I have been reading about Elijah in 1 Kings this past week. I read the familiar story of when Elijah had challenged the wicked Ahab, king of Israel, to a contest. This contest reminded me of a famous duel that I had read about in history class.
The duel occurred on July 11, 1804. Two men, Aaron Burr (third Vice President of the USA under President Thomas Jefferson) and Alexander Hamilton (first and former Secretary of the Treasury) met on the dueling grounds at Weehawken, New Jersey, to fight the final skirmish of a long-lived political and personal battle. Burr challenged Hamilton to duel. Hamilton wanted to avoid the challenge, but politics left him no choice. If he admitted to Burr’s political charges, which were substantially true, he would lose his honor. If he refused to duel, the result would be the same. His political career would be over. So the two men met at dawn on the dueling grounds. Each fired a shot from a .56 caliber dueling pistol. Burr was unscathed. Hamilton was mortally wounded and died the next day.
I wonder if the famous political duel was patterned after another famous contest between Elijah and 450 prophets of Baal. I pick up the story recorded in 1 Kings 18:17. When Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” (He said this because of the many times Elijah, a prophet of God, warned Ahab, evil king of Israel to turn away from evil or God would destroy him.) Elijah’s response?
“I have not made trouble for Israel. But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals.” Listen to Elijah issue the challenge.
“ Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Ashera, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
While Ahab was assembling the prophets, Elijah challenged the people saying, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” The people did not know what Elijah was up to, so they played the silent wait-and-see game.
Undaunted, Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has 450 prophets. Get two bulls for us.” Elijah then gave instructions how to prepare the bulls for sacrifice – one bull for the false prophets of Baal and the other for the true prophet of God. But the sacrifice to God was to be doused three times with water with a trench all around filled with water. When all was ready, Elijah said, “Set no fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire – he is God.”
Tension mounts as the people gather around the sacrifice altars. “What you say is good,” they said.
The prophets called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal answer us!” they shouted, but there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.
At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is in deep thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.
Elijah swung into action. He stepped forward and prayed, “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me. So these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.
Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the soil, and also licked up all the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord – He is God! The Lord – He is God!”
Victory for Elijah? We’ll see. To be continued next week