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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.