| THE CONTEST |
| One lone prophet against a thousand priests |
| Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him." 18:21 |
| Few scenes in the Bible are more dramatic than this one. The forces of evil and the forces of good collided head-on. In books like Lord of the Rings or movies such as Star Wars, mythmakers dream up cosmic confrontations. But the incident in 1 Kings 18 is no myth. On that day, a bedraggled desert prophet singlehandedly took on a king and nearly a thousand powerful priests. Elijah had made a grand entrance three years before. Like a wild, startling apparition, he came out of nowhere to stalk the terraced streets of affluent Samaria. Clothed in black camel's hair, he made a striking contrast to the priests of Baal in their white linen robes and high-pointed bonnets. He had a simple, unpopular message of doom: "There will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word" (17:1). It was a direct affront to followers of Baal, who believed their god could control the weather. Having delivered his message, Elijah disappeared. For three years, he was the most wanted fugitive in Israel, for he alone had the power to bring the rain. And then, in the scene reported in Chapter 18, the prophet Elijah returned to Samaria. Elijah's Contest Israel was at a crossroads. Other kings had introduced idoltary into the Jewish religion, but King Ahab and the notorious Queen Jezebel were going much further. They wanted to wipe out all worhip of the true God. The prophet Elijah proved a worthy adversary. His very name meant "The Lord is my God." He proposed a showdown, the ultimate contest to prove who was the true God. First Kings presents the scene in full color, complete |
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