The Levite

(Christian Adult Science Fiction/Fantasy Adventure)

I'll just have to tell you what I saw that day.
Now I didn't know Queen Jezebel, and I had only seen the King, Ahab, from a distance or in a procession.
But Elijah I knew. He'd been here at my synagogue several times.
You never met the Prophet of GOD?
Oh, he was something, you've seen Elisha, he doesn't stand out in a crowd, in fact, until he speaks, you could almost mistake him for a priest or somebody. But Elijah... He was a whole different matter.
Elijah didn't have to speak. His eyes, his manners, even the way he breathed let you know GOD was with him. In a crowd he was the center of attention.
That might be one reason the King and Queen didn't like him. He upstaged them. It didn't matter what else was going on or who was there, if Elijah was around, he was IT! And then there was his faith, in all my years serving in the synagogue, helping the rabbi and our priests, I have never seen such faith.
Elijah talked to GOD almost like they were friends. Imagine that, being Friends with All Mighty GOD! They said King David had that kind of relationship with GOD as well. But I don't know.
But anyway. About Mount Carmel. That's what you asked about.
See, Elijah was in hot water with the King because of the Queen, you know, some say she was a witch, but I don't know, you didn't hear that from me.
There were Baal worshipers all over the place. That's a nasty business anyway, but we're not talking about them. And the King, he got into it, which made Elijah seventeen kinds of angry. And he, Elijah that is, went around condemning the King with about every other breath, which didn't really make Ahab real happy.
Finally it come down to it. Elijah went in and called out the King, told him something like, OK, if you want Baal to be god, fine. Let's have ourselves a contest and see who's god's got the umph to make a statement you can't ignore.
You know. If GOD had failed Elijah, they'd have killed him.
Anyway, word went out across the countryside and they gathered everybody up there on the mountain and went to it. Because my synagogue was close I went up there with our priest just in case Elijah needed anything.
There were false priests and Baalites all over the place, an army of them. So Elijah tells them to build themselves an altar, and cut up this bull, and see if Baal can send fire to burn it up.
Well we were supposed to be all serious. Elijah stood there with his arms folded and waited. But I couldn't help it. After awhile, I had to laugh.
The Prophet of GOD looked at me with those eyes, and I haven't laughed since.
But those Baal priests. They had themselves a riot. Jumping around and screaming. And Elijah, he fed into it after awhile telling them Baal had gone out to lunch.
One guy almost bled to death he had cut himself so much making a blood offering to their foul god. But the rest of them screamed and pranced and made a racket to wake the dead.
And nothing ever happened. Not even a spark.
It was getting dark and Elijah turns to us and tells us to help him rebuild the Alter of GOD.
I tell you, he didn't have to ask twice. We got right to it and had that thing in fine shape in no time. And then we dug his hole around it so it was hard to even get to the altar.
I think Elijah enjoyed killing that bull and cutting it up. Then he threw it on the altar with a flourish and turned back to us.
We almost broke our own necks carrying out his order to dump water all over it.
That image is burned into my brain. The Prophet, half covered in blood, still holding that big knife, his eyes blazing with some inner fire, if he had told me to fly to the moon I would have gotten there instead of risking disappointing him.
Water was running off the altar, the wood was soaking wet, so was I. The soil that had been bone dry around the place was mud. Some had even splashed on Elijah, so now he was dripping water and blood as he lifted his hands toward Heaven, calling on the GOD of our fathers.
When GOD answered Elijah's prayer I looked over at the King.
He was stunned, his face blank, his jaw hanging open to where you could count his teeth.
The fire took everything.
The stones, the wood, the bull. It even dried our clothes. The dirt was as if it had never seen water.
We all fell flat on the ground shouting praise and glory to GOD.
Except Elijah.
You'd have thought that he was congratulating a friend that had just won a race or something. He smiled and nodded. Then he turned to the King. And grinned.
We took the Baalites down to the river and Elijah did them in.
Then it rained and broke the drought Elijah had ordered.
And the people regarded Elijah as a true Prophet saying the Hand of GOD was on him, and my synagogue couldn't hold all the people that came to worship... but the Queen was livid and Elijah had to flee...
But you know all that...

end Levite

selah

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