[4.] After all, if youre a farmer, its only practical to invest in getting the rider of the clouds to like you. He also recognized, though, that people in his day faced a new, subtler, and perhaps even stronger temptation: to treat money as an idol like Baal, an idol to worship as a god to get what they wanted. 12 And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the LORD shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the LORD from my youth. Thither all Israel must come, to give Elijah the meeting; and the prophets of Baal who were dispersed all the country over, with those of the groves who were Jezebel's domestic chaplains, must there make their personal appearance. to please their deity, as Herodias did Herod, and so to obtain their request. They explore six key biblical themes of worship, community, work, equity, creation care, and rest to dig into what the Gospel means for how we use our resources. Tyrants and persecutors, in their passion, are often unreasonably outrageous, even towards their friends and confidants. They leaped up and down, or danced about the altar (so some): they hoped, by their dancing, to please their deity, as Herodias did Herod, and so to obtain their request. Who has required these things at your hands? 5. As he had shown the tenderness of a father to the sons of the prophets, so he showed the reverence of a son to this father of the prophets; and by this made it appear that he did indeed fear God greatly, that he did honour to one that was his extraordinary ambassador and had a great interest in heaven. 10 As the LORD thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not there; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not. Jeremiah 2:11. They could say nothing to justify themselves, and they would say nothing to condemn themselves, but, as people confounded, let him say what he would. His interview with Ahab himself, 1 Kings 18:17-20. Log in, Barton W. Stone: The Preachers Are Working While the People Are Gazing, Thoughts on the Asbury Revival (02.23.23), The Serious Sin of Proselytism (02.16.23), Christians Becoming a Minority Group in America (02.02.23), Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. New Century Version (NCV). Elijah is not the Achan: "I have not troubled Israel, have neither done them any wrong nor designed them any hurt." Great blessings often arise from small beginnings, and showers of plenty from a cloud of a span long. He sent fire from heaven. In the end, Those who make [idols] will end up like them, as will everyone who trusts in them (Ps. Go tell your master that I am here., 9Then Obadiah said, What wrong have I done for you to hand me over to Ahab like this? Lord, you are the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, he prayed. "I love Jesus and it is the honor of my life to get to portray him," he said. Nay (1 Kings 18:13; 1 Kings 18:13), Was it not told my lord how I hid the prophets? The prophets of Baal, as criminals, are seized, condemned, and executed, according to law, 1 Kings 18:40; 1 Kings 18:40. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly: 4 For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) God's cause is so incontestably just that it needs not fear to have the evidences of its equity searched into and weighed. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not. What occasion for addition to that which is perfect? Like madmen they cut themselves in pieces with knives and lancets (1 Kings 18:28; 1 Kings 18:28) for vexation that they were not . But the primary attraction to Baal wasnt a pretty statue; it was an economic promise. Baal's 450 prophets worked themselves into a frenzy, cutting themselves, dancing, and chanting to their god. 18During the third year without rain, the Lord spoke his word to Elijah: Go and meet King Ahab, and I will soon send rain. 2So Elijah went to meet Ahab. See Luke 1:16; Luke 1:17. Through Elijah, God declared that Baal couldnt deliver the goods and his people couldnt have it both ways. Was John the Baptist conceived via an immaculate conception? At the end of the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit had . Though he was not at the place appointed, he chose the appointed time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, thereby to testify his communion with the altar at Jerusalem. The people must be brought to repent and reform, and then they may look for the removal of the judgment, but not till then. How did the spirit of God move upon the face of the waters in Genesis 1:2? So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. [2.] Let the prophets of Baal choose one bull and kill it and cut it into pieces. Joseph and Daniel were preferred because there were none so fit as they for the places they were preferred to. Elijah told him to go and look again. Little wonder, then, that when King Ahab chose to marry a woman from Baal territory, the farmers in Israel built a house for this new god and welcomed him to the neighborhood (see 1 Kings 16:31). God and Elijah were honoured, 1 Kings 18:21-39. He could not bring them to the altar at Jerusalem unless he could unite the two kingdoms again (which, for correction to both, God designed should not now be done), therefore, by his prophetic authority, he builds an altar on Mount Carmel, and so owns that which had formerly been built there. 33 And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood. In it, Elijah, the prophet of Gd, puts to the test what was at the time perceived as the most supreme and powerful of all the godsBaal. To win his people back, God demonstrated his power and mocked Baal along the way. But humans cannot serve two kings. It is said that Baal was the son of a god called el. There was a heavy rain: Gods word through Elijah was proved true. He writes that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil that has led some to wander from the faith and pierce themselves with many griefs (v. 10). This was not as a morning cloud, which passes away (though Israel's goodness was so), but one that produced a plentiful rain (Psalms 68:9), and an earnest of more. All these parables point in the same direction: money wants our worship. The higher the vote, the further up an answer is. The sad state of Israel at this time, upon two accounts:--. 11 And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. Our idols never stop consuming and destroying that which we hold most dear. Those halt between them that are unresolved under their convictions, unstable and unsteady in their purposes, promise fair, but do not perform, begin well, but do not hold on, that are inconsistent with themselves, or indifferent and lukewarm in that which is good. 34Then he said, Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the meat and on the wood. Then Elijah said, Do it again, and they did it again. 1416). The prophets of Baal had failed in their proof, and could give no evidence at all to make out their pretensions on behalf of their god, but were perfectly non-suited Elijah had, by the most convincing and undeniable evidence, proved his claims on behalf of the God of Israel. Maybe he is sleeping so you will have to wake him! 28The prophets prayed louder, cutting themselves with swords and spears until their blood flowed, which was the way they worshiped. Note, Those who profess religion should study to recommend themselves to the esteem even of those that are without by their integrity, fidelity, and application to business. Trust ye not in lying words, saying . Practicing the King's Economy: Honoring Jesus in How We Work, Earn, Spend, Save, and Give. IV. Paul declares that greed is idolatry, that to be greedy is to worship other gods (see Col. 3:5; Eph. No, he waives the prescription, and enters upon the merits of the cause:--"There can be but one God, but one infinite and but one supreme: there needs but one God, one omnipotent, one all-sufficient. These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience. Let us therefore never despise the day of small things, but hope and wait for great things from it. The God who answered by fire, igniting the sacrifice on the altar, was the true God. He would have the king know before, that it might not be a surprise to him and that he might be sure it was the prophet's own act to present himself to him. How did the prophets tithe and to whom? By proceeding, you consent to our cookie usage. 22Elijah said, I am the only prophet of the Lord here, but there are four hundred fifty prophets of Baal. Because our material possessions so often seduce us into worshiping them like gods, they pose possibly the preeminent threat to worshiping Jesus. Answer The account of Elijah and the prophets of Baal is recorded in 1 Kings 18. Now if, upon trial, it appears that Baal is that one infinite omnipotent Being, that one supreme Lord and all-sufficient benefactor, you ought to renounce Jehovah and cleave to Baal only: but, if Jehovah be that one God, Baal is a cheat, and you must have no more to do with him." For the nations around Israel, Baal was the rider of the clouds, who brought the rains and blessed the earth.When Baal showed up, the heavens rained oil, the rivers ran with honey, mothers gave birth to healthy children, and even the dead could be raised. 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