Sermon Tone Analysis
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*1 KINGS 18:20-40*
Elijah meets with Ahab: “Ahab went to meet Elijah” [18:16].
§ Obadiah was called upon to arrange the meeting: “/Go, tell thy Lord, Elijah is here/” [18:8].
This has brought about the confrontation for which the narrative has been preparing us.
The issue is ‘who is God’.
§ Ahab blames Elijah for Israel’s problems: “/Are you he that troubles Israel/?” [18:17].
§ Elijah answers with condemnation: “/I have not troubled Israel; but you, and your father’s house/…” [18:18].
Elijah calls for the test to be carried out: “/Send and gather to me all Israel/…” [18:19].
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*THE PEOPLE *
*1. **The Place *
The test was to take place: “/gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel/…” [18:19].
§ Mount Carmel was a ridge right next to the Mediterranean Sea, where the effects of the drought would be least apparent
§ In Egyptian records Mt Carmel is called ‘Holy Head’, suggesting that it was a sanctuary.
§ In the Annals of Assyrian King Shalmaneser III Mount Carmel appears as ‘the mountain of Baal of the promontory’ (headland).
§ Carmel may well have been ground sacred to Baal, and a sanctuary to the gods: “/Elijah repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down/” [18:30].
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*2.
**The Gathering *
*a. **Ahab & His Tent *
Ahab and his tent: “/Ahab gathered together the prophets unto mount Carmel/…” [18:20].
§ Ahab: “/did evil in the sight of the Lord above all/…” [16:30].
§ Ahab nationalised Baalism: “/he reared up an altar for Baal/…” [16:32-33].
*i. **Prophets *
Ahab and the prophets: “/Ahab…gathered all the prophets together/…” [18:20].
§ The prophets of Baal: “/four hundred and fifty/…” [18:19].
§ The prophets of the Asherah: “/four hundred who eat at Jezebel’s table/” [18:19].
*b. **Israel** *
*i. **Yahweh*
The people are here to be observers: “/sent unto all the children of Israel/…” [18:20].
The people knew in their consciences who they were:
§ Israel had the name of being the people of God: “/I took thee…to be a ruler over my people Israel/…” [2Sam.7:8].
§ Yahweh is their God: “/as the Lord God of Israel lives/…” [17:1].
*ii.
**Baalism *
Ahab had led the people into Baalism: “/he reared up an altar for Baal/…” [16:32-33].
§ The people lived apart from the word of God: “/in his days did Hiel build Jericho/…” [16:34].
§ The people were attached to Ahab and Jezebel: “/you, and your father’s house in that you have forsaken the commandment/…” [18:18].
§ They mixed living as the people of God and living in the service of the Baals.
*c. **Elijah*
The small group of the faithful: “/Elijah came unto all the people/…”18:21].
§ Confident in his God: “/as the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand/…” [17:1].
§ He has been three years away from home being prepared for this moment: “/in the third year/…” [18:1]; he has been tested at: “/Cherith/…” [17:3]; “/Zarephath/…” [17:9].
§ Perhaps accompanied by other prophets such as Obadiah who “/feared the Lord greatly/…” [18:3].
*Summary*.
The great gathering at Mount Carmel and the ‘sanctuary of the gods’: Ahab and the 100’s; Israel in their 1000’s; Elijah on his own.
§ The altar of Yahweh in mount Carmel, fallen in disrepair, is symptomatic of the nation’s problem.
*3.
**The Confrontation *
*a. **The Accusation*
Elijah’s speaks, drawing others into the battle: “/how long halt ye between two opinions/…” [18:21].
§ עַד־מָתַ֞י - “/how long/” [18:21],
§ פֹּסְחִים֮ - “/halt/” [18:21], qal participle, ‘to pass’; ‘to spring over’; ‘to hop or limp’; ‘move in a linear motion without stopping, implying lack of confrontation or engagement in an activity’;
§ הַסְּעִפִּים֒ - “/opinions/” [18:21], ‘a crutch’; ‘an opinion’;
*b. **The Dilemma *
*i. **The Decision *
The uncertainty is with regard to the current question: who is God?
§ Option one: “/if the Lord be God/…” [18:21].
§ Option two: “/but if Baal/…” [18:21].
*ii.
**The Action *
The action called for: “/follow him/…” [18:21].
§ לְכ֣וּ - “/follow/” [18:21], qal imperative, ‘to walk’; ‘to go’; ‘to make linear motion to another place’;
§ אַחֲרָ֔יו - “/him/” [18:21], literally ‘after him’; ‘behind him’.
§ Theology leads to discipleship.
*iii.
**The Response *
The people avoided the question: “/the people answered him not a word/” [18:21].
§ לֹֽא־עָנ֥וּ - “/answered not/” [18:21], ‘to respond verbally’;
§ דָּבָֽר - “/word/” [18:21], ‘speech’; ‘communication’;
*c. **Idolatry *
Man fallen into sin is an idolater: “/changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image/…” [Rom.1:23].
§ John Calvin: ‘the fallen human mind is a factory of idolatry’: fashion, pleasure, entertainment, self, money, hobby, job, etc.
*Application*.
Israel avoided the question: they did not defend; they did not condemn.
§ In the words of the Lord Jesus: “/they were lukewarm/…” [Rev.3].
§ They are not willing to part with the ‘worship of idols’.
§ Israel pines away in her sins, saying, ‘What is the point in seeking you?’: “/Thus you speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live/?” [Exe.33:10].
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*THE TEST *
*1. **The Preparation *
*a. **Sacrifice *
The sacrifice: “/let them therefore give us two bullocks/…” [18:23].
§ The process: “/cut it in pieces, lay it on wood/…” [18:23].
§ The missing element: “/put no fire under it/…” [18:23].
*2.
**The Test *
*a. **The Focus *
The focus of the test: “/call you on the name of your gods/…” [18:24].
§ קְרָאתֶ֞ם - “/call/” [18:24], qal perfect, ‘to summon’; ‘to call someone to come into one’s presence’;
*b. **The Nature *
The nature of the test: “/the God that answers by fire, let him be God/” [18:24].
§ יַעֲנֶ֥ה - “/answers/” [18:24], qal imperfect, ‘to respond’; ‘to speak or act in return’;
§ בָאֵ֖שׁ - “/fire/” [18:24], ‘that which burns combustible material’; gives light, warmth, and used for cooking food.
*c. **The Fire *
The “/fire/” is used symbolically in a variety of ways in the Word of God:
*i. **The Presence of God*
Fire is used to represent the presence of God:
§ Abrahamic covenant: “/behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces/…” [Gen.15:17].
§ The call of Moses: “/angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush/…” [Exo.3:2].
§ At Mount Sinai: “/sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount/…” [Exo.24:17].
§ Present with Israel: “/the cloud of the LORD was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night/…” [Exo.40:38].
§ Present at Pentecost: “/there appeared unto them cloven tongues as of fire/…” [Acts 2:3].
*ii.
**The Judgement of God*
Fire is used to represent the judgement of God:
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