1 Kings 18:41-46

1 Kings 18:41-46

[41] And Elijah  said  unto Ahab,  Get thee up,  eat  and drink;  for there is a sound  of abundance  of rain.  [42] So Ahab  went up  to eat  and to drink.  And Elijah  went up  to the top  of Carmel;  and he cast himself down  upon the earth,  and put  his face  between his knees,  [43] And said  to his servant,  Go up  now, look  toward  the sea.  And he went up,  and looked,  and said,  There is nothing.  And he said,  Go again  seven  times.  [44] And it came to pass at the seventh time,  that he said,  Behold, there ariseth  a little  cloud  out of the sea,  like a man's  hand.  And he said,  Go up,  say  unto Ahab,  Prepare  thy chariot, and get thee down,  that the rain  stop  [45] And it came to pass in the mean while,  that the heaven  was black  with clouds  and wind,  and there was a great  rain.  And Ahab  rode,  to Jezreel.  [46] And the hand  of the LORD  was on Elijah;  and he girded up  his loins,  and ran  before  Ahab  to the entrance  of Jezreel. 

What does 1 Kings 18:41-46 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

Evidently thunder accompanied the falling of the fire (lightning?) from heaven ( 1 Kings 18:41). [1] Elijah told Ahab, who had personally witnessed the contest, that he could celebrate by eating ( 1 Kings 18:41). Perhaps he had been fasting to end the drought. Ahab evidently went up Mount Carmel from the Jezreel Valley below to eat, but Elijah went up higher to pray for rain ( 1 Kings 18:42). His posture evidenced humility and mourning as well as prayer.
Rain normally came on Carmel from the west, from the Mediterranean Sea ( 1 Kings 18:43). Elijah persisted in prayer, doubtless basing his request on the people"s repentance and God"s promise to bless that with rain ( Deuteronomy 28:12). Perhaps the cloud shaped like a man"s hand ( 1 Kings 18:44) represented God"s hand returning to the land to bless His people again (cf. 1 Kings 18:46). Jezreel ( 1 Kings 18:45) was Ahab"s winter palace that stood10 to20 miles east of Carmel in the Jezreel Valley, depending on where on Mount Carmel these events took place. Perhaps Elijah ran along the ridge of Mount Carmel while Ahab"s chariot got bogged down in the muddy valley below ( 1 Kings 18:46).
This concludes the account of Israel"s three and one-half year drought ( 1 Kings 17:1 to 1 Kings 18:46; cf. Luke 4:25; James 5:17; ca860-857 B.C.). This drought was a foreview of the three and one-half year Great Tribulation in which God will punish Israel even more severely for her apostasy in the future (cf. Revelation 8-18). The major motifs of this section are Yahweh"s superiority over Baal and His faithfulness to withhold blessing (rain) as a punishment and to send it in response to repentance.
"Often in the history of the world great issues have depended on lone individuals, without whom events would have taken a wholly different turn. Yet few crises have been more significant for history than that in which Elijah figured, and in the story of the Transfiguration he rightly stands beside Moses. Without Moses the religion of Yahwehism as it figured in the Old Testament would never have been born. Without Elijah it would have died. The religion from which Judaism, Christianity and Islam all in varying ways stemmed would have succumbed to the religion of Tyre. How different the political history of the world might have been it is vain to speculate. But it is safe to say that from the religion of [2] Melkart mankind would never have derived that spiritual influence which came from Moses and Elijah and others who followed in their train." [3]
"Without question Elijah is one of the most distinctive and diversely talented individuals in the Bible. He is prophet, preacher, political reformer, and miracle worker all at the same time. At the heart of this multifaceted person, though, rests one overriding conviction. Elijah hates Baalism as much as Jezebel loves the cult, and he desires to magnify Yahweh over Baal and defeat the interloping religion once and for all. He makes it his mission to teach that Yahweh lives, that Baal does not exist, and that ethical standards flow from a commitment to the living God." [4]