Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 18:39
And when all the people saw [it], they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he [is] the God; the LORD, he [is] the God.
39. And when all the people saw it, they fell ] The LXX. simply says ‘And all the people fell.’ Josephus describes the reaction thus, ‘They fell upon the ground and worshipped the one God, calling Him most mighty and true, while the others were but names devised by wrong and senseless opinion.’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The Lord, he is the God – The people thus pronounced the matter to be clearly and certainly decided. Baal was overthrown; he was proved to be no god at all. The Lord Yahweh, He, and He alone, is God. Him would they henceforth acknowledge, and no other.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Ki 18:39
All the people . . . said, The Lord, He is the God.
Christianity acknowledged supreme
In the Introduction to his Analogy of Religion, Bishop Butler says: It has come to pass–I know not how–that Christianity is discovered to be victorious. Why, that was nearly two hundred years ago! I wonder how many books have been written against the Bible since then, and handed up, one after the other, to the cobwebs of the upper shelves in the library, while the old Book still lies before us, saying with a conscious sense of superiority to all the other books–
Books may come and books may go,
But I go on for ever.
A reformers temporary successes
There was a time, towards the close of the fifteenth century, when the devoted monk and martyr, Savonarola, seemed to have set up the kingdom of Christ in his beloved city of Florence. How he remodelled the Republican government; how he tamed the mischievous boys of the city; how at his bidding the people kindled in the great Piazza, during the Carnival of 1496, the strange Bonfire of Vanities; how the watchword of Florence became, Viva Gesu Cristo, nostro Re–Long live Jesus Christ, our King: there are few histories like it. It was an Italian theocracy. It was a day of heaven on the earth. So much joy was there in all hearts, one of the chroniclers tells us, that the glory of Paradise seemed to have descended to this lower world. The pity is that the Golden Age of Florence was so transient and brief-lived. (Sunday School Teacher.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 39. Fell on their faces] Struck with awe and reverence at the sight of this incontestable miracle.
And they said] We should translate the words thus: JEHOVAH, He is the God! JEHOVAH, He is the God! Baal is not the God; Jehovah alone is the God of Israel.
As our term Lord is very equivocal, we should every where insert the original word , which we should write Yeve or Yeheveh, or Yahvah or Yehueh, or, according to the points, Yehovah.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
They fell on their faces, in way of acknowledgment and adoration of the true God.
He is the God; he alone; and Baal is a dull and senseless idol. And they double the words, to note their abundant satisfaction and assurance of the truth of their assertion.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces,…. In reverence of God, astonished at the miracle wrought, ashamed of themselves and their sins, particularly their idolatry, that they should turn their backs on the true God, and follow idols:
and they said, the Lord, he is the God, the Lord, he is the God; which acknowledgment of God, as the true God, in opposition to Baal, is repeated, to show their firm belief and strong assurance of it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(39) They fell on their faces.Exactly as in Lev. 9:24, at the inauguration of the sacrifices of the new Tabernacle by the fire from heaven, with the characteristic addition of the cry, Jehovah; He, and He only, is God.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
39. Fell on their faces Overwhelmed with the convincing display of Divine power and glory.
The Lord, he is the God Better, Jehovah, he is the God! The God; that is, the only God, for Baal had failed to prove himself a god at all.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
(39) And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.
No doubt such a demonstration carried conviction to every heart; though it is to be feared that it did not carry conversion to many an heart that was present. Had Ahab felt as he ought, he must have dreaded lest the fire which consumed the sacrifice should have consumed him also. But alas! it is one thing to say, The Lord he is the God, and even to repeat it; and another to say, This God is our God, forever and ever, he shall be our guide even unto death. Reader! can you say this. Psa 48:14 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
1Ki 18:39 And when all the people saw [it], they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he [is] the God; the LORD, he [is] the God.
Ver. 39. The Lord, he is the God. ] This was to give God a testimonial; this was to “set to their seals that God was true.” Joh 3:33
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
they fell: Jdg 13:20, 1Ch 21:16, 2Ch 7:3
The Lord: 1Ki 18:21, 1Ki 18:24, Joh 5:35, Act 2:37, Act 4:16
Reciprocal: Gen 2:4 – Lord Gen 17:3 – General Lev 9:24 – they shouted Num 14:5 – General Jos 22:34 – Ed 1Ki 8:60 – the Lord 1Ki 18:45 – there was 2Ki 19:15 – thou art the God Psa 94:16 – rise up Psa 118:27 – God Jer 10:10 – the Lord Jer 14:22 – Art Luk 5:12 – fell
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Ki 18:39. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces In acknowledgment and adoration of the true God; and all, as one man, cried out, Jehovah, he is the God He alone; and Baal is a senseless idol. And they repeated the words to signify their abundant satisfaction, and assurance of the truth of their assertion. And some, we may hope, had their hearts so turned back as to be determined that he should be their God, and that they would serve him only, Jos 24:24. But it is certain the generality of them were convinced only, not converted; they yielded to the truth of God, that he is the God, but consented not to his covenant that he should be their God. Blessed are they, who have not seen what they saw, and yet have believed, and been influenced more than they that saw it.