Lesson 290: ELIJAH AND THE PROPHETS OF BAAL

I Kings 18

Full Lesson HERE

INTRODUCTION. After three years of drought, the Lord instructed Elijah to go back to Israel, show himself to Ahab, and He would send rain. When Ahab met Elijah, he called him the troubler of Israel, but Elijah told Ahab it was he (Ahab) who troubled Israel because he had forsaken the Lord and followed Baal. Elijah then challenged Ahab to gather all the 450 prophets of Baal and Jezebel's 400 prophets of the Asherah to Mount Carmel. There Elijah and the prophets of Baal had a contest before the people of Israel.

The prophets of Baal built an altar, prepared a bullock for sacrifice without fire, and

Elijah did the same. The prophets of Baal called upon their god for fire from morning

to evening to consume their sacrifice, leaping about and cutting themselves with

knives, but they received no answer. Elijah then poured water on his sacrifice and

called on the name of the Lord God of Israel. Fire from the Lord fell which consumed

the sacrifice, the wood, the altar, and the water, causing the people of Israel to acknowledge the true God. Elijah then slew the prophets of Baal, and the Lord sent

rain, ending the drought.