Biblical Bar -B-Que!

Here I am standing on Mount Carmel. It is a 1500 foot high limestone mountain. This view is onto the Jezreel Valley. This is a productive and fertile valley. To the west of this valley is the Mediterranean Sea. 

This is the valley where many battles were fought and this is the valley where the battle of Armageddon will take place.  I find it fascinating to think about what this view may look like during that last great conflict. Another question I have is: Who exactly is going to be fighting and what exactly will it be over? I'm guessing several nations against several nations, but who, what, when, why?????

Biblically, Mt Carmel is most often referred to as a symbol of beauty and fertility. As you look at the following pictures think that this valley has witnessed caravans of traders enroute to the coast to sell their wares. Also, this valley, as Spencer W Kimball says, has "seen armies of great nations training, camping, fighting, bleeding - Egyptians, Assyrians, Canaanites, Israelites, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Saracens, Crusaders, the Turks and the British. Soil here was fertilized with human bodies - soil here was drenched with human blood."

So, do you know why I titled this entry "Biblical Bar-B-Que"? Oh some of you do I can tell by the grin on your face, and you said it out loud didn't you?  Elijah and the prophets of Baal!  What's the biblical reference?

Ok, ok, this is the story! Ahab, the King of Israel married a Phoenician Jezebel. She really liked her God Baal and established 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah to the royal household.  As a result of their official status, the Israelite prophets fled to the hills and hid in caves. Elijah, ever willing to take on the foreign queen, ended up cursing the land with a famine, "there shall be niether dew nor rain these years, except by my word,"

After 3 yrs of drought, the Lord told Elijah to go have a chat with Ahab. Ahab was looking for Elijah too. What came out of the chat between Ahab and Elijah was a Bar-b-que challenge.  Elijah challenged the King Ahab to summon the prophets of Baal and Asherah to a contest to see whose god was the true god.

Each prophet had an altar and a bull to sacrifice. They were to lay the bull on the wood and put no fire under it and call on their God to answer by fire. The God who starts the fire is the true God. All day long the prophets of Baal and Asherah called on Baal to start the "Barby" (getting hungry you see and so many people watching, it's embarrassing!) Oh you know how it goes, they didn't answer, like Elijah said,"Baal must be sleeping, wake him up!"

Finally, the prophets of Baal gave up and it was Elijah's turn. Elijah had his altar doused with water 3 times. As he prayed to the Lord, an all consuming fire fell upon the altar. Barby is on !!!!

At the command of Elijah the prophets of Baal were seized and taken down to the brook Kishon and killed. That would be at least 450 men. Oh boy! Of course, it began to rain after the bar-b-que challenge.

I really don't know which of these views from where we were on Mt Carmel would be the site for the Bar-b-que challenge, but I would think that somewhere in one of those pictures would be the scene of fire and "death".

 This is Elijah slaying the the prophets of Baal. This statue is located at the Carmelite monastery.

So do you know the reference for this little tale? I guess I'd better share that with you! The complete story can be found in the Old Testament 1 Kings 18. (Good for those of you that already knew that, give yourself a hero biscuit, as for the others, I had to look it up too!!)

 Thus we come to the end of our second stop of 09 November 2010. It's about noon at this point, the day is young. Hang on, we have more to see and ponder!