Contents ▼▲
Front Matter The Story of a Beautiful Garden The First Baby in the World and His Brother The Great Ship That Saved Eight People The Tower That Was Never Finished The Story of a Long Journey How Abram's Choice Brought Blessing The Angel by the Well The Rain of Fire That Fell on a City The Boy Who Became an Archer How an Angel's Voice Saved a Boy's Life The Story of a Journey after a Wife How Jacob Stole His Brother's Blessing Jacob's Wonderful Dream A Midnight Wrestling Match The Rich Man's Son Who Was Sold as a Slave From the Prison to the Palace How Joseph's Dream Came True A Lost Brother Found From the Land of Famine to the Land of Plenty The Beautiful Baby Who Was Found in a River The Voice from the Burning Bush The River That Ran Blood The Night When a Nation Was Born How the Sea Became Dry Land and the Sky Rained Bre The Mountain That Smoked and Words That Were Spoke How Aaron Made a Golden Calf and What Became of It The Tent Where God Lived Among His People How They Worshipped God in the Tabernacle What Strong Drink Brought to Aaron's Sons The Scapegoat in the Wilderness The Cluster of Grapes from the Land of Canaan How the Long Journey of the Israelites Came to an What a Wise Man Learned from an Ass How Moses Looked upon the Promised Land The Story of Job The Story of a Scarlet Cord How the River Jordan Became Dry The Story of a Wedge of Gold How Joshua Conquered the Land of Canaan The Old Man Who Fought Against the Giants The Avenger of Blook and the Cities of Refuge The Story of an Altar Beside the River The Presnt That Ehud Brought to King Eglon How a Woman Won a Great Victory Gideon and His Brave Three Hundred Jephthah's Rash Promise and What Came from It The Strong Man: How He Lived and How He Died The Idol Temple at Dan and Its Priest How Ruth Gleaned in the Field of Boaz The Little Boy with a Linen Coat How the Idol Fell Down Before the Ark The Last of the Judges The Tall Man Who Was Chosen King How Saul Saved the Eyes of the Men of Jabesh The Brave Young Prince Saul's Great Sin and His Great Loss The Shepherd Boy of Bethlehem The Shepherd Boy's Fight with the Giant The Little Boy Looking for the Arrows Where David Found the Giant's Sword How David Spared Saul's Life The Last Days of King Saul The Shepherd Boy Becomes a King The Sound in the Treetops The Cripple at the King's Table The Prophet's Story of the Little Lamb David's Handsome Son and How He Stole the Kingdom Absalom in the Wood; David on the Throne The Angel with the Drawn Sword on Mount Moriah Solomon on This Father's Throne The Wise Young King The House of God on Mount Moriah The Last Days of Solomon's Reign The Breaking Up of a Great Kingdom The King Who Led Israel to Sin The Prophet Who Raised a Boy to Life The Prayer That Was Answered in Fire The Voice That Spoke to Elijah in the Mount The Wounded Prophet and His Story What Ahab Paid for His Vineyard The Arrow That Killed a King Elijah's Chariot of Fire A Spring Sweetened by Salt The Pot of Oil and the Pot of Poison The Little Boy at Shunem How a Little Girl Helped to Cure a Leper The Chariots of Fire around Elisha What the Lepers Found in the Camp Jehu, the Furious Driver of His Chariot Elisha and the Bow; Jonah and Nineveh How the Ten Tribes Were Lost The First Four Kings of Judah The Little Boy Who Was Crowned King Three Kings and a Great Prophet The Good King Hezekiah The Lost Book Found in the Temple The Last Four Kings of Judah and the Weeping Proph What Ezekiel Saw in the Valley The Jewish Captives in the Court of the King The Golden Image and the Fiery Furnace The Tree That Was Cut Down and Grew Again The Writing upon the Wall Daniel in the Den of Lions The Story of a Joyous Journey The New Temple on Mount Moriah The Beautiful Queen of Persia The Scribe Who Wrote the Old Testament The Nobleman Who Built the Wall of Jerusalem Ezra's Great Bible Class in Jerusalem The Angel by the Altar The Manger of Bethlehem The Star and the Wise Men The Boy in his Father's House The Prophet in the Wilderness Jesus in the Desert, and beside the River The Water Jars at the Wedding Feast The Stranger at the Well The Story of a Boy in Capernaum and a Riot A Net Full of Fishes The Leper and the Man Let Down through the Roof The Cripple at the Pool and the Withered Hand The Twelve Disciples and the Sermon on the Mount The Captain's Servant, the Widow's Son, and a Sinn Some Stories Jesus Told by the Sea "Peace, Be Still" The Little Girl Who Was Raised to Life A Dancing Girl and What Was Given Her The Feast beside the Sea and What Followed It The Answer to a Mother's Prayer The Glory of Jesus on the Mountain The Little Child in the Arms of Jesus At the Feast of Tabernacles The Man with Clay on His Face The Good Shepherd and the Good Samaritan Lazarus Raised to Life Some Parables in Perea The Poor Rich Man and the Rich Poor Man Jesus at Jericho Palm Sunday The Last Vistis of Jesus to the Temple The Parables on the Mount of Olives The Last Supper The Olive Orchard and the High Priests Hall The Crown of Thorns The Darkest Day of All the World The Brightest Day of All the World The Stranger on the Shore The Church of the First Days The Man at the Beautiful Gate The Right Way to Give, and the Wrong Way Stephen with the Shining Face The Man Reading in the Chariot The Voice That Spoke to Saul What Peter Saw by the Sea How the Iron Gate Was Opened The Earliest Missionaries The Song in the Prison Paul's Speech on the Hill Paul at Corinth Paul at Ephesus Paul's Last Journey to Jerusalem The Speech on the Stairs Two Years in Prison The Story That Paul Told to the King Paul in the Storm How Paul Came to Rome and How He Lived There The Throne of God The City of God

Story of the Bible Told for Young and Old - Jesse Hurlbut




The Prayer That Was Answered in Fire


Three years passed after Elijah gave the message of the Lord to King Ahab, and in all that time no rain fell upon the land of Israel. Everywhere the brooks ceased to flow, the springs became dry, the ground was parches, and the fields gave no harvest There was no grass for the cattle and the flocks, and there was scarcely any food for the people.

King Ahab was in great trouble. He knew that Elijah had the power to call down rain; but Elijah was nowhere to be found. He sent men to search for him everywhere in the land, and he asked the kings of the nations around to look for him in their countries; for he hoped to persuade the prophet to set the land free from the long drought by calling for rain.

When the land was at its worst, in the third year, Ahab called the chief of his servants, the man who stood next to the king. His name was Obadiah, and, unlike Ahab, he was a good man, worshipping the Lord, and trying to do right. Once, when Queen Jezebel sought to kill all the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah his a hundred of them in two caves, fifty in each cave, and gave them food, and kept them in safety.

Ahab said to Obadiah, "Let us go through all the land, you in one part, and I in another, and look for running streams and fountains of water. Perhaps we can find some water, enough to save a part of the horses and mules, so that we may not lose them all."

And as Obadiah was going through his part of the country, looking for water, suddenly Elijah met him. Obadiah knew Elijah at once. He fell on his face before him, and said, "Is this my lord Elijah?"

And Elijah answered him, "Yes, it is I, Elijah. Go and tell your master that Elijah is here."

And Obadiah said, "Oh, my Lord, what wrong have I done, that you would cause King Ahab to kill me? For there is not a land where Ahab has not sent for you; and now when I go to tell him that you are here, the Spirit of the Lord will send you away to some other place, and then if Ahab cannot find you he will be angry at me, and kill me. Do you not know that I fear the Lord, and serve him?" And Elijah said, "As the Lord God lives, I will surely show myself to King Ahab to-day."

So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him of Elijah's coming; and Ahab went to meet Elijah. When Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him, "Are you here, you that have brought all this trouble upon Israel?"

And Elijah answered the king, "I am not the one that has brought trouble upon Israel It is you, and your house; for you have turned away from the commands of the Lord, and have worshipped the images of Baal. Now send and bring all the people to Mount Carmel, and with them the four hundred prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of the Asherah, who ate at Jezebel's table."

Mount Carmel

MOUNT CARMEL


So Ahad did as Elijah commanded, and brought all the people to Mount Carmel, which stands by the Great Sea. And Elijah stood before all the multitude, and he said to them "How long will you go halting and limping back and forth between two sides, not choosing either? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, then follow him."

And the people had not a word to say. Then Elijah spoke again, and said, "I am alone, the only prophet of the Lord here to-day; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Now, let the people give us two young oxen, one for Baal's prophets, and one for me. Let the prophets of Baal take one ox, and cut it up, and lay it on the altar on the wood. But let no fire be placed under it. And I will do the same; then you call on your god, and I will call on the Lord. And the God who sends down fire upon his altar, he shall be the God of Israel."

And the people said, "What you have spoken is right. We will do as you say, and will see who is the true God."

Then the two oxen were brought, and one was cut in pieces and laid on the altar of Baal The prophets of Baal stood around the altar, and cried aloud, "O Baal, hear us!" But there was no answer, nor any voice. After a time the worshippers of Baal became furious. They leaped and danced around the altar, and they cut themselves with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them And Elijah laughed at them, and mocked them, calling out, "Call out louder, for surely he is a god! Perhaps he is sitting still and thinking, or he has gone on a journey; or perhaps he is asleep, and must be awaked!"

But it was all in vain. The middles of the afternoon came, and there was no answer. The altar stood with its offering, but no fire came upon it. Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come near to me."

And they came near He found an old altar to the Lord that had been thrown down, and he took twelve stones, one for each of the twelve tribes, and piled them up to from the altar anew. Around the altar he dug a trench, to carry away water. Then he cut wood, and laid it on the altar, and on the wood he placed the young ox, cut into pieces for a sacrifice. Then he said, "Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the offering."

Elijah's sacrifice on Mount Carmel

ELIJAH'S SACRIFICE ON MOUNT CARMEL


The Great Sea was near at hand, in sight of all the people; and from it they brought four barrels of water, and poured it on the altar. He called upon them to do it again, and a third time, until the offering, and the wood, and the altar were soaked through and through, and the trench was filled with water.

Then, in the sight of all the people, Elijah, the prophet, drew near, and stood all alone before the altar, and prayed in these words, "O Lord, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of 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. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou, Lord, art God, and that thou hast turned their hearts back again to thyself."

Then the fire fell from the Lord, and burned up the offering, and the wood, and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and they cried, "The Lord, he is God! The Lord, he is God!" And Elijah said to the people, "Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape!"

They took them all, four hundred and fifty men; and by Elijah's command they brought them down to the dry bed of the brook Kishon, at the foot of the mountain; and there Elijah caused them to be put death, because they had led Israel into sin.

Ahab, the king, was present upon Mount Carmel, and saw all that had been done. Elijah now said to Ahab, "Rise up; eat and drink; for there is a sound of a great rain."

While Ahab was eating and drinking, Elijah was praying upon Mount Carmel. He bowed down, with his face between his knees, and prayed to the Lord to send rain. After a time he sent his servant up to the top of the mountain, saying, "Go up and look toward the sea."

The servant went up, and came back, saying, "I can see nothing."

Elijah sent him up seven times; and at the seventh time his servant said, "I see a cloud rising out of the sea as small as a man's hand."

Then Elijah sent to Ahab, saying, "Hasten; make ready your chariot before the rain stops you."

In a little while the sky was covered with black clouds, and there came a great rain. And Ahab rode in his chariot to his palace at Jezreel, on the eastern side of the great plain. And the power of the Lord was on Elijah, and he ran before Ahab's chariot to the gate of the city.

Thus in one day a great victory was wrought for the Lord God, and the power of Baal was thrown down.