Elijah proposes a contest.

1 Kings 18.20-24.

Upon finally reappearing to Ahab ben Omri, king of Ephraim, Elijah instructed the king to gather 850 of his Baalist prophets, plus the people of Israel, at Mt. Karmél. I have no idea how many of Ahab’s subjects actually showed up for this; absolute monarch or not, some of ’em may have found the trip impossible. But enough of them showed.

Tradition has it the people climbed Mt. Karmél, ’cause ritual sacrifices (of all religions) were customarily done on high places. On the summit you’ll see the various monuments to Elijah. But I don’t think they had to climb to the top; in fact they just needed to be at a location where Elijah could stand slightly above them to be seen and heard.

First thing Elijah did was berate them for their paganism:

1 Kings 18.20-21 KWL

20Ahab reached out to all Israel’s descendants,

and gathered the prophets at Mt. Karmél.

21Elijah approached all the people

and said, “For how long

must you² stagger on two unequal stilts?

If YHWH is your god, follow him!

If Baal, follow him!”

The people answered him not a single word.

Verse 21 literally means “on two branches,” and a number of commentators imagine the Hebrews would’ve used such branches as crutches… and it somehow wouldn’t have worked. I’ve used crutches before, and if you don’t adjust them to the same height, it’s awkward but they still work. The Septuagint isn’t much help; it’s translated, “How long will you walk on both your upper legs?” Elijah’s talking about something which doesn’t work. If you used these branches as peglegs they wouldn’t work so well. Stilts too.

Now, other translations treat this saying as an idiom meaning two opinions, which is why the KJV has, “How long halt ye between two opinions?” And maybe that’s more accurate. But if Elijah was using an idiom, sometimes it’s best to translate it with another idiom: “How long are you people gonna sit on the fence?”

But this didn’t impress the Israelis. They’d been hearing such things from every prophet of the LORD who came out of the chute: “God doesn’t like idolatry. Stop worshipping other gods. Baal is nasty; get away from him. Repent. Follow the Law.” Blah blah blah. They’d tuned it out years ago.

As far as the Israelis were concerned, they had no motivation or reason to turn to the LORD. The king and queen were enthusiastic Baalists, so there’s a strong political motivation to get into their religion. There was also the common public perception that the LORD was a mountain god, a desert god, and an Egypt-smiting god… but for weather and crops, you wanted Baal-Hadad, who wielded the lightning bolts.

Plus the LORD had all these extra rules. Wearing special clothes, eating special foods, following special rituals, stuff about land management and economics which helped out the poor… whereas Baal had little to no rules. And ritual sex with temple prostitutes.

If you want a religion which definitely appeals to the selfish and horny, Baalism’s for you. So when Elijah got up and gave the same speech as usual, it didn’t win him any converts. They’d been staggering on two stilts, but staying up, which was good enough for them. Hebrew festivals one week, Baalist feasts the next.

Same as pagans in the United States, who happily celebrate Christmas and Easter along with the Christians, but when their pagan friends invite them to a Diwali festival, they’ll happily check that out too. It’s so open-minded and “spiritual” of ’em! Never mind how really it’s just superficial—they won’t pick a religion and stick with it. It’s all about what entertains ’em more. As usual, it’s selfishness.

Okay, so… new tack.

If speech doesn’t work, try action. So Elijah proposed an action—a competition between the two gods.

1 Kings 18.22-24 KWL

22Elijah told the people, “On my side,

I’m what remains of YHWH’s prophets.

Baal’s prophets are 450 men.

23Give us two calves.

They can choose one calf for themselves,

cut him into pieces,

put it on the wood,

but not set fire to it.

I’ll do likewise with one calf,

and put it on the wood,

but not set fire to it.

24Call by your² god’s name,

and I’ll call by YHWH’s name.

The god who gives an answer with fire:

He is God.”

All the people now answered,

and said, “Good word.”

A god who can actually answer with fire? That’s obviously the god you wanna deal with.

I don’t know too many Christians who’d have the guts to put God to the test like this. In fact most of them would likely misquote Jesus:

Matthew 4.7 NASB

Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written: ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’ ” Dt 6.16

It’s a handy way to weasel out of considering any such idea, even if the Holy Spirit himself suggested it. In comparison, Elijah didn’t try to get out of it at all; this was likely his idea. And he fully expected the LORD his God to come through for him. And the LORD did.

Elijah-level faith in God is not an easy thing to come by. I suppose I have quite a lot of developing before I get to a point where I’d try to stop the rain or have God light the barbecue for me.