God’s Baal-Out Plan
| Title: | God’s Baal-Out Plan |
|---|---|
| Bible Book: | 1 Kings 18 : 20-40 |
| Author: | Franklin L. Kirksey |
| Subject: | Baal; Elijah; Sin; God, Power of |
| Objective: | In this unique sermon, Dr. Franklin Kirksey reveals the dark world of idolatry that existed in Elijah’s day and the influence that the counterfeit god Baal had upon society. Then, Dr. Kirksey brings to light how God “took Baal out.” A wealth of information and inspiration is found in this message. |
| File: |
 |
| Introduction | ||
| I. The Scriptural Prohibition of Idolatry | ||
| II. The Seductive Protagonist of Immorality | ||
| III. The Spineless Promotion of Infidelity | ||
| IV. Conclusion |
Introduction
God’s Baal-Out Plan
(1 Kings 18:20-40)
Recently the leaders of the United States of America proposed an economic bailout plan to save the nation. One of the primary beneficiaries is General Motors. Depending on how you count it, they have received three or four infusions of funds to keep them in business.
In Elijah’s day God guided him to execute a Baal-out plan. Of course we spell it “B-a-a-l” not “b-a-i-l”. Dr. J. Oswald Sanders (1902-1992), author of the Christian classic titled Spiritual Leadership, shares, “Baal was a god of many faces—being a god of rain, fertility, and the personification of the sun.”1 One of the names of Baal was “Rider of the Clouds”. According to Dr. James Edward Anderson’s doctoral dissertation on “The Idolatrous Worship of Baal by Israel” this term came from an ancient poem from Elijah’s day. It reads as follows:
“Seven years shall Baal,
Eight the Rider of the Clouds,
No Dew, No Rain,
No welling up of the deep,
No sweetness of Baal’s voice.”2
Dr. Herbert Butterfield, professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge, who according to Leonard Liggio “is generally recognized as the leading British historian whose writings reflect a Christian attitude.”3 Dr. Butterfield shares the following in Christianity and History, “The God who brought his people out of the land of Egypt… was to be celebrated in the Old Testament pre-eminently as the God of History. It seems to have been when the children of Israel lapsed into idolatry — gave themselves over to the worship of Baal, for example — that they turned rather to the God of Nature, glorifying the forces of the physical universe and the fertility of the earth.” After citing this quotation in his book titled Idols for Destruction: The Conflict of Christian Faith and American Culture, Dr. Herbert Schlossberg adds, “In its idolatry, Israel rejected the pentateuchal insight that there is one God, the God of both nature and history.”4 I must add, “He is also the God of eternity according to the Bible.”
Rev. Richard Keyes is founder and director of L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts, author of Beyond Identity, True Heroism and Chameleon Christianity, and he contributes the first chapter in No God But God: Breaking with the Idols of Our Age edited by Dr. Os Guinness and Dr. John Seel. In his chapter in that book titled “The Idol Factory” Rev. Keyes shares, “All idols come in pairs. One is always stronger than the other, and each one corresponds to the two directions of the human personality—dominion, now become domination, and trust, now become overdependence. The Baal worship of the Old Testament is a good example of this paradigm.
Baal is the nearby god, representing powers of rain, fullness of life, and fertility. By use of magic, incantations, rituals, and priestcraft, one could have power over forces that controlled history, to fulfill wants and prevent fears.”5
Dr. Greg Herrick is currently the General Manager with IMS Global Corp, Calgary Alberta, Canada, shares, “Baal was worshipped, according to the OT, in numerous areas and communities after which he was often named. This does not mean that Baal was simply a local god, or that the widespread belief in Baal was of a monolithic nature, but that he was venerated far and wide, among many people.”6
There are several place names for the worship of Baal. The following is a sample list: 1) Baal-berith ("covenant Baal) was worshipped at Shechem after the death of Gideon (Judges 8:33; 9:4); 2) Baal-gad ("Baal of good fortune") might refer to a town after his (i.e., Baal's) name in the Lebanon valley (cf. Jos. 11:17; 12:7; 13:5; Is 65:11); 3) Baal-hamon ("lord of abundance or wealth") is mentioned in connection with a fruitful vineyard belonging to Solomon (Song of Songs 8:11); 4) Baal-hermon ("Baal of Hermon") might be another name for Baal-gad, perhaps located in the north of Israel near Mt. Hermon; 5) Baal-peor ("Baal of Peor") was the god of the mountains of Moab who took his name from Peor. Israel involved herself in the Moabite cult and 24,000 were killed by God (Num 25:1-9; Dt 4:3); 6) Baal-Zebub ("Lord of the fly god") was the god of the Philistines who, some contend, either drove flies away or gave oracles by the buzzing of a fly.”7
In a message titled “The Sin of Syncretism”, Doug Goins describes the Baal worship in Hosea’s day.8 Syncretism attempts to worship the true God and Baal at the same time.
Rev. Matthew Henry, the renowned Bible commentator, states, “Never was Israel so blessed with a good prophet as when it was so plagued with a bad king. Never was a king so bold to sin as Ahab, never was a prophet so bold to reprove and threaten as Elijah…. He only, of all the prophets, had the honor of Enoch, the first prophet, to be translated, that he should not see death, and the honor of Moses, the great prophet, to attend our Savior in his transfiguration. Other prophets prophesied and wrote, he prophesied and acted, but wrote nothing; but his actions cast more luster on his name than their writings did no theirs.”9
Dr. Warren W. Wiersbe shares a sharp difference between Elijah and Obadiah:
Elijah was serving the Lord publicly and without fear; Obadiah was serving Ahab and trying to serve the Lord secretly. Elijah was ‘outside the camp’ (Hebrews 13:13); Obadiah was inside the court. Elijah knew the will of God; Obadiah did not know what was going on. While Elijah was laboring to save the nation, Obadiah was out looking for grass to save the horses and mules. When Elijah confronted Obadiah, the frightened servant did not trust the prophet. And note that Obadiah had to ‘brag’ about his secret service to impress Elijah with his devotion.”10
From our text 1 Kings 18:20-40 we read, “So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. And Elijah came to all the people, and said, ‘How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.’ But the people answered him not a word. Then Elijah said to the people, ‘I alone am left a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.’
So all the people answered and said, ‘It is well spoken.’
Now Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, ‘Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.’
So they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, ‘O Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped about the altar which they had made.
And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, ‘Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.’ So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention.
Then Elijah said to all the people, ‘Come near to me.’ So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, ‘Israel shall be your name.’ Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, ‘Fill four waterpots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.’ Then he said, ‘Do it a second time,’ and they did it a second time; and he said, ‘Do it a third time,’ and they did it a third time. So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water.
And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, ‘LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.’
Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, ‘The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!’
And Elijah said to them, ‘Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!’ So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed them there.”
Allow me to point out three things related to our text.
I. The Scriptural Prohibition of Idolatry
Dr. James Mahoney shares in Journey Into Fullness: From bondage to conquest in the Christian life, “An idol is anything you place before God. You see, God is to be first. Anything replacing him in your interest is an idol. It becomes your God!”11
In his hymn titled “Oh for a Closer Walk with God”, William Cowper (1731-1800) shares, “The dearest idol I have known, / Whate’er that idol be / Help me to tear it from Thy throne, / And worship only Thee.”12
John concludes his first epistle with these words, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen” (1 John 5:21).
Moses records the events of his encounter at Mount Sinai, “And God spoke all these words, saying: ‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ‘You shall have no other gods before Me. ‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments” (Exodus 20:1-6).
In a pluralistic society many feel that idolatry will not weaken our nation. Dr. David Barton shares information about the founding of the United States of America through his ministry called WallBuilders based in Aledo, Texas. Let me assure you this great nation was not founded upon a belief in many gods, it was founded upon a belief in Almighty God.
Jerry Thompson, lyricist and composer wrote, "We've Got to Get America Back to God." This song first appeared on “The Nelons: A Promised Reunion” produced by the Benson Music Group, Nashville, Tennessee in 1994.
Dr. Steve Farrar concluded in 1994, “Baal has invaded our land as he once invaded Israel.”13 He also states, “We’re raising our children under an administration that has more in common with the Baal-worshiping kings of the Old Testament than with our founding fathers. For the first time in our history, we are under leaders who are fundamentally opposed to the moral absolutes upon which this country was founded.”14
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 33:12). Conversely, cursed is the nation whose god is not the Lord. We read in Jeremiah 17:5-10, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man / And makes flesh his strength, / Whose heart departs from the LORD. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, / And shall not see when good comes, / But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, / In a salt land which is not inhabited. ‘Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, / And whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, / Which spreads out its roots by the river, / And will not fear when heat comes; / But its leaf will be green, / And will not be anxious in the year of drought, / Nor will cease from yielding fruit. ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, / And desperately wicked; / Who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart, / I test the mind, / Even to give every man according to his ways, / According to the fruit of his doings.”
Solomon explains in Proverbs 20:11, “Even a child is known by his deeds, / Whether what he does is pure and right.”
II. The Seductive Protagonist of Immorality
The term protagonist comes from a Greek word meaning "one who plays the first part, chief actor". It also refers to a principal character in a literary work or the champion of a cause. Jezebel is the protagonist of immorality. She corrupted Ahab, as if he needed help. We read in 1 Kings 16:29-30, “In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel; and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him.”
Maybe you have heard of a marriage made in heaven. This one was not. Omri son of Asa and father of Ahab arranged it. God warned through Moses in Deuteronomy 17:14-20, “When you come to the land which the LORD your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’ Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.
“Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.”
Deuteronomy 17:17 speaks about marrying women for political advantage. As the wives of Solomon led his heart away from God, Jezebel led Ahab away from God. God commands His children not to marry unbelievers. Mark it down unbelieving pagans are immoral.
In the New Testament we find Jezebel used as an image of immorality. We read about “The Corrupt Church” in Revelation 2:18-29, “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, ‘These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass: ‘I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first. Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works. ‘Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. But hold fast what you have till I come. And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations— ‘ He shall rule them with a rod of iron; / They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’— as I also have received from My Father; and I will give him the morning star. ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
We remember the rest of the story about Jezebel as we read in 1 Kings 21:23 “And concerning Jezebel the LORD also spoke, saying, ‘The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.” We read the literal fulfillment of this prophesy, Jezebel’s violent death, in 2 Kings 9:30-37, “Now when Jehu had come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she put paint on her eyes and adorned her head, and looked through a window. Then, as Jehu entered at the gate, she said, ‘Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of your master?’ And he looked up at the window, and said, ‘Who is on my side? Who?’ So two or three eunuchs looked out at him. Then he said, “Throw her down.’ So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses; and he trampled her underfoot. And when he had gone in, he ate and drank. Then he said, ‘Go now, see to this accursed woman, and bury her, for she was a king’s daughter.’ So they went to bury her, but they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. Therefore they came back and told him. And he said, ‘This is the word of the LORD, which He spoke by His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel; and the corpse of Jezebel shall be as refuse on the surface of the field, in the plot at Jezreel, so that they shall not say, ‘Here lies Jezebel.’”
III. The Spineless Promotion of Infidelity
1 Kings 16:31-33 reveals Ahab’s promotion of infidelity in Israel, where we read, “And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.”
Not only was Ahab untrue to the True and Living God he was unfaithful to the faithful God. He assisted Israel in going a whoring after other gods, Baal in particular.
In 1 Kings 21:25 we read, “But there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the LORD, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up.”
Jezebel often led Ahab astray as illustrated in the account of the taking of Naboth’s vineyard, the account made famous by the late Dr. R.G. Lee (1886-1978) in his sermon “Payday Someday”.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee (1904-1988) explains that the name Jezebel means “unmarried” or “without cohabitation.” Dr. McGee also describes Jezebel as “a masculine woman with strong intellectual powers and a fierce passion for evil. She was strong-willed and possessed of dominant personality, but she had no moral sense. She was hardened into insensibility. She was unscrupulous and the most wicked person in history—bar none.”15
IV. Conclusion
Ironically, God dealt with Israel in the primary area Baal was to bring benefit, rain and crop production. It is interesting to notice the number of times we find the word “water” in the following verses 1 Kings 17:10b, 18:4, and 13. James recounts the event related to Elijah’s prayer and the three and a half year drought. As we read in James 5:16b-18, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”
The following is a small portion of Solomon’s prayer dedicating the temple, as we read in 1 Kings 8:35-36, “‘When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.’”
Elijah courageously stood on Mount Carmel before Jezebel and 450 prophets of Baal after she set out to kill all the true prophets. Little did she know and little did Elijah know that God spared 100 of His true prophets (1 Kings 18:4, 13). After the showdown with the prophets of Baal, Jezebel threatened Elijah and he lost his courage and ran for his life. James reminds us, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours” (James 5:17a). We must commend Elijah for meticulously executing God’s Baal-out plan.
1J. Oswald Sanders, Robust in Faith (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1965), p. 126
2James Edward Anderson “The Idolatrous Worship of Baal by Israel” unpublished doctoral dissertation, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1975, p. 355
3Leonard Liggio, “Herbert Butterfield: Christian Historian as Creative Critic” Available from: http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=2136&chapter=195283&layout=html&Itemid=27 Accessed: 11/28/09
4Herbert Butterfield, Christianity and History (London: Collins, Fontana, 1957 [1949]), p. 9 Cited by Herbert Schlossberg in Idols for Destruction: The Conflict of Christian Faith and American Culture (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, A Division of Good News Publishers, 1990), p. 141
5Richard Keyes, “The Idol Factory” cited by Os Guinness and John Seel, No God But God (Chicago: Moody Press, 1992), p. 39
6Greg Herrick, “Baalism in Canaanite Religion and Its Relation to Selected Old Testament Texts” Available from: http://bible.org/article/baalism-canaanite-religion-and-its-relation-selected-old-testament-texts#P147_32247#P147_32247 Accessed: 11/05/09
7Greg Herrick, “Baalism in Canaanite Religion and Its Relation to Selected Old Testament Texts” Available from: http://bible.org/article/baalism-canaanite-religion-and-its-relation-selected-old-testament-texts Accessed: 11/05/09
8Doug Goins, “The Sin of Syncretism” Available from: http://www.pbc.org/files/messages/6255/4390.html Accessed: 10/30/09
9Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, Regency Reference Library, 1961), p. 385
10Warren W. Wiersbe, Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the Old Testament (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1993), p. 318
11James Mahoney, Journey Into Fullness: From bondage to conquest in the Christian life (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1974), pp. 101-102
12William Cowper, “Oh for a Closer Walk with God” Available from: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/f/oforaclo.htm Accessed: 11/29/09
13Steve Farrar, Standing Tall : How a Man Can Protect His Family (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Books, 1994), p. 226
14Steve Farrar, Standing Tall : How a Man Can Protect His Family (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Books, 1994), p. 168
15J. Vernon McGee, Through the Bible, Vol. II (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1982), p. 282
By Dr. Franklin L. Kirksey, pastor First Baptist Church of Spanish Fort 30775 Jay Drive Spanish Fort, Alabama 36527
Author of Sound Biblical Preaching: Giving the Bible a Voice Available on Amazon.com and WORDsearchbible.com
http://www.amazon.com/Sound-Biblical-Preaching-Giving-Bible/dp/1594577684
http://www.wordsearchbible.com/products/Sound_Biblical_Preaching_1476.html
http://www.webspawner.com/users/franklinlkirksey / fkirksey@bellsouth.net / (251) 626-6210
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