Thursday, November 5, 2015

November 8, 2015: Elijah at Mount Carmel



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.

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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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