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Mount Carmel - location profile

Location and Setting

• Mount Carmel (Hebrew: Karem El = "vineyard, plantation, garden land or fruit of God"), spans thirteen miles from its promontory, which juts out into the Mediterranean Sea at the Bay of Acco. Jeremiah compared the sight of thismountain to Nebuchadnezzar’s domineering rule over Egypt: "Surely one shall come who looms up like Tabor or like Carmel by the sea" (Jer 46:18).
• The range extends some thirty miles toward the southeast, its highest elevation of 1742 feet decreasing to the level of the plain east of Taanach. The range separates the Plain of Sharon on the west from the Jezreel (Megiddo) Valley on the east. Only three corridors, at Jokneam, Megiddo and Taanach, penetrated this natural barrier to the International Coastal Highway.
• The view from Mount Carmel is panoramic. One can see the Nazareth Ridge to the northeast, Mount Tabor and the Hill of Moreh to the east, and on the southeast, Mount Gilboa. Below Mount Carmel lies a vast fertile plain, the Plain of Jezreel.

Historical and Biblical Significance

• The Mount Carmel region was allotted to the tribe of Asher (Josh 19:26).
• For the prophets and the poets, Mount Carmel symbolized beauty. For instance, the bridegroom compared his lover’s head to Mount Carmel (Song 7:5). It also symbolized judgment on the beautiful. The prophets Amos and Nahum predicted that the Lord would dry up the vegetation on Mount Carmel (known for its proliferation and beauty), as a highly visible judgment on the apostasy of the Northern Kingdom (Amos 1:2; Nah 1:4).
• Mount Carmel is best known as the site of Elijah’s confrontation with the prophets of Baal. Located about halfway between Jezebel’s Sidon and Ahab’s Samaria, the site was well chosen for God to display of His superiority over the pagan god. Here, this dramatic demonstration climaxed when God honored Elijah’s challenge to Baal and hurled down fire to burn up his water-soaked sacrifice (1 Kgs 18:19-40). This event probably occurred in an amphitheater-like small plain near the base of the mountain, close to the Kishon stream. (The traditional site, known as El-Muhraqa, "the place of burning," is located at the top of the mountain above Jokneam.)
• The Kishon which drains the western part of the plain, flows northeast near the base of the mountain, emptying into the Bay of Acco. This stream would probably have been the source of the water Elijah poured on the sacrifice. Ironically, this was also the place where the prophet slew the prophets of Baal, who had led the apostasy for which God had sent three and a half years of drought.
• From the top of the mountain, one can look out over the blue Mediterranean Sea and observe the northwestern sky, the direction from which most of Israel’s rain comes. Elijah’s persistence in sending his servant seven times to look for rain was rewarded with his announcement, after those years of drought, "Behold a cloud as small as a man’s hand is coming up from the sea" (1 Kngs 43,44).
• Nearly nine hundred years later, another man wanted to call down fire from heaven, this time on the Samaritans he perceived as having insulted him and his Teacher with their refusal of hospitality. As Jesus and His disciples had crossed the plain on their last journey to Jerusalem, they probably entered Samaria at Ginae. From near there, Mount Carmel rises on the northwestern horizon, evoking memories of that time when God spoke with fire. Some in the area had even identified Jesus as Elijah (Matt 16:14) and only days before, John had met with Elijah himself on another mountain within sight of Mount Carmel. No doubt Elijah was very much on his mind! But the Samaritans were not prophets of Baal. In fact, Jesus would send His disciples to the Samaritans on their way to penetrate the world with the gospel (Acts 1:8). Later, John and Peter would return to Samaria to minister (Acts 8:14).

Bibliography

1. Bimson, John J., ed. Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Places. Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1995.
2. Kitchen, K. A. "Carmel" The New Bible Dictionary. 2^nd ed. Ed. J.D. Douglas. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1982.
3. Mare, W. H. "Carmel" The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. Ed. Merrill C. Tenney. 5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976.
4. Schlink, M. Basilea. "Mount Carmel and the Prophet Elijah." Darmstadt-Eberstadt, W. Germany: Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, 1988.