Melachim Alef 18:42

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),

Melachim Alef 18:42 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 18:42

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.

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 Pausan. Attica, sive, l. 1. prope finem. Isocrat. Evagoras, p. 373.
F9 Martin. Sinic. Hist. l. 3. p. 60.

Melachim Alef 18:42 In-Context

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),

43 And said to his eved, Go up now, look toward the yam. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again sheva pe’amim (seven times).

44 And it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, Hinei, there ariseth a little cloud out of the yam, as small as kaf ish (a man’s palm). And he said, Go, say unto Ach’av, Harness up [thy merkavah] and get thee down that the geshem stop thee not.