Bible in art · 1 Kings

The Rival Sacrifices of Elijah and the Priests of Baal

Augustin Hirschvogel · 1548
National Gallery of Art, Washington

Augustin Hirschvogel, a German artist working in Vienna, etched this scene in 1548 for a series pairing Old and New Testament stories. Under each picture he printed the chapter and four rhyming lines in German; they are cropped here.

Elijah kneels with his hands raised before his altar, where tall flames rise from the bull and water fills the channel around it. At the left the prophets of Baal stand by their own unlit altar, and on the right the king and his people watch. On a hilltop, two small figures pray as rain begins to fall.

From the text

Elijah built an altar and dug a trench around it (1 Kings 18:32)
“The fire of the LORD fell and consumed the sacrifice” and licked up the water in the trench (1 Kings 18:38)
The people “fell facedown” (1 Kings 18:39)
Elijah on the summit of Carmel “put his face between his knees” before the rain (1 Kings 18:42–45)

The artist’s own

Two moments in one picture — the fire and, on the hill, the prayer for rain
Ahab crowned and robed like a German prince
A plain square altar of cut stones (the text speaks of twelve stones, 1 Kings 18:31)

Details

Elijah

He kneels with both hands raised.

Fire on the altar

Tall flames rise around the bull on the wood.

The trench

A channel of water runs round the altar.

Baal’s altar

The other prophets stand by their altar; nothing burns.

The king

A crowned man watches with the crowd.

Praying for rain

On a hilltop one figure bows low, another lifts his arms; rain falls.

Augustin Hirschvogel, German, 1503–1553. National Gallery of Art, Washington (Rosenwald Collection, 1950.17.130) · Etching · NGA Open Access: "Images of these works are available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial, under Creative Commons Zero (CC0)." (NGA open data: published_images.csv openaccess = 1)

The verses

1 Kgs 18:30–39Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people approached him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD that had been torn down. And Elijah took twelve stones, one for each tribe of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come and said, “Israel shall be your name.” And with the stones, Elijah built an altar in the name of the LORD. Then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. Next, he arranged the wood, cut up the bull, placed it on the wood, and said, “Fill four waterpots and pour the water on the offering and on the wood.” “Do it a second time,” he said, and they did it a second time. “Do it a third time,” he said, and they did it a third time. So the water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench. At the time of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet approached the altar and said, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and have done all these things at Your command. Answer me, O LORD! Answer me, so that this people will know that You, the LORD, are God, and that You have turned their hearts back again.” Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and it licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell facedown and said, “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!”

1 Kgs 18:42–45So Ahab went up to eat and drink. But Elijah climbed to the summit of Carmel, bent down on the ground, and put his face between his knees. “Go and look toward the sea,” he said to his servant. So the servant went and looked, and he said, “There is nothing there.” Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.” On the seventh time the servant reported, “There is a cloud as small as a man’s hand rising from the sea.” And Elijah replied, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’” Meanwhile, the sky grew dark with clouds and wind, and a heavy rain began to fall. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel.

See it at the museum’s site