1 Kings
18:20-39
20 Ahab sent the message to
all the Israelites. He gathered the prophets at Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah
approached all the people and said, “How long will you hobble back and forth
between two opinions? If the Lord[a] is God,
follow God. If Baal is God, follow Baal.” The people gave no answer.
22 Elijah said to the
people, “I am the last of the Lord’s prophets, but Baal’s prophets number four
hundred fifty. 23 Give us two bulls. Let Baal’s prophets choose
one. Let them cut it apart and set it on the wood, but don’t add fire. I’ll
prepare the other bull, put it on the wood, but won’t add fire. 24 Then
all of you will call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of
the Lord. The god who answers with fire—that’s the real God!”
All the people answered, “That’s an excellent
idea.”
25 So Elijah said to the
prophets of Baal, “Choose one of these bulls. Prepare it first since there are
so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but don’t add fire.”
26 So they took one of the
bulls that had been brought to them. They prepared it and called on Baal’s name
from morning to midday. They said, “Great Baal, answer us!” But there was no
sound or answer. They performed a hopping dance around the altar that had been
set up.
27 Around noon, Elijah
started making fun of them: “Shout louder! Certainly he’s a god! Perhaps he is
lost in thought or wandering or traveling somewhere.[b] Or
maybe he is asleep and must wake up!”
28 So the prophets of Baal
cried with a louder voice and cut themselves with swords and knives as was
their custom. Their blood flowed all over them. 29 As noon
passed they went crazy with their ritual until it was time for the evening
offering. Still there was no sound or answer, no response whatsoever.
30 Then Elijah said to all
the people, “Come here!” All the people closed in, and he repaired the Lord’s
altar that had been damaged. 31 Elijah took twelve stones,
according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob—to whom the Lord’s
word came: “Your name will be Israel.” 32 He built the stones
into an altar in the Lord’s name, and he dug a trench around the altar big
enough to hold two seahs[c] of dry
grain. 33 He put the wood in order, butchered the bull, and
placed the bull on the wood. “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the
sacrifice and on the wood,” he commanded. 34 “Do it a second
time!” he said. So they did it a second time. “Do it a third time!” And so they
did it a third time. 35 The water flowed around the altar, and
even the trench filled with water. 36 At the time of the
evening offering, the prophet Elijah drew near 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. I have done all these things at your instructions. 37 Answer
me, Lord! Answer me so that this people will know that you, Lord, are the real
God and that you can change their hearts.”[d] 38 Then
the Lord’s fire fell; it consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the
dust. It even licked up the water in the trench!
39 All the people saw this
and fell on their faces. “The Lord is the real God! The Lord is the real God!”
they exclaimed.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Introduction
If you haven’t noticed superheroes are big right
now (but then again, when are they NOT big?). The Avengers, Superman vs.
Batman, Daredevil, Captain America,
Spiderman, the Incredible Hulk…the list goes on and on. Superheroes are larger than life; they
possess special powers that excite us; they are meant to protect us and fight
for truth and justice. Their example
inspires us and makes us feel safe. In
fact, some comic historians theorize that the creator of Superman, Mitchell Siegel, was originally inspired to create the
character after his father died during the robbery of his second-hand clothing
store. There’s no way to prove this, but historian Brad Meltzer says "Your
father dies in a robbery, and you invent a bulletproof man who becomes the
world's greatest hero, I’m sorry but there’s a story there."
Elijah was not a “superhero,” but you could be
forgiven for thinking he was. As a prophet of the LORD in the Northern Kingdom
of Israel, Elijah spoke for the LORD and challenged the rise of “Baal worship”
in the LORD’s land. He accomplishes many
fantastic acts through the LORD’s help and power, today’s lesson being one of
the most spectacular. His “super power”
seems to be calling down fire from heaven, which happens here in 1 Kings 18 and
also in 2 Kings 1. To complete the
“superhero” comparisons, he even has a distinctive outfit. When messengers of
King Ahaziah (Ahab’s son) are confronted by a mysterious “man” on their way to
consult with a foreign god, the king tells them “describe the man who met you
and said these things.” They reply, “He wore clothes made of hair with a
leather belt around his waist.” Ahaziah replies, “That was Elijah from Tishbe.”
(2 Kings 1:7-8) Like Batman or Superman, Elisha’s costume is tied with his
reputation!
And every “superhero” story has a dastardly
villain. For Elijah, that nemesis is the foreign-born queen of Israel named
Jezebel. Although she doesn’t appear in
our story today, her presence is certainly felt. She has introduced Baal
worship into Israel, bringing it from her home of Tyre. What’s more she has persecuted and killed the
prophets of the LORD and later encourages her husband Ahab to use his power
selfishly (1 Kings 21).
Our story today is a head-to-head contest between
Jezebel’s god Baal and the LORD of Israel. It is filled with theatrics and
drama. Elijah shows bravery, courage and poise in his performance and the LORD
is vindicated in front of the people who say “The LORD is the real God!”
The Technical
Stuff:
This story takes place in the Northern Kingdom of
Israel, less than a hundred years after the kingdom was divided. History and archaeology give us evidence that
Ahab was a powerful and militarily successful king who expanded his country’s borders.
Kings often married foreign wives as a way to solidify political alliances with
neighboring countries. It appears that
Ahab’s foreign queen Jezebel introduced a specific strain of “Baal worship”
into Israel during his reign. Baal was a Canaanite god associate with
thunderstorms, clouds and lightning. Baal was also connected with fertility,
something very important to the farmers, vineyard owners and herders of the
Ancient Middle East. Thousands of years later, it’s hard to tell whether there
was one, single “Baal religion” or if all of the different references to Baal
were different, distinct gods.
Worship of Baal seems to have been rather popular
in Ancient Israel and Judah (otherwise, condemnation and opposition to Baal
would not come up so often in the Bible!). Israel’s prophets, like Elijah and
many others, fought hard to keep the nation true to the LORD, but is must have
often felt like a fruitless effort. Still,
the LORD continued to call on prophets like Elijah to speak out and to enact
deeds of power that gave witness to the LORD’s importance.
What
Does This Say to Us?
While there aren’t many (or any!) Baal worshipers
around today, there are many different things that compete with our worship of
God. In his Large Catechism, Martin
Luther wrote, “A ‘god’ is the term for that to which we are to look for all
good and in which we are to find refuge in all need. Therefore, to have a god
is nothing else than to trust and believe in that one with your whole heart.”
(Luther’s explanation of the First Commandment) For some people money, power,
or pleasure become their “gods” just as people used to turn to Baal. Like Elijah, we today are called to place our
trust in the LORD of Israel.
But what does this look like? Calling down fire
from heaven?
Just as so many children have attempted to
emulate their favorite Superheroes over the years, Jesus’ disciples wish to
emulate Elijah as well. Not long after
Jesus is transfigured on Mount Tabor and is seen by three of his disciples
speaking to Moses and Elijah, he is traveling through a Samaritan village where
its inhabitants reject him. Ready to do their best Elijah impersonation, James
and John ask him “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to consume
them?” (Luke 9:54) They must have been well versed on 1 Kings 18 and 2 Kings 1!
They must have “connected the dots” and thought that Jesus wanted his followers
to follow Elijah’s lead.
Jesus had other ideas, however. He turns and
speaks to them sternly, saying that this was not an option. As followers of Jesus today, we are called to
stand firm and remain loyal to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If fire is
going to rain down from heaven, we can leave that up to God. It is through our loving actions and
compassionate words that the good news of God will be spread so that people
will say “The LORD the real God!”
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