(24) And call ye on the name of your gods.—This gift of a “sign from heaven”—not unfamiliar to Israelite experience (see Leviticus 9:24; 1Chronicles 21:26; 2Chronicles 7:1)—which may not, as our Lord teaches us (Matthew 12:38-39; Matthew 16:1-4), be craved for or demanded as a ground of faith, is, like all other miracles, granted unasked when it is seen by God’s wisdom to be needed, in order to startle an ignorant and misguided people into serious attention to a message from heaven. In this instance the worship of Baal was a worship of the power of Nature, impersonated perhaps in the sun; and the miracle therefore entered (so to speak) on the visible sphere, especially usurped in his name, in order to claim it for the Lord Jehovah.

1 Kings 18:24. The God that answereth by fire — That sendeth down fire to consume the sacrifice presented to him: this the people knew the true God used to do. It was a great condescension in God, that he would permit Baal to be a competitor with him; but thus God would have every mouth to be stopped, and all flesh become silent before him: and Elijah doubtless had a special commission from God, or he durst not have put the matter to this issue. But the case was extraordinary, and the judgment upon it would be of use, not only then, but in all ages. Elijah does not say, The God that answers by water, though that was the thing the country needed, but that answers by fire, let him be God — Because the atonement was to be made, before the judgment could be removed: the God, therefore, that has power to pardon sin, and to signify that by consuming the sin-offering, must needs be the God that can relieve us against the calamity. “If, as it is generally believed, Baal was the idol of the sun, or that power whom his worshippers supposed to preside over the element of fire, the reason of Elijah’s proceeding is still more obvious, as it afforded a full proof that Jehovah, the God of nature, was alone the sovereign Lord and Ruler of all its operations, and of those of fire among the rest.” — Dodd. All the people answered, It is well spoken — Even the Baalites themselves, partly because they could not, without great reproach to themselves and Baal, refuse so fair and equal a motion; and partly because they were confident of Baal’s power and divinity, having probably had some experiments of supernatural and extraordinary things done in his worships by God’s just and wise permission, for the hardening of that wicked people in their idolatry; as God hath in several ages suffered lying wonders to be wrought by the devil and his angels, for a similar reason.

18:21-40 Many of the people wavered in their judgment, and varied in their practice. Elijah called upon them to determine whether Jehovah or Baal was the self-existent, supreme God, the Creator, Governor, and Judge of the world, and to follow him alone. It is dangerous to halt between the service of God and the service of sin, the dominion of Christ and the dominion of our lusts. If Jesus be the only Saviour, let us cleave to him alone for every thing; if the Bible be the world of God, let us reverence and receive the whole of it, and submit our understanding to the Divine teaching it contains. Elijah proposed to bring the matter to a trial. Baal had all the outward advantages, but the event encourages all God's witnesses and advocates never to fear the face of man. The God that answers by fire, let him be God: the atonement was to be made by sacrifice, before the judgment could be removed in mercy. The God therefore that has power to pardon sin, and to signify it by consuming the sin-offering, must needs be the God that can relieve from the calamity. God never required his worshippers to honour him in the manner of the worshippers of Baal; but the service of the devil, though sometimes it pleases and pampers the body, yet, in other things, really is cruel to it, as in envy and drunkenness. God requires that we mortify our lusts and corruptions; but bodily penances and severities are no pleasure to him. Who has required these things at your hands? A few words uttered in assured faith, and with fervent affection for the glory of God, and love to the souls of men, or thirstings after the Lord's image and his favour, form the effectual, fervent prayer of the righteous man, which availeth much. Elijah sought not his own glory, but that of God, for the good of the people. The people are all agreed, convinced, and satisfied; Jehovah, he is the God. Some, we hope, had their hearts turned, but most of them were convinced only, not converted. Blessed are they that have not seen what these saw, yet have believed, and have been wrought upon by it, more than they that saw it.The God that answereth by fire - God had frequently before consumed offerings with supernatural fire Leviticus 9:24; Judges 6:21. The Baal-worshippers were no doubt in the habit of attributing thunder and lightning to their gods - the great Nature-power - and thus had no excuse for declining Elijah's challenge. 21-40. Elijah said unto all the people, How long halt ye?—They had long been attempting to conjoin the service of God with that of Baal. It was an impracticable union and the people were so struck with a sense of their own folly, or dread of the king's displeasure, that they "answered not a word." Elijah proposed to decide for them the controversy between God and Baal by an appeal, not to the authority of the law, for that would have no weight, but by a visible token from Heaven. As fire was the element over which Baal was supposed to preside, Elijah proposed that two bullocks should be slain and placed on separate altars of wood, the one for Baal, and the other for God. On whichever the fire should descend to consume it, the event should determine the true God, whom it was their duty to serve. The proposal, appearing every way reasonable, was received by the people with unanimous approval. The priests of Baal commenced the ceremony by calling on their god. In vain did they continue invoking their senseless deity from morning till noon, and from noon till evening, uttering the most piercing cries, using the most frantic gesticulations, and mingling their blood with the sacrifice. No response was heard. No fire descended. Elijah exposed their folly and imposture with the severest irony and, as the day was far advanced, commenced his operations. Inviting the people to approach and see the entire proceeding, he first repaired an old altar of God, which Jezebel had demolished. Then, having arranged the cut pieces of the bullock, he caused four barrels or jars of water to be dashed all over the altar and round in the trench. Once, twice, a third time this precaution was taken, and then, when he had offered an earnest prayer, the miraculous fire descended (Le 9:24; Jud 6:21; 13:20; 1Ch 21:26; 2Ch 7:1), and consumed not only the sacrifice, but the very stones of the altar. The impression on the minds of the people was that of admiration mingled with awe; and with one voice they acknowledged the supremacy of Jehovah as the true God. Taking advantage of their excited feelings, Elijah called on them to seize the priestly impostors, and by their blood fill the channel of the river (Kishon), which, in consequence of their idolatries, the drought had dried up—a direction, which, severe and relentless as it seems, it was his duty as God's minister to give (De 15:5; 18:20). The natural features of the mount exactly correspond with the details of this narrative. The conspicuous summit, 1635 feet above the sea, on which the altars were placed, presents an esplanade spacious enough for the king and the priests of Baal to stand on the one side, and Elijah on the other. It is a rocky soil, on which there is abundance of loose stones, to furnish the twelve stones of which the altar was built—a bed of thick earth, in which a trench could be dug; and yet the earth not so loose that the water poured into it would be absorbed; two hundred fifty feet beneath the altar plateau, there is a perennial fountain, which, being close to the altar of the Lord, might not have been accessible to the people; and whence, therefore, even in that season of severe drought, Elijah could procure those copious supplies of water which he poured over the altar. The distance between this spring and the site of the altar is so short, as to make it perfectly possible to go thrice thither and back again, whereas it would have been impossible once in an afternoon to fetch water from the sea [Van De Velde]. The summit is one thousand feet above the Kishon, which nowhere runs from the sea so close to the base of the mount as just beneath El-Mohhraka; so that the priests of Baal could, in a few minutes, be taken down to the brook (torrent), and slain there. That answereth by fire, i.e. that shall consume the sacrifice by fire sent from heaven; which the people knew the true God used to do, as Genesis 4:4 Judges 6:21 13:20.

All the people; even the Baalites themselves; partly because they could not without great reproach to themselves and Baal refuse so equal a motion; and partly because they were confident of Baal’s power and divinity, having probably had some experiments of supernatural and prodigious events done in the worship of Baal by God’s just and wise permission, for the hardening of that apostatical and wicked people in their idolatry; as God hath in several ages for the like reason suffered lying wonders to be wrought by the devil, whom they worshipped in and by their idols.

And call ye on the name of your gods,.... The Baalim, the many lords and gods they served:

and I will call on the name of the Lord; the one true Jehovah and God of Israel, whom I:serve:

and the God that answereth by fire; by causing fire to come down upon the sacrifice, and consume it:

let him be God; accounted, owned, and acknowledged as the true God, and so afterwards worshipped as such:

and all the people answered and said, it is well spoken; they thought it a very reasonable proposal, a very good method to determine the controversy, and come at the truth, and know who was the true God, and who not.

And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth {h} by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.

(h) By sending down fire from heaven to burn the sacrifice.