1 Kings 18:33 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Kings 18:33
And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood.
to set in a row · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
wood
הָֽעֵצִ֑יםha.'e.Tzim
H6086
a tree (from its firmness) · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
order
עָרַךְʻârak
H6186
to set in a row
cut
וַיְנַתַּח֙vay.na.Tach
H5408
to dismember · conjunction + verb, piel sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
bullock
הַפָּ֔רha.Par
H6499
a bullock (apparently as breaking forth in wild strength · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
laid
וַיָּ֖שֶׂםvai.Ya.sem
H7760
to put (used in a great variety of applications · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
wood
הָעֵצִֽיםha.'e.Tzim
H6086
a tree (from its firmness) · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
said
וַיֹּ֗אמֶרvai.Yo.mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Fill
מִלְא֨וּmil.'U
H4390
to fill or (intransitively) be full of · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
four
אַרְבָּעָ֤ה'ar.ba.'Ah
H702
four · noun, common both genders singular absolute
barrels
כַדִּים֙kha.Dim
H3537
properly · noun, common masculine plural absolute
water
מַ֔יִםMa.yim
H4325
water · noun, common masculine plural absolute
pour
וְיִֽצְק֥וּve.yitz.Ku
H3332
properly · conjunction + verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
sacrifice
הָעֹלָ֖הha.'o.Lah
H5930
a step or (collectively · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
wood
הָעֵצִ֑יםha.'e.Tzim
H6086
a tree (from its firmness) · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Genesis 22:9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son,…
Leviticus 1:6-8 And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces.
Judges 6:20 And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did…
Daniel 3:19 Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: therefore he spake, a…
Daniel 3:25 He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like…
John 11:39-40 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath bee…
John 19:33-34 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 18:21-40
Ahab and the people expected that Elijah would, in this solemn assembly, bless the land, and pray for rain; but he had other work to do first. The people must be brought to repent and reform, and then they may look for the removal of the judgment, but not till then. This is the right method. God will first prepare our heart, and then cause his ear to hear, will first turn us to him, and then turn to us, Psa 10:17; Psa 80:3. Deserters must not look for God's favour till they return to their allegiance. Elijah might have looked for rain seventy times seven times, and not have seen it, if he had not thus begun his work at the right end. Three years and a half's famine would not bring them back…
Elijah said unto all the people, How long halt ye?--They had long been attempting to conjoin the service of God with that of Baal. It was an impracticable union and the people were so struck with a sense of their own folly, or dread of the king's displeasure, that they "answered not a word." Elijah proposed to decide for them the controversy between God and Baal by an appeal, not to the authority of the law, for that would have no weight, but by a visible token from Heaven. As fire was the element over which Baal was supposed to preside, Elijah proposed that two bullocks should be slain and placed on separate altars of wood, the one for Baal, and the other for God. On whichever the fire shou…
Fill four barrels - This was done to prevent any kind of suspicion that there was fire concealed under the altar. An ancient writer under the name of Chrysostom, quoted by Calmet, says that he had seen under the altars of the heathens, holes dug in the earth with funnels proceeding from them, and communicating with openings on the tops of the altars. In the former the priests concealed fire, which, communicating through the funnels with the holes, set fire to the wood and consumed the sacrifice; and thus the simple people were led to believe that the sacrifice was consumed by a miraculous fire. Elijah showed that no such knavery could be practiced in the present case. Had there been a concea…
The Church Fathers
And what is the source of your belief that Elijah who is to come will baptize? Did he not even baptize the wood on the altar in the times of Ahab, when it required a bath that it might be burned up when the Lord appeared in fire? He commanded the priests to do this, and not only once, for he says, "Do it a second time, when also they did it a second time," and "Do it a third time, when also they did it a third time." How, then, will he who did not himself baptize at that time, but gave the task to others, baptize when he has come in fulfillment of the things said by Malachi? Christ, therefore, does not baptize in water, but his disciples. He reserves for himself the act of baptizing with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Moreover, if anyone has not been baptized, let him be converted all the more securely by receiving the remission of his sins, [so that baptism] as a kind of fire may consume his sins, because Christ baptizes in fire and spirit. Hence, you read of this type in the books of Kings, where Elijah placed wood upon the altar and told them to pour water on it from urns. "And he said, 'Do the same the second time.' And they did it the second time. And he said, 'Do the same also the third time,' " and when the water dripped about, Elijah prayed, and fire descended from heaven. You, O mortal, are on an altar, you who are purified by water and whose sin is burned out that life may be renewed; for fire consumes wood and stubble. Do not fear the fire through which you are enlightened. Therefore it is said to you, "Come to him to be enlightened." Take up the yoke of Christ; do not fear because it is a yoke; hasten because it is light. It does not bruise the neck but adorns it. Why do you hesitate, why do you delay? It does not bind the neck with chains but unites the mind by grace.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Carmel — A park; generally with the article, “the park.” (1.) A prominent headland of Central Palestine, consisting of several connected hills extending from the plain of Esdraelon to the sea, a distance of…
Elijah — Whose God is Jehovah. (1.) “The Tishbite,” the “Elias” of the New Testament, is suddenly introduced to our notice in 1 Kings 17:1 as delivering a message from the Lord to Ahab. There is mention made…
Ahab · .Reproved by Elijah; assembles the prophets of Baal — .Reproved by Elijah; assembles the prophets of Baal
Barrel · An earthen jar — An earthen jar
Carmel · prophets — prophets
Prayer · .Prayer test proposed by Elijah — .Prayer test proposed by Elijah
Priests · On special occasions persons not of Aaron’s family acted as — On special occasions persons not of Aaron’s family acted as
Revivals · .Elijah — .Elijah
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood,.... Just in such manner as sacrifices usually were:
and said, fill four barrels with water; either from the brook Kishon, or, if that was dried up, from the sea; for both were near this mountain, and so to be had, though a time of drought:
and pour it on the burnt sacrifice; that which was intended to be one:
and upon the wood: wherewith it was to be burnt, and so made unfit for it; and which would make the miracle appear the greater, when fire came down and consumed it.
Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Kings 18:20–end
Elijah's contest with the prophets of Baal. - Ahab sent through all Israel and gathered the prophets (of Baal) together upon Mount Carmel. According to Kg1 18:21, Kg1 18:22, and Kg1 18:39, a number of the people ("all the people") had also come with them. On the other hand, not only is there no further reference in what follows to the 400 prophets of Asherah (cf. Kg1 18:25 and Kg1 18:40), but in Kg1 18:22 it is very obvious that the presence of the 450 prophets of Baal alone is supposed. We must therefore assume that the Asherah prophets, foreboding nothing good, had found a way of evading the command of Ahab and securing the protection of Jezebel.
(Note: It is true that in Kg1 18:22 the lxx…
Elijah avoided any hint of deception by dousing the offering and the wood with great quantities of water, perhaps taken from the nearby Mediterranean Sea or Kishon River.
Rashi on 1 Kings 18:32
A ditch. Fosse, in O.F.
Which would contain two se’ah. Its width [i.e., capacity] was as great as to hold two se’ah,13 82:5. [i.e.,] one hundred amohs by fifty amohs,14An area that accommodates the sowing of two se’ah of seed. like [the area of] the Tabernacle’s courtyard.15Alternatively, an area whose dimensions are 50 amohs by 50 amohs.—Radak
