1 Kings 18


1 Kings 18 is the eighteenth chapter of the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible or the First Book of Kings in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is a compilation of various annals recording the acts of the kings of Israel and Judah by a Deuteronomic compiler in the seventh century BCE, with a supplement added in the sixth century BCE. This chapter belongs to the section comprising 1 Kings 16:15 to 2 Kings 8:29 which documents the period of Omri's dynasty. The focus of this chapter is the activity of prophet Elijah during the reign of king Ahab in the northern kingdom.

Text

This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language and since the 16th century is divided into 46 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis, Aleppo Codex, and Codex Leningradensis.
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus and Codex Alexandrinus.

Elijah and Obadiah (18:1–16)

The main theme of the narrative is drought and rain. As the land of Israel including the king suffered under the drought, YHWH sent for Elijah to bring about the crisis and then the solution to the conflict between the worship of two deities. Before Elijah faced Ahab, one minister, named Obadiah became an intermediate. Obadiah was also the one helping to hide Yahweh's servants during a purge of prophets by queen Jezebel, so when Elijah unexpectedly standing before him, Obadiah fell to the ground in fear and respect. Similar miraculous transport of God's prophets is noted in Ezekiel 3:14, 11:1, cf. 2 Kings 2:11.

Verse 1

  • "The third year": The Jewish tradition preserved in the New Testament reckons this not from the beginning of the drought, but to be the third year after the restoration of the widow's son in Zarephath.

    Elijah and the competition between the deities on Mount Carmel (18:17–40)

As soon as Ahab met Elijah, he tried to hold the prophet responsible for the calamity befallen Israel, calling Elijah 'the troubler of Israel' . Elijah immediately threw the accusation back at Ahab for the apostasy sin of him and his father's house forsaking Yahweh and following the Baals. In Joshua 7, the identity of the true 'troubler of Israel' was revealed in public before "all Israel", so in this case, Elijah wanted "all Israel" to gather on Mount Carmel, a place near to the Phoenician border, to resolve the matter.
The people of Israel at this point seemed not to hold YHWH monotheism anymore as they didn't react to the choice Elijah offering at all: 'YHWH or Baal' alone, but they agreed to witness the competition. A
miracle must bring truth to light, and it was quickly revealed that the Baals are incapable of doing this, even after their priests performing the whole cultic and ritual activities of Baalistic religion. This violent cultic frenzy of Baalistic activities with 'swords and lances' was attested by an Egyptian traveller "Wen-Amon" or "Wenamun", who around 1100 BCE witnessed it in Byblos, a Phoenician coastal city north of Jezebel's hometown of Sidon. By contrast, YHWH-religion only requires the spoken word to immediately produce miracles. The people who saw the demonstration of divine power quickly turned to YHWH's side with a call of faith, 'The LORD indeed is God', which unmistakably recalls Elijah's name, so the personal conviction of Elijah then became that of the people of Israel.

Verse 19

  • "Mount Carmel": also known in Arabic as "Mount Mar Elias", a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast, about northwest of Jezreel.

    Verse 31

  • "Twelve stones": reminding the people of their true identity as the special people of the Lord.

    Elijah brings rain (18:41–46)

The triumph of Elijah on Mount Carmel seems to make king Ahab even listen to Elijah's word, that the king should eat and drink while expecting the rain to come soon. The return of the rains is another triumph for Elijah, who called for rain seven times and as the rain started to pour, Elijah had the 'hand of the
LORD' grasping him so he could run ahead of the royal chariots for more than from Carmel to Jezreel. Thus, the opening conflict of 16:32–33 and 17:1 is resolved by proving YHWH to be the only effective God.

Verse 46

  • "Girded up his loins": or "Tucked the skirts of his robe in his belt in preparation for quick travel"
  • "To the entrance of Jezreel": Jezreel is located in the valley southeast of Mount Carmel; a place where Ahab and Jezebel had a palace. Elijah went there presumably because he thought that the war was over.