Signs and Wonders (38 page)

Ahab did all that Elijah commanded. He sent proclamations throughout Israel and gathered all the people together in a mighty throng at the foot of the mountain. He brought the four hundred and fifty priests of Baal and the priestesses of Ashteroth to the mountain, also.

Elijah stood halfway up the slope of the mountain and spoke to the people: “How long will you waver between two opinions?” he said. “If the Lord is God, follow Him. But if Baal be God, then follow Baal.”

There was a great hush. No one spoke. “Here am I alone,” said Elijah. “One man alone, who is the prophet of the Lord. But Baal’s priests number four hundred and fifty. Now bring us two bull calves. Give one to the priests of Baal and one to me. They will dress their calf and lay it on the wood before the altar, but put no fire to the wood. And I shall dress my calf and lay it on my stack of wood, and not kindle the wood.”

The people brought two calves, and gave one to the priests of Baal and the other to Elijah. Now Elijah turned to the priests of Baal and roared, “You who serve the stone idol, you priests of Baal, dress your calf and put it on the wood, and call on your god to light a fire under your offering. I will do likewise, and call upon my God, also. We shall see who lights the first flame.”

The priests of Baal flayed their calf and dismembered it, and laid the pieces on a tall stack of wood. It was still early morning. The priests raised their voices, calling to Baal, crying, “O Baal, hear us! Send fire!”

There was no answer. The priests of Baal leaped upon the altar and danced upon it, crying to Baal. But there was no answer. They danced until noon, waving their arms and frothing at the mouth and calling to Baal. And the huge throng of people stood there watching; no one moved. At noon, when the sun stood directly above, Elijah mocked the priests: “Cry aloud!” he said. “Cry out to your god. Either he is talking, or chasing someone, or simply taking a journey somewhere. Or, perhaps, he is asleep and must be awakened.”

Then all the priests of Baal cried out in one voice, a mighty wailing cry. They drew their knives and slashed themselves until their blood flowed. They did this from noon until evening, offering the blood of their own bodies to Baal. But he did not answer.

Then Elijah spoke to the people: “Come near,” he said.

Like one man, the multitude surged forward. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the sons of Jacob, who became the tribes of Israel. With these stones he built a new altar, for the other had been fouled by the priests of Baal. He dug a trench about the altar. Then he cut his bullock in pieces, laid the pieces upon the wood, and said: “Fill four barrels with water and pour it on the bullock and on the wood.”

Two men came out of the crowd. They filled four barrels with water and poured it over the calf and over the wood. “Do it again,” said Elijah. They did it again. “Do it a third time,” he said. Again they filled the barrels with water and drenched the calf and the wood. The water ran off the altar and filled the trench. Now it was time for the evening sacrifice. Elijah, the prophet, stood before the altar and raised his hands to the sky, and said: “Lord, God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that you are the true God and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that you are the Lord God! Make them a sign, I pray. Revive their hearts!”

He fell silent. He waited. No one stirred. Lightning hooked from the cloudless sky. A great fang of fire split the evening air and touched the wood, which burst into flame. Fire crackled beneath Elijah’s calf. Fire leaped. The wood was consumed. The stones took fire, and the dust. The flame licked up the water. And all the people of that multitude fell to the ground, crying, “The Lord is our God!”

“Arise!” cried Elijah. “Take the false prophets! Take them all!”

The mob broke and seized the four hundred and fifty priests of Baal and dragged them away from the mountain, away from the altar, down to the brook, Kishon. They broke branches off the trees and clubbed the priests of Baal to death. The lightning kept flashing. Thunder crashed. The sky blackened and rain fell—great sheets of rain. Elijah went to Ahab and said: “Baal has fled. The Lord lives. There is an abundance of rain.”

Ahab stood white-faced and bareheaded in the downpour. He did not answer Elijah, but lifted his face and drank the rain. Elijah said: “Prepare your chariot and return to your palace before the plains are flooded.”

A strong wind blew, driving the rain flat. Ahab mounted his chariot and drove back to Jezreel, where his palace was. Now the hand of the Lord was upon Elijah, directing him past his own knowledge. The old man found himself running before Ahab’s chariot through the wind and the rain to the gates of Jezreel.

That night, Ahab told Jezebel all that had happened at Mount Carmel, how Elijah had tested the priests of Baal, how he had vanquished them with his fire from heaven and had provoked the people to kill them. Jezebel stormed at Ahab, crying, “He is your enemy and you have held your hand from him because you fear his lord! Where is he now?”

“Here. Beyond the gates. Squatting in the rain and praying.”

“Well may he pray. I do not fear his invisible god. I will kill him.” She sent this word to Elijah: “Troublemaker, prepare to die. I will slay you as you slew my priests.”

Now Elijah was full of terror. He knew that Jezebel was crueller even than Ahab, and less easily swerved from her intention. Elijah left Jezreel and fled to Judah. “Stay here,” he said to his servant. “I go into the wilderness.”

He went a day’s journey into the wilderness and sat under a juniper tree. “I am weary, Lord,” he said. “I have had enough. Take my life now and let me join my fathers.”

He lay down and slept. In his sleep an angel touched him and said: “Arise, and eat.”

He sat up. He saw a fire of twigs, and a flat stone over the fire, and on the stone a newly baked loaf of bread. A pitcher of water stood there, also. He ate and drank, and slept again. Again the angel came and touched him and said: “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.”

He ate and drank and journeyed to the mount of God called Horeb, where, six hundred years before, Moses had received the law. There Elijah found a cave. He went into the cave and dwelt there for forty days and forty nights, waiting for the Lord to speak again.

The word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

“O God,” said Elijah, “I have been zealous in your service. The children of Israel have forgotten your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and now they seek my life.”

“Go forth,” said the voice. “Stand upon the mountain.”

He arose and stood at the mouth of the cave. A wind came and lifted the rocks off the mountainside and dashed them together, breaking them into pieces. But the Lord was not in the wind, and Elijah waited. Then, looking down from the mountain over the wide plain, he saw the earth tremble. He saw the earth quake and split. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. Elijah stood there and waited. A storm of dust arose and became particles of fire. Bushes burned, brambles burned, fire ran along the ground. But the Lord was not in the fire, and Elijah waited.

After the fire came a still, small voice. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle. “Why do you wait here?” said the voice.

“I await your word, O God,” said Elijah. “Of all your priests only I am left alive. And Jezebel’s men hunt me up and down the land. What shall I do?”

God answered, “Go. Go into the wilderness to Damascus. There anoint Hazael to be king of Syria. And Jehu, son of Nimshi, shall you anoint to be king of Israel. Then find a man named Elisha and anoint him to be prophet in your place. And this shall come to pass. Him who escapes the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay. Him who escapes the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. For know this: In Israel are left seven thousand who have not bent the knee to Baal or kissed their hand in homage to the great whore of the grove who is called Ashteroth. For the sake of these who have kept the faith, you must live though your journey be long and your way be weary. You must live and speak my word until I give you leave to fall silent.”

Elijah went off the mountain and journeyed toward Damascus. On the way he passed a young man who was plowing with a yoke of oxen. Elijah stopped and looked at him. He had never seen him before, but this young plowman looked as beautiful as a son to Elijah, and he loved him and pitied him and was proud of him all at once. The young man pulled up his oxen and bowed low to Elijah.

“What is your name?” said Elijah.

“I am Elisha,” said the young man.

Elijah took off the mantle he was wearing and cast it upon the young man. It was a tattered old sheepskin mantle, hairy side out, but to the young man it was as though a robe more gorgeous than any king’s robe had fallen upon him. Elijah turned and walked away.

The plowman did not hesitate. He unhitched his oxen, the fine strong beasts he had worked all his life to buy. He killed them where they stood, and flayed them and cut them up and gave them to his neighbors to eat. And his neighbors rejoiced, for they were poor. Then the young man followed Elijah, and caught up with him. He stayed with the old man, and would never leave him, but attended to him, and studied all his ways.

Now, there was a man named Naboth who lived in Jezreel. He owned a small vineyard near Ahab’s palace. Naboth loved to work the earth. He worked very hard, plowing, sowing, nourishing the earth with manure; weeding, watering, and destroying pests. His vineyard flourished. His vines were heavy with purple grapes. They were sweet to taste.

One day, Ahab rode past the vineyard. He reached down and broke off some grapes and ate them. He was king and had vast lands of his own, but now he coveted this little vineyard. He called Naboth to the palace and said: “Good Naboth, I want your vineyard. I want it for a garden of herbs. I will give you another piece of land for it, much larger. Or I will pay you for it in gold, if you prefer.”

“God forbid that I should sell my inheritance,” said Naboth. “This land was my father’s; it will be my son’s. At the risk of your displeasure, O King, I cannot sell it.”

Ahab scowled and turned away. Naboth left the palace full of foreboding. It was not a light thing to defy a king like Ahab. But Naboth was a stubborn man, and resolved not to give up what was his.

Ahab was not used to being thwarted. He lay on his bed, face turned to the wall, and did not rise to eat.

“What is the matter?” said Jezebel. “Why do you refuse to dine?”

“There is a man named Naboth who owns a vineyard nearby. And I want it for my own. I have offered him more than it is worth, but he will not sell it.”

“Why, then, you must take it,” said Jezebel. “Get rid of this Naboth, and take it.”

“I cannot,” said Ahab.

“Of course you can,” said Jezebel. “You are king.”

“Even as king I cannot take what belongs to another,” said Ahab. “It is the ancient law, received by Moses on the mountain.”

“You are king,” said Jezebel. “Your will is law. That was the custom of kings for many thousands of years before this Moses of yours. And it is still the way of kings.”

Ahab grew thoughtful but did not answer. “Do not trouble yourself,” said Jezebel. “Leave the matter to me. Now rise, and eat, and be merry.”

Jezebel took advantage now of a statute that she hated. After Elijah had vanquished the priests of Baal, and had roused the people of Israel against Baal and Ashteroth and all their works, the king had been forced to ban all worship of these false gods on the pain of death. This had been a blow to Jezebel, but now she stood the law on its head. She wrote letters to certain elders of Jezreel, informing them that Naboth was a secret worshipper of Baal and practiced the forbidden rites. Jezebel was queen, and the men she wrote to were courtiers. They believed her without investigating. They caused Naboth to be bound and taken to a public square. There people formed a circle about him and hurled rocks at him, until he was battered to the ground by the rocks and crushed to death beneath them. Then the crowd went its way. Dogs came, and licked up the blood from the stones.

The Lord spoke to Elijah: “Ahab and Jezebel have killed a man and taken his little vineyard. Go and tell them the meaning of their deed.”

Elijah went down into Samaria, sought out Ahab, and stood before him. “Have you found me, O my enemy?” said Ahab.

“I come in the name of the Lord,” said Elijah, “Have you killed, O King, and have you taken possession?”

“I have done what I have done,” said Ahab.

“You have done evil in the sight of the Lord,” said Elijah. “Now He will bring evil upon you. He will rend your kingdom from you and wipe out your house. In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall they lick your blood, also. As for your wife, the dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Her body shall be flung like dung upon the field, and dogs shall lick up her blood from the stones.”

Elijah said nothing more, but departed. Now, Ahab had learned that what Elijah said always came true. So he was in great terror. He had reason to be; it all happened. Ahab was cut down in his pride, leading a chariot charge against the Syrians. He was pierced through by a spear and bled to death in his chariot. His charioteer brought him back to Jezreel. The dead king was lifted from the chariot, and the chariot was washed clean. The king’s blood ran down into the gutter, and dogs licked it up as they had licked up the blood of Naboth.

Nor did Jezebel have long to reign as a widowed queen. A young captain named Jehu, to whom Elijah had promised the kingdom, gathered men and marched against the sons of Ahab. He defeated them and stormed the palace.

Jehu sat his horse in the courtyard and sent his men into the palace. He heard a hawk shriek. He looked up. It was no hawk; it was a woman, standing on the battlement screaming down at him. She wore a gown of samite sewn with diamonds and pearls; on her head was a golden crown. And he knew she was the queen. She was old now. Her eyelids were painted silver and her mouth was a scarlet gash. She cursed him with the curse of Ashteroth the Disabler. He would be blighted in the flower of his youth. His tongue would wither at the roots; his arms and legs would rot off his body.