1 Kings 18:30

30 Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come near me." So all the people approached him. Then he repaired the Lord's altar that had been torn down:

1 Kings 18:30 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 18:30

And Elijah said unto all the people, come near unto me
And observe what I do, and what will be done at my request:

and all the people came near unto him;
left the prophets of Baal to themselves, and took no more notice of them, but attended to what the prophet should say and do:

and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down;
which had been set up when high places and altars were allowed of, while the tabernacle was unsettled, and the temple not built; this is supposed to have been erected in the times of the judges; though, according to a tradition of the Jews ^F4, it was built by Saul, see ( 1 Samuel 15:12 ) but had been thrown down by the idolatrous Israelites, who demolished such as were erected to the name of the Lord everywhere, and built new ones for their idols, ( 1 Kings 19:10 ) . Benjamin of Tudela ^F5 says, that on the top of Mount Carmel is now to be seen the place of the altar Elijah repaired, which is four cubits round.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F4 Jarchi & Kimchi in loc.
F5 ltinerar. p. 37.

1 Kings 18:30 In-Context

28 They shouted loudly, and cut themselves with knives and spears, according to their custom, until blood gushed out on them.

29 All afternoon, they kept on raving until the offering of the evening sacrifice, but there was no sound, no one answered, no one paid attention.

30 Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come near me." So all the people approached him. Then he repaired the Lord's altar that had been torn down:

31 Elijah took 12 stones-according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, "Israel will be your name"-

32 and he built an altar with the stones in the name of Yahweh. Then he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold about four gallons.