![]() ![]() ![]() All of Israel was summoned to Mount Carmel to witness the confrontation between Elijah and the false prophets of Baal and Asherah (1 Kings 18:19). ![]() When the end of the drought neared, to prove that the Lord God was the only true God, Elijah proposes a contest. The prophet confronts Ahab and predicts a drought in response to Ahab and Jezebel’s unholy devotion to Baal. In 1 Kings 17:1–24, Elijah the Tishbite enters the story as an emissary of the Lord. Baal, the favorite deity of Jezebel, was reputed to be the god of rain and vegetation. To please his wife, Jezebel, Ahab set up an altar to Baal at the top of Mount Carmel. The episode takes place during one of Israel’s worst times of crisis under King Ahab. Most notably, Mount Carmel is the scene of a spectacular head-to-head confrontation between the false prophets of Baal and Asherah and the One True God of Israel. At its highest point, Mount Carmel reaches over 1,700 feet above sea level. Running along the northeast side of the ridge is the Valley of Jezreel. From there, the range runs southeast down to the plain of Dothan. The mountainous ridge starts on the Mediterranean coast in the northwest part of Israel at the south shore of the Bay of Acre. In the Bible, Mount Carmel is best known as the site of the prophet Elijah’s dramatic showdown with 850 pagan prophets.Ĭarmel means “vineyard,” “orchard,” or “garden” and reflects the fertile beauty of Mount Carmel’s picturesque slopes. Rather than being a single mountain, Mount Carmel is actually a high, wooded mountain ridge. ![]()
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