1 Kings 18:45

_AND IT CAME TO PASS IN THE MEAN WHILE, THAT THE HEAVEN WAS BLACK WITH CLOUDS AND WIND, AND THERE WAS A GREAT RAIN. AND AHAB RODE, AND WENT TO JEZREEL._ Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel - now Zerin, a distance of about ten miles. This race was performed in the midst of a tempest of rain. But all rejoiced at it, as diffusing a sudden refreshment over all the land of Jezreel....

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...

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 IT CAME TO PASS IN THE MEAN WHILE,.... That the servant was gone with the message to Ahab, and Ahab was getting ready his chariot: THAT THE HEAVEN WAS BLACK WITH CLOUDS AND WIND, AND THERE WAS A GREAT RAIN; which all sprung from the cloud like a man's hand; and so we are told k, that sometimes a little cloud called the ox's eye is seen on a mount of the Cape of Good Hope, called Tafesbery, when the sky is most serene, and the sea quiet; which is at first scarce so big as a barley corn, and then as a walnut; and presently it extends itself over the whole surface of the mountain: AND AHAB RODE, AND WENT TO JEZREEL; as fast as he could. k Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacra, vol. 3. p. 591....

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.)....

WIND. Hebrew. _ruach._ App-9....

_in the mean while_ [R.V. IN A LITTLE WHILE] The literal sense is -until so and until so." The expression is probably borrowed from a waving of the hand backward and forward, and means -before you could do that." Hence -in a little while" seems to be the better rendering. _And Ahab rode_ The LXX. says -Ahab wept." Ahab made his way to his palace (see 1 Kings 21:2) at Jezreel, that he might report to Jezebel what had happened. Jezreel stood in the plain of Jezreel, in the tribe of Issachar, and became one of the most famous of the royal residences of the kings of Israel....

THE HEAVEN WAS BLACK WITH CLOUDS AND WIND— When rain falls in the eastern countries, it is often preceded by a squall of wind; so the ingenious editor of the Ruins of Palmyra tells us, that they seldom have rain there, except at the equinoxes; that nothing could be more serene than the sky all the time they were there, which was about a fortnight in March, except one afternoon, that there was a small shower, preceded by a whirlwind, which took up such quantities of sand from the desert as quite darkened the sky. This circumstance of the wind's taking up such quantities of sand as to darken the sky, may serve to explain the present passage, which describes the heaven _as black with wind,_ as well as _clouds;_ for neither of these circumstances, a _squall_ preceding the rain, or its raising great quantities of dust, is peculiar to desarts. Dr. Russel speaks of both as common at Aleppo, whi...

C. THE AFTERMATH OF THE CONTEST 18:41-46 TRANSLATION (41) And Elijah said onto Ahab, Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of the tumult of rain. (42) Then Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went unto the top of Carmel, bowed himself to the ground, and put his face between his knees. (43) And he said unto his servant, Go up, I pray you, Look toward the sea. And he went up and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Return seven times. (44) And it came to pass on the seventh time that he said, Behold a little cloud like the hand of a man going up from the sea. And he said, Go up and say to Ahab, Hitch up your chariot and go down that the rain detain you not. (45) And it came to pass in the meanwhile that the heavens became black with clouds and wind, and there came a great rain. And Ahab rode away, and went to Jezreel. (46) And the hand of the LORD was upon Elij...