1 Kings 18:26

1Ki 18:26 And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed [it], and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But [there was] no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.

Ver. 26. And they leaped upon the altar.] Or, Leaped up and down at the altar, as if they had been in some prophetical ecstasy, or would have fetched fire from heaven. The heathen Corybantes, Luperci and Salii, those Roman priests, used many antic and strange gestures in their idol services.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ki 18:26. They took the bullock which was given them — Which, being chosen by them, was now put into their hands by those who had the beasts in their custody till they were taken away for sacrifice; and dressed it — Cut it in pieces, and laid the parts upon the wood. From morning — From the time of the morning sacrifice; which advantage Elijah suffered them to take. They leaped upon — Or, beside the altar; or, before it. They used some superstitious and disorderly gestures; either pretending to be actuated by the spirit of their god, and to be in a kind of religious ecstasy, or in a way of devotion to their god.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As men ravished with some strange spirit.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 26. From morning even until noon] It seems that the priests of Baal employed the whole day in their desperate rites. The time is divided into two periods:

1. From morning until noon; this was employed in preparing and offering the sacrifice, and in earnest supplication for the celestial fire. Still there was no answer, and at noon Elijah began to mock and ridicule them, and this excited them to commence anew. And,

2. They continued from noon till the time of offering the evening sacrifice, dancing up and down, cutting themselves with knives, mingling their own blood with their sacrifice, praying, supplicating, and acting in the most frantic manner.

And they leaped upon the altar] Perhaps it will be more correct to read with the margin, they leaped up and down at the altar; they danced round it with strange and hideous cries and gesticulations, tossing their heads to and fro, with a great variety of bodily contortions.

A heathen priest, a high priest of Budhoo, has been just showing me the manner in which they dance and jump up and down, and from side to side, twisting their bodies in all manner of ways, when making their offerings to their demon gods; a person all the while beating furiously on a tom-tom, or drum, to excite and sustain those frantic attitudes; at the same time imploring the succour of their god, frequently in some such language as this: "O loving brother devil, hear me, and receive my offering!" To perform these sacrificial attitudes they have persons who are taught to practice them from their earliest years, according to directions laid down in religious books; and to make the joints and body pliant, much anointing of the parts and mechanical management are used; and they have masters, whose business it is to teach these attitudes and contortions according to the rules laid down in those books. It seems therefore that this was a very general practice of idolatry, as indeed are the others mentioned in this chapter.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(26) O Baal, hear us.—This repeated cry—the ever-recurring burden of the prayer, uttered probably first in measured chant, afterwards in a wild excited cry—stands in an instructive contrast (which has been splendidly emphasised in Mendelssohn’s music) with the simple, earnest solemnity of the prayer of Elijah. It has been obvious to see m it an illustration of our Lord’s condemnation of the worship of the heathen, who “think that they shall be heard for their much speaking” (Mat_6:7). There is a grave irony in the notice of the blank silence which followed this frenzied cry. “There was no voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.”

They leaped upon—properly, leaped up and down at the altar, in one of those wild dances, at once expressing and stimulating frenzy, in which Oriental religions delight, even to this day.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

26. which was given them] These words are omitted in the LXX., which represents ‘hear us’ in the latter part of the verse twice over.

and they leaped upon [R.V. about] the altar] One part of the heathen worship consisted in a dance around the altar, during which the devotees wrought themselves up to a pitch of frenzy, and then their action took the form of wild leaping. Such was probably the kind of worship of the Salii whom Numa instituted at Rome, and hence their name = Jumpers. The dances of the Aborigines of Australia were very much of this fashion.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And they cried aloud,.... Trying to make him hear, if possible:

and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them; so the priests of Heathen deities used to slash themselves on their shoulders, arms, and thighs, in their devotions to them, as many writers observe (z), fancying their gods were delighted with human blood; particularly the priests of Bellona (a), and the worshippers of the Syrian goddess (b), and of the Egyptian Isis (c).

(z) Vid. Kipping. Antiqu. Roman. l. 1. c. 10. p. 202. (a) Tertul Apolog. c. 9. Lactant. Institut. l. 1. c. 21. (b) Apulei Metamorph. l. 8. (c) Herodot. Euterpe, c. 61. Manetho. Apotelesm. l. 1. ver. 243, 244. Seneca de vita beata, c. 27.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon - Compare the parallel in the conduct of the Greeks of Ephesus. Act 19:34. The words “O Baal, hear us,” probably floated on the air as the refrain of a long and varied hymn of supplication.

They leaped upon the altar which was made - The marginal rendering is preferable to this. Wild dancing has always been a devotional exercise in the East, and remains so to this day; witness the dancing dervishes. It was practiced especially in the worship of Nature-powers, like the Dea Phrygia (Cybele), the Dea Syra (Astarte?), and the like.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

That they. Hebrew, "which he (Achaz) had made;" (Calmet) or, "which was made." (Haydock) --- The altar of Elias was erected afterwards, ver. 30. The prophets of Baal acted in a foolish manner, (Calmet) as if in jest, but really despairing of success. (Haydock) --- The pagans were accustomed to dance around their altars: --- Pingues spatiatur ad aras. (Virgil, Æneid iv.) --- and some would translate, "near the altar." We might apply to these prophets, the verses of Horace:--- Dedit risusque jocosque,

Dum, flamma sine, thura liquescere limine sacro

Persuadere cupit: credat Judæus Apella

Non ego. (Sat. i. 5.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

They took the bullock which was given them; which being chosen by them, 1Ki 18:25, was now put into their hands by those who had the beasts in their custody, till they were taken away for sacrifice.

They dressed it; cut it in pieces, and laid the parts in or upon the wood.

From morning; from the time of the morning sacrifice; which advantage Elijah suffered them to take for their sacrifice.

Upon the altar; or, over the altar; which might easily be done, the altar being low, and suddenly made for the present use. Or rather, beside (as the Hebrew (al) oft signifies) the altar; or, before it. They used some superstitious, unusual, and disorderly gestures, either pretending to be acted by the spirit of their god, and to be in a kind of holy rage, and religious ecstasy; or in way of devotion to their god; which they might borrow from the practice of their progenitors, who, amongst other things, used dancing in God’s service and presence, as Exo 15:20; 32:19; Jdg 21:21; 2Sa 6:14.

Which was made, Heb. which he made; either, first, Elijah; which some think was already made, though the making of it be not mentioned till afterwards, 1Ki 18:31, and that it was their design, by leaping upon his altar, to overthrow it. Or rather, secondly, Ahab on their behalf; or any other person; that being only a Hebraism, the third person active being put for the passive verb, as our translators well render it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

26. They leaped upon the altar — The word translated leaped is the Piel form of the same word rendered halt in 1Ki_18:21. They danced and tottered around and upon the altar they had made, from morning till noon, and yet no answer from Baal. This, says Stanley, “is the exact picture of Oriental fanaticism, such as may still be seen in Eastern religions. As the Mussulman dervishes work themselves into a frenzy by the invocation of Allah! Allah! until the words themselves are lost in inarticulate gasps — as the pilgrims round the church of St. John at Samaria formerly, and round the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre now, race, run, and tumble, in order to bring down the Divine fire into the midst of them — so the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal performed their wild dances round their altar, or upon it, springing up or sinking down with the fantastic gestures which Orientals alone can command, as if by an internal mechanism, and screaming with that sustained energy which believes it will be heard for its much speaking.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And they took the bullock which was given them Heb. which he (or one) gave; i.e., they declined to choose, and they dressed it, and called on the name of from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us Heb. answer us. Same word as below. They thought they would be heard for their much speaking. But there was no voice Heb. and not a voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped or limped . Same word as that translated "halt" in ver. 21. Gesenius thinks the word is "used scornfully of the awkward dancing of the priests of Baal." But it seems more natural to understand it as descriptive of what actually occurred, i.e., of the reeling, swaying, bacchantie dance of the priests, which was probably not unlike that of the dancing dervishes or the Indian devil worshippers of our own time upon or near, i.e. , around the altar which was made, Heb. he, that is, o ne made, hc; ; impersonal. But some MSS. and most versions read Wv.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Dressed - Cut it in pieces, and laid the parts upon the wood. From morning - From the time of the morning sacrifice; which advantage Elijah suffered them to take. They leapt upon - Or, beside the altar: or, before it. They used some superstitious and disorderly gestures, either pretending to be acted by the spirit of their God, and to be in a kind of religious extasy; or, in way of devotion to their God.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

That he gave them. For it slipped away from them so that it would not be offered to the idol, and it ran under Eliyahu’s cloak. He said to the ox, “Go, for through the both of you the Omnipresent will be sanctified.”

And they jumped on the altar that he had made. [Targum] Yonoson rendered, “and they raved [ואשתטו], [i.e.,] they were dancing according to their custom, on their altar.

And they jumped. [ויפסחו means] the same as ויפסעו [=they stepped].

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.