Chapter 6 – CONFRONTING AHAB

Chapter 6 – CONFRONTING AHAB

We have discussed how Elijah was called suddenly out of obscurity to appear before the wicked king of Israel and deliver unto him a fearful sentence of judgment, namely, that, “there shall not be dew nor rain these years but according to my word” (1 Kings 17:1). Following the pronouncement of this solemn ultimatum the Prophet, in obedience to his Master, retired from the stage of public action and went into seclusion, spending part of the time by the brook Cherith and part in the humble home of the widow at Zarephath, where in each place his needs were miraculously supplied by God, who suffers none to be the loser by complying with His orders. But now the hour had arrived when this intrepid servant of the Lord must issue forth and once more face Israel’s idolatrous monarch: “the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go show yourself unto Ahab” (1 Kings 18:1).

We have contemplated the effect which the protracted drought had upon Ahab and his subjects, an effect which made sadly evident the depravity of the human heart. It is written, “The goodness of God leads you to repentance” (Romans 2:4)-and again, “when Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness” (Isaiah 26:9). How often do we find these sentences cited as though they are absolute and unqualified statements, and how rarely are the words quoted which immediately follow them: in the one case, “But after your hardness and impenitent heart treasures up unto yourself wrath against the day of wrath”; and in the other, “Let favor be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD.” How are we going to understand these passages, for to the natural man they appear to cancel themselves, the second part of the Isaiah one seeming to flatly contradict the former.

If Scripture be compared with Scripture it will be found that each of the above declarations receive clear and definite exemplification. For example, was it not a sense of the Lord’s goodness-His “loving-kindness” and “the multitude of His tender mercies”-which led David to repentance and made him to cry, “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin” (Psalm 51:2)? And again-was it not his realization of the Father’s goodness-the fact that there was “bread enough and to spare” in His House which led the prodigal son to repentance and confession of his sins? So also when God’s judgments were in the earth, to such an extent that we are told, “In those times there was no peace to him that went out nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries. And nation was destroyed of nation and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity” (2 Chronicles 15:5, 6). Did not Asa and his subjects (in response to the preaching of Azariah) “put away the abominable idols out of all the land, and renewed the altar of the LORD”? “And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their hearts” (vv. 8-12). See also Revelation 11:15.

On the other hand, how many instances are recorded in Holy Writ, both of individuals and of peoples, who were the subjects of God’s goodness to a marked degree, who enjoyed both His temporal and spiritual blessings in unstinted measure, yet so far were those privileged persons from being suitably affected thereby and led to repentance, their hearts were hardened and God’s mercies were abused: “Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked” (Deuteronomy 32:15 and cf. Hosea 13:6). So, too, how often we read in Scripture of God’s judgments being visited upon both individuals and nations, only for them to illustrate the truth of that word, “Lord, when Your hand is lifted up, they will not see” (Isaiah 26:11). A conspicuous example is Pharaoh, who after each plague, hardened his heart afresh and continued in his defiance of Jehovah. Perhaps even more notable is the case of the Jews, who century after century have been inflicted with the sorest judgments from the Lord, yet have not learned righteousness thereby.

Ah, have we not witnessed striking demonstrations of these truths in our own life-time, both on the one side and on the other? What “goodness” did God show unto the favored inhabitants of the British Isles during the lengthy reign of Queen Victoria, yet how few were led to repentance thereby! Divine favors were received as a matter of course, yes, were regarded far more as the fruits of our own industry than of Divine bounty. The more this Nation was prospered the more God faded from its view. A few years later the scene was rudely changed, peace giving way to war and prosperity to suffering. For a period of four years the judgments of God were in the earth to a degree they had not been previously for many centuries, and the flowers of mankind were cut down by the millions: but what percentage of the world’s inhabitants learned righteousness? Here and there was one who became serious and perhaps made some religious profession, but the masses were as godless and senseless as ever.

And how has it been since 1918? As conditions became more normal, as the wheels of industry turned to the manufacturing of something more lucrative than weapons of destruction, as money flowed more freely and the hours of labor were reduced, how did the people conduct themselves? Great Britain (to name no other countries, though what we write applies with equal force unto many others) was granted a new lease on life. Was she, then, so moved by a sense of God’s goodness as to repent of her sins and reform her ways? Far from it: instead, she became more wanton in her mode of life, more godless, more lawless. And now that the judgments of God have again fallen upon her, until her very existence is seriously threatened, death-dealing bombs being rained down upon her inhabitants day and night, yet so far from learning righteousness, the masses are as pleasure-mad as ever, defiance of authority raises its ugly head on every side, while those in high places treat with silent contempt protests against Sabbath desecration.

How, then, are we to understand these Divine declarations: “The goodness of God leads you to repentance” and, “When Your judgments are in the earth the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness”? Obviously they are not to be taken absolutely and without modification. They are to be understood with this proviso: if a sovereign God is pleased to sanctify them unto our souls. It is God’s ostensible (we say not His secret and invincible) design that displays of His goodness should lead men to repentance and that manifestations of His wrath should bring men into the paths of righteousness: such is their natural tendency, and such ought to be their effect upon us. Yet the fact remains that neither prosperity nor adversity by themselves will produce these beneficent results, for where the Divine dispensations are not expressly sanctified unto us neither His mercies nor His chastisements avail to work any improvement in us.

Hardened sinners “despise the Lord’s goodness and longsuffering,” prosperity rendering them the less disposed to receive the instructions of righteousness, and where the means of grace (the faithful preaching of God’s Word) are freely afforded among them, they continue profane and close their eyes to all the discoveries of Divine grace and holiness. When God’s hand is lifted up to administer gentle rebukes, it is despised; and when more terrible vengeance is inflicted, they steel their hearts against the same. It has always been thus. Only as God is pleased to work in our hearts, as well as before our eyes, only as He deigns to bless unto our souls His providential dealings, is a teachable disposition wrought in us. And only then are we brought to acknowledge His justice in punishing us and to reform our evil ways. Whenever Divine judgments are not definitely sanctified to the soul, sinners continue to stifle conviction and rush forward in defiance until they are finally swallowed up by the wrath of a holy God.

Does someone ask, What has all the above to do with the subject in hand? The answer is, much every way. It goes to show that the terrible perversity of Ahab was no exceptional thing, while it also serves to explain why he was quite unaffected by the sore visitation of God’s judgment on his dominion. A total drought which had continued for upwards of three years was upon the land, so that “there was a sore famine in Samaria” (1 Kings 18:2). This was indeed a Divine judgment: did, then, the king and his subjects learn righteousness thereby? Did their ruler set them an example by humbling himself beneath the mighty hand of God, by acknowledging his vile transgressions, by removing the altars of Baal and restoring the worship of Jehovah? No, so far from it, during the interval he suffered his wicked consort to “cut off the Prophets of the LORD” (18:4), thus adding iniquity to iniquity and exhibiting the fearful depths of evil into which the sinner will plunge unless deterred by God’s restraining power.

And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto all fountains of water and unto all brooks: perhaps we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts (1 Kings 18:5). As a straw in the air reveals the direction of the wind so these words of Ahab indicate the state of his heart. The living God had no place in his thoughts, nor was he exercised over the sins which had called down His displeasure on the land. Nor does he seem to have been the least concerned about his subjects, whose welfare-next to the glory of God-should have been his chief concern. No, his aspirations do not appear to have risen any higher than fountains and brooks, horses and mules, that the beasts which yet remained might be saved. This is not evolution but devolution, for when the heart is estranged from its Maker its direction is ever lower and lower.

In the hour of his deep need Ahab turned not in humility unto God, for he was a stranger to Him. Grass was now his all-absorbing object-providing that could be found, he cared nothing about anything else. If food and drink were obtainable, then he could have enjoyed himself in the palace and been at ease among Jezebel’s idolatrous Prophets. But the horrors of famine drove him out. And instead of dwelling upon and rectifying the causes thereof, he seeks only a temporary relief. Alas, he had sold himself to work wickedness and had become the slave of a woman who hated Jehovah. And Ahab, my reader, was not a Gentile, an heathen, but a favored Israelite; but he had married an heathen and become enamored with her false gods. He had made shipwreck of the faith and was being driven to destruction. What a terrible thing it is to depart from the living God and forsake the Refuge of our fathers.

So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself (v. 6). The reason for this procedure is obvious: by the king going in one direction and the governor of his household in another, twice as much ground would be covered than if they had remained together. But may we not also perceive a mystical meaning of these words: “Can two walk together except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3). And what agreement was there between these two men? no more than there is between light and darkness, Christ and Belial, for whereas the one was an apostate, the other feared the Lord from his youth (1 Kings 18:12). It was meet, then, that they should separate and take opposite courses, for they were journeying unto entirely different destinies eternally. Let not this be regarded as “far fetched,” but rather let us cultivate the habit of looking for the spiritual meaning and application beneath the literal sense of Scripture.

And as Obadiah was in the way, Behold, Elijah met him (v. 7). This certainly appears to confirm the mystical application made of the previous verse, for there is surely a spiritual meaning in what we have just quoted. What was “the way” which Obadiah was treading? It was the path of duty, the way of obedience to his master’s orders. True it was a very humble task he was performing: that of seeking grass for horses and mules, yet this was the work Ahab had assigned him, and while complying with the king’s word he was rewarded by meeting Elijah! A parallel case is found in Genesis 24:27, where Eliezer in compliance with Abraham’s instructions encountered the damsel whom the Lord had selected as a wife for Isaac: “I being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s brethren.” So also it was while she was in the path of duty (when gathering of sticks) that the widow of Zarephath met with the Prophet.

We have considered the conversation which took place between Obadiah and Elijah, but would just mention here that very mixed feelings must have filled the heart of the former as his gaze encountered such an unexpected but welcome sight. Awe and delight would predominate as he beheld the one by whose word the fearful drought and famine had almost completely desolated the land: here was the Prophet of Gilead, alive and well, calmly making his way, alone, back into Samaria. It seemed too good to be true and Obadiah could scarcely believe his eyes: greeting him with becoming deference, he asks, “Are you that my lord Elijah?” Assuring him of his identity, Elijah bade him go and inform Ahab of his presence. This was a very unwelcome commission, yet it was obediently discharged: “So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him” (1 Kings 18:16).

And what of Elijah while he awaited the approach of the apostate king: was his mind uneasy, picturing the angry monarch gathering around him his officers before he accepted the Prophet’s challenge, and then advancing with bitter hatred and murder in his heart? No, my reader, we cannot suppose so for a moment. The Prophet knew full well that the One who had watched over him so faithfully and supplied his needs so graciously during the long drought, would not fail him now. Had he not good reason to recall how Jehovah had appeared to Laban when he was hotly pursuing Jacob: “And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night and said unto him, Take heed that you speak not to Jacob either good or bad” (Genesis 31:24). It was a simple matter for the Lord to over-awe the heart of Ahab and keep him from murdering Elijah, no matter how much he desired to do so. Let the servants of God fortify themselves with the reflection that He has their enemies completely under His control, He has His bridle in their mouths and turns them about just as He pleases, so that they cannot touch a hair of their heads without either His knowledge or permission.

Elijah, then, waited with dauntless spirit and calmness of heart for the approach of Ahab, as one who was conscious of his own integrity and of his security in the Divine protection. Well might he appropriate to himself those words: “In God have I put my trust: I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.” Different far must have been the state of the king’s mind as “Ahab went to meet Elijah” (1 Kings 18:16). Though incensed against the man whose fearful announcement had been so accurately fulfilled, yet he must have been half afraid to meet him. Ahab had already witnessed his uncompromising firmness and amazing courage, and knowing that Elijah would not now be intimidated by his displeasure, had good reason to fear that this meeting would not be honorable unto himself.

The very fact that the Prophet was seeking him out, yes had sent Obadiah before him to say, “Behold, Elijah is here,” must have rendered the king very uneasy. Wicked men are generally great cowards: their own consciences are their accusers, and often cause them many misgivings when in the presence of God’s faithful servants, even though they occupy an inferior position in life to themselves. Thus it was with king Herod in connection with Christ’s forerunner, for we are told, “Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and holy” (Mark 6:20). In like manner, Felix, the Roman governor, trembled before Paul (though Paul was his prisoner) when the Apostle “reasoned of righteousness, temperance and judgment to come” (Acts 24:25). Let not the ministers of Christ hesitate to boldly deliver their message, nor be afraid of the displeasure of the most influential in their congregations.

And Ahab went to meet Elijah. We might have hoped that after proving from painful experience the Tishbite was no deceiver, but a true servant of Jehovah whose word had accurately come to pass, that he had now relented, been convinced of his sin and folly, and ready to turn to the Lord in humble repentance. But not so: instead of advancing toward the Prophet with a desire to receive spiritual instruction from him or to request his prayers for him, he fondly hoped that he might now avenge himself for all that he and his subjects had suffered. His opening salutation at once revealed the state of his heart: “Ahab said unto him, Are you he who troubles Israel?” (1 Kings 18:17). What a contrast from the greeting given Elijah by the pious Obadiah! No word of contrition fell from Ahab’s lips. Hardened by sin, his conscience “seared as with a hot iron,” he gave vent to his obduracy and fury.

Ahab said unto him, Are you he who troubles Israel? This is not to be regarded as an unmeasured outburst, the petulant expression of a sudden surprisal, but rather as indicating the wretched state of his soul, for “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” It was the avowed antagonism between evil and good: it was the hissing of the Serpent’s seed against one of the members of Christ: it was the vented spite of one who felt condemned by the very presence of the righteous. Years later, speaking of another devoted servant of God, whose counsel was demanded by Jehoshaphat, this same Ahab said, “I hate him, for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil” (22:8). So far, then, from this charge of Ahab’s making against the character and mission of Elijah it was a tribute to his integrity, for there is no higher testimony to the fidelity of God’s servants than their evoking of the hearty hatred of the Ahabs around them.

And it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Are you he who troubles Israel? (1 Kings 18:17). How the words of our lips betray the state of our hearts! Such language from the king after the sore judgment which God had sent upon his dominion revealed the hardness and impenitency of his heart. Consider the opportunities which had been given him. He was warned by the Prophet of the certain consequences that would follow his continuance in sin. He had seen what the Prophet had announced surely came to pass. It had been demonstrated before his eye that the idols which he and Jezebel worshiped could not avert the calamity nor give the rain which was so urgently needed. There was everything to convince him that “the Lord God of Elijah” was the sovereign Ruler of Heaven and earth, whose decree none can disannul and whose almighty arm no power can withstand.

Such is the sinner who is left to himself. Let Divine restraint be removed from him and the madness which possesses his heart will burst forth like a broken dam. He is determined to have his own way at all costs. No matter how serious and solemn be the times in which his lot is cast, He is unsobered thereby. No matter how gravely his country be imperiled, nor how many of his fellows be maimed and killed, he must continue to take his fill of the pleasures of sin. Though the judgments of God thunder in his ears louder and louder, he deliberately closes them and seeks to forget unpleasantries in a whirl of gaiety. Though the country be at war, fighting for its very existence, “night life,” with its “bottle parties,” goes on unabated. If air raids compel munitions workers to seek refuge in underground shelters, then their eyes (in one shelter at least) are greeted with notices on its walls-“cards and gambling encouraged.” What is this but a strengthening themselves “against the Almighty,” a flinging of themselves “upon the thick bosses of His bucklers” (Job 15:25, 26)?

Yet, while writing the above lines, we are reminded of those searching words, “Who makes you to differ from another” (1 Corinthians 4:7). There is but one answer: a sovereign God, in the plenitude of His amazing grace. And how the realization of this should humble us into the dust, for by nature and by practice there was no difference between us and them: “Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation (manner of life) in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind” (Ephesians 2:2, 3). It was distinguishing mercy which sought us out when we were “without Christ.” It was distinguishing love which quickened us into newness of life when we were “dead in trespasses and sins.” Thus we have no cause for boasting and no ground for self-complacency. Rather must we walk softly and penitently before Him who has saved us from ourselves.

And it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Are you he who troubles Israel (1 Kings 18:17). Elijah was the one who above all others stood out against Ahab’s desire for uniting Israel in the worship of Baal: and thus, as he supposed, from effecting a peaceful settlement of the religion of the nation. Elijah was the one who in his view had been responsible for all the distress and suffering which filled the land. There was no discernment of God’s hand in the drought, nor any compunction for his own sinful conduct: instead, he seeks to transfer the onus to another and charges the Prophet with being the author of the calamities which had befallen the nation. It is always the mark of a proud and unjudged heart for one who is smarting beneath the righteous rod of God to throw the blame upon someone else, just as a sin-blinded nation which is being scourged for its iniquities will attribute their troubles to the blunders of their political rulers.

It is no unusual thing for God’s upright ministers to be spoken of as troublers of peoples and nations. Faithful Amos was charged with conspiring against Jeroboam the second that the land was not able to bear all his words (Amos 7:10). The Savior Himself was accused of “stirring up the people” (Luke 23:5); while it was said of Paul and Silas at Philippi that they did “exceedingly trouble the city” (Acts 16:20), and when at Thessalonica they were spoken of as having “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). There is therefore no higher testimony to their fidelity than for the servants of God to evoke the rancor and hostility of the reprobate. One of the most scathing condemnations that could be pronounced on men is contained in those terrible words of our Lord to His unbelieving brethren: “The world cannot hate you; but Me it hates, because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil” (John 7:7). But who would not rather receive all the charges which the Ahabs can heap upon us rather than incur that sentence from the lips of Christ?

It is the bounden duty of God’s servants to warn men of their danger, to point out that the way of rebellion against God leads to certain destruction and to call upon them to throw down the weapons of their revolt and flee from the wrath to come. It is their duty to teach men that they must turn from their idols and serve the living God otherwise they will eternally perish. It is their duty to rebuke wickedness wherever it be found and to declare that the wages of sin is death. This will not make for their popularity, for it will condemn and irritate those who are determined to gratify their worldly and fleshly lusts-it will disturb their false peace and such plain speaking will seriously annoy them. Those who expose hypocrites, resist tyrants, oppose the wicked, are ever viewed by them as troublers. But as Christ declared, “Blessed are you, when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in Heaven, for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:11, 12).

And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but you, and your father’s house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and you have followed Balaam (1 Kings 18:18). Had Elijah been one of those cringing sycophants which are usually found in attendance upon kings, he would have thrown himself at Ahab’s feet, suing for mercy, or rendering mean submission. Instead, he was the ambassador of a greater King, even the Lord of Hosts: conscious of this, he preserved the dignity of his office and character by acting as one who represented a superior power. It was because Elijah realized the presence of Him by whom kings reign, who can restrain the wrath of man and make the remainder thereof to praise Him, that the Prophet feared not the face of Israel’s apostate monarch. Ah, my reader, did we but realize more of the presence and sufficiency of our God, we should not fear what anyone might do unto us. Unbelief is the cause of our fears. O to be able to say, “Behold, God is my salvation: I will trust and not be afraid” (Isaiah 12:2)!

Elijah was not to be intimidated by the wicked aspersion which had just been cast upon him. With undaunted courage, he first denies the foul charge: “I have not troubled Israel.” Happy for us if we can truthfully make the same claim: that the chastisements which Zion is now receiving at the hands of a holy God have not been caused in any measure by my sins. Alas, who among us could affirm this? Second, Elijah boldly returns the charge upon the king himself, placing the blame where it truly belonged: “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house.” See here the fidelity of God’s servant as Nathan said to David, so Elijah unto Ahab, “You are the man.” A true solemn and heavy charge: that Ahab and his father’s house were the cause of all the sore evils and sad calamities which had befallen the land. The Divine authority with which he was invested warranted Elijah to thus indict the king himself.

Third, the Prophet proceeded to supply proof of the charge which he had made against Ahab: “In that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and you have followed Balaam” (1 Kings 18:18). So far from the Prophet being the enemy of his country he sought only its good. True, he had prayed for and denounced God’s judgment for the wickedness and apostasy of the king and nation, but this was because he desired they should repent of their sins and reform their ways. It was the evil doings of Ahab and his house which had called down the drought and famine. Elijah’s intercession had never prevailed against a holy people: “the curse causeless shall not come” (Proverbs 26:2). The king and his family were the leaders in rebellion against God, and the people had blindly followed: here then was the cause of their distress: they were the reckless “troublers” of the nation, the disturbers of its peace, the displeasers of God.

Those who by their sins provoke God’s wrath are the real troublers, and not those who warn them of the dangers to which their wickedness exposes them. “You and your father’s house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and you have followed Balaam” (1 Kings 18:18). It is quite plain even from the comparatively brief record of Scripture that Omri, the father of Ahab, was one of the worst kings that Israel ever had, and Ahab had followed in the wicked steps of his father. The statutes of those kings were the grossest idolatry. Jezebel, Ahab’s wife, had no equal for her hatred of God and His people and her zeal for the worship of debased idols. So powerful and persistent was their evil influence that it prevailed some two hundred years later (Micah 6:16) and drew down the vengeance of Heaven upon the apostate nation.

In that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD (1 Kings 18:18). Therein lies the very essence and heinousness of sin. It is a throwing off of the Divine yoke, a refusing to be in subjection to our Maker and Governor. It is a willful disregard of the Lawgiver and rebellion against His authority. The Law of the Lord is very definite and emphatic. Its first statute expressly forbids our having any other God than the true One; and the second prohibits our making of any graven image and bowing down ourselves before it in worship. These were the awful crimes which Ahab had committed, and they are in substance those which our own evil generation is guilty of, and that is why the frown of Heaven now lies so heavily upon us. “Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that you have forsaken the LORD your God, and that My fear is not in you, says the LORD God of hosts” (Jeremiah 2:19). “And you have followed Balaam”: when the true God is departed from, false ones take His place-“Baalim” is in the plural number, for Ahab and his wife worshiped a variety of fictitious deities.

Now therefore send: gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the Prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the Prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table (1 Kings 18:19). Very remarkable is this: to behold Elijah alone, hated by Ahab, not only charging the king with his crimes, but giving him instructions, telling him what he must do. Needless to say, his conduct on this occasion did not furnish a precedent or set an example for all God’s servants to follow under similar circumstances. The Tishbite was endowed with extraordinary authority from the Lord, as is intimated by that New Testament expression, “the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17). Exercising that authority Elijah demanded there should be a convening of all Israel at Carmel, and that there should also be summoned the Prophets of Baal and Ashtareth, who were dispersed over the country at large. More strange still was the peremptory language used by the Prophet: he simply issued his orders without offering any reason or explanation as to what was his real object in summoning all the people and Prophets together.

In the light of what follows, the Prophet’s design is clear: what he was about to do must be done openly and publicly before impartial witnesses. The time had now arrived when things must be brought to a head: Jehovah and Baal come face to face as it were, before the whole nation. The venue selected for the test was a mountain in the tribe of Issachar, which was well situated for the people to gather there from all parts-it was, be it noted, outside the land of Samaria. It was on Carmel that an altar had been built and sacrifices offered on it unto the Lord (see v. 31), but the worship of Baal had supplanted even this irregular service of the true God-irregular, for the Law prohibited any altars outside those in the Temple at Jerusalem. There was only one way in which the dreadful drought and its resultant famine could be brought to an end and the blessing of Jehovah restored to the nation, and that was by the sin which had caused the calamity being dealt with in judgment, and for that Ahab must gather all Israel together on Carmel.

As Elijah designed to put the worship of Jehovah on a firm foundation and to restore the people to their allegiance to the God of Israel, he would have the two religions to be fairly tested and by such a splendid miracle as none could question: and as the whole nation was deeply interested in the issue, it should take place most publicly, and on an elevated spot, on the summit of lofty Carmel, and in the presence of all Israel. He would have them all to be convened on this occasion, that they might witness with their own eyes both the absolute power and sovereignty of Jehovah, whose service they had renounced, and also the entire vanity of those idolatrous systems which had been substituted for it (John Simpson). Such ever marks the difference between truth and error: the one courts the light, fearing no investigation; whereas error, the author of which is the prince of darkness, hates the light, and thrives most under cover of secrecy.

There is nothing to indicate that the Prophet made known unto Ahab his intention: rather does he appear to have summarily ordered the king to summon together the people and the Prophets: all concerned in the terr