Between Two Altars

A story can have different highlights depending on the way it is told. A daughter may tell a story a certain way, but it may turn out to be different when the mother tells it. Or perhaps one parent tells the story one way and the other parent recalls it differently.

When we read a story in the Bible we should keep in mind the story-teller. The stories are not told in such a way that everyone will understand them. And they are told by some One in particular. The story teller is not trying to tell the story like a newspaper reporter -pretending to hide his own opinions while vigorously working to persuade us of something 'we can all agree on'. The story teller is saying, "This is the way I see this story, and you should see it that way too."

To this extent the lense of truth does not turn away or moderate itself based on how many other perspectives there are. If the prophet speaks with the true words of the Spirit of the Living God, his words are not diminished by the other voices -however numerous they may be.

A crowd may seem to be full of truth. They may contend vigorously for something -whether it is for a political change or to have the Messiah executed- but however "deeply" the crowd feels about something it always has that component to it which remains unconvinced. The people in the crowd -in dread of being singled out and facing responsibility for their preferences- do not venture to leave the deceptive security of the crowd. Like the serpent, Eve, and, eventually Adam, the crowd always wants to say, 'Well, I was not the only one...'. But the voice of judgment is not daunted by the task of ruling in a number of cases ... even if all the prophets must be slaughtered one by one.

The problem with common sense is that it is far too common. Many people try to find distinctions, it is true. They find distinctions in the clothes they wear, their colloquial expressions, their athletic abilities, some people even find distinction in their knowledge of sports trivia. But these distinctions are all on the surface. All such distinctions could be lost (or in some cases gained) while the true person remains the same. Even those who are healed miraculously often fail to express the smallest amount of gratitude for the great things that have been given to them.
Few people have the peculiar advantage of understanding who they are -they would rather understand their circumstances. And so we have become a race of people who understand the world, but we do not understand life.

In some ways the story of Elijah on mount Carmel is a story about the evil of neutrality, the neutrality of remaining undecided. The two altars on mount Carmel represented what the prophet described as "two opinions". If the Truth of the matter were a matter of objective, factual, ostensible sensibility then the people could do nothing to impair the facticity of it. It would be so real that they wouldn't need to do anything.

The story of those who wait for knowledge -defined by philosophers as "justified, true belief"- is always the same. The important questions cannot be answered with knowledge. In the absense of clear and undisputed evidence we are left with a decision to make ... and even the choice to sit on the fence remains what it is -our choice to sit on the fence. As long as the people remain undecided, all their shouting says nothing ... they are like the virgins of Israel who give birth only to the wind.

The showdown on mount Carmel is not offensive to most people. It is the way the story is told in the Scriptures which offends people. And God does insist on telling it in His own voice.

The crowd wishes to hear a story about how people worked together as a team to solve something. This is the perfect covering for the dark motives in the human heart which prefer to remain covered. And when the notion of 'evil' is brought up, it is not evil really but the appearance of it. Elijah, the prophet of God, is ostensibly a trouble-maker. Yet the divine hand had selected the single individual -who appeared to be a trouble-maker!- with the expressed purpose of purging the multitude who seemed pious but were full of wickedness.

The story of Elijah on mount Carmel is a rebuke on those who try to remain neutral as much as it is a rebuke on those who worship false gods. Indeed, the prophets of Baal had no issue with the indecision of the crowd. They saw the mixed opinions of the people as an opportunity to remain in their position. The people thought that the priests of Baal ruled by popular consent (even if it was always in the consent of 'someone else'). But any reign by popular consent is always a house of cards which God often takes it upon Himself to obliterate with the smallest of means by human standards: the single individual.

When the priests of Baal had their turn to light the sacrifice, they unleased the fullness of their powers: theatrics, fanatical shouting, using many words instead of using meaningful words, or summarily: desperation. However committed these priests were to their despair, their despair was not committed to them. Like the crowd who wanted to see an amusing showdown between the two sides, the dark gods of Baal cared little about the actual lives of the priests.

The behavior of the priests is not so hard to find in our day. When we unleash our most vigorous efforts upon the challenges in own our lives, is it because we see something that really matters to us? Or is it that we wish to appear sacrifical and committed about something which really, in fact, does not matter to us at all.

Not long before this encounter, Solomon noted in the Proverbs that God detests the sacrifice of the wicked. This is not commonly understood. In the human way of considering it, the priests were spilling their blood over the sacrifice. Surely such a dramatic sacrifice would be meaningful in itself (even if no one cared about it, even a priest who cut himself). This is the landscape God surveys with His eyes: a world of people who have cut themselves over and over for the sake of things which they care nothing about. Will God honor a truly debilitating sacrifice if it is offered out of emptiness and despair? This is the very thing He hates!

The triumph by God and his prophet over the priests of Baal does not offer us a lesson in scientific understanding, but in true life greatness.

If a buffoon wished to make himself appear wise among the Hebrews by examining the altar and the sacrifice, his appearance of wisdom would have been his reward in full. He could have tested the acidity of the water, the water content of the wood, the trench, etc etc. Or if he wished to surpass the buffoonery of the priests of Baal he might have taken measurements and gathered witnesses as a way of 'proving' scientifically the instance of the miracle.

But the truth afforded by the story is not in the spectacle itself. Very often a child can see in his or her simplicity what the wise do not see. But, alas! We do not wish to be thought of as children (for children have no dignity among adults) and so we try to surpass the greatness which even children see clearly.

The smoldering ashes on the altar should serve to tell us this exact thing: that the physical circumstances and appearances of life are themselves completely subject to some One who is not constrained by any physical limitation. This is the terror which calls all men to examine their hearts and serve God in the most inner and spiritual way.

The physical world is always in question. Will it rain tomorrow? Who will succeed the king? We do not even know if the sun will rise tomorrow. Even healthy people die suddenly with the chance of seeing tomorrow suddenly taken.

But the reign of God is only in question by those who remain on the fense. God selected Elijah because in His way of understanding it, a single person who takes a firm view on something far surpasses a thousand people who remain uncommitted, undecided, unworthy servants.

May the God who does not judge by appearance find truth and clarity in the hearts of those who fear Him in these uncertain days. Amen.