So Ahab went up to eat and to drink
Up to his chariot, as some think, or rather to some place higher
than that in which he now was:
and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel;
higher still, where he both might be alone, and have the
opportunity of observing the clouds gathering, and the rain
coming:
and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face
between his
knees;
expressive of his humility, and of his earnestness, and vehement
desire, and continued importunity, that rain might fall; for this
was a posture of prayer he put himself into, and continued in;
and it is certain that it was through his prayer that rain came,
( James
5:18 ) and from hence came the fable of the Grecians
concerning Aeacus praying for rain in a time of drought, when it
came F8. So the Chinese writers F9 report
that at the prayers of their emperor Tangus, after a seven years'
drought, great rains fell.