{"id":719,"date":"2021-05-17T09:28:57","date_gmt":"2021-05-17T13:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=719"},"modified":"2021-05-17T09:28:57","modified_gmt":"2021-05-17T13:28:57","slug":"the-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/17\/the-showdown\/","title":{"rendered":"The Showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Sometimes the greatest public victories are followed by the most demoralizing personal collapses. 

It happened to Elijah \u2013 arguably a unanimous first ballot inductee if they ever open a Hebrew Prophet Hall of Fame.

In I Kings 18, this scraggly-looking \u201cmountain man\u201d stands all by himself against the vilest monarchs in ancient Israel.  King Ahab and his wife Jezebel have taken the nation\u2019s spiritual elevator all the way down to the basement.  They\u2019ve become official leaders of the cult of Baal, the local pagan god of weather and fertility.  Baal is reputed to be the provider of rain, wheat, figs, and babies.  And what does Baal require in exchange for his extravagant kindness?  According to his priests, Baal demands gruesome sacrifices \u2013 including, ironically, little children.

Elijah\u2019s mission is to call the people away from Baal and back to Yahweh.  Significantly, his name is synonymous with his mission.  \u201cElijah\u201d means \u201cYahweh is God.\u201d 

The prophet says to King Ahab beginning in verse 19,  \u201cNow summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel.  And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel\u2019s table\u2026\u201d Elijah went before the people and said, \u2018How long will you waver between two opinions?  If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.\u2019\u201d 

Elijah throws down the gauntlet.  The word translated \u201cwaver\u201d in this verse means to wobble or to limp.  The Israelites are dragging their feet between God and Not God.  Depending on what day it is, and how well the crops are growing, they might want a generous serving of Yahweh \u2013 but with a little Baal on the side.  Elijah says, \u201cMake up your minds.  You can\u2019t have it both ways.\u201d

This is one of those make-up-your-mind moments in the Bible.

We cannot have Jesus and<\/em> cheat on our taxes.  We cannot love God and<\/em> tear people to shreds behind their backs.  We cannot be filled with the Spirit and <\/em>saturate our minds with bitterness.  Our electoral process makes room for undecided voters right up to the last moment.  But eventually you have to mark a ballot. 

That\u2019s why the last five words in I Kings 18:21 are so deflating: \u201cBut the people said nothing.\u201d  They have no preference\u2026no opinion\u2026no passion in their bones.  They\u2019re just spectators wondering which god is going to make them most happy.

Elijah shifts into gear.  He proposes a public contest.  \u201cI am the only one of Yahweh\u2019s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets.  Get two bulls for us.  Let them choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it.  I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it.  Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of Yahweh.  The god who answers by fire \u2013 he is God.\u201d 

Dueling deities \u2013 the crowd loves it.  This is better than a mid-winter basketball showdown between Duke and North Carolina. 

In truth, this ought to be a slam-dunk for Baal.  After all, he is the god of weather and lightning bolts.  For Elijah, this is a bit like challenging Mrs. Paul to a fish fry.  His very life is at stake. If fire doesn\u2019t fall on Yahweh\u2019s altar, Elijah is not going to get off Mount Carmel alive.

The contest proceeds in verse 26: \u201cSo they [the Baal gang] took the bull given them and prepared it.  Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon.  \u2018O Baal, answer us!\u2019 they shouted.  But there was no response; no one answered.  And they danced around the altar they had made.\u201d 

At this point Elijah can\u2019t resist a little prophetic trash talking.

\u201cAt noon Elijah began to taunt them.  \u2018Shout louder!\u2019 he said.  \u2018Surely he is a god!  Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling.  Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.\u2019\u201d  Here\u2019s how the Living<\/em>Bible<\/em> paraphrases Elijah\u2019s comments: \u201cPerhaps he is talking to someone, or is out sitting on the toilet\u2026\u201d

Who said the Old Testament isn\u2019t a hoot? 

The tension grows in verse 28: \u201cSo they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed.  Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice.\u201d

Then we come to this telling sentence:  \u201cBut there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.\u201d  No, no, no<\/em>.  Any time something is repeated three times in the Bible, that something is being specially emphasized.  This is an underlined, bold face, flat-out No<\/u><\/strong><\/em>. 

And this should tell us something.  The prophets of Baal are totally sincere.  They truly believe that lightning is going to strike at any moment. 

But they are now going to become a living demonstration that it is possible to be sincerely wrong<\/em>. 

Elijah calls for an end to the charade.  With symbolic flair, he uses twelve stones \u2013 one for each of the ancestral tribes of Israel \u2013 to rebuild the altar of the Lord.  Then he asks that four large jars of water be dumped three times each on his sacrifice (there\u2019s that number three again), just to make the possibility of fire inconceivable. 

Finally he offers a simple prayer:  \u201cO Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel\u2026 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.\u2019

\u201cThen the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.  When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, \u2018The Lord \u2013 he is God!  The Lord \u2013 he is God!\u2019\u201d 

And what would this have sounded like in Hebrew?  El \u2013 li \u2013 Jah!  El \u2013 li \u2013 Jah!<\/em>   The people are shouting his<\/em>name<\/em>. 

Suddenly this has the feel of a rock concert or a political rally.  For one bright moment, the people of Israel burn with holy zeal for God. 

Bible teachers love this story.  It aligns with other watershed, make-up-your-mind moments: 

God says through Moses, \u201cI have set before you this day life and good, death and evil.  Now choose life.\u201d (Deuteronomy 30:15,19)  Joshua says, \u201cChoose this day whom you will serve.\u201d (Joshua 24:15)  Jeremiah cries out, \u201cI set before you the way of life and the way of death.\u201d (Jeremiah 21:8)

But within the space of a few hours, Elijah himself will go from total public domination to total personal collapse.  He will run away in fear and even yearn for death.  How is that even possible? 

If you\u2019ve ever experienced a dreadful Low after an incredible High, it\u2019s worth exploring what happens next in this story.

That\u2019s where we\u2019ll pick things up tomorrow.
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Sometimes the greatest public victories are followed by the most demoralizing personal collapses.  It happened to Elijah \u2013 arguably a unanimous first ballot inductee if they ever open a Hebrew Prophet Hall of Fame. In I Kings 18, this scraggly-looking \u201cmountain man\u201d stands all by himself against the vilest monarchs in ancient Israel.  King Ahab and his wife Jezebel have… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":720,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[93,237],"class_list":["post-719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-commitment","tag-false-gods"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=719"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":721,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719\/revisions\/721"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}