1 Kings 18:22, commentary and pictures

Elijah stood alone as the Lord's remaining prophet against four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal while Israel wavered between two opinions, and from that imbalance he proposed the open test of the bullock on wood with no fire, that the God who answered by fire would be God. He had summoned all Israel with those prophets to Carmel at God's sending and commission, choosing that conspicuous height so the people could witness God's power and the vindication of His honor. Though seemingly alone and unsupported, he was guarded by heaven's angels, and while appeals to Baal received no answer, his simple fervent prayer was answered at once by fire from heaven. That God-given triumph proved Jehovah the Creator to be God, cast down idolatry and stirred the people toward return, and led Elijah to the top of Carmel to pray earnestly in humiliation until rain came. Yet after slaying the false prophets he fled wearily before Jezebel's threats, showing that one who has stood bravely for years can still be overcome when faith lets go of infinite power, and showing that loyalty to God does not depend on numbers, a lesson repeated now when idolatry of riches, fame, pleasure and false ideas of God is as real as Baal worship then.

Gathering at Mount Carmel

The declaration belongs to Elijah's summons for all Israel to gather at Carmel together with the prophets of Baal and of Ashtoreth. The call went out at the command of a prophet speaking with authority, and the people came expecting an unusual event. Standing before Ahab he demanded the gathering at Mount Carmel, and those assembled included 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the groves. Carmel was chosen as a conspicuous place so the people could witness God's power and the vindication of His honor against idolatrous worship.

He stood there because God sent and commissioned him for that confrontation with the idolatrous priests. That stand was one of God's successive assignments, following the sending to the brook Cherith and afterward to the widow of Sarepta, and preceding God's gift of strength to guide the king's chariot to the gate of Jezreel. Unlike his later hasty flight into the wilderness, which had no such sending or errand, his presence on Carmel rested on being sent by God to return to Israel.

The verse states the imbalance of one remaining prophet of the Lord facing 450 prophets of Baal while Israel hesitates between two opinions. It means one servant of the Lord stands against the many servants of Baal before all Israel gathered on the mount. From that disparity he confronts the people for halting between the Lord and Baal and proposes the public test to show which God is truly God. Each side is to prepare a bullock laid on wood with no fire under, call on its god, and the God who answers by fire will be shown to be God.

Though he seemed alone and unsupported before Israel in defending the Lord's honor, with Baal's prophets and the assembled people opposed to him, he was protected by heaven's angels and could rely on the Lord as his strength. Their appeals to Baal received no answer, while his simple, fervent prayer to God was answered at once by fire from heaven. That answer showed God's superiority and led Israel to acknowledge Him.

Victory Then Flight

The contest at Carmel ended as a God-given triumph in a struggle between life and death, proving Jehovah the Creator of heaven and earth to be God. In that triumph the prophets of Baal were slain, idolatry was cast down, the whole people of Israel were deeply stirred, and many were returning to the worship of God. Commissioned by God for the work, Elijah stood with undaunted courage against king, priests and people and triumphed over them. The greatness of that victory makes his afterward giving way to despondency and timidity surprising.

The victory was a signal triumph over Baal-worship on the heights of Carmel that opened the way for still greater victories. Completing that work required trusting wholly in God. The display of God's power strengthened Elijah for his work.

The triumph led to Elijah going up to the top of Carmel to pray for rain, casting himself down upon the earth with his face between his knees in a painful, humiliating position. His prayer for rain was strong and earnest. His faith was sorely tried, but he continued in earnest prayer until rewarded by tokens of rain. The rain that followed testified to blessings awaiting Israel.

After that terrible day when the false prophets had been slain and the people had declared their allegiance to God, Elijah in a moment of weariness fled for his life before the threats of the idolatrous Jezebel. The threatened queen's response and the disappointing results tested his faith, and he lost courage when he stopped trusting in God. His long and valiant stand for the right through the years of drought and famine, undaunted before Ahab and facing the whole nation with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal at their head, shows that one who has stood bravely can still be overcome when human strength and will power fail and faith lets go its hold upon infinite power. Turning away from the wonderful opportunities before him revealed the weakness of his present position compared with the vantage-ground God would have him occupy. Satan watches for the time of greatest weakness to bring his fiercest temptations, assailing then to take advantage of human weakness and shake confidence in God.

Faithfulness Without Numbers

Elijah's work in the setting of 1 Kings 18:22 was that of a preacher of righteousness in a time of widespread idolatry and wickedness, chosen and guided by the Holy Spirit to bear God's warning to the nation and to fight the Lord's battles.

Standing openly for the Lord amid widespread apostasy when he appeared alone while Baal had many prophets and worshipers shows that loyalty to God does not depend on popular support. Standing alone as the Lord's prophet while Baal had many prophets illustrates that God may call a seemingly solitary, lowly person to speak for Him, so that being outnumbered does not show that God's word is absent.

The idolatry he confronted verily existed in ancient Israel, with false worship centered on Baal, the sun-god of Phoenicia, while the true God was worshiped by but few, and such false worship can take different forms. That same idolatry exists in the Christian world today in a different form, when people replace the true God with false ideas about God or deify nature. It is as easy to make an idol of false doctrines and theories as to fashion an idol of wood or stone, for Satan leads men to conceive of God in a false character as having attributes which He does not possess, a philosophical idol is enthroned in place of Jehovah, and thousands deify nature while they deny the God of nature. In rejecting the truth men reject its Author, and in trampling upon the law of God they deny the authority of the Lawgiver. The god of many professedly wise men, of philosophers, poets, politicians, journalists, of polished fashionable circles, of many colleges and universities, even of some theological institutions, is little better than Baal, while the true God is revealed in His Word, in Christ, and in the works of creation.

The record of standing alone for the right in the midst of apostasy brings inspiration and courage to those called to do the same, and it has special significance for those upon whom the ends of the world are come, because history is being repeated. The world today has its Ahabs and its Jezebels, and the present age is one of idolatry as truly as in Elijah's day, though with no outward shrine or image for the eye to rest upon, as thousands follow the gods of riches, fame, pleasure, and pleasing fables that permit men to follow the inclinations of the unregenerate heart. Multitudes with a wrong conception of God and His attributes are as truly serving a false god as the worshipers of Baal, and many who claim to be Christians have allied themselves with influences unalterably opposed to God and His truth, and are led to turn away from the divine and to exalt the human.