Glimpses of Israel - Water At The Place of Sacrifice on Mt Carmel

by Joseph Hunting

About seventeen miles inland from the coast at Haifa, on the mountain ridge known as Mt. Carmel, there is a natural amphitheatre known as the Place of Sacrifice. It is highly probable that it was here the great miracle of Divine power was demonstrated in the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal.

An apparent problem in the Biblical narrative is the account of Elijah digging a trench round his altar and filling it with water. This is in spite of a severe drought that had extended over three and a half years. During that time king Ahab and his servants had searched the land for any sign of water or grass in order to graze the horses and mules that had survived.

The matter regarding an abundance of water on Mt. Carmel was solved for me when I visited the Place of Sacrifice in 1960. At that time Israel was in the grip of a severe drought with resultant water shortages. However, close by the Place of Sacrifice a shepherd was watering his flock of goats at a spring which had never been known to fail, even in times of drought.

Apart from the spring on Mt. Carmel there are other evidences in Israel in which the continued presence of water substantiates the truth of God's Word. Near Jericho Elisha's spring still gushes forth cool fresh water, and the pool of Siloam also verifies the account in Scripture that Hezekiah's engineers constructed a tunnel from the Gihon spring to bring water to Jerusalem in time of siege.