48443 matching verse commentaries
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
Saying, O Baal, hear us. Repeating their cry again and again. For this is the way of all false worship — to use vain repetitions, as the heathens do, which is forbidden to us. 1Ki_18:26. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. Which was their superstition. They were going through the whole...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass at noon,.... When they had been from the time of the morning sacrifice until now invoking their deity to no purpose: that Elijah mocked them; he jeered and bantered them: and said, cry aloud; your god does not hear you; perhaps, if you raise your voice higher, he may; for he is a god; according to your esteem of him, and, if...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
; 1Ki_18:31. And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked. And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. And it...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they cried aloud,.... Trying to make him hear, if possible: and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them; so the priests of Heathen deities used to slash themselves on their shoulders, arms, and thighs, in their devotions to them, as many writers observe (z), fancying their gods were...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass when midday was past,.... And nothing done, no fire descended: and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice; continued praying to Baal, and singing his praises, but all to no purpose; or they behaved like madmen, as the Targum; thus they went on until it was time to offer the evening sacrifice; so...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Elijah said unto all the people, come near unto me,.... And observe what I do, and what will be done at my request: and all the people came near unto him; left the prophets of Baal to themselves, and took no more notice of them, but attended to what the prophet should say and do: and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob,.... Which he might very easily come at from the mountain: unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name, which signifies one that has power with God, as Jacob had, when the word came to him to make a change in his name at Penuel,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And with the stones he built an altar in the same of the Lord,.... Whom the twelve tribes had formerly worshipped; and though now divided in their civil state, yet ought to be united in the worship of God: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed; or two seahs, one of which was the third part of an...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood. And he said, Do it...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood,.... Just in such manner as sacrifices usually were: and said, fill four barrels with water; either from the brook Kishon, or, if that was dried up, from the sea; for both were near this mountain, and so to be had, though a time of drought: and pour it on the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said, do it the second time, and they did it the second time,.... That is, poured four barrels of water more upon the wood: and he said, do it the third time, and they did it the third time; so that there were in all twelve barrels of water poured on the wood, agreeably to the number of the twelve stones the altar was built with, and may...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the water ran round about the altar,.... There being such a large effusion of it on it; and he filled the trench also with water; which surrounded the altar, so that it seemed impracticable that any fire should kindle upon it; and this gave full proof and demonstration there could be no collusion in this matter.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice,.... Which the people of God at Jerusalem were now attending to: that Elijah the prophet came near; to the altar he had built, and on which he had laid the sacrifice: and said; in prayer to God: Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the covenant God of the ancestors of his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Hear me, O Lord, hear me;.... Which repetition is made to express his importunity, and the vehement earnest desire of his soul to be heard in such a case, which so much concerned the glory of God; the Targum is, "receive my prayer, O Lord, concerning the fire, receive my prayer concerning the rain;'' as if the one respected the sending down the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then the fire of the Lord fell,.... An extraordinary fire from God out of heaven, as the effects of it show: and consumed the burnt sacrifice; as it had done in former instances, Leviticus 9:24, and besides this, which is still more extraordinary, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust; of the altar, thereby signifying that even such were not...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God. And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces,.... In reverence of God, astonished at the miracle wrought, ashamed of themselves and their sins, particularly their idolatry, that they should turn their backs on the true God, and follow idols: and they said, the Lord, he is the God, the Lord, he is the God; which acknowledgment of God,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Elijah said unto them, take the prophets of Baal,.... The four hundred and fifty that were upon the spot; for the number of the people of Israel, now gathered together, were equal to it; nor was it in Ahab's power to hinder it, and he might himself be so far surprised and convicted as not in the least to object to it: let not one of them...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Elijah said unto Ahab, get thee up,.... From the brook and valley where the execution of the prophets had been made; either up to his chariot, or to the tent or pavilion erected on the side of the mount, where the whole scene of things was transacted; eat and drink; which he had no leisure for all the day, from the time of the morning...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So Ahab went up to eat and to drink,.... Up to his chariot, as some think, or rather to some place higher than that in which he now was: and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; higher still, where he both might be alone, and have the opportunity of observing the clouds gathering, and the rain coming: and he cast himself down upon the earth, and...