1 Kings 18:20
in 1 Kings 18So Ahab summoned all the Israelites and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel.
KJV
So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel.
⋯
This verse in 1 Kings 18
Commentary
7 notes on this verseSo Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel,.... By messengers, requiring their attendance at Mount Carmel at such a time, at least their chief and principal men: and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel; the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, but not the four hundred prophets of the groves; for of them we have no account afterwards, only of the former; it may be they were not at the command of Ahab, only of Jezebel, at whose table they ate, who would not suffer them to go.
This site's exposition
which eat at Jezebel’s table
on 1 Kings 18:19-20
Four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and four hundred of the groves, salaried at the queen's table, against one man who has been fed by ravens and a widow. Carmel is chosen ground: a headland over the sea, on the border toward Baal's Phoenician homeland, where his rain and lightning ought to be strongest. Ahab gathers all Israel to watch, which is exactly what the LORD intends.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Ahab sent - He complied with Elijah's motion; because the urgency of the present distress made him willing to try all means to remove it; from a curiosity of seeing some extraordinary events; and principally, because God inclined his heart.
His interview with all Israel upon Mount Carmel, in order to a public trial of titles between the Lord and Baal; a most distinguished solemnity it was, in which, 1.
God's cause is so incontestably just that it needs not fear to have the evidences of its equity searched into and weighed. Elijah reproved the people for mixing the worship of God and the worship of Baal together. Not only some Israelites worshipped God and others Baal, but the same Israelites sometimes worshipped one and sometimes the other.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Local tradition places the site of Elijah’s sacrifice, not on the highest point of the mountain (1,728 ft.), but at the southeastern extremity (1,600 ft.) of the ridge, where a shapeless ruin, composed of great hewn stones, and standing amid thick bushes of dwarf-oak, in the near vicinity of a perennial spring, is known to the Arabs as “El-Maharrakah,” “the burning,” or “the sacrifice.” All the circumstances of the locality adapt it for the scene of the contest.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The spot where the contest took place is situated at the eastern extremity, which is also the highest point of the whole ridge. It is called El-Mohhraka, "the Burning," or "the Burnt Place." No spot could have been better adapted for the thousands of Israel to have stood drawn up on those gentle slopes.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Two concepts. Two thoughts, because you do not know how to decide who is God.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּשְׁלַ֥ח | vaiyishlach | and he sent | H7971 → | 845 times |
| אַחְאָ֖ב | ʾachav | Ahab | H256 → | 92 times |
| בְּכָל־ | bekhol | among all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| בְּנֵ֣י | benei | [the] people of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| וַיִּקְבֹּ֥ץ | vaiyikbotz | and he gathered | H6908 → | 127 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַנְּבִיאִ֖ים | haneviim | the prophets | H5030 → | 314 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| הַ֥ר | har | [the] mountain of | H2022 → | 546 times |
| הַכַּרְמֶֽל׃ | hakarmel | <the> Carmel | H3760 → | 22 times |
וַיִּשְׁלַ֥חand he sent
vaiyishlachH7971 →845 times
אַחְאָ֖בAhab
ʾachavH256 →92 times
בְּכָל־among all
bekholH3605 →5413 times
בְּנֵ֣י[the] people of
beneiH1121 →4930 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
וַיִּקְבֹּ֥ץand he gathered
vaiyikbotzH6908 →127 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הַנְּבִיאִ֖יםthe prophets
haneviimH5030 →314 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
הַ֥ר[the] mountain of
harH2022 →546 times
הַכַּרְמֶֽל׃<the> Carmel
hakarmelH3760 →22 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Kings 22:9So the king of Israel called one of his officials and said, “Bring Micaiah son of Imlah at once.”
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 18:8
So the king of Israel called one of his officials and said, “Bring Micaiah son of Imlah at once.”
- 1 Kings 22:26–27
And the king of Israel declared, “Take Micaiah and return him to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king’s son,
- Daniel 1:18
Now at the end of the time specified by the king, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar.
- Isaiah 39:7
And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, will be taken away to be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
- 2 Kings 9:32
He looked up at the window and called out, “Who is on my side? Who?” And two or three eunuchs looked down at him.
- 2 Chronicles 18:8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies5
On this verse
About 1 Kings
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Alfred Edersheim, Bible History: Old Testament; F. W. Farrar, The First Book of Kings (Expositor's Bible); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.