Elijah looked down at the people spread around him like ants on the mountain. All the prophets of Baal and Asherah were there, Ahab as well, but no Jezebel.

Elijah needed to control the anger that was building inside him, and at the same time, he needed to let them know that he was on the Lord’s side. Just a humble servant doing the will of his master.

Once the last person was at the top of the mountain, he stretched his hands towards the crowd and began to speak.

“Listen to me, Israel! How long will you hesitate?! How long will it take you to make up your minds?! If YAHWEH is the true God, then follow Him, but if you think Baal is, then follow him!”

The people began to shift uncomfortably on their feet. They didn’t like being called out like this. A lot of them would have preferred if they were allowed to serve both, but no one was going to admit that out loud, so Elijah was met with silence.

Fine. If they did not want to choose, then he will make the choice for them. Easy enough.

“I am the only prophet of the Lord that’s left,” He declared sadly, dropping his arms to his sides. “But Baal still has 450 prophets to his name, so this is what’s going to happen – “

Elijah turned and began to pace from one end of the crowd to another. He had been eagerly waiting for this moment since the Lord gave him the instruction some days ago, and he was going to enjoy every single moment.

“We’ll each build an altar, then let two bulls be given to us, Baal’s prophets can pick whichever bull they want.” He said with a dismissive wave of his hand that made it clear he really didn’t care which one they picked.

“We’ll cut the bull into pieces and place it on the wood of our altars, but neither of us will light the fire.”

Elijah then stopped pacing and turned to face the crowd with a smug grin on his face.

“You’ll call on the name of your god and I will call on the name of YAHWEH.”

The Israelites began to murmur among themselves as it became increasingly obvious that Elijah was up to no good. The prophet raised his hands up to the heavens and spoke in a voice loud enough to be heard all over the mountain.

“Whichever God answers with fire to the sacrifice is the real God!”

Who doesn’t like a good competition? Elijah already knew what the outcome of this competition would be, but the Israelites’ pride would never let them admit to defeat.

“Sounds good.”

“Yup. Sounds like a plan.”

“I don’t see why not.’ They agreed.

Elijah’s grin widened and he turned to Baal’s prophets. “Since you are so many, I’ll let you go first. It only seems fair.”

The prophets stepped up to the bull, shoulders raised and heads held high, then one by one, they began to remove their robes and adornments. The eldest prophet looked at Elijah with an equally smug grin on his face. “Maybe you should have gone first, heathen” he spat.

Elijah said nothing.

All 450 men were now in nothing but their undergarments. They soon had an altar ready, the beast slaughtered, cut into pieces and set on the wood of the altar. The mountain echoed with chants and incantations as they called on Baal to set fire to the sacrifice.

Elijah noticed that they were going easy, leaving out the deeper parts of their rites, even their voices were barely above a whisper. Apparently, they didn’t think it was worth the energy.

‘That would soon change.’  Elijah thought to himself.

Morning turned into noon and still there was no response from their great god, not even the rustle of a branch or the slightest smell of smoke. The mountain was deadly quiet and the prophets were becoming desperate.

They began to dance around the altar, calling out to Baal as they moved and contorted their bodies into different forms. Elijah watched in delight as they shouted “Baal, answer us!” over and over again. He threw his head back and let out the laughter he had been holding in all morning.

“Shout louder! He’s a god for crying out loud! Maybe he’s deep in thought, wondering how to care for all of you, or maybe he’s traveled somewhere!’

Elijah was laughing so hard he was bent over with his hands on his knees.

“Maybe,” he said, struggling to speak. “Maybe he’s sleeping!” He laughed again. “Maybe you just need to wake him up! Shout louder!”

The old priest stopped mid-dance and stared hard at Elijah who had his hands on his stomach and his entire body trembling with laughter. Without a word, the priest removed the rest of his garments and stood there on the cold mountain top, naked as a newborn. He bent down to remove a small knife strapped to his robes on the ground and pressed the blade to his arms. The entire crowd watched as the knife left a red line behind on the priest’s arm and a huge drop of blood fell to the ground.

Around him, the other priests began to do the same thing. This was the real way they worshipped. Elijah’s taunting had finally pushed them to perform the whole ritual. All afternoon they danced and bled and danced and bled some more and chanted, until it was evening and time to make the sacrifice. There was still no answer.

No wind.

No fire, not even smoke.

Half of the crowd had already lost interest and no one paid them any attention. They had failed, and now it was Elijah’s turn.

“Come closer everyone!” He commanded. The people quickly gathered around him, ignoring the bloody priests. Today a choice would be made, whether these people wanted to or not. Today, Elijah would exalt the name of the Lord before all of Israel.

The Prophet walked around the mountain, gathering the stones for his altar. Twelve large stones in all, each one representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Israel who the Lord had delivered from captivity. Israel who the Lord named Himself. Israel who rejected the Creator of the Universe. Israel who chose a god that couldn’t light a fire over One that parted the Great Sea.

After he had arranged the twelve stones into an altar, Elijah dug a ditch around it deep enough to hold four gallons of water. The people watched in confusion.

Wasn’t water going to quench the fire, if it came at all? Elijah had always been a strange man but this was a different dimension entirely. They stretched their necks eagerly to see what he was going to do.

Elijah continued moving calmly. No one was aware of the interaction going on between him and the Most High God, they only watched the ‘strange’ man slaughter his bull and lay the pieces on the wood of the altar.

“Bring me four jars of water.”  He said to a young man standing close to him.

“What?” the man asked, obviously puzzled.

Elijah turned to face him. “Bring me four jars of water and pour it over this altar. He repeated.

One of the priest’s snickered at Elijah’s request. “At this point, we need not worry about any sort of fire. The fool will drown out even the shadow of a spark.” He whispered not so quietly to his colleague.

Elijah paid them no mind but continued to stare expectantly at the young man before him.

The man looked from Elijah to the priests to the altar. When he realized that The Prophet was indeed serious, he gathered some other men and ran down the mountain.

The crowd began to murmur. Had they really given up their entire day to follow this madman to the top of the mountain?

It wasn’t long before the men returned with the water.

“Pour it over the meat and the wood.”

They began to protest, but one look from Elijah silenced any questions.

“Good. He declared once they were done. “Do it two more times.”

King Ahab stood silently watching the whole thing. The ditch was now full and he snorted at the Prophet’s stupidity. How on earth was a fire supposed to catch this? Was Elijah trying to make a fool of himself? He would never get used to this man and his funny ways of doing things.

“Our Lord and our God!” Elijah suddenly cried out with his hands stretched out towards the sky. “Oh God! You are the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel!”

Everywhere was quiet and a gentle breeze began to blow.

“Now Lord, prove that you are the true God of this nation and that I, your servant, have done all this at your command!”

The breeze slowly became a strong wind.

“Answer me Lord! Answer me so that these people will know that YOU, YAHWEH, are the true God! The only God! And You will turn their hearts back to you!”

No sooner had Elijah finished speaking when the heavens opened and fire fell down on the altar, a fire so hot and so powerful that it consumed not just the meat, but the wood, the stones and the water as well. Not a drop of water was left and not a single piece of meat was to be seen. The whole thing disappeared in seconds.

They didn’t need to be told. They didn’t need any more proof. They crowd fell to the ground together, each one shaking in fear and proclaiming ‘The Lord is God! The Lord is God!’

What more could one say in the face of such power? There was no competition here. They understood how foolish they had been.

“The Lord is God! The Lord is God!” They cried over and over with their faces to the ground.

___________________________________

The prophets of Baal and Asherah were later captured and Elijah made sure that they would not be leading any more Israelites astray.

Everyone went home and Ahab returned to his wife, Jezebel.

Now alone with God again, Elijah prayed and rain fell on the parched earth, heavy and bountiful.

The people danced in joy, vowing to serve the Most High God forever.

….or not.