Melachim Alef 18:40

40 And Eliyahu said unto them, Seize the nevi’im of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them; and Eliyahu brought them down to the Brook Kishon, and slaughtered them there.

Melachim Alef 18:40 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 18:40

And Elijah said unto them, take the prophets of Baal
The four hundred and fifty that were upon the spot; for the number of the people of Israel, now gathered together, were equal to it; nor was it in Ahab's power to hinder it, and he might himself be so far surprised and convicted as not in the least to object to it:

let not one of them escape:
that there might be none of them left to seduce the people any more:

and they took them;
laid hold on them, everyone of them:

and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon;
which ran by the side, and at the bottom of Mount Carmel, into the sea; (See Gill on Judges 4:7) (See Gill on Judges 5:21).

and slew them there;
intimating, that it was owing to the idolatry they led the people into that rain had been withheld, and the brooks were dried up, as this might be; or, as Ben Gersom thinks, that the land might not be defiled with their blood, but be carried down the river after it: these he slew not with his own hand, but by others he gave orders to do it; and this not as a private person, but as an extraordinary minister of God, to execute justice according to his law, ( Deuteronomy 13:1 ) by which law such false prophets were to die; and the rather he was raised up and spirited for this service, as the supreme magistrate was addicted to idolatry himself.

Melachim Alef 18:40 In-Context

38 Then the Eish of Hashem fell, and consumed the olah and the wood, and the avanim, and the aphar, and licked up the mayim that was in the te’alah (trench).
39 And when kol HaAm saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, Hashem hu HaElohim; Hashem hu HaElohim.
40 And Eliyahu said unto them, Seize the nevi’im of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them; and Eliyahu brought them down to the Brook Kishon, and slaughtered them there.
41 And Eliyahu said unto Ach’av, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a kol hamon hageshem (sound of rushing rain, sound of rain coming).
42 So Ach’av went up to eat and to drink. But Eliyahu climbed up to Rosh HaCarmel (top of Carmel); and he cast himself down upon the ground, and put his face between his birkayim (knees),
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.