Baal was the chief god of the Phoenician and Canaanitish nations. He was the sun-god, and in him the people worshiped the sun. His worship to some extent had found a place among the people of God before the time of Samuel, (Judges 2:10-13; 10:10) but under the guidance of Samuel his worship was wholly forsaken by Israel, and they followed and "served the Lord only." (1 Samuel 7:4)
Two hundred years pass by, to the accession of Ahab, before Israel turns again to the worship of Baal. Ahab is introduced thus: "And in the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel: and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years. And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshiped him. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him." (1 Kings 16:29-33)
This very supremacy of wickedness reached by Ahab was through the alliance formed with Jezebel. Taking her to wife was considered by the Lord as worse than walking in the wicked ways of all before him. As stated above, "as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam...he took to wife Jezebel." (1 Kings 16:31)
And when he had taken Jezebel for his wife, his queen, and put himself thus in her power, then he had literally sold himself to work evil. And thus the matter is summed up by the graphic writer of the Kings: "But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up." (1 Kings 21:25)
Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal ("Baal with him") priest of Baal and Astarte, and king of Tyre and Zidon. Tyre was the chief seat of the Baal-worship, and there was a magnificent temple devoted to his worship, and when Jezebel became the wife of Ahab she deliberately set herself to establish his licentious worship among all Israel. The most of the people were idolaters already; but the calf-worship, established by Jeroboam, was in the name of the Lord. With him the calf-worship was more a political measure than anything else. He set up the calves to keep the people from going to Jerusalem to worship the Lord, through fear that if they should go there to worship, the kingdom would turn again to Rehoboam. So to prevent this apparent danger to his kingdom, he set up the calves, saying: "Behold your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt." (1 Kings 12:28)
This worship, idolatrous as it was, and bad as it was, had yet this merit, that it was at least in the name of Jehovah, and the people in their worship, mistaken though it was, still at least pretended to worship the Lord.
But this was not enough for Jezebel. It was not enough that idolatry should abound; Baal must be the idol. Nor was it enough that one god should be worshiped; Baal--the sun--must be that one. It was not enough that some, or even most, of the people should worship the sun; they must all do it. So she set on foot a systematic attempt to absolutely suppress the true worship of the Lord, and by Baal to supplant the true God.
Nor was it enough for her that all should, if possible, be persuaded to adopt the service of Jezebel and Baal, they must be compelled, under penalty of death to do it. Accordingly she began to cut off all who clung to the worship of Jehovah. By these energetic measures she brought the condition of affairs to the point where there were only 7,000 out of all Israel that had not bowed the knee to Baal; and these only escaped by taking refuge in dens and caves of the earth, and were so widely scattered that Elijah thought that he was the only one left alive.
Thus matters stood when the voice of the Lord came to Elijah saying: "Go show yourself unto Ahab." (1 Kings 18:1)
Elijah went and said to Ahab: "Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table." (1 Kings 18:19)
Ahab did so, "And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long do you halt between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him." (1 Kings 18:21)
The question was not, whether they should worship God. The question was,
"Who is the true God?"
The question was not whether they should worship or not worship; all were ready and willing to worship. But the question was,
"Whom shall we worship?"
Would they have another god before Jehovah? or would they have Him and Him alone, according to His own commandments.
The first commandment was the one that was involved in the controversy in the days of Elijah.
"Should God be worshiped? or should Baal?"
In last week's lesson we learned that that people who shall be alive on the earth, and who when the Lord comes, shall be translated as Elijah was, will be brought to a like test as to whom they will worship. They will have to decide whether they will worship the beast and his image or whether they will worship God. The word of God says: "If any man worship the beast and his image ... The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God ... here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." (Revelation 14:9-10,12)
And in Revelation 15:2, we learn that those who keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus, get "the victory over the beast and over his image, and ... stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God." (Revelation 15:2)
Anyone who fairly studies the subject cannot fail to see that the following is the truth. The "beast" is the papal power. The "image to the beast" will be the United States Government when the National Reform party shall have succeeded in forming here the union of Church and State for the purpose of compelling everybody to keep Sunday (the day of the sun) as Jezebel in the days of Elijah compelled the people to worship the image of the sun.
And as the Sunday institution was established by the papacy--the beast--and is set forth as the sign of her authority; so when, after the similitude of the papal church, the National Reform party unites, in this country, Church and State, for the express purpose of compelling all the people to keep Sunday--an institution of the beast, the papal church--then to keep that day will be to worship the beast and his image.
We say that then to keep Sunday will be to worship the beast and his image. Because absolutely the only authority for Sunday keeping is the Church of Rome, and when we yield obedience to any power that enforces that authority, we then become servants to that power, for, "know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey?" (Romans 6:16)
What then shall we do? The Bible tells. When the beast and his image are enforcing their own worship, the Lord says: "Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." (Revelation 14:12)
True the National Reform party pretends that it is the ten commandments to which they are going to compel obedience. But not one of the ten commandments says a word about keeping Sunday. Oh, but the fourth commandment says: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy;" (Exodus 20:8) and they will have it that Sunday is the Sabbath. But that is not true; that same commandment which says, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," says also, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God." (Exodus 20:10)
The National Reform party and everybody else knows that Sunday is not the seventh day. Therefore when they seek to compel people to keep Sunday, that is not obedience to the commandment of God. And in opposition to that very thing the Lord sends His own word: "Here are they that keep the commandments of God, etc." (Revelation 14:12)
The time is coming, and now is, when the people shall hear the message of God, "saying with a loud voice, ... If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation. ... Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." (Revelation 14:7,9-10,12)
In obedience to that message from God, the test will be as strict as was that in the day of Elijah; and the question for decision will be:
• "If the Lord be God, follow Him;" but if the Church of Rome, then follow her.
• If the authority of God be binding, obey Him; but if the authority of the papal church be binding, then obey her.
• If the commandment of God should be kept, which says, "The seventh day is the Sabbath," then keep it; but if the commandment of the Romish Church should be kept, which says we must observe Sunday "instead of the Sabbath," then keep it.
And thus it must be decided whether we will "worship Him that made the Heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters;" or whether we will "worship the beast and his image."
Thus we find another parallel in the experience of Elijah and of those who must be translated as was he. In the next lesson (See Article 16 in this section, "The Lord, He Is the God.") we shall see another.--Signs of the Times, August 6, 1885--Notes on the International Lesson, August 9--Original title: If the Lord Be God, Follow Him; but if Baal, Then Follow Him--1 Kings 18:19-29
A.T. Jones