The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 435

Vers. 22-24.-The Test of Fire. Elijah had appealed to the people on their inconsistency in hesitating between services so widely different o.nd so utterly irreconcilab_le as those of Jehovah and Baal. He got no response. " The people answered hun not a word." Then he proposed the test of fire to determine which was worthy. The conclusiveness of such an appeal could not be challenged· so the people with one voice answered, "It is well spoken." ' I. THE TEST WAS UNEXCEPTIONABLE. 1. For Baal was the fire-god. (1) His name designates him as the lord or ruler. It comes from the verb C;,JJ:i) to own or possess, to be master of. But the sun, from its splendour and central position, accounted the visible lord in the material heavens, was their Baal. Sanchoniathon says the Pboenicians thought the sun to be the only lord of heaven, calling him Beelsarnen, which in their language is lord of heaven. In "Beelsamen '' we at once recognize the Hebrew c•or:, ',11::i. (2) Baal was the ji,l'e or body of the sun, rather than its light. So in 2 Kings xxiii. 5 we find Baal C;,v:i) distinguished from (r:,or:,) the solar light. (See Parkhurst under ~or:,.) Parkhurst points out thnt t~e Runic or Islandic BAAL signifies fire, the Saxon BAEL, and BAEL-FYR, o. burning pile, a pyre, a bonfire. Probably our bonfire is simply a corruption of Bael-fyr. (3) The image of this idol was a bull. This animal was by the ancients regarded as the emblem of fire. The similitude seems to have been in its red colour, in the curled hair upon its forehead giving the idea of flame, in the borne budding from its bead suggesting the darting of rays of light from the sun. In Tobit (i. 5) we read of "the heifer called Baal'' We have the name of this god still preserved in our English bull. 2. The controversy was whether Baal was independent of Jehovah. (1) His worshippers claimed this for him. (2) Elijah maintained the opposite. And with cogent reason, for during three years and six months Jehovah :m&de Baal punish his votaries. (3) Now the prophet proposes the further test of a sudden miracle. If Baal be god, if he be independent of Jehovah, let him come down and consume the sacrifice offered to him. If he cannot, then why should he be worshipped? If Jehovah can send fire on his sacrifice, then is He manifestly Lord of Baal, and should be so acknowledged. (4) That suitable acknowleclgment of God which such a miracle demands, implies-(a) Recognition of His almighty providence and lordship over the material and moral universe. (b) The engage- ment of all our powers in His worship and service. II. So WAB THE MANNER OF THE TEST. 1. The prophets of Baal had precedence. (1) Not because Baal was entitled to it, for that would be a concession of the argument, but because they were mo.ny. Elijah stood alone the prophet_ of the Lord, while the idolatrous prophets were 850 men. (2) They were to provide the sacrifices. They were wealthy. Elijah was poor. They could not object to the test when the sacrifices were of their own selection. 2. The experiment was to be fair. (1) Not only might the priests of Baal choose their bullock, cut it in pieces after their approved method, lay it on the wood of the altar; but they must "put no fire uncler.'' Else where would be the proof of the ability of Bao.I? Under some heathen altars holes were dug in which fire wo.s concealed, which communi- catiug with the altar set the wood on fire to make the simple people believe that the sacrifice was consumed by miraculous fire. This Elijah would not permit. (2) Ordinarily the sacrifices offered to Bae.I were offered in fire ; and sometimes human sacrifices were so offered. " They built the high places of Baal to burn their sons with fire, for burnt offerings" (J er. xix. 5). The Phoenician Baal seems to have been identical with the Ammonite Molech. "Thoy built the high places of Baal which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to M olech" (J er. xxxii. 85). (3) Ashta~oth also w_ere ~tually the same as "Baalim," under which plural term a.re mcluued diversified Baals, as Baal Peor, &c. ; and so in ver. 25 the prophets of Baal are 011. xvm. 1-46.] THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 445