Day 39 – Elijah and the Prophets of Baal

₂₉In the 38th year of the reign of King Asa of Judah, Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel, and he ruled in Samaria for 22 years. ₃₀He sinned against the LORD more than any of his predecessors. ₃₁It was not enough for him to sin like King Jeroboam; he went further and married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ethbaal of Sidon, and worshipped Baal. ₃₂He built a temple to Baal in Samaria, made an altar for him, and put it in the temple. ₃₃He also put up an image of the goddess Asherah. He did more to arouse the anger of the LORD, the God of Israel, than all the kings of Israel before him. ₃₄During his reign Hiel from Bethel rebuilt Jericho. As the LORD had foretold through Joshua son of Nun, Hiel lost his eldest son Abiram when he laid the foundation of Jericho, and his youngest son Segub when he built the gates.

₁A prophet named Elijah, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to King Ahab, “In the name of the LORD, the living God of Israel, whom I serve, I tell you that there will be no dew or rain for the next two or three years until I say so.”

₂Then the LORD said to Elijah, ₃“Leave this place and go east and hide yourself near the brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan. ₄The brook will supply you with water to drink, and I have commanded ravens to bring you food there.”

₅Elijah obeyed the LORD's command, and went and stayed by the brook of Cherith. ₆He drank water from the brook, and ravens brought him bread and meat every morning and every evening. ₇After a while the brook dried up because of the lack of rain.

₈Then the LORD said to Elijah, ₉“Now go to the town of Zarephath, near Sidon, and stay there. I have commanded a widow who lives there to feed you.” ₁₀So Elijah went to Zarephath, and as he came to the gate of the town, he saw a widow gathering firewood. “Please bring me a drink of water,” he said to her. ₁₁And as she was going to get it, he called out, “And please bring me some bread, too.”

₁₂She answered, “By the living LORD your God I swear that I haven't got any bread. All I have is a handful of flour in a bowl and a drop of olive oil in a jar. I came here to gather some firewood to take back home and prepare what little I have for my son and me. That will be our last meal, and then we will starve to death.”

₁₃“Don't worry,” Elijah said to her. “Go ahead and prepare your meal. But first make a small loaf from what you have and bring it to me, and then prepare the rest for you and your son. ₁₄For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The bowl will not run out of flour or the jar run out of oil before the day that I, the LORD, send rain.’ ”

₁₅The widow went and did as Elijah had told her, and all of them had enough food for many days. ₁₆As the LORD had promised through Elijah, the bowl did not run out of flour nor did the jar run out of oil.

₁₇Some time later the widow's son fell ill; he got worse and worse, and finally he died. ₁₈She said to Elijah, “Man of God, why did you do this to me? Did you come here to remind God of my sins and so cause my son's death?”

₁₉“Give the boy to me,” Elijah said. He took the boy from her arms, carried him upstairs to the room where he was staying, and laid him on the bed. ₂₀Then he prayed aloud, “O LORD my God, why have you done such a terrible thing to this widow? She has been kind enough to take care of me, and now you kill her son!” ₂₁Then Elijah stretched himself out on the boy three times and prayed, “O LORD my God, restore this child to life!” ₂₂The LORD answered Elijah's prayer; the child started breathing again and revived.

₂₃Elijah took the boy back downstairs to his mother and said to her, “Look, your son is alive!”

₂₄She answered, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the LORD really speaks through you!”

₁After some time, in the third year of the drought, the LORD said to Elijah, “Go and present yourself to King Ahab, and I will send rain.” ₂So Elijah started out.

The famine in Samaria was at its worst, ₃so Ahab called in Obadiah, who was in charge of the palace. (Obadiah was a devout worshipper of the LORD, ₄and when Jezebel was killing the LORD's prophets, Obadiah took a hundred of them, hid them in caves in two groups of fifty, and provided them with food and water.) ₅Ahab said to Obadiah, “Let us go and look at every spring and every riverbed in the land to see if we can find enough grass to keep the horses and mules alive. Maybe we won't have to kill any of our animals.” ₆They agreed on which part of the land each one would explore, and set off in different directions.

₇As Obadiah was on his way, he suddenly met Elijah. He recognized him, bowed low before him, and asked, “Is it really you, sir?”

₈“Yes, I'm Elijah,” he answered. “Go and tell your master the king that I am here.”

₉Obadiah answered, “What have I done that you want to put me in danger of being killed by King Ahab? ₁₀By the living LORD, your God, I swear that the king has made a search for you in every country in the world. Whenever the ruler of a country reported that you were not in his country, Ahab would require that ruler to swear that you could not be found. ₁₁And now you want me to go and tell him that you are here? ₁₂What if the Spirit of the LORD carries you off to some unknown place as soon as I leave? Then, when I tell Ahab that you are here, and he can't find you, he will put me to death. Remember that I have been a devout worshipper of the LORD ever since I was a boy. ₁₃Haven't you heard that when Jezebel was killing the prophets of the LORD I hid a hundred of them in caves, in two groups of fifty, and supplied them with food and water? ₁₄So how can you order me to go and tell the king that you are here? He will kill me!”

₁₅Elijah answered, “By the living LORD, whom I serve, I promise that I will present myself to the king today.”

₁₆So Obadiah went to King Ahab and told him, and Ahab set off to meet Elijah. ₁₇When Ahab saw him, he said, “So there you are — the worst troublemaker in Israel!”

₁₈“I'm not the troublemaker,” Elijah answered. “You are — you and your father. You are disobeying the LORD's commands and worshipping the idols of Baal. ₁₉Now order all the people of Israel to meet me at Mount Carmel. Bring along the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of the goddess Asherah who are supported by Queen Jezebel.”

₂₀So Ahab summoned all the Israelites and the prophets of Baal to meet at Mount Carmel. ₂₁Elijah went up to the people and said, “How much longer will it take you to make up your minds? If the LORD is God, worship him; but if Baal is God, worship him!” But the people didn't say a word. ₂₂Then Elijah said, “I am the only prophet of the LORD still left, but there are 450 prophets of Baal. ₂₃Bring two bulls; let the prophets of Baal take one, kill it, cut it in pieces, and put it on the wood — but don't light the fire. I will do the same with the other bull. ₂₄Then let the prophets of Baal pray to their god, and I will pray to the LORD, and the one who answers by sending fire — he is God.”

The people shouted their approval.

₂₅Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Since there are so many of you, you take a bull and prepare it first. Pray to your god, but don't set fire to the wood.”

₂₆They took the bull that was brought to them, prepared it, and prayed to Baal until noon. They shouted, “Answer us, Baal!” and kept dancing round the altar they had built. But no answer came.

₂₇At noon Elijah started making fun of them: “Pray louder! He is a god! Maybe he is daydreaming or relieving himself, or perhaps he's gone on a journey! Or maybe he's sleeping, and you've got to wake him up!” ₂₈So the prophets prayed louder and cut themselves with knives and daggers, according to their ritual, until blood flowed. ₂₉They kept on ranting and raving until the middle of the afternoon; but no answer came, not a sound was heard.

₃₀Then Elijah said to the people, “Come closer to me,” and they all gathered round him. He set about repairing the altar of the LORD which had been torn down. ₃₁He took twelve stones, one for each of the twelve tribes named after the sons of Jacob, the man to whom the LORD had given the name Israel. ₃₂With these stones he rebuilt the altar for the worship of the LORD. He dug a trench round it, large enough to hold almost fourteen litres of water. ₃₃Then he placed the wood on the altar, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood. He said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the offering and the wood.” They did so, ₃₄and he said, “Do it again” — and they did. “Do it once more,” he said — and they did. ₃₅The water ran down round the altar and filled the trench.

₃₆At the hour of the afternoon sacrifice the prophet Elijah approached the altar and prayed, “O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove now that you are the God of Israel and that I am your servant and have done all this at your command. ₃₇Answer me, LORD, answer me, so that this people will know that you, the LORD, are God, and that you are bringing them back to yourself.”

₃₈The LORD sent fire down, and it burnt up the sacrifice, the wood, and the stones, scorched the earth and dried up the water in the trench. ₃₉When the people saw this, they threw themselves on the ground and exclaimed, “The LORD is God; the LORD alone is God!”

₄₀Elijah ordered, “Seize the prophets of Baal; don't let any of them get away!” The people seized them all, and Elijah led them down to the River Kishon and killed them.

₄₁Then Elijah said to King Ahab, “Now, go and eat. I hear the roar of rain approaching.” ₄₂While Ahab went to eat, Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel, where he bowed down to the ground, with his head between his knees. ₄₃He said to his servant, “Go and look towards the sea.”

The servant went and returned, saying, “I didn't see anything.” Seven times in all Elijah told him to go and look. ₄₄The seventh time he returned and said, “I saw a little cloud no bigger than a man's hand, coming up from the sea.”

Elijah ordered his servant, “Go to King Ahab and tell him to get into his chariot and go back home before the rain stops him.”

₄₅In a little while the sky was covered with dark clouds, the wind began to blow, and heavy rain began to fall. Ahab got into his chariot and started back to Jezreel. ₄₆The power of the LORD came on Elijah; he fastened his clothes tight round his waist and ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

₁King Ahab told his wife Jezebel everything that Elijah had done and how he had put all the prophets of Baal to death. ₂She sent a message to Elijah: “May the gods strike me dead if by this time tomorrow I don't do the same thing to you that you did to the prophets.” ₃Elijah was afraid, and fled for his life; he took his servant and went to Beersheba in Judah.

Leaving the servant there, ₄Elijah walked a whole day into the wilderness. He stopped and sat down in the shade of a tree and wished he would die. “It's too much, LORD,” he prayed. “Take away my life; I might as well be dead!”

₅He lay down under the tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said, “Wake up and eat.” ₆He looked round, and saw a loaf of bread and a jar of water near his head. He ate and drank, and lay down again. ₇The LORD's angel returned and woke him up a second time, saying, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.” ₈Elijah got up, ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to walk forty days to Sinai, the holy mountain. ₉There he went into a cave to spend the night.

Suddenly the LORD spoke to him, “Elijah, what are you doing here?”

₁₀He answered, “LORD God Almighty, I have always served you — you alone. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed all your prophets. I am the only one left — and they are trying to kill me!”

₁₁“Go out and stand before me on top of the mountain,” the LORD said to him. Then the LORD passed by and sent a furious wind that split the hills and shattered the rocks — but the LORD was not in the wind. The wind stopped blowing, and then there was an earthquake — but the LORD was not in the earthquake. ₁₂After the earthquake, there was a fire — but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was the soft whisper of a voice.

₁₃When Elijah heard it, he covered his face with his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. A voice said to him, “Elijah, what are you doing here?”

₁₄He answered, “LORD God Almighty, I have always served you — you alone. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed all your prophets. I am the only one left — and they are trying to kill me.”

₁₅The LORD said, “Return to the wilderness near Damascus, then enter the city and anoint Hazael as king of Syria; ₁₆anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king of Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. ₁₇Anyone who escapes being put to death by Hazael will be killed by Jehu, and anyone who escapes Jehu will be killed by Elisha. ₁₈Yet I will leave 7,000 people alive in Israel — all those who are loyal to me and have not bowed to Baal or kissed his idol.”