Welcome back, once again, to our virtual to of Israel! Jews, Christians and the curious are welcome here and we hope you find something that speaks to your heart! If you are a Christian, you can visit here as well to learn more about supporting Israel.
Our day begins in the beautiful Carmel Mountains. We travel a winding road leading up the mountain and past a Druze village called Daliyat al-Karmel. But now we’ll keep driving to the end of the road to the Carmelite monastery of Mukhraka, meaning “place of burning.” In the courtyard of the monastery is a statue of Elijah fighting the prophets of Baal. The story explaining this is found in I Kings 18.
Statue of Elijah fighting the prophets of Baal. Photo Credit: Animated Hebrew
You might ask yourself why a monastery was built on the site of a Jewish story. Christians usually build their churches on top of the place they believe is “x” marks the spot of where the story happened. But Jews, rather, have tried to preserve their holy sites in their natural archaeological state. So what’s the story with Mukhraka? It begins with the Carmelites, a Roman Catholic religious order founded around the 12th century on Mount Carmel. The spiritual focus of the Carmelite Order is contemplative prayers. Carmelite tradition traces the origin of the order to a community of hermits on Mount Carmel who believed they succeeded the prophets in ancient Israel. These men, who had gone to Palestine from Europe either as pilgrims or as Crusaders, chose Mount Carmel in part because it was the traditional home of Elijah. So there you have it! There are actually two Carmelite Monasteries on Mt. Carmel. This one and one on the western side of the mountain above Haifa called Stella Maris.
We are going to walk past the statue of Elijah, through the very peaceful grounds of the monastery, and go up to the rooftop of the building. From there we can see forever and a day, and in every direction, there is biblical history to be told. Looking due east we can see the entire Jezreel Valley in front of us, with Mt. Tabor towering over the valley in the distance. Givat HaMoreh, or the hill of Moreh is just south of Tabor and the mountains of Gilboa are a bit further east and south. The hills of Samaria are directly south of us, and to our west, we can see the Mediterranean Sea. And if we look very closely below the railing of the rooftop and due east, we can see the Kishon River. I mention each of these places because we could literally open our bibles and read stories all day long about them; Christian and Jewish, from the time of the Israelites to the end times, there are stories for everyone.
Jezreel valley view Photo Credit: Zionoil
We are going to read the whole chapter of I Kings 18 so we can actually imagine the story unfolding as we see the geographic points the story refers to. It might be a good idea to look at a map of the area so you can get your bearings straight. The story happens in the 9th century BCE. The prophet Elijah was here on Mt. Carmel. Israel’s, King Ahab, and his evil wife Jezebel, lived in Samaria to the south. Remember that the Kishon River is just below us to the east and the Mediterranean is off to the west.
Kishon River. Photo Credit: Israel21C
But now let’s read the story that captured the souls of 12th century men; a story that eventually caused them to give up all of their worldliness and live as hermits on Elijah’s mountain.
After a long time, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.” So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.
Now the famine was severe in Samaria, and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, his palace administrator. (Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord. While Jezebel was killing off the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.) Ahab had said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs and valleys. Maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive so we will not have to kill any of our animals.” So they divided the land they were to cover, Ahab going in one direction and Obadiah in another.
As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him, bowed down to the ground, and said, “Is it really you, my lord Elijah?” “Yes,” he replied. “Go tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.’ “What have I done wrong,” asked Obadiah, “that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death? As surely as the Lord your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you. But now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ I don’t know where the Spirit of the Lord may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn’t find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the Lord since my youth. Haven’t you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord? I hid a hundred of the Lord’s prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water. And now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ He will kill me!”Elijah said, “As the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today.”
Photo Credit: WA Criswell Sermon Library
So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”“I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals. Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.” So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”But the people said nothing.
Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.”Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”
Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.
Carmel Mountain. Photo Credit: UNESCO
Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two sears a of seed. He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.” “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again. “Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.
At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”
Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away!” They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there. And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. “Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked. “There is nothing there,” he said. Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.” The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’ ”
Northern Israel’s views where our story unfolded. Photo Credit: Open The Word
Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started falling and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. The power of the Lord came on Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.
Wow! This is quite a story. Not only is it possible to actually stand on this rooftop and imagine the events that we read about, but to contemplate the actual story and what we can take away from it in modern times. Elijah was faithful to God and never questioned whether God would come through for him. Elijah was loyal to Ahab as his king. He knew how evil Ahab was and still warned him of the storm coming from the sea and escorted him to Jezreel. And regarding the issue of who is God? Some people believe by faith. Others don’t believe at all. And then there are others who see a profound miracle and say, “The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God.”
Until next time, Shalom from Israel
Carmel Valley Photo Credit: Expedia
