WENT UP TO EAT AND TO DRINK,.... Up to his chariot, as some think, or rather to some place higher than that in which he now was: AND ELIJAH WENT UP TO THE TOP OF CARMEL; higher still, where he both might be alone, and have the opportunity of observing the clouds gathering, and the rain coming: AND HE CAST HIMSELF DOWN UPON THE EARTH, AND PUT HIS FACE BETWEEN HIS KNEES; expressive of his humility, and of his earnestness, and vehement desire, and continued importunity, that rain might fall; for this was a posture of prayer he put himself into, and continued in; and it is certain that it was through his prayer that rain came, James 5:18 and from hence came the fable of the Grecians concerning Aeacus praying for rain in a time of drought, when it came h. So the Chinese writers i report that at the prayers of their emperor Tangus, after a seven years' dr

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

1 Kings 18:41. THE SENDING OF THE RAIN. Elijah and his servant again ascended Carmel, where the prophet prayed and the servant watched. The nearest point of Carmel is about 17 miles from Jezreel. Eijah's feat (1 Kings 18:46) of outrunning the chariot was regarded as a proof of Divine inspiration, like the exploits of a Samson. The hand of Yahweh is an equivalent to this power (2 Kings 3:15, and commonly in Ezek.)....

CAST HIMSELF DOWN.. rare word. Only here and 2 Kings 4:34; 2 Kings 4:35. = Kneeling, and then placing forehead on the ground....

_Elijah went up to the top of Carmel_ To a different point from that to which Ahab had gone. This is clear from 1 Kings 18:44, where the prophet despatches his servant with a message to the king. _and he cast_[R.V. BOWED] _himself_ The prophet's attitude was that of prayer. Cf. James 5:18. The humble position is further indicated by the clause which follows, -he put his face between his knees....