What test does Elias propose on Mount Carmel, and how do the people respond when they see the result?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Each side is to prepare a bullock on wood without lighting a fire and call on its god; the God who answers by fire is to be acknowledged as God. Baal’s prophets receive no answer. After Elias’s prayer, the Lord’s fire consumes the offering and more, and the people fall on their faces and twice declare that the Lord is God.

Chapter breakdown

After many days, in the third year, the Lord’s word tells Elias to show himself to Achab so the Lord may give rain on the earth. Elias goes; there is a grievous famine in Samaria. Achab calls Abdias, governor of his house, who fears the Lord very much. When Jezabel killed the Lord’s prophets, Abdias took a hundred, hid them in caves in groups of fifty and fed them bread and water. Achab tells him to search all the land’s water fountains and valleys for grass to save the horses and mules, so the beasts will not utterly perish. They divide the countries between them; Achab goes one way and Abdias another, alone.

Elias meets Abdias on the way. Abdias recognizes him, falls on his face and asks whether he is his lord Elias. Elias confirms it and tells him to report to his master that Elias is there. Abdias asks what sin he has committed to be delivered to Achab to be killed. By the living Lord Elias’s God, he says Achab has sent to every nation and kingdom to seek Elias and required an oath when they said he was absent and could not be found. He repeats Elias’s instruction and says that once he leaves, the Lord’s Spirit will carry Elias somewhere unknown to him; then Achab will not find Elias and will kill Abdias. He says he has feared the Lord from infancy and asks whether Elias has heard of his hiding a hundred prophets, fifty by fifty, with bread and water when Jezabel killed them. Again he says the report would lead Achab to kill him.

Elias swears by the living Lord of hosts, before whom he stands, that he will show himself to Achab that day. Abdias goes to Achab and reports; Achab comes to meet Elias. Achab asks whether Elias is the one troubling Israel. Elias replies that he has not troubled Israel, but Achab and his father’s house have, by forsaking the Lord’s commands and following Baalim.

Elias tells Achab to gather all Israel to Mount Carmel, with four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and four hundred prophets of the groves who eat at Jezabel’s table. Achab sends to Israel’s children and gathers the prophets there. Elias asks the people how long they will halt between two sides: if the Lord is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him. They do not answer a word. Elias says he alone remains a prophet of the Lord, while Baal’s prophets number four hundred and fifty.

Elias asks for two bullocks. Baal’s prophets are to choose one, cut it in pieces and lay it on wood without fire; he will prepare the other in the same way without fire. They are to call on their gods and he on his Lord; the God who answers by fire is to be God. All the people call it a very good proposal. Elias tells Baal’s prophets to choose and prepare first because they are many, call on their gods and put no fire under. They take the bullock given them and prepare it, calling on Baal from morning until noon to hear them. No voice or answer comes, and they leap over their altar.

At noon Elias jests with them, telling them to cry louder because their god may be talking, in an inn, on a journey or asleep and needing to be awakened. They cry loudly and cut themselves according to their manner with knives and lancets until covered with blood. After midday, while they are prophesying, the time for offering sacrifice comes; there is no voice, answer or regard for their prayers.

Elias calls the people near, and they come. He repairs the Lord’s broken altar, taking twelve stones according to the tribes of Jacob’s sons, Jacob having received the Lord’s word that his name would be Israel. With the stones he builds an altar in the Lord’s name and makes a water trench around it, two furrows in breadth. He arranges the wood, cuts the bullock in pieces and lays it on the wood. He commands four buckets of water poured over the burnt offering and wood, then orders the same a second and a third time. They do so. Water runs around the altar and fills the trench.

At the time to offer the holocaust, Elias approaches and prays to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel to show that day that he is Israel’s God, that Elias is his servant and that all these acts have followed his command. He asks the Lord to hear him so the people may learn that he is the Lord God and has turned their heart again. The Lord’s fire falls, consumes the holocaust, wood, stones and dust, and licks up the trench’s water. Seeing it, all the people fall on their faces and twice say, “The Lord, he is God.”

Elias orders the prophets of Baal seized with none allowed to escape. When they are taken, he brings them down to the torrent Cison and kills them there.

Elias tells Achab to go up, eat and drink because there is a sound of abundant rain. Achab goes to eat and drink; Elias goes to Carmel’s top, casts himself on the earth and puts his face between his knees. He sends his servant up to look toward the sea. The servant reports nothing, and Elias tells him to return seven times. At the seventh time a small cloud rises from the sea like a man’s foot. Elias tells him to tell Achab to prepare his chariot and go down, lest the rain prevent him.

While he turns this way and that, the heavens grow dark with clouds and wind and a great rain falls. Achab sets out for Jezrahel. The Lord’s hand is upon Elias; he girds his loins and runs before Achab until he reaches Jezrahel.

The story inside

The Lord’s instruction to Elias to meet Achab comes during Samaria’s famine. Achab and Abdias seek grass for the animals, and Elias meets Abdias on his separate route. Abdias’s fear that Elias will disappear is answered by Elias’s sworn promise to meet Achab that day. Their meeting leads to the Carmel summons. Elias sets out a fire test accepted by the people, gives the many Baal prophets first choice and first preparation, and receives no reported answer from their gods despite their calls and cutting. He repairs the Lord’s altar, arranges the offering, has water poured three times and prays. The Lord’s fire consumes the named materials and water; the people declare the Lord God. The taking and killing of Baal’s prophets follows. Elias then announces rain, sends his servant to look, sees the small-cloud report followed by dark sky and great rain, and runs before Achab to Jezrahel under the Lord’s hand.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Abdias gives specific reasons for fearing Elias’s instruction. Achab’s search and required oaths make an unsuccessful report dangerous in his view; he expects the Spirit to move Elias before Achab arrives. Elias swears that he will appear that day. Abdias reports, and Achab does meet Elias, so the feared disappearance is not a narrated outcome.
2
The test excludes lighting either offering. Baal’s prophets choose and prepare first because they are many. Their calls receive no answer; Elias repairs the altar with twelve stones and has four buckets poured three times. After his stated prayer, the fire consumes the offering, wood, stones, dust and water. The people’s declaration follows seeing that result.
3
The rain sequence retains both the first empty report and the seventh cloud report. Elias announces abundant rain, goes to Carmel’s top and sends the servant toward the sea. The small cloud leads to the chariot warning; dark clouds, wind and great rain follow. It is not a record of seven different prayer postures or six separately quoted empty reports.

Test your recall

Why does Elias promise Abdias that he will appear before Achab that day, and what happens after Abdias carries the report?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 37132–37157
3 Kings Chapter 18 Elias cometh before Achab. He convinceth the false prophets by bringing fire from heaven: he obtaineth rain by his prayer. 18:1. After many days, the word of the Lord came to Elias, in the third year, saying: Go, and shew thyself to Achab, that I may give rain upon the face of the earth. 18:2. And Elias went to shew himself to Achab, and there was a grievous famine in Samaria. 18:3. And Achab called Abdias the governor of his house: now Abdias feared the Lord very much. 18:4. For when Jezabel killed the prophets of the Lord, he took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty and fifty in caves, and fed them with bread and water. 18:5. And Achab said to Abdias: Go into the land unto all fountains of waters, and into all valleys, to see if we can find grass, and save the horses and mules, that the beasts may not utterly perish. 18:6. And they divided the countries between them, that they might go round about them: Achab went one way, and Abdias another way by himself.
Lines 37159–37186
18:7. And as Abdias was in the way, Elias met him: and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said: Art thou my lord Elias? 18:8. And he answered: I am. Go, and tell thy master: Elias is here. 18:9. And he said: What have I sinned, that thou wouldst deliver me, thy servant, into the hand of Achab, that he should kill me? 18:10. As the Lord thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when all answered: He is not here: he took an oath of every kingdom and nation, because thou wast not found. 18:11. And now thou sayest to me: Go and tell thy master: Elias is here. 18:12. And when I am gone from thee, the Spirit of the Lord will carry thee into a place that I know not: and I shall go in and tell Achab; and he, not finding thee, will kill me: but thy servant feareth the Lord from his infancy. 18:13. Hath it not been told thee, my lord, what I did when Jezabel killed the prophets of the Lord; how I hid a hundred men of the prophets of the Lord, by fifty and fifty in caves, and fed them with bread and water? 18:14. And now thou sayest: Go and tell thy master: Elias is here: that he may kill me.
Lines 37188–37199
18:15. And Elias said: As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whose face I stand, this day I will shew myself unto him. 18:16. Abdias therefore went to meet Achab, and told him: and Achab came to meet Elias. 18:17. And when he had seen him, he said: Art thou he that troublest Israel? 18:18. And he said: I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father’s house, who have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and have followed Baalim.
Lines 37201–37213
18:19. Nevertheless send now, and gather unto me all Israel, unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, who eat at Jezabel’s table. 18:20. Achab sent to all the children of Israel, and gathered together the prophets unto mount Carmel. 18:21. And Elias coming to all the people, said: How long do you halt between two sides? If the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people did not answer him a word. 18:22. And Elias said again to the people: I only remain a prophet of the Lord: but the prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty men.
Lines 37215–37231
18:23. Let two bullocks be given us, and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it upon wood, but put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it. 18:24. Call ye on the names of your gods, and I will call on the name of my Lord: and the God that shall answer by fire, let him be God. And all the people answering, said: A very good proposal. 18:25. Then Elias said to the prophets of Baal: Choose you one bullock and dress it first, because you are many: and call on the names of your gods; but put no fire under. 18:26. And they took the bullock, which he gave them, and dressed it: and they called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying: O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered: and they leaped over the altar that they had made.
Lines 37233–37242
18:27. And when it was now noon, Elias jested at them, saying: Cry with a louder voice: for he is a god; and perhaps he is talking, or is in an inn, or on a journey; or perhaps he is asleep, and must be awaked. 18:28. So they cried with a loud voice, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till they were all covered with blood. 18:29. And after midday was past, and while they were prophesying, the time was come of offering sacrifice, and there was no voice heard, nor did any one answer, nor regard them as they prayed.
Lines 37244–37265
18:30. Elias said to all the people: Come ye unto me. And the people coming near unto him, he repaired the altar of the Lord, that was broken down: 18:31. And he took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob to whom the word of the Lord came, saying: Israel shall be thy name. 18:32. And he built with the stones an altar to the name of the Lord: and he made a trench for water, of the breadth of two furrows, round about the altar. 18:33. And he laid the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid it upon the wood. 18:34. And he said: Fill four buckets with water, and pour it upon the burnt offering, and upon the wood. And again he said: Do the same the second time. And when they had done it the second time, he said: Do the same also the third time. And they did so the third time. 18:35. And the water run round about the altar, and the trench was filled with water.
Lines 37267–37281
18:36. And when it was now time to offer the holocaust, Elias, the prophet, came near and said: O Lord God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel, shew this day that thou art the God of Israel, and I thy servant, and that according to thy commandment I have done all these things. 18:37. Hear me, O Lord, hear me: that this people may learn that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart again. 18:38. Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the holocaust, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 18:39. And when all the people saw this, they fell on their faces, and they said: The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.
Lines 37283–37285
18:40. And Elias said to them: Take the prophets of Baal, and let not one of them escape. And when they had taken them, Elias brought them down to the torrent Cison, and killed them there.
Lines 37287–37300
18:41. And Elias said to Achab: Go up, eat and drink: for there is a sound of abundance of rain. 18:42. Achab went up to eat and drink: and Elias went up to the top of Carmel, and casting himself down upon the earth, put his face between his knees, 18:43. And he said to his servant: Go up, and look towards the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said: There is nothing. And again he said to him: Return seven times. 18:44. And at the seventh time: Behold a little cloud arose out of the sea like a man’s foot. And he said: Go up, and say to Achab: Prepare thy chariot, and go down, lest the rain prevent thee.
Lines 37302–37309
18:45. And while he turned himself this way and that way, behold the heavens grew dark, with clouds and wind, and there fell a great rain. And Achab getting up, went away to Jezrahel: 18:46. And the hand of the Lord was upon Elias, and he girded up his loins, and ran before Achab, till he came to Jezrahel.