1 Kings 18:36

THE acts of Elijah were very singular. It had not been known, from the foundations of the earth, that a man could shut up the doors of the rain for the space of three years. Yet Elijah suddenly leaped upon the scene, announced the judgment of the Lord and then disappeared for a time. When he reappears, at the bidding of God, he orders Ahab to gather the priests of Baal and to put to the test the question as to whether Baal or Jehovah was, indeed, God.

THE acts of Elijah were very singular. It had not been known, from the foundations of the earth, that a man could shut up the doors of the rain for the space of three years. Yet Elijah suddenly leaped upon the scene, announced the judgment of the Lord and then disappeared for a time. When he reappears, at the bidding of God, he orders Ahab to gather the priests of Baal and to put to the test the question as to whether Baal or Jehovah was, indeed, God. Bullocks shall be slain and laid upon the wood without fire—and the God who shall answer by fire shall be determined to be the one living and true God, the God of Israel. We might question within ourselves what right the Prophet had to restrain the clouds, or to put God's honor under test. Suppose the Lord had not willed to answer him by fire? Had he any right to make the Glory of God hang upon such terms as he proposed? The answer is that he had done all these things according to God's word. It was no whim of his to chastise the nation with a drought. It was no scheme of his, concocted in his own brain, that he should put the Godhead of Jehovah or of Baal to the test by a sacrifice to be consumed by miraculous fire. Oh, no! If you read the life of Elijah through, you will see that whenever he takes a step, it is preceded by, "The word of the Lord came unto Elijah the Tishbite." He never acts of himself—God is at his back. He moves according to the Divine will and he speaks according to the Divine teaching— and he pleads this with the Most High—"I have done all these things at Your word; now let it be known that it is so." It makes the character of Elijah stand out, not as an example of reckless daring, but as the example of a man of sound mind! Faith in God is true wisdom—childlike confidence in the Word of God is the highest form of common sense.

At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice - i. e., probably “the ninth hour,” or three o’clock. Thus there might still remain about five hours of light, during which the other events of the day were accomplished. Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel - This solemn address would carry back the thoughts of the pious to the burning bush of Horeb, and the words there spoken (marginal references), for there only had this mysterious formula been used before. Its use now was calculated to stir their faith and prepare them in some degree for God’s answering “by fire.” That I have done all these things at thy word - i. e., “That I have been divinely directed in all that I have done publicly as a prophet, in proclaiming the drought, in gathering this assembly, and in proposing this trial; that I have not done them of my own mind” (marginal reference).