Theme: Elijah still calls to Mount Carmel
I like
Elijah. He’s a strong, forthright
character in a time of dangerous idolaters and wishy-washy compromisers. He has deep insight into the stories, the
law, and the kingdom of Yahweh. He lets
himself be guided by Yahweh-spirit, and in the strength of that he publicly
challenges the king’s policies, denounces the queen who is leading the king and
the people only further into worship of Baal, and he calls out 450 priests of
Baal to meet him on Mount Carmel to see whose god’s way – that of their Baal or
that of his Yahweh, is really the one to save the kingdom from the economic,
environmental, political and social crisis into which it has fallen.
Elijah
is clearly the hero of the story – the prophet with the powerful, penetrating
voice the people need at this time in their history. We’re supposed to like him.
But at
the same time, I wonder, should we really be too hard on the priests of Baal –
or at least, on the people increasingly falling under their sway? Because what really is Baal and Baalism?
On one
hand, it is an ancient pagan fertility religion with strange rites – some fanciful,
some terrible. Baal was the local god of
Canaan who was worshiped to serve the well-being of those who lived in that
land. If a field was not producing, for
instance, a little statue of Baal buried in the corner of the field would help
turn things around. If a couple was
newly married and wanted children, lay a little statue or a gift to the god
under the bed. For general well-being, a
sacred sexual rite might be in order. And
if things were really bad and more drastic intervention were needed – like
being saved from plague or an invading enemy or total social breakdown, more
drastic sacrifices – even of human lives, could be required.
It sounds
so anciently pagan. Something now only
in books. Not something we need to worry
about, or have sympathy for.
But I
wonder. Is it just an ancient fertility
religion built around a local God of old Canaan? Or is it something more universal – more
widely and commonly human than that? Are
we really free, even now, of the tendency and temptation at times to idolize our
own country, our tribe, our family, and our home and hearth? Are we still willing sometimes, to make
sacrifices we shouldn’t – or make others make sacrifices in ways they shouldn’t
have to, to serve our prosperity and save the well-being of our little part of
the world?
In the
story, the line between Elijah who worships Yahweh-God – the God of human
liberation and holy community-formation anywhere on Earth, and those who worship
Baal – the god of purely local prosperity and well-being – is drawn pretty hard
and fast – in pretty absolute terms. And
no doubt that’s part of the attractiveness of the story. But I wonder if the line is ever that sharp
or that hard and fast in real life. Or
whether we all somehow straddle it – and if in different ways at different
times the line between commitment to God and commitment to Baal goes right
through the middle of all of us, all our life long.
Which
makes me wonder then, too, about the mass killing of the 450 priests of Baal at
the end of the contest and the end of the story. I really do like Elijah; but the story
nowhere says Yahweh told him to finish the contest with mass murder and
extinction of the losing side. I wonder
what Yahweh thought of it when it happened.
Whether God in any way approves of it?
Or whether Elijah – for all his charisma and heroicness, is also not
perfect – makes mistakes – is as human, imperfect and sometimes plain wrong as
the rest of us?
The
priests of Baal certainly thought so during the contest, because just think of
it, and of how the way the contest went must have seemed to everyone there at
the time. It’s easy for us to read the
story and see it simply as a test to see which of two gods will prove to be
stronger, with more firepower, and therefore more to be feared, and listened
to, and worshiped. Which is the same
test religious fundamentalists and terrorists are still foisting on the world
today – acting out the belief that their god is stronger, more fiery, and will
win out in the end.
But
there was something other than that at stake in the contest on Mount
Carmel. Remember the situation. The kingdom is in crisis – economically,
environmentally, politically, socially and morally, and the question is which
god will save them. Which god will
really help lead them out of their crisis and to a new and better place? Which god will be the real answer to their
prayers, with a good way to follow?
So the
priests of Baal did their thing. They
put together a magnificent offering to the God of local prosperity. They spent all day doing the right things,
chanting the right prayers and songs, even offering their own blood in just the
right way. They gave it their all as
they always had for the prosperity of Canaan.
And nothing happened. Nothing
changed. No answer, no way forward, no
promise of a better day or a real solution to the problems of the day.
So
then it was Elijah’s turn. First, to
repair the broken-down altar; the priests of Baal must have snickered at how
much time that took. Then, to put in 12
special stones – one for each of the 12 tribes of old Israel; broad smiles all
around, because the tribes had separated into two kingdoms for as long as
people could remember – what a nostalgic fool Elijah was! And then, when he finally got around to
putting on his sacrifice to call Yahweh’s attention, what does he do but douse
it with water – all over, three times, totally waterlogging it! How the priests of Baal and even the people
looking on must have howled at how inept and foolish this man named Elijah
was. How could Yahweh ever show his
saving presence and attract people to follow his way, with a sacrifice as badly
conceived as this?
Except,
that’s exactly what happens. Fire comes
down from heaven, and touches the altar.
The sacrifice catches. It bursts
into flame. And then it burns, it burns
up and up and up, all the way down to cinders and ashes. The sacrifice – as foolish and improbable as
it was, has been accepted. It has
attracted Yahweh’s attention, and drawn the power of Yahweh to save, into the
affairs of the kingdom. The way forward
– the way out of the mess they are in, the way to a better way of being in the
world, is clear. And it’s not the way of
Baal; it’s the way of Yahweh.
All of
which leaves me with two questions.
One
is, in the crises we face today, is the way of Yahweh still the way to go,
rather than the way of Baal? And if so, what does that mean for us?
And
the other is, are even the most imperfect sacrifices and foolish offerings we
make in the name of Yahweh, still powerful and effective to draw the real saving
power of God into the life and affairs of the world, and to the attention of
people today?
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