Page 237 - Through New Eyes

236 THROUGH NEW EYES

had not lit (Leviticus 9:24; 10:1-2; 2 Chronicles 7:1). On this oc-
casion, however, God sent His own fire from heaven to consume
Elijah’s sacrifices (1 Kings 18:38).
Elijah’s altar was a model of God’s kingdom. First of all, it
was a symbol of the religious body politic of Israel, both north
and south:

And Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the
tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had
come, saying “Israel shall be your name .“ So with the stones he
built an altar in the name of the Lord (1 Kings 18:31-32a).

As a cosmic model, the altar had a trench around it (for
Gehenna, or the Abyss). Wood was put at the top, to be burned
for the sacrifice of course, but also as a sign of God’s arboraceous
garden (VV. 32-33). The burnt offering on the wood reminds us
of the animals in the Garden.
Then Elijah poured water all over the burnt offering and
wood. Why? Not just to make it harder for God to light the sac-
rifice. Remember, Elijah offered this sacrifice after three years of
drought (1 Kings 17:1; 18:1). The water pouring over the altar
was a sign of rain pouring over the holy mountain of Israel,
which of course was what happened that very day (VV. 41-45).
The water washed over the altar and filled the Gehenna-trench.
Just so, as it rained the brook Kishon filled with water and flushed
the dead bodies of the prophets of Baa.1 out of the holy land and
into the sea, cleansing the land (v. 40).
Elijah’s altar speaks clearly of the cosmic significance of the
altar. The four elements found in the Garden of Eden – trees,
animals, water, and priest — are all present here. The destruction
of the altar by God’s fire substituted for the destruction of the
world represented by the altar: “Then the fire of the Lord fell,
and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones
and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench .“
When we remember that the stones represented Israel, and that
man is made of dust, we see that the destruction of this altar and
its components signified the destruction of the world. The altar
received the wrath that Israel deserved. The water on the altar
was dried up, so that water could once again come to the land.
Thus Israel was spared the judgment of God.