Elijah then ordered the people to execute the 850 false prophets according to the Mosaic Law (Deuteronomy 13). The people fell on their faces, proclaiming, “The Lord, he is God the Lord, he is God” (1 Kings 18:39). Even the rocks of the altar were consumed. God answered with a spectacular display of fire from heaven, consuming the offering, licking up the sodden wood as well as every drop of water that had been poured over the altar. Answer me, LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again” (1 Kings 18:36–37). He set the offering on top of the wood and then drenched the whole thing with water and prayed aloud: “LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. He rebuilt the ruined altar of God that existed on Mount Carmel. The prophets of Baal prayed all day and cut themselves violently to get Baal’s attention, but no one answered (verses 28–29).īy evening it was Elijah’s turn. The match would show whose god was able to send fire from heaven to consume their offerings. All of Israel was summoned to Mount Carmel to witness the confrontation between Elijah and the false prophets of Baal and Asherah (1 Kings 18:19). When the end of the drought neared, to prove that the Lord God was the only true God, Elijah proposes a contest. The prophet confronts Ahab and predicts a drought in response to Ahab and Jezebel’s unholy devotion to Baal. In 1 Kings 17:1–24, Elijah the Tishbite enters the story as an emissary of the Lord. Baal, the favorite deity of Jezebel, was reputed to be the god of rain and vegetation. To please his wife, Jezebel, Ahab set up an altar to Baal at the top of Mount Carmel. The episode takes place during one of Israel’s worst times of crisis under King Ahab.

Most notably, Mount Carmel is the scene of a spectacular head-to-head confrontation between the false prophets of Baal and Asherah and the One True God of Israel. At its highest point, Mount Carmel reaches over 1,700 feet above sea level. Running along the northeast side of the ridge is the Valley of Jezreel. From there, the range runs southeast down to the plain of Dothan. The mountainous ridge starts on the Mediterranean coast in the northwest part of Israel at the south shore of the Bay of Acre. In the Bible, Mount Carmel is best known as the site of the prophet Elijah’s dramatic showdown with 850 pagan prophets.Ĭarmel means “vineyard,” “orchard,” or “garden” and reflects the fertile beauty of Mount Carmel’s picturesque slopes.

Rather than being a single mountain, Mount Carmel is actually a high, wooded mountain ridge.

Elijah the tishbite bible study