How did god defeat the priests of baal through elijah?

And to refuse to believe in Him is to refuse the eternal life which he offers as the sacrificial Lamb and the Bread of life. Therefore, to accept the gift of вЂThe Bread of LifeвЂ™ which only Jesus offers, we have to first of all accept that Jesus was more than human.

Hence, the Jews were absolutely mistaken in their opinion. However, the good news remains, that, Jesus is not just human but God-man for the sake of our salvation. And Jesus could not give them that which was infinitely greater than the manna their ancestors ate in the desert. If Jesus were simply human (as they misconceived), certainly Jesus could not be вЂthe Bread of life from heavenвЂ™. Well, they would have been so correct, if that was all about Jesus. Why? Because they claimed to know JesusвЂ™ family background and were convinced that he did not come down from heaven. Today, they murmured about JesusвЂ™ claim of to be the вЂBread of LifeвЂ™ that comes down from heaven. It was all MosesвЂ™ fault, they said angrily and nearly stoned him. They murmured on their way to the Promise Land when they had no bread, or no meat, or no water. They easily murmur, as many of us do today, at any slightest challenging situation. The Hebrews of old, as we know, were given to murmuring, especially those who lived in the times of Moses during the Exodus event. However, if care is not taken, we can even miss or refuse this вЂBread of lifeвЂ™ like the Jews of old who murmured and complained today about JesusвЂ™ claim to be the Bread of Life that comes down from heaven. And, as the bread with which Elijah was fed serves as a divine provision to sustain him on the long journey ahead, in like manner, the bread of the Eucharist which Jesus offers his disciples sustains us on the journey to our eternal heavenly home. TodayвЂ™s first reading (1Kg 19:4-8) therefore, relates how God woke Elijah up through an angel and fed him with a mysterious bread which recalls the manna that the Israelites ate in the wilderness on their way to the Promise Land and it as well foretells the Eucharistic bread which Jesus will give for our spiritual journey.Д®lijahвЂ™s solitary journey in the wilderness is likened to our own daily faith journey, in which sometimes we grow wearied and depressed. Certainly, fear and depression can diffuse oneвЂ™s inner strength. One wonders here, how a man who fearlessly challenged and killed about 450 false prophets of Baal, is now running away in fear from a single woman -Jezebel queen of Baal.

On hearing this, Elijah was scared, and he fled for his life, taking a long journey into the wilderness where he felt tired and depressed and finally got into a deep sleep.

This infuriated Jezebel (the wife of king Ahab) who introduced the worship of Baal to Israel from her foreign country of Moab, and she then sought to kill Elijah. After that, Elijah ordered the slaughter of all the false prophets of Baal, who numbered about four hundred and fifty. Elijah proved to the people that, Yahweh was the only true God, when Yahweh answered him through the consuming fire. The prelude to the first reading is the remarkable event recorded in 1Kgs.18 about the defeat of the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel.

And in the Gospel reading, Jesus continues to further his teaching on the Eucharist following his earlier miracle of the loaves. In the first reading of this Sunday we see the account of how God, through an angel, fed the Prophet Elijah with bread to strengthen him for his long journey in the wilderness. вЂ“ By Fr Damian Ikemefuna Ozokwere, C.S.Sp.

How did god defeat the priests of baal through elijah?