1 Kings 18:38

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36 And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “Lord ^aGod of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, ^blet it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that ^cI have done all these things at Your word.

37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.”

38 Then ^athe fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.

39 Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, ^a“The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!”

40 And Elijah said to them, ^a“Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!” So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook ^bKishon and ^cexecuted them there.

The Drought Ends

41 Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.”

42 So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; ^athen he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees,

Commentaries:

Adam Clarke

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1 Kings 18:39 >>

1 Kings 18:38

Then the fire of the Lord fell - It did not burst out from the altar; this might still, notwithstanding the water, have afforded some ground for suspicion that fire had been concealed, after the manner of the heathens, under the altar.

Pindar' s account of the Rhodians' settling is the isle of Rhodes, and their first sacrifice there, bears a near affinity to the account here given: the shower of gold descending on the sacrifice offered up without fire, to show the approbation of their god, is little more than a poetic account of the above transactions.

' ̔

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Pind. Olymp. Od. 7, ver. 86.

The Rhodians, mindful of their sire' s behest,

Straight in the citadel an altar reared;

But with imperfect rites the Power addressed,

And without fire their sacrifice prepared;

Yet Jove, approving, o' er the assembly spread

A yellow cloud, that dropped with golden dews.

West.

Consumed the burnt-sacrifice - The process of this consumption is very remarkable, and all calculated to remove the possibility of a suspicion that there was any concealed fire.

1.The fire came down from heaven.

2.The pieces of the sacrifice were first consumed.

3.The wood next, to show that it was not even by means of the wood that the flesh was burned.

4.The twelve stones were also consumed, to show that it was no common fire, but one whose agency nothing could resist.

5.The dust, the earth of which the altar was constructed, was burned up.

6.The water that was in the trench was, by the action of this fire, entirely evaporated.

7.The action of this fire was in every case downward, contrary to the nature of all earthly and material fire. Nothing can be more simple and artless than this description, yet how amazingly full and satisfactory is the whole account!

**Other Adam Clarke entries containing 1 Kings 18:38:**

Leviticus 9:23
Isaiah 5:24

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1 Kings 18:39 >>

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