ELIJAH SHOWS HIMSELF TO AHAB. HE SLAYS BAAL'S PROPHETS AT MOUNT CARMEL, AND AFTERWARD PRAYS FOR RAIN. JEZEBEL SEEKS TO SLAY ELIJAH. HE FLEES INTO THE WILDERNESS. GOD SPEAKS TO HIM AT MOUNT HOREB. ELIJAH CALLS ELISHA TO FOLLOW HIM.
NOW there were in the land of Israel many other prophets of the Lord, beside Elijah, whom the Lord had sent to be teachers among the people. But Jezebel, the wicked wife of Ahab, hated them and tried to kill them. Then Obadiah, the chief servant in Ahab's house, because he was a good man and feared the Lord, took a hundred of them and hid them in caves, where Jezebel could not find them, and he sent them bread to eat and water to drink.
After the famine had lasted for more than three years, the Lord spoke to Elijah, and said, Go, show thyself to king Ahab, and I will send rain on the land. And Elijah started to go. But Ahab did not know that Elijah was coming, or that the Lord was going to send rain. So he called Obadiah, his chief servant, and said to him, Go and look wherever there are any brooks, or springs of water, perhaps we may find grass enough there to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose them not all by the famine. And Ahab and Obadiah went out to search all through the land: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.
And as Obadiah went on his way, Elijah met him, and Obadiah knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Art thou my lord Elijah? Elijah said, I am. Go tell king Ahab that Elijah is here. But Obadiah answered, There is no nation or kingdom where Ahab has not sent to seek for thee. And now, as soon as I have gone to tell him that thou art here, the Lord will carry thee away, I know not where, and hide thee, and when Ahab shall come and cannot find thee, he will kill me. But Elijah answered, As surely as the Lord liveth, I will show myself to Ahab this day. So Obadiah went and told Ahab, and Ahab came to meet Elijah. And when he saw him, he said, Art thou he that troubleth the people of Israel? He said this because he blamed Elijah for the famine. But Elijah answered, I am not the one who troubles Israel, but thou and thy family, because you have forsaken the Lord and have served Baal.
Then Elijah told Ahab to send and gather all the people at mount Carmel, and to bring there also, all the priests, or prophets, of Baal, four hundred and fifty men. So Ahab sent word to all the people, and gathered them and Baal's prophets together, at mount Carmel. And Elijah came there and spoke to the people, saying, How long will you be in deciding whom you will serve? If the Lord be God, obey him; but if Baal be God, then obey him. And the people heard what Elijah said, but they answered him not a word.
Then Elijah told the people that he was the only prophet of the Lord who was left in the land, because all the rest had been killed or made to flee away for their lives, but Baal's prophets, he said, were four hundred and fifty men. And Elijah said, Bring two bullocks, and let Baal's prophets choose one of them and kill it and lay it on Baal's altar, but not put any fire under it. And I will take the other bullock and kill it, and lay it on the Lord's altar, and not put any fire under it. Then they shall pray to Baal to send down fire from heaven, and I will pray to the Lord; and the one that sends down fire to burn up his offering, he shall be God. And all the people answered that it should be as Elijah said.
And Baal's prophets chose their bullock and killed it, and laid it on the wood on the altar, but put no fire under it. Then they cried out to their idol from morning till noon, saying, O Baal, hear us! and they leaped up and down at their altar. But no voice answered them, neither did any fire come down to burn up their offering. And, about noon, Elijah mocked them, and said, Call louder upon your god, for perhaps he is talking to some one and cannot hear, or has gone away from his home on a journey, or is asleep and must be awaked. And they cried to Baal until the evening, and cut themselves with knives till the blood gushed out, as the heathen nations used to do, hoping it would make their idols answer them. But no answer came.
Then Elijah called all the people to come near to him, and they came near. And he took twelve stones and built up the altar of the Lord which had been broken down, and he made a trench, or trough, around it. And he put the wood on the altar, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid it on the wood. And he said to the people, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood. When they had done it, he said, Do it a second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it a third time. And they did it the third time. And the water ran down over the sacrifice and over the wood, and filled the trench around the altar.
And in the evening, at the time when the priests at the temple used every day to offer up a lamb for a burnt offering, Elijah came near to the altar and prayed to the Lord, saying, Hear me, O Lord, hear me, so that this people may know thou art the true God, and that thou dost call them from serving idols to serve thee again. Then the fire of the Lord fell from heaven upon the altar and burnt up the bullock and the wood, and the stones of which the altar was made, and licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and said, The Lord, he is God! The Lord, he is God! And Elijah said to them, Take the Prophets of Baal, let not one of them escape. And the people took them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slew them there; for so the Lord commanded it should be done to all those who taught the people to serve idols and forsake him.
Then Elijah spoke to king Ahab, and told him that now he might go and eat and drink, for the rain was coming and the famine would soon be ended. So Ahab went to a place a little way off on the mountain, to eat and drink, there. But Elijah went up to the top of mount Carmel, and kneeled down with his face to the ground, and prayed that God would send the rain. After he had prayed, he said to his servant, Go up now and look toward the sea. And the servant went up to a place still higher on the mount, and looked, but came back and said, I see nothing. Elijah said, Go again seven times. And at the seventh time he came, saying, There rises up, out of the sea, a little cloud as large as a man's hand.
Then Elijah knew that the Lord was sending the rain. So he said to his servant, Go, say unto Ahab, Make ready thy chariot and get thee down from the mountain, lest the rain stop thee. While his servant was going, the little cloud rose up from the sea, and grew larger, till all the sky was black with clouds and wind, and there was a very great rain. And Ahab rode in his chariot and went to the city of Jezreel. And the Lord gave Elijah strength to run before the chariot till he came to the gate of the city.
And Ahab told his wife, Jezebel, of all that Elijah had done, and how he had slain the prophets of Baal with the sword. Then Jezebel was very angry, and she sent word to Elijah, saying, Let the gods (that is, the idols which she worshipped) slay me also, if I do not put thee to death by to-morrow about this time. When Elijah heard these words he was greatly afraid, and made haste to flee for his life, and came to the city of Beer-sheba in the land of Judah. There he left his servant, but he went on another day's journey to hide in the wilderness.
And he sat down under a juniper tree, and asked that he might die, saying, Now, O Lord, take away my life. For he was weary of fleeing from his enemies. But he did wrong in asking that he might die. God had sent the ravens to feed him in the famine, and had saved him from Ahab, and the wicked prophets of Baal. Elijah should have remembered these things, and not been afraid, but willing to wait patiently until the Lord was ready to take him to heaven. And we shall see afterward, what glorious things he would have missed, if the Lord had allowed him to die, as he asked, there alone in the wilderness.
And he fell asleep. As he lay sleeping under the juniper tree, an angel came and touched him and said to him, Arise and eat. And Elijah looked, and saw a cake that was baked on some coals of fire near him, and a cruse of water by his head. And he ate and drank, and lay down and slept again. And the angel of the Lord came a second time and touched him. and told him to eat, so that he might have strength for the journey that was before him. And he rose up and ate and drank; and the Lord gave him strength, from that food, to go forty days and forty nights, until he came to mount Horeb.
And he went into a cave on the mountain, and lay down and slept there. And the Lord spoke to him, saying, What doest thou here, Elijah? Elijah answered, The children of Israel have broken their promise to obey thy law, and have thrown down thy altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; I am the only one left, and they seek to slay me also. Then the Lord passed by the cave where Elijah was. But first there came a great and strong wind before him, that tore up the earth on the mountain, and broke the rocks in pieces; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind came an earthquake that shook the ground; but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake came a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a still, small voice. When Elijah heard it he knew that God was there; and he wrapt his face in his mantle, for he was afraid to look upon God. And God said to him, Come out and stand upon the mountain. And Elijah went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
And the Lord asked him, as he had done before, What doest thou here Elijah? Elijah answered, The children of Israel have broken their promise to obey thy law; they have thrown down thine altars and slain thy prophets with the sword; I am the only one left, and they seek to slay me also. But the Lord told Elijah that he was not the only one left who served him. I have yet seven thousand persons in the land of Israel, the Lord said, who have never bowed their knees to the idol Baal. Then the Lord commanded Elijah to leave the cave and go back, by the way that he came, toward the wilderness of Damascus, and as he went, to anoint Elisha to be prophet in his place; because the time was coming near when the Lord would take up Elijah to heaven.
So Elijah returned as the Lord commanded him; on the way he saw Elisha ploughing with his oxen in the field. And Elijah came near to him, and as he passed by, threw his mantle, or coat, on Elisha. And the Lord made Elisha understand that this meant he should leave his home and go with Elijah. And Elisha left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said to him, Let me go first, I pray thee, and kiss my father and my mother farewell, and then I will come with thee. So Elisha returned to his home to bid his father and mother farewell, but afterward, he came to Elijah and went with him and waited on him, and was his servant.