Elijah by Susan Martins Miller

Author:Susan Martins Miller [Miller, Susan Martins]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-62836-263-3
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 1991-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

“Now our land is filled with altars to Baal and Asherah, and the altars which our forefathers built have fallen in ruins. the people say that they still believe in Israel’s God, but they also accept Baal as their god.

“How long will you continue to do this? You cannot serve two gods! If the Lord is God, then follow Him. But if Baal is God, follow Baal. What will you do?”

The people began to murmur among themselves, but no one stepped forward to speak to Elijah. The prophet shook his head in discouragement; the crowd would not give up the right to have two gods. Obadiah scrambled up to where Elijah stood and confirmed the unwillingness to stop worshipping Baal. The people were afraid of Ahab, he said. When Elijah climbed on a high rock and peered over at Ahab, he saw the king sitting comfortably among his servants with a smug expression on his face. Obviously Ahab thought Elijah had no chance of winning the people over to his side.

Once again Elijah stood before the people and began to speak. “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets here, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. We have two fine bulls with us. Let the prophets of Baal choose one for themselves and prepare it for sacrifice but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. They can call on Baal, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers—he is the true God. We will begin first thing in the morning.”

This time the sound that arose from the mountainside was more encouraging. Obadiah hurried down to walk among the people and find out what they were thinking. He ran back up to report breathlessly that Elijah’s idea was being accepted. Ahab would have a fair chance to prove they should worship Baal, and Elijah would have a fair chance to prove his faith in God.

Elijah looked over at Ahab, who was marching around his camp shouting orders and threatening his prophets with punishment if they should fail and make him look foolish in front of all the people. His servants were already busying themselves with choosing the best bull and gathering wood for their sacrifice. In his usual confident manner, Elijah simply returned to his camp and laid out his bedroll. Once again Reuben was amazed at how calm the prophet remained. While his followers sat up late into the night talking about what might happen the next day, Elijah slept soundly, undisturbed by their hushed conversation.

Elijah was awakened at dawn by the frantic noises coming from the top of the mountain. The prophets of Baal were directing servants to build an appropriate altar for this important sacrifice. The thousands of people on the mountainside crawled out of their tents and bedrolls to see enormous amounts of precious firewood being laid out carefully on the huge altar.

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