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From: 1 Kings 18:41-46

The drought ends

[41] And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of the
rushing of rain.” [42] So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to
the top of Carmel; and he bowed himself down upon the earth, and put his face
between his knees. [43] And he said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward
the sea.” And he went up and looked, and said, “There is nothing.” And he said,
“Go again seven times.” [44[ And at the seventh time he said, “Behold, a little
cloud like a man’s hand is rising out of the sea.” And he said, “Go up, say to
Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.’” [45] And in a
little while the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great
rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. [46] And the hand of the Lord was on
Elijah; and he girded up his loins and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

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Commentary:

18:41-46 This scene shows once again the effectiveness of Elijah’s prayer (v.
42). Here his prayer is grounded on the fact that what he desires has already
been granted (he can hear the rain long before it arrives). He puts his faith in
God, and he persists in his prayer (seven times he sends his servant, such is
his confidence).

Elijah praying on top of Mount Carmel can be taken as a type and figure of our
Lord Jesus Christ: “Elijah prayed and offered sacrifice, and Christ offered him-
self as a perfect sacrifice for the whole world. Elijah prayed on Mount Carmel,
Jesus Christ on the Mount of Olives. Elijah prayed that rain might fall on the
earth; Christ that divine grace might flow into human hearts. Elijah’s command
to his servant: ‘Go up and look out seven times’, is a foreshadowing of the se-
venfold grace of the Holy Spirit to be given to the Church. And the small cloud
rising up out of the sea that the servant saw is a symbol of the incarnate Christ
born in the sea of this world” (Sermons attributed to St Augustine, Sermons,
40, 5).

Mount Carmel has also been a focus of Christian spirituality, especially from
the time in the twelfth century when hermits began to live there, later becoming
an order dedicated to the contemplative life, under the patronage of the Virgin
Mary. The little cloud discerned by the prophet’s servant has rightly been seen
as a figure of the Blessed Virgin, for just as the cloud brought abundant rain to
make the earth fruitful, so, too, the Virgin Mary, the humble handmaid of the
Lord, gave birth to Christ through whom the grace and mercy of God are poured
out abundantly on the whole world.

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.