[Teachldsseminary] Teaching 1 Kings chapter 18

[Oparc10 at aol.com]

I prepared a Reader's Theater for the story of Elijah and the prophets of  
Baal.  I used it this morning in class and my students really enjoyed  it.  
Throw in a few basic costumes and it is a lot of fun.  I tried to  be very 
faithful to the scriptural account and used some information from the  Old Testament 
student manual for additional commentary and explanation.  I  hope it will be 
useful to someone.
 
I'm not very "technologically savvy", so I hope this will come through with  
some sort of decent formatting.  If you have trouble, email me privately  and 
I will attempt to send you an attached file (attempt being the operative  word 
since I am not very good at this.)  My email is _oparc10 at aol.com_ 
(mailto:oparc10 at aol.com) 
 
 
 
1 Kings Chapter 18 
Elijah and the Priests of  Baal 


ELIJAH:   “As the LORD God of Israel liveth,  before whom I stand, there 
shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according  to my word.” 
NARRATOR:  After Elijah spoke these words, a terrible famine began throughout 
 all the nation of Israel.  It lasted  for about three years.  The  situation 
became so desperate that Ahab, king of Israel, had to go out, himself,  in 
search of grass for his horses and cattle.  He also sent the governor of his 
house,  a man named Obadiah, to search for grass. 
AHAB:  “Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks:  
peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we 
lose  not all the beasts.” 
NARRATOR:  Obadiah was a faithful follower of Jehovah.  When Jezebel cut off 
the prophets of the  LORD, Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by 
fifty in a cave, and fed  them with bread and water.  While he  was searching 
for grass, Obadiah met Elijah. 
OBADIAH:  (meets Elijah and bows down in front of him)  “Art thou my lord  
Elijah?” 
ELIJAH:  I am.  Go and tell Ahab,  “Behold, Elijah is here.” 
OBADIAH:  What wrong have I done that thou wouldest deliver me into the hand 
of  Ahab, so that he will kill me?  Ahab  has searched for you in every nation 
and kingdom.  When the people of every nation or  kingdom said they had not 
seen you, Ahab made the people to swear and oath that  you really were not in 
that nation or kingdom.  If they said that you WERE there, Ahab  would kill 
them when you could not be found.  Now you have asked me to go tell Ahab  that 
you are here but if the Spirit of the LORD causes you to go somewhere else,  
then Ahab will kill me when he finds that you are gone.  I respect the LORD and I 
have served him  all my life.  Have you heard about  how I hid a hundred 
prophets in two caves and fed them bread and water to  protect them from Jezebel? 
ELIJAH:  As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely show 
 myself unto Ahab today. 
NARRATOR:  So Obadiah went and told Ahab that Elijah had come and Ahab came 
and  found Elijah. 
AHAB:  “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” 
ELIJAH:  “I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in  
that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed  
Baalim.  Now therefore send, and  gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel.”  
Call 450 of the prophets of Baal and  also call 400 of the prophets of 
Ashtoreth. 
NARRATOR:  Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the 
prophets  together unto mount Carmel.  Elijah  spoke to the people. 
ELIJAH:  You remind me of a bird that hops back and forth between two 
branches  and cannot decide which branch to stay on.  If the LORD be God, follow him: 
 but if Baal is God, then follow him. 
NARRATOR:  The people did not answer Elijah. 
ELIJAH:  I am the only prophet of Jehovah.  Here you have 450 prophets of 
Baal.  Lets have a contest.  Bring two bullocks and let the prophets  of Baal 
choose the one they want.  They can cut their bullock and prepare it the way they 
want to and lay it  on top of the wood on the altar.  Only, they shall not 
put fire underneath it.  I will take the other bullock and I will  prepare it as 
a sacrifice and I will lay it on top of the wood and I will also  not put 
fire underneath it.  The  prophets of Baal will call upon their God and I will 
call upon the LORD,  Jehovah, and whichever God answers by sending fire to burn 
up the offering—then  that is the real God. 
NARRATOR:  The people were happy with this idea.  Baal was the “sun-god” and 
he should  certainly be able to send fire to burn up an offering.  The 
prophets of Baal took their bullock  and prepared it and called upon Baal to consume 
it with fire.  They chanted to him from morning until  noon but nothing 
happened.  At noon,  Elijah began to mock them. 
ELIJAH:  Maybe you should yell louder.  After all,  if Baal is a God  he can 
certainly hear you.  He might  be talking to someone else.  Or  maybe he is 
hunting.  Or maybe he  has gone out for a walk.  Maybe he  is asleep and you 
need to yell louder so he can hear you and wake  up. 
NARRATOR:  This made the prophets of Baal even more agitated and they yelled  
louder.  They cut themselves with  knives and made themselves bleed so that 
Baal would be impressed with their  dedication.  They continued this  from noon 
until evening but still Baal did not send any fire.  Finally, Elijah felt 
they had given Baal  enough time.  Elijah called the  people to him.  They 
gathered around  the sacrifice that he had prepared.  Elijah dug a trench around the 
altar he had built to the  LORD. 
ELIJAH:  Fill four barrels with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and 
 on the wood.  Do it again the second  time.  Do it again a third  time.   
NARRATOR:  Of course, pouring water on the wood and the altar and the 
sacrifice  would just make it harder to start a fire.  There was so much water that 
it ran down the sacrifice and filled the  trench with water. 
ELIJAH:  “LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day 
 that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done 
all  these things at thy word.  Hear me,  O Lord, hear me, that this people 
may know that thou art the LORD God, and that  thou hast turned their heart 
back again.” 
NARRATOR:  “Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed  the burnt sacrifice 
and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up  the water that was 
in the trench.  And when all the people saw it they fell on their faces: and 
they said,  The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.”   




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