And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.
On Mount Carmel Israel had to choose between the LORD and Baal, and the test was simple: the God who answers by fire is God. Verse 29 is the end of Baal's turn — a whole day of crying out and cutting, and not one sound from heaven.
A Whole Day, and Nothing Came Back
Baal's prophets had the whole day to themselves, from morning until the evening sacrifice. One writer traces the hours and their growing desperation:
Hamilton SmithFrom morning until noon they cried to Baal. It was in vain. There was no voice and no one answered. Until midday Elijah watches their useless efforts in silence. Then at last he speaks to these false prophets, for the first and only time — and only to mock them. Stung by the scorn of Elijah they redouble their efforts. For three hours more, from noon until the evening sacrifice, they cry aloud and cut themselves with knives until their blood gushes out. Still it is all in vain: "there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention."
Why the Silence
Nothing answered, because there was nothing there to answer:
A. J. PollockThe prophets of Baal call upon their false god. No fire leaps from a cloudless sky. They become frenzied in their call upon Baal. But Baal did not respond. He was only something the devil had imagined.
Yet a real power stood behind that empty name, working on real hearts:
H. L. RossierBaal does not answer (vv. 25-29). See with what irony the prophet treats this lifeless object! Satan was using it to exercise his terrible influence on the hearts of men. The blood of the false prophets flows (v. 28). But neither their blood nor any man's blood can atone for Israel's sin or open heaven to this poor people!
Blood Spilled for Nothing
The knives had a purpose. These worshippers believed their own pain would move their god, and one writer holds that up against real self-denial:
Leslie M. GrantThey took Elijah's advice and cried out more loudly to Baal, also cutting themselves with knives and lances. So idolaters really do injure their own bodies, thinking this is the self-denial that will influence their false god. How different is the true self-denial of a believer! True self-denial makes no show, but involves a sober self-judgment in spiritual reality. The prophets of Baal continued this useless noise all afternoon until the time of the evening sacrifice (v. 29).
The verse says they "raved on" while no one answered. Men made in the image of God spent a whole afternoon doing it:
W. W. FeredayDriven on by these taunts, the false prophets cut themselves with swords and spears until blood ran down their bodies! This unholy farce on the part of men made in the image of God was allowed to continue three hours longer.
The Hour of the Evening Sacrifice
The silence did not break at a random moment. It lasted right up to the one hour in the day that already belonged to God:
W. W. FeredayAt "the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice" Elijah judged that his opportunity had come. It was 3 p.m. In Jerusalem the evening lamb was being laid on the altar of the LORD, together with its grain offering and drink offering. All of it spoke to God of Christ, whose death at Calvary took place at that hour (Ex. 29:41; Matt. 27:46). It was the hour of divine blessing: compare Ezra 9:5; Dan. 9:21. The hour had struck for Elijah's sacrifice to be offered, and for the blessing which followed.
The Warning for Any Heart
The scene is not only about an ancient idol. It is about anything a heart leans on instead of God:
C. H. MackintoshHow solemn, and how true for all time, are those words of Jeremiah: "Cursed is the man whose heart turns away from the LORD"! It does not matter who or what we put our confidence in — a religious system, a religious ritual, or anything else. It is a departure of the heart from God. A curse follows it. When the final struggle comes, people will call on their Baal in vain: "there will be no voice, no one to answer, no one to pay attention."
Summary
- No voice — from morning to the evening hour the false prophets got nothing: no sound, no answer, no attention.
- No power — the silence had a reason. Baal did not exist; the influence behind him was Satan's, and it could not send fire.
- No atonement — their own blood streamed out for hours, but no man's blood can cover sin or open heaven.
- No cover left — Elijah stayed silent and let the farce run its full course. Their failure was complete and public before his own hour came.
- One answer — their religion ran out at the hour of the evening sacrifice. That hour pointed to Christ's death, and it was the hour of blessing.