1st Kings Chapter 18 verse 19 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 19. - Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel [i.e., by representation, the heads of the people, elders, etc. Cf. 1 Kings 8:2, 65; 1 Kings 12:16, 18; 1 Kings 16:16, 17] unto Mount Carmel [Heb., as almost always, the Carmel, i.e., the park. Cf. 1 Samuel 25:1-5. It is "the park of Palestine." It is indebted for this name to the luxuriant vegetation - "the excellency of Carmel" (Isaiah 35:2) - which clothes its southern slopes (Porter, p. 371; Stanley, S. and P. pp. 352-54, and App. p. 14; Van de Velde, 1. pp. 317, 318). It is now generally called Mar (i.e., Lord or Saint) Elyas, after the great prophet. No one who has seen the locality can have any doubts as to which part of the mountain was the scene of the sacrifice, or can fail to be struck with the singular fitness of the place to be the theatre of this thrilling history. Carmel is rather a ridge than a mountain, some twelve miles in length. Its western (or strictly N.N.W.) extremity is a bold headland, some 600 feet in height, which dips almost directly into the waters of the Mediterranean. Its highest point, 1728 feet above the sea level, is about four miles from its eastern extremity, which, at an elevation of 1600 feet, rises like a wall from the great plain of Esdraelon. It is at this point, there can be no question, we are to place the scene of the burnt sacrifice. The identification has only been effected in comparatively recent days (1852), but it is beyond dispute. Not only does the Arab name which it bears - El Murahkah, "the Burning," or "Sacrifice" - afford striking witness to the identity, but the situation and surroundings adapt themselves with such wonderful precision to the requirements of the narrative as to leave no reasonable doubt in the mind. For (1) it is a sort of natural platform, or pulpit, raised 1000 feet above the adjoining plain, and therefore well calculated to afford a view of the proceedings, or at least of the descent of the Holy Fire, to spectators of all Israel. The flame would probably be seen by Jezebel in her palace at Jezreel. This eminence is visible from Nazareth, some twenty miles away. "There is not a more conspicuous spot on all Carmel than the abrupt, rocky height of El Murahkah, shooting up so suddenly on the east" (Van de Velde, 1. pp. 322, 323). "The summit... commands the last view of the sea behind and the first view of the great plain in front" (Stanley). In fact, it was in its way just as well adapted for the solemn vindication of the law which took place there as Jebel Sufsafeh was for the giving of the law. (2) A sort of plateau near the summit - the table land where the altars were built, etc. - would accommodate a vast number of spectators (ver. 21). (3) There is a spring of water close at hand - less than 100 yards distant - and a spring which is said to flow even in the driest seasons, which would supply the water of which we read in vers. 4, 33-35. Josephus (Ant. 8:13, 5) says it came from the fountain. . . .

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(19) Carmel.--The word signifies a "garden" or "park" (see Isaiah 29:17; Isaiah 32:15-16, &c.) and, when used for the proper name of the mountain, has commonly the article. Mount Carmel--rightly called "the park," well planted and watered, of central Palestine--is a limestone ridge, with deep ravines thickly wooded, running north-west for about twelve miles from the central hills of Manasseh, so as to form the south side of the bay of Ptolemais, and almost to reach the sea, leaving, however, a space round which the southern armies constantly poured into the plain of Jezreel. It varies from 600 feet to 1,700 feet in height. Near its higher eastern extremity there is a place still called El Maharrakah, "the burning," in view of the plain and city of Jezreel, and commanding from one point a glimpse of the sea, which is the traditional (and highly probable) scene of Elijah's sacrifice. Carmel is previously mentioned in Joshua 19:26, as falling to Asher, and the existence of the altar of the Lord shows that, as was natural, it was made one of the "high places," and, indeed, it appears to have been known as such even to the heathen. In the prophetic writings it is referred to as proverbial for its luxuriant pasturage and beauty. (See Isaiah 33:9; Jeremiah 4:26; Amos 1:2; Amos 9:3; Song of Solomon 7:6.) No more striking scene could well be found for the great drama of this chapter. . . .