By: Elder Mark Wattenbarger
And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt [pasach] ye between two opinions? If the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. 1 Ki 18:21
And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped [pasach] upon the altar which was made. 1 Ki 18:26
pasach – Hebrew word meaning to leap and dance, to hesitate or lurch as a lame man would while walking
Elijah is sent to rebuke the people and force them to see the wild dance they are doing and their frantic attempts to balance worldliness with worship of Jehovah. This is further illustrated when the writer of 1 Kings uses the same word picture to describe the way in which the prophets of Baal dance to call upon their god as Elijah uses to describe how the people are trying to worship both Jehovah and Baal. The Israelites, like men today, tried to please the world while at the same time hoping to please God. Trying to blend a desire to please men with the worship of God is something He will not tolerate. God’s people needed to be reminded that “the friendship of the world is enmity with God.” (James 4:4)
The northern kingdom of Israel had fallen so low that idol worship was the official religion. King Ahab began his reign approximately 56 years after Jeroboam had first instituted idol worship in the kingdom of Israel (1 Ki 12:28). Ahab officially instituted the worship of Baal under the heavy influence of his wife (1 Ki 18:4). Perhaps to curry favor, or at least to keep from losing one’s life, the people tried to play both sides. In public, Baal was the god of the kingdom and by choice the Israelites offered sacrifice to this idol. Perhaps they tried to honor Jehovah in their private homes in an attempt to assuage the guilt.
Having set the scene for the prophets of Baal and the people, (1 Ki 18:19, 22-23, 24) Elijah truly offers the people the opportunity to see the powerlessness of Baal and the awesome power of Jehovah. No fire came to the offering to Baal, no sound from the heaven, no word of the god, absolutely nothing but the wild, gyrating, lurching dance of the false prophets was heard or seen for an entire day.
The dramatic scene of fire coming from heaven, licking up the water with which the offering had been drenched (I Ki 18:33-35, 38) and consuming the dust around the altar must have been the powerful shock and awe needed to awaken the people of Israel to their wickedness. No doubt could exist that God had worked an amazing miracle. And the people, troubled by the show of God’s power, answered with proper reverence and fear (1 Ki 18:39)
So what can we learn from this event from thousands of years ago? Sometimes in life, the drama of a decision point, such as in 1 Kings 18, is needed to arrest our attention and stop us in our careening path. God is a jealous God (Exo 20:2-3) and demands obedience. But just as in Israel almost 3,000 years ago, men seek to serve the public god while still serving Jehovah. Our attention seems to be constantly drawn in multiple directions and the wisdom of the world is to try to please all parties and serve both the world and God. The Hebrew word pasach, describing the lurching, hesitating walk of a lame man, is an apt picture of this untenable dual life God’s child sometimes tries to lead.
Ever hear anyone say, “It is easier to ask forgiveness than permission?” The men of the world tell us that we can serve God and the gods of the world. They try to teach us that our public life and our private life can be kept separate and that it doesn’t matter what we do Monday through Friday as long as we are in the pew on Sunday with a repentant heart.
However, brethren, we have been sanctified for something better! God has called us to a higher purpose, a more full life. We must be holy as He is holy. We are called on to do what is right, to serve God with our whole life, public and private. We cannot careen wildly from one extreme to another, honoring God this time and then (just this once) satisfying the world and our own desires.
The strength that we need can be found in the hope that fills our hearts, the Spirit of God which dwells in us. God graciously gives us the tools and the ability that we need to carry on and do what God has asked of us (Phil 2:13). God’s people are always God’s people, all the time and everywhere.
As a result, our whole life, public and private, should be a reflection of God’s love for us and should be our way of showing our love for Him. What we do in our day to day lives should be just as honoring to God as what we do on our Sundays. We will only find unhappiness and discontent, and often an inexplicable anger, when we try to serve both the public god and the true God.
So let us set our affections on things above and live a complete life dedicated to our loving Father whose grace and mercy abounds toward us. Oh, God, help us understand that every aspect of our lives should be to honor and glorify your name and please grant us the strength to walk worthy of the vocation with which we have been called. Praise God, for His mercy endures forever!
Published: 2011-03-13 by MW