1 Kings 18.25-29.
Often when I’ve heard preachers talk about the
Archaeology doesn’t support this idea. Ancient religions relied on
Some Christians actually try to do this too: “Hey, my Burger King purchase after taxes came to $7.77! It’s a sign from God!” Okay clever guy, what’s this sign mean? Well they’ll think of something. Usually something they desire, something they were hoping they could get God’s approval on, and they’re gonna take that $7.77 to mean they got it. Whereas if the total came to $6.66, they’d either think they didn’t have God’s approval, and let go of that thing they wanted… but if they coveted it badly enough, they’d just presume the $6.66 was a warning or curse about some other thing, and keep on coveting.
That’s the thing about augury and “signs”: Unless God otherwise told us they mean something (like
And that’s what Baalists did. They did believe in Baal; they were raised to. So they looked for signs of Baal’s will, and what do you know… they found some. This raven flew thataway; these entrails looked like the letter Mem; the rooster crowed after sunrise; they’d eat a brick of hashish and think their freaky visions and ideas came from Baal. They were entirely sure these things meant something.
Whereas we don’t need augury or superstition with the L
And when Elijah
1 Kings 18.25-29 KWL 25 Elijah told Baal’s prophets, “Choose one calf for yourselves.²- Prep it first, for you² are many.
- Call on your² god’s name,
- and don’t set fire to it.”
26 They took the calf given to them,- prepared it,
- and called on Baal’s name from morning to noon,
- saying, “Baal, answer us!”
- No sound.
- No one answered.
- They did a limping dance
- before the altar they prepared.
27 When it became noon,- Elijah was mocking them,
- saying, “Call with a loud voice.
- For he’s a god, isn’t he?
- Maybe he’s meditating.
- Maybe he’s pooping.
- Maybe he’s far away.
- Perhaps he’s sleeping! Wake him!”
28 They were calling in a loud voice,- and ritually cut gashes in themselves
- with swords and spears
- till blood poured out of them.
29 When it became afternoon,- they were prophesying till evening offering time.
- No sound.
- No one answered.
- No one was listening.
Notice when they were exhausted and loopy from blood loss, the Baalist prophets started “prophesying.” Some bibles say “raving,” ’cause they don’t want to credit the Baalists with actual prophecy—if their god was silent, what on earth would they have to prophesy? But if you’re a superstitious pagan, you’d of course be declaring this was a sign, and that was a sign, and this meant Baal wanted one thing, and that meant Baal wanted another thing. It’s a pathetic substitute for actual prophecy, but plenty of people are perfectly happy with it… as any Tarot card reader will tell you.
Not the behavior of con artists.
Now if the Baalist prophets really were con artists, they’d never have accepted Elijah’s challenge in the first place. They’d’ve known Baal had no power to answer with fire. One of them might have tried to sneak some fire onto that altar, but with Elijah publicly telling everyone—with a big crowd of Israelis as witness—“Don’t set fire to it,” everyone would’ve been closely watching that altar for trickery.
A con artist would’ve tried anything to weasel out of it. “Baal doesn’t demean himself with silly contests.” Or “Thou shalt not put Baal to the test, and those of you who doubt him—you’re all cursed.” He’d get the other prophets to distract the crowd so he could surreptitiously light a fire. He’d stall. He’d make excuses. In desperation, as everybody’s ritually cutting themselves, he might try to nick an artery so he wouldn’t survive to see their ultimate failure.
Instead the Baalists agreed to it, and tried their darnedest to get Baal’s attention. Which means they fully expected their god to come through, and were horrified when he didn’t.
Now, there are those Christians who think Baal was a
When Elijah started mocking the Baalists, they didn’t respond as con artists would, with clever explanations for why Baal was silent. They tried harder. They shouted louder. They started cutting. They kept this up for hours. Nobody does this sort of thing unless they expect it to actually work. Baal’s prophets appear to have no idea why Baal suddenly went radio silent; they just knew they were in deep, deep doo-doo if he failed them.
So that’d make this less of a “Baal’s not real” story, and more of a “The L
Elijah’s ungracious behavior.
Not enough Christians point this out, but I will: Elijah was
Yeah, the Baalists were promoting and worshiping a false god, and practicing human trafficking as part of their worship, and corrupting Israel, and destroying lives. I won’t justify their religion; it was immoral and evil. It should’ve been banned; their leadership should’ve been put to death.
Still, we followers of God are supposed to take the high road, so I really can’t justify Elijah’s mockery. I know Christians find it entertaining. Especially when he jokes Baal is pooping. Though not every bible is gonna translate it that way; the word
Anyway I can’t justify Elijah’s bad behavior. I’m not gonna claim that following the correct God makes it okay for anyone to be a jerk. Mocking Baal’s prophets was petty and small of him, and completely unnecessary and inappropriate. Naughty prophet. Jesus wouldn’t have done that.
What we should exhibit, instead, is some degree of sympathy for the people who were deceived and corrupted by Baalism. That’d include some of the prophets, who were so taken in by their false religion they were willing to cut themselves for Baal. And you can see how sad and desperate they got as they discovered their so-called god had abandoned them. The devil and the false gods can horribly mess people up. To a large degree, the Baalists did it to themselves—they embraced this lie, and they fully deserved the judgment which comes upon them later in this chapter. But that‘s not to say we shouldn’t reserve some pity for them. There, but for the grace of God, go we.
