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3 posted on 06/12/2018 10:25:57 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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From: 1 Kings 18:20-39

The sacrifice on Mount Carmel


[20] So Ahab sent to all the people of Israel, and gathered the prophets together
at Mount Carmel. [21] And Elijah came near to all the people, and said, “How
long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow
him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word.
[22] Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of the LORD;
but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. [23] Let two bulls be given to
us; and let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces and lay it
on the wood, but put no fire to it; and I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the
wood, and put no fire to it. [24] And you call on the name of your god and I will
call on the name of the LORD; and the God who answers by fire, he is God.” And
all the people answered, “It is well spoken.” [25] Then Elijah said to the prophets
of Baal, “Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many;
and call on the name of your god, but put no fire to it.” [26] And they took the bull
which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from
morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no
one answered. And they limped about the altar which they had made. [27] And at
noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is musing,
or he has gone aside, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be
awakened.” [28] And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their custom with
swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. [29] And as midday
passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was
no voice; no one answered, no one heeded.

[30] Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me”; and all the people
came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that had been thrown
down; [31] Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the
sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD came, saying, “Israel shall be your
name”; [32] 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. [33] And he put the wood in order, and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on
the wood. And he said, “Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the burnt offering,
and on the wood.” [34] And he said, “Do it a second time”; and they did it a se-
cond time. And he said, “Do it a third time”; and they did it a third time. [35] And
the water ran round about the altar, and filled the trench also with water.

[36] And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near
and said, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day
that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all
these things at thy word. [37] Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people
may know that thou, O LORD, art God, and that thou hast turned their hearts
back.” [38] Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt offering, and
the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the
trench. [39] And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they
said, “The LORD, he is God; the LORD, he is God.”

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

18:20-40. “Carmel” is a chain of mountains that starts near the port of Haifa and
runs some 30 km. (18.5 miles) south-east. Its height (almost 600 m. or 1800 ft.)
and its lush vegetation made it particularly suitable as a place of religious cult (at
that time, the local people worshipped Baal). There, the one, true God will make
himself manifest in the sacrificial fire. To begin with, the people have nothing to
say when Elijah upbraids them, but at the end of the episode (v. 38) they make a
profession of faith which echoes in a way the faith of the prophet, who bears wit-
ness to the living God. The name of Elijah, “The Lord is my God’, foretells the peo-
ple’s cry in response to his prayer on Mount Carmel” (”Catechism of the Catholic
Church”, 2582).

The fire which consumes the offering is a figure of the Holy Spirit: “While water
signifies birth and the fruitfulness of life given in the Holy Spirit, fire symbolizes
the transforming energy of the Holy Spirit’s actions. The prayer of the prophet E-
lijah, who ‘arose like fire’ and whose ‘word burned like a torch’ (Sir 48:1), brought
down fire from heaven on the sacrifice on Mount Carmel (cf. 1 Kings 18:38-39).
This event was a ‘figure’ of the fire of the Holy Spirit, who transforms what he tou-
ches. John the Baptist, who goes ‘before [the Lord] in the spirit and power of Eli-
jah’ (Lk 1:17), proclaims Christ as the one who ‘who will baptize you with Holy
Spirit and with fire’ (Lk 3:16). Jesus will say of the Spirit: ‘I came to cast fire up-
on the earth; and would that it were already kindled!’ (Lk 12:49). In the form of
tongues ‘as of fire’, the Holy Spirit rests on the disciples on the morning of Pen-
tecost and fills them with himself (Acts 2:3-4). The spiritual tradition has retained
this symbolism of fire as one of the most expressive images of the Holy Spirit’s
actions (cf. St John of the Cross, “The Living Flame of Love”). ‘Do not quench
the Spirit’ (1 Thess 5:19)” (”Catechism of the Catholic Church”, 696).

The similarity between the fire of Elijah’s offering and the action of the Holy Spi-
rit in the eucharistic sacrifice was noted by the Fathers. But the typology can be
extended further: “The sacrifice on Mount Carmel is a decisive test for the faith
of the People of God. The Lord’s fire consumes the holocaust, at the time of the
evening oblation. The Eastern liturgies repeat Elijah’s plea in the Eucharistic epi-
clesis” (”Catechism of the Catholic Church”, 2583).

Elijah’s action at the end — killing the false prophets — needs to be understood
in the light of his zeal for the Lord and of the mentality of the time, for the Mosaic
Law prescribed exactly such treatment for prophets of pagan divinities in order
to safeguard the religious purity of the people (cf. Deut 13:13-19).

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.


4 posted on 06/12/2018 10:30:32 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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