Mount Carmel is the biblical site where Elijah, the prophet, challenged the prophets of Baal to a contest. In my own words, Elijah said…. “Let’s each build an altar and prepare a sacrifice. I will build an altar to my God, and you build an altar to Baal. We will each call on our God, and the God who sends fire to consume the sacrifice will be known as the One True God.”
We traveled to Carmel and visited a Carmelite Monastery.
The grounds has a monument depicting the results of this biblical event.
The Bible says God consumed the sacrifice, and Elijah cut down Baal’s prophets. I think the sculptor depicted the meaning of, “cut down” pretty well.
The monastery has a small, simple chapel with ten backless benches. Our little group of 32 filled it up and listened to Said, our tour guide, as he reminded us of the story.
Then we climbed some stairs to a rooftop viewing platform. At the time of the account of Elijah on Mt. Carmel, the land was experiencing a severe drought, and people would have been able to see for miles; however, we were NOT experiencing a drought! We were blessed to experience only a little rain during our tour, but the clouds kept us from seeing for miles today.
It was pretty cool that they had signs along the base of the guardrail so people could know the locations they were viewing.
This is a view of the Jezreel Valley.
We spent a little more time on site at the small gift shop, taking a restroom break, and walking around the gardens.
Our next stop will be Haifa, Israel.