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| INSIGHTS FROM THE SCRIPTURE King Ahab, son of Omri, was king of Israel. He married a woman named Jezebel, the daughter of a Sidonian King. Jezebel brought to their marriage the worship of Baal. Baal was a Canaanite god of storm, weather, and fertility. Baal was the most significant god in this culture because their culture was based on agriculture, so Baal, the god of storm and fertility, was very important to the people. The land depended on rain. Symbols of Baal included a warrior clutching lightning as a weapon and also a bull.1 Ahab did evil in the eyes of God and joined his wife in worship of Baal. He built an altar and worshipped Baal and led the people of Israel astray. The prophet Elijah then received a word from God and told Ahab that there would be no rain until he declared so. Thus, there was a famine in Israel. The third year of the drought God told Elijah to go to Ahab. This is where our story of Elijah comes in. The test on Mt. Carmel was not only to see whose altar would burn—Baal’s or God’s—but to see which god would bring rain on the land. The people needed to decide which god they were going to serve because Israel could only have one god, and this was a test to show who was the most powerful. The prophets of Baal, numbering 450, cried out to Baal and leaped and danced around the altar for Baal to set fire on it, but nothing happened. Elijah teased them saying, “Where is your God?” He encouraged them to cry out louder in case Baal could not hear them, so they did. They began to cut themselves in hopes that Baal would not answer them. This continued all day until evening time, just before sunset, and still nothing had happened. Continued... |
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