The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-01-13
International
SunddySchoolLesson
For january Is is, "Elijah's ChaI-
lenge of Baal worship Kings
1S:1-46.
BIZ WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

1S:1-46.
The Duel by Fire.
Some scenes of historic events fit
their stories so completely that they
are the best commentary upon the
narrative. One such is the out-jutting
southern eEd of Mt. Carmel. the
! mountain of a thousand valleys,
which is twelve miles long on the top,
as well know, for once Travelled It's
entire length by night. Every traveller
| to the Holy Land is as sure to re-
member Mt. Carmel as he is to re-
member Mt. Hermon. One side of 1t
| overlooks the Mediterranean and the
other side dominates the Plain of Es-
draeIon. The new railway from Jeru-
salem to Damascus passes along the
seward side of the mountain, with its
junction at the city of Haifa. the great
port of southern Syria, which nesties
at the northern end of Mt. Carmel,
looking toward Accre.
Not at Haifa, which has been made
comfortable for tourists, does one see
the site oMCarmePs great event. the
most dramatic duelling ground on
earth, where once the prophet of Je-
hovah fought single-handed against
the four hundred and fifty prophets
of Baal, favorites of court and queen.
The scene of that thrilling contest is
at the other end of the mountain, and
when went to it the hospitable Car
melite monks, who dwell there in pow
"
there were only about twenty visitors
a year to this, which is one of the
most impressive memorials of Biblical
history. It is called locally 1.-The
Place of the Burning" and the Car
melites maintain a monastery and
being chiefly those mysterious people
called Druzes.
Where the Fire Fell.
More significant in its effect upon
the thinking of the race than Mara
thon or Waterloo or Verdun, is this
battle-ground between the true but
suppressed religion, and the false but
popular faith of the people of Israel.
1t is a wonderfully set stage for such
a duel as is today's Sunday School
Lesson. All the people of Israel could
gather on the plain below, beholdinS
events on the top of the bold head
| land which terminates the mountain.
Beyond, sparkled the Mediterranean.
as if to mock the thirsty land which
for three years had been undergoing
drouth and famine, sent a visitation
| by Jehovah in punishment for idol
airy. Eastward lay the parched and
dusty plain. Running along the foot
| of the mountain was the dry bed of
| the brook Kishon. Half way up the
bluff that leads to the mountain top
is perennial spring, which the
monks told me never fails in the worst
got the water with which he drenched
his sacrifice. 1 wish every reader of
these lines could have shared my
privilege of having read the Bible
story on the spot.
Elijah, the hairy prophet from the
| desert, who had predicted the drouth,
and whom the Infatuated queen and
king had sought to slay, when told by
| God that he would send rain, had
boldly appeared before Ahab and had
| charged him with responsibility for
1.-THE lands woes, because he had for
saken the God of his fathers. Instead
| OF cringing before the king, Elijah
! defiantly challenged him and his
heather favorites to a duel, to prove
in the eyes of all Israel whether God
or Baal was the true king. For in
those days, apparently, even the Jews
held the idea that while Jehovah was
their national deity, there were also
other vahd gods of the neighboring
nations. Pure Monotheism had not
yet come to it's own; and the idea of
q, choice between gods was not as
strange to them as it is to US.
The story of the thrilling defiance
and challenge of Elijah, and of the
duel between the priests Of Baal, who
cried and leaped and gashed them
selves in a long day of agonized en-
| treaty, and the solitary champion of
narrative itself 1t is one of the mas
| terpieces of literature. The condition
! imposed was, 1.-THE God that ansWereth
| by fire, let him be God"
At the end, after preparations that
must have wrought the overstrained
| nerves of the watchers to the highest
| pitch, Elijah's prayer was answered,
and the fire fell. It was a startling
vindication of Jehovah, and of his
prophet.
Back of the Duel the Story.
| Clear, swift, unmistakable decision
| times do come for peoples, even as
this one came for Israel. We are not
sure but that one such has come upon
the world today Certain conditions
seem analogous. Israel had been do
] ing the worse when it knew the bet
ter, which is the supreme failure for
"a man or a nation. As craftsmanship
measures things. Ahab had been a
| good king; for he had made profitable
| alliances, had been victorious in war,
and had been practical" ruler,
rather than an idealist. But, like
many other public men since, in his
private life he had spurned the simple
moralities and obedience to God,
| which are the essence of religion. He
had conformed to his times, instead
| of maintaining those peculiar stand
ards which Israel was called to -estab-
| fish among the nations.
Over against Ahab stood the I'M
compromising moralist and devotee of
| Jehovah, Elijah, from the deserts of
GiIead. In the darkest times there are
always those who keep the light burn
ing in their souls. Some men, and
more women, are custodians of ideals.
They keep the sacred fires burning.
Such was Elijah. the prophet of
/ Isreal. His successors in our own day
! are many. When we hear jeremiads
about the decadence of the world, let
us not forget the present prophets who
abound in pulpits of religion, in news
paper offices in classrooms, in legis-
i lative halls and in private life. and
who stand fast and speak clearly for
| tbs tested integrities of faith and life.
There is more of the Elijah spirit
abroad today than there has ever been
before. This is ne time for depres-
sion. but for exultation. As the issue
which is eternal is joined, We find that