Page:PracticalCommentaryOnHolyScripture.djvu/311

 the earth.”  The  prophet  obeyed. When Achab  saw  him,  he  said: “Art thou  he  that  troublest  Israel?”  The  prophet  answered:  “I have not  troubled  Israel,  but  thou  and  thy  father’s  house,  who have forsaken  the  Commandments  of  the  Lord  and  followed  Baalim. Nevertheless send  now  and  gather  unto  me  all  Israel  unto  Mount Carmel (Fig.  49),  and  the  prophets  of  Baal,  four  hundred  and fifty, and  the  prophets  of  the  groves,  four  hundred.”

Achab obeyed,  being  afraid  to  do  otherwise,  on  account  of the  famine  that  was  everywhere,  and  he  went  himself  to  the mountain. Then Elias  spoke  to  the  people  of  Israel  saying:  “How