1 Kings 18:26

O Baal, hear us. — This repeated cry — the ever-recurring burden of the prayer, uttered probably first in measured chant, afterwards in a wild excited cry — stands in an instructive contrast (which has been splendidly emphasised in Mendelssohn’s music) with the simple, earnest solemnity of the prayer of Elijah. It has been obvious to see m it an illustration of our Lord’s condemnation of the worship of the heathen, who “think that they shall be heard for their much speaking” (Matthew 6:7). There is a grave irony in the notice of the blank silence which followed this frenzied cry. “There was no voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.”

They leaped upon — properly, leaped up and down at the altar, in one of those wild dances, at once expressing and stimulating frenzy, in which Oriental religions delight, even to this day.