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1 Kings 18:26

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Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Ahab;   Altar;   Carmel;   Elijah;   Idol;   Idolatry;   Prayer;   Revivals;   Thompson Chain Reference - Altars;   Awakenings and Religious Reforms;   Awakenings, Religious;   Elijah;   False;   Idol;   Idolatrous;   Idolatry;   Worship, False;   Worship, True and False;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Idolatry;   Morning;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Carmel;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Miracle;   Persecution;   Prayer;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Hospitality;   Zeal;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Baal;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Baal (1);   Madmen (2);   Prayer;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Baal;   Cattle;   Dancing;   Elijah;   False Prophet;   False Worship;   Fertility Cult;   Gods, Pagan;   Kings, 1 and 2;   Mountain;   Music, Instruments, Dancing;   Prayer;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Ahab;   Carmel;   Haggai;   Magic, Divination, and Sorcery;   Prophecy, Prophets;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Prayer (2);   Repetitions;   Vain;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Ahab ;   Baal, Baalim ;   Carmel ;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Mount carmel;   Obadiah;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Baal;   Carmel;   Elijah;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Ba'al,;   Car'mel;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Altar;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Kingdom of Israel;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Baal (1);   Elijah;   Games;   God;   Idolatry;   Magic;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Baal;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Dancing;  

Devotionals:

- Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life - Devotion for July 25;  

Contextual Overview

21 And Elijah came near to all the people, and said, How long do you go limping between the two sides? if Yahweh is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. 21 Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, "How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!" But the people were completely silent. 21 And Elijah came near unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. 21 Elijah approached the people and said, "How long will you not decide between two choices? If the Lord is the true God, follow him, but if Baal is the true God, follow him!" But the people said nothing. 21 Elijah approached all the people and said, "How long are you going to be paralyzed by indecision? If the Lord is the true God, then follow him, but if Baal is, follow him!" But the people did not say a word. 21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD [is] God, follow him: but if Baal, [then] follow him. And the people answered him not a word. 21 Elijah came near to all the people, and said, How long go you limping between the two sides? if Yahweh is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him. The people answered him not a word. 21Elijah approached all the people and said, "How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people [of Israel] did not answer him [so much as] a word. 21 And Elijah came near to all the people and said, "How long will you go limping between 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. 21 Forsothe Elie neiyede to al the puple of Israel, and seide, Hou long halten ye in to twey partis? If the Lord is God, sue ye hym; forsothe if Baal is God, sue ye hym. And the puple answeride not o word to hym.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

from morning: Matthew 6:7

hear: or, answer

no voice: 1 Kings 18:24, Psalms 115:4-8, Psalms 135:15-20, Isaiah 37:38, Isaiah 44:17, Isaiah 45:20, Jeremiah 10:5, Daniel 5:23, Habakkuk 2:18, 1 Corinthians 8:4, 1 Corinthians 10:19, 1 Corinthians 10:20, 1 Corinthians 12:2

answered: or, heard

leaped upon the altar: or, leaped up and down at the altar, Zephaniah 1:9

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 18:29 - voice 2 Kings 4:31 - hearing 2 Kings 4:33 - prayed 2 Kings 21:3 - he reared 2 Kings 23:4 - Baal Psalms 108:6 - and answer me Isaiah 44:9 - and their Isaiah 46:7 - one shall cry Jeremiah 10:3 - customs Jeremiah 27:18 - they Jeremiah 48:13 - ashamed Jonah 1:5 - cried Habakkuk 2:19 - that Acts 19:28 - and cried Acts 19:34 - all

Cross-References

Isaiah 6:13
A tenth of the people will be allowed to stay in the land, but it will be destroyed again. They will be like an oak tree. When the tree is chopped down, a stump is left. This stump will be a very special seed that will grow again.
Isaiah 6:13
If even a tenth—a remnant—survive, it will be invaded again and burned. But as a terebinth or oak tree leaves a stump when it is cut down, so Israel's stump will be a holy seed."
Isaiah 6:13
And if there is yet a tenth in it, it also shall in turn be eaten up: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remains, when they are felled; so the holy seed is the stock thereof.
Isaiah 6:13
One-tenth of the people will be left in the land, but it will be destroyed again. These people will be like an oak tree whose stump is left when the tree is chopped down. The people who remain will be like a stump that will sprout again."
Isaiah 6:13
Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will again be destroyed, like one of the large sacred trees or an Asherah pole, when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down. That sacred pillar symbolizes the special chosen family."
Isaiah 6:13
But yet in it [shall be] a tenth, and [it] shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil-tree, and as an oak whose substance [is] in them, when they cast [their leaves]: [so] the holy seed [shall be] the substance of it.
Isaiah 6:13
If there are yet a tenth in it, it also shall in turn be eaten up: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remains, when they are felled; so the holy seed is the stock of it."
Isaiah 6:13
"And though a tenth [of the people] remain in the land, It will again be subject to destruction [consumed and burned], Like a massive terebinth tree or like an oak Whose stump remains when it is chopped down. The holy seed [the elect remnant] is its stump [the substance of Israel]."
Isaiah 6:13
And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled." The holy seed is its stump.
Isaiah 6:13
and it schal be conuertid, and it schal be in to schewyng, as a terebynte is, and as an ook, that spredith abrood hise boowis; that schal be hooli seed, that schal stonde ther ynne.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And they took the bullock which was given them,.... By such of them as made the choice:

and they dressed it; slew it, and cut it in pieces, and laid it on the wood, but put no fire under it:

and called on the name of Baal, from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us; and send fire down on the sacrifice; and if the sun was their Baal, they might hope, as the heat he gradually diffused was at its height at noon, that some flashes of fire would proceed from it to consume their sacrifice; but after, their hope was turned into despair, they became and acted like madmen:

but there was no voice, nor any that answered; by word, or by sending down fire as they desired:

and they leapt upon the altar which was made; not by Elijah, but by themselves, either now or heretofore, and where they had formerly sacrificed; and they danced about it, and leaped on it, either according to a custom used by them; such as the Salii, the priests of Mars, used, so called from their leaping, because they did their sacred things leaping, and went about their altars capering and leaping s; or rather they were mad on it, as the Targum renders it, and acted like madmen, as if they were agitated by a prophetic fury and frenzy.

s Servius in Virgil. Aeneid. l. 8. "tum Salii ad cantus", &c. Vid. Gutberleth. de Salii, c. 2. p. 9.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon - Compare the parallel in the conduct of the Greeks of Ephesus. Acts 19:34. The words “O Baal, hear us,” probably floated on the air as the refrain of a long and varied hymn of supplication.

They leaped upon the altar which was made - The marginal rendering is preferable to this. Wild dancing has always been a devotional exercise in the East, and remains so to this day; witness the dancing dervishes. It was practiced especially in the worship of Nature-powers, like the Dea Phrygia (Cybele), the Dea Syra (Astarte?), and the like.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Kings 18:26. From morning even until noon — It seems that the priests of Baal employed the whole day in their desperate rites. The time is divided into two periods:

1. From morning until noon; this was employed in preparing and offering the sacrifice, and in earnest supplication for the celestial fire. Still there was no answer, and at noon Elijah began to mock and ridicule them, and this excited them to commence anew. And,

2. They continued from noon till the time of offering the evening sacrifice, dancing up and down, cutting themselves with knives, mingling their own blood with their sacrifice, praying, supplicating, and acting in the most frantic manner.

And they leaped upon the altar — Perhaps it will be more correct to read with the margin, they leaped up and down at the altar; they danced round it with strange and hideous cries and gesticulations, tossing their heads to and fro, with a great variety of bodily contortions.

A heathen priest, a high priest of Budhoo, has been just showing me the manner in which they dance and jump up and down, and from side to side, twisting their bodies in all manner of ways, when making their offerings to their demon gods; a person all the while beating furiously on a tom-tom, or drum, to excite and sustain those frantic attitudes; at the same time imploring the succour of their god, frequently in some such language as this: "O loving brother devil, hear me, and receive my offering!" To perform these sacrificial attitudes they have persons who are taught to practice them from their earliest years, according to directions laid down in religious books; and to make the joints and body pliant, much anointing of the parts and mechanical management are used; and they have masters, whose business it is to teach these attitudes and contortions according to the rules laid down in those books. It seems therefore that this was a very general practice of idolatry, as indeed are the others mentioned in this chapter.


 
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