“And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud : for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.”
My Notes
What Does 1 Kings 18:27 Mean?
"And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked." On Mount Carmel, after the prophets of Baal have spent hours calling on their god with no response, Elijah taunts them with devastating sarcasm. Maybe your god is meditating. Maybe he's busy. Maybe he's on a trip. Maybe he's asleep. The mockery is theological warfare — exposing the absurdity of praying to a god who can be unavailable.
The humor is biting: the Hebrew phrase translated "pursuing" likely contains a crude euphemism (going to the bathroom). Elijah isn't just mocking Baal's absence — he's mocking the very concept of a limited deity. If your god can be distracted, he's not God.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What 'gods' in your life have been silent no matter how desperately you've called on them?
- 2.What gives Elijah the confidence to mock rather than fear the opposition?
- 3.How does the humor of this scene reveal the absurdity of trusting in anything other than the living God?
- 4.When has God's answer been so decisive that it made the alternatives look ridiculous?
Devotional
Maybe he's asleep. Elijah, standing alone against 450 prophets of Baal, watches them scream, dance, and cut themselves for hours — and then starts heckling. Cry louder! Maybe your god is chatting with someone. Maybe he went on vacation. Maybe he's taking a nap. Wake him up!
This is the most savage theological comedy in the Bible. And it's making a deadly serious point: a god who can be unavailable is no god at all. The prophets of Baal are frantic because their deity isn't responding. Elijah's mockery exposes why: Baal can't respond because Baal doesn't exist. The silence isn't because Baal is busy. It's because there's nobody there.
Elijah has absolute confidence — the kind that produces humor in the face of 450-to-1 odds. He's not nervous. He's laughing. Because he knows something the prophets of Baal will learn the hard way: when the time comes, his God will answer. And theirs won't. Ever.
The contrast will be complete in a few verses: Elijah prays once, fire falls from heaven, and the people fall on their faces. No screaming. No cutting. No hours of desperate pleading. One prayer. One fire. One God.
When you know the living God — the one who neither sleeps nor slumbers, who is never distracted, never busy, never unavailable — you can laugh at the alternatives. Not with cruelty but with confidence. The God who answers by fire doesn't compete with gods who answer by silence.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And it came to pass when midday was past,.... And nothing done, no fire descended:
and they prophesied until the time…
The object of Elijah’s irony was two-fold; (1) to stimulate the priests to greater exertions, and so to make their…
At noon - Elijah mocked them - Had not Elijah been conscious of the Divine protection, he certainly would not have used…
Ahab and the people expected that Elijah would, in this solemn assembly, bless the land, and pray for rain; but he had…
Elijah mocked them i.e. To make their folly more apparent to the people, he urged them on to greater exertions.
for heis…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture