CHAPTER XVIII _Elijah is commanded by the Lord to show himself to Ahab_, 1, 2. _Ahab, and Obadiah his steward, search the land to find_ _provender for the cattle_, 3-6. _Obadiah meets Elijah, who commands him to inform Ahab that he_ _is ready to present himself before him_, 7-15. _Elijah and A... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:3. _OBADIAH FEARED THE LORD GREATLY_] He was a sincere and zealous worshipper of the true God, and his conduct towards the persecuted prophets was the full proof both of his _piety_ and _humanity_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:4. _FED THEM WITH BREAD AND WATER._] By these are signified the necessaries of life, of whatsoever kind.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:5. _UNTO ALL FOUNTAINS OF WATER_] All marshy or well-watered districts, where grass was most likely to be preserved.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:10. _THERE IS NO NATION OR KINGDOM_] He had sent through all his own states and to the neighbouring governments to find out the prophet, as he knew, from his own declaration, that both rain and drought were to be the effect of his prayers. Had he found him, he no doubt intended to o... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:12. _THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD SHALL CARRY THEE_] Obadiah supposed that the Spirit of the Lord had carried him to some strange country during the three years and a half of the drought; and as he had reason to think that Ahab would slay Elijah if he found him, and that the God of the pr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:13. _WHEN JEZEBEL SLEW THE PROPHETS_] This persecution was probably during the dearth, for as this bad woman would attribute the public calamity to Elijah, not being able to find him, she would naturally wreak her vengeance on the prophets of Jehovah who were within her reach.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:18. _I HAVE NOT TROUBLED ISRAEL_] Here the _cause_ of the dearth is placed on its true ground: the king and the people had forsaken the true God, and God _shut up the heavens that there was_ _no rain_. Elijah was only the minister whom God used to dispense this judgment.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:19. _GATHER TO ME ALL ISRAEL_] The heads of tribes and families; the rulers of the people. _THE PROPHETS OF BAAL FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY - THE PROPHETS OF THE_ _GROVES FOUR HUNDRED_] The king and queen had different religious establishments; the king and his servants worshipped Baa... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:21. _HOW LONG HALT YE BETWEEN TWO OPINIONS?_] Literally, "How long hop ye about upon two boughs?" This is a metaphor taken from birds hopping about from bough to bough, not knowing on which to settle. Perhaps the idea of _limping_ through _lameness_ should not be overlooked. They we... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:22. _I ONLY, REMAIN A PROPHET OF THE LORD_] That is, I am the only prophet of God _present_, and can have but the influence of _an individual_; while the prophets of Baal are _four hundred and_ _fifty_ men! It appears that the queen's prophets, amounting to _four_ _hundred_, were no... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 24. _THE GOD THAT ANSWERETH BY FIRE_] Elijah gave them every advantage when he granted that the God who answered by _fire_ should be acknowledged as the true God; for as the Baal who was worshipped here was incontestably _Apollo_, or the sun, he was therefore the _god of fire_, and had only to... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 25. _FOR YE_ ARE _MANY_] And therefore shall have the preference, and the advantage of being first in your application to the deity.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:26. _FROM MORNING EVEN UNTIL NOON_] It seems that the priests of Baal employed the whole day in their desperate rites. The time is divided into two periods: 1. _From morning until noon_; this was employed in preparing and offering the sacrifice, and in earnest supplication for the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:27. _AT NOON - ELIJAH MOCKED THEM_] Had not Elijah been conscious of the Divine protection, he certainly would not have used such freedom of speech while encompassed by his enemies. _CRY ALOUD_] Make a great noise; oblige him by your _vociferations_ to attend to your suit. _FOR HE... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 28. _THEY CRIED ALOUD_] The poor fools acted as they were bidden. _AND CUT THEMSELVES AFTER THEIR MANNER_] This was done according to the _rites_ of that barbarous religion; if the blood of the bullock would not move him they thought their _own blood_ might; and with it they smeared themselve... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 29. _THEY PROPHESIED_] They made incessant _prayer_ and _supplication_; a farther proof that _to pray_ or _supplicate_ is the proper ideal meaning of the word נבא _naba_, which we constantly translate _to prophesy_, when even all the circumstances of the time and place are against such a meani... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 31. _TOOK TWELVE STONES_] He did this to show that all the twelve tribes of Israel should be joined in the worship of Jehovah.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 32. _HE MADE A TRENCH_] This was to detain the water that might fall down from the altar when the barrels should be poured upon it, 1 Kings 18:35.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 33. _FILL FOUR BARRELS_] This was done to prevent any kind of suspicion that there was _fire concealed under the altar_. An ancient writer under the name of _Chrysostom_, quoted by Calmet, says that he had seen under the altars of the heathens, holes dug in the earth with funnels proceeding fr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 36. _LORD GOD OF ABRAHAM_] He thus addressed the Supreme Being, that they might know when the answer was given, that it was the _same_ God whom the patriarchs and their fathers worshipped, and thus have _their hearts turned back again_ to the true religion of their ancestors.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:36. _THEN THE FIRE OF THE LORD FELL_] It did not _burst out_ from the altar; this might still, notwithstanding the water, have afforded some ground for suspicion that fire had been concealed, after the manner of the heathens, under the altar. Pindar's account of the Rhodians' settl... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 39. _FELL ON THEIR FACES_] Struck with awe and reverence at the sight of this incontestable miracle. _AND THEY SAID_] We should translate the words thus: _JEHOVAH, He_ _is the God! JEHOVAH, He is the God_! Baal is not the God; Jehovah alone is the God of Israel. As our term _Lord_ is very eq... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 40. _LET NOT ONE OF THEM ESCAPE._] They had committed the highest crime against the state and the people by introducing idolatry, and bringing down God's judgments upon the land; therefore their lives were forfeited to that law which had ordered every idolater to be slain. It seems also that A... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:41. _GET THEE UP, EAT AND DRINK_] It appears most evidently that Ahab and the prophet were now on good terms, and this is a farther evidence that the slaying of the false prophets was by the king's consent.... [ Continue Reading ]
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.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:43. _LOOK TOWARD THE SEA._] From the top of Mount Carmel the Mediterranean Sea was full in view.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:44. _THERE ARISETH A LITTLE CLOUD OUT OF THE SEA, LIKE A_ _MAN'S HAND._] איש ככף _kechaph ish, like the hollow of a man's hand._ In the form of the hand bent, the concave side downmost. I have witnessed a resemblance of this kind at sea previously to a violent storm, a little cloud... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 18:46. _RAN BEFORE AHAB_] Many think that Elijah ran before the king in order _to do him honour_; and much learned labour has been spent on this passage in order to show that Elijah had put himself at the head of a company of chanters who ran before the king reciting his praises, or t... [ Continue Reading ]