1 Kings 18:37

37 Answer me, O LORD! Answer me, so that this people will know that You, the LORD, are God, and that You have turned their hearts back again.”

1 Kings 18:37 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 18:37

Hear me, O Lord, hear me;
&c.] Which repetition is made to express his importunity, and the vehement earnest desire of his soul to be heard in such a case, which so much concerned the glory of God; the Targum is,

``receive my prayer, O Lord, concerning the fire, receive my prayer concerning the rain;''

as if the one respected the sending down the fire on the sacrifice, and the other sending rain on the earth; and which sense is followed by other Jewish writers:

that this people may know that thou art the Lord God;
and not Baal, or any other idol:

and that thou hast turned their heart back again;
from idolatry, to the worship of the true God; though some understand this of God's giving them up to a spirit of error, and suffering them to fall into idolatry, and hardening their hearts, as he did Pharaoh's; but the former sense is best.

1 Kings 18:37 In-Context

35 So the water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.

36 At the time of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet approached the altar and said, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and have done all these things at Your command.

37 Answer me, O LORD! Answer me, so that this people will know that You, the LORD, are God, and that You have turned their hearts back again.”

38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and it licked up the water in the trench.

39 When all the people saw this, they fell facedown and said, “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!”