Elijah was a prophet who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Ahab in the 9th century BCE.
Felix Mendelssohn wrote a famous oratorio on his life entitled Elias in the original German, though it is often performed in English translation as Elijah.
The story of Elijah is related in the books of 1 Kings and 2 Kings, and those are generally considered historical books, as they relate events that are documented in other historical texts and can be verified to some extent by archeology, as opposed to the earlier biblical books which are based on myths or legends which can’t be verified historically. This doesn’t mean that all the events that are described in Kings are accurate, of course, merely that there is some basis for comparing them to the historical record.
One of the most famous stories related about Elijah concerns the contest between the followers of Yahweh (the god that Christians know as the God of the Bible) and the followers of the god Baal.
[Ahab] married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him.
Elijah, as head of the prophetic party, fiercely opposed Jezebel and the worship of Baal and invoked the name of Yahweh bring a drought over the land. Thus, he was forced into exile. After three years he returned to Israel where he found that Jezebel had purged most of the members of his prophetic party.
So Elijah suggested getting 850 worshippers of Baal and Asherah and have them attempt to light a fire under a bull sacrifice. Meanwhile, he would do the same all by himself in the name of Yahweh. You see in those days Yahweh loved to have animals killed and burned as a sacrifice to him just like any other pagan god—or at least that’s what his worshippers believed.
So they got the bulls and prepared the sacrifice, but Elijah told the Baal worshippers not to light the fire but to call on the name of their god to light the fire. Which is what they did. And they called on their god, and they danced around the altar from morning till noon, but their god was unable to light the fire for them.
Then Elijah went to his altar where his bull had been prepared for sacrifice and he invoked the name of Yahweh. But just to make it even harder for Yahweh and himself, he had water poured over the offering.
Then, merely by invoking the name of the Lord God Yahweh he commanded that the fire be lighted—and the fire blazed forth, consuming the bull and sending the sweet, sweet aroma of burning flesh into the air.
The people were impressed and they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”
Then, before anyone had time to think things through, Elijah pressed his advantage and had all 850 worshippers of Baal and Asherah slaughtered. So much for a merciful god. 1 Kings 18
Now my reasonable question is this. If Yahweh, or God or the Lord or whatever one wants to call that deity, was really the supreme god almighty, creator of heaven and earth and the whole universe, and he really wanted to demonstrate his existence to the people of Israel, is that the best he could do? A simple conjurer’s trick? Jeepers! Even I could do that with one hand tied behind my back.
How does Isaac Asimov comment on it in his Guide To the Bible? Actually, he’s pretty diplomatic. He doesn’t comment directly but merely says that “Jezebel was not impressed. […] she must have been certain that Elijah had merely managed to outsmart her own group in chicanery, nothing more.”
On the other hand John J. Collins in his Introduction to the Hebrew Bible: Third Edition writes:
The manner in which Elijah produces fire, by pouring water on the offering and in a trench, makes one suspect that some trickery (involving a flammable liquid) is involved. Magicians all the world over have seemed to perform miraculous deeds by sleight of hand. But in truth we do not know whether there is any historical basis for this story. The narrator wished to give the impression that a decisive test was carried out, which proved beyond doubt that YHWH was God. Elijah seizes his advantage by having all the prophets of Baal slaughtered.
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