Ahav the King goes to meet the prophet. He did not stand on royal pomp and ceremony and demand that Eliyahu come to the palace to see him. He probably knew full well that even if such an invitation or even a royal decree of such an order were issued that Eliyahu would adamantly refuse both. Eliyahu knew well his safety depended upon his distance from the military forces loyal to Ahav. There would be at least one errant soldier who would have been willing to slay Eliyahu to gain favor. Granted, Eliyahu might have been able to have stopped one or two or maybe even Ahav's whole army, nonetheless, he chose no such path of confrontation. Eliyahu's message to Ahav through Ovadiah was simple; come meet me out in neutral territory, without your guards and military. Now, one should not think that the King of Israel would travel without a military entourage, for he most certainly must have. Still, these soldiers were the King's most trusted. If he gave orders not to harm Eliyahu, the King would be certain that these soldiers would listen. So Ahav was safe and so was Eliyahu. With these details settled, the meeting proceeded.

And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah that Ahab said to him: 'Is that you, the trouble maker of Israel?' And be answered: 'I have not troubled Israel; but you and your father's house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of HaShem, and have followed the Baalim. (1 Melakhim 18:17)

Upon encountering Eliyahu, Ahav is not at a loss for words. He immediately opens up with a verbal assault and insults Eliyahu in a very demeaning way. Not to be bested, Eliyahu returns in like kind and insults both Ahav and his family. Needless to say that Eliyahu spoke the truth, still this is not the way a normal person would address a king. A normal person who addressed a king in this fashion would have immediately forfeited his life. We can see that in Ahav's eyes Eliyahu was no mere regular person and that an insult levied by him is one that is just going to have to be tolerated.

Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel to Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the Asherah four hundred, that eat at Jezebel's table. (1 Melakhim 18:18)

Now Eliyahu launches his secret master plan. He suggests a good "old fashion" showdown. It is going to be a contest of my G-d verses your god. Eliyahu is planning a real sound and light show that is sure to impress anyone and everyone who sees it. He called for the gathering of a total of 850 so-called prophets; 450 who worship the male god called here Baal and 400 who worshiped the female god called here Ashera. Eliyahu wanted to be comprehensive in his show of force and to overwhelmingly convince the public that neither of these foreign spiritual expressions was worth the time or support of the people.

And Ahab called to all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. And Elijah came near to all the people, and said: 'How long will you be split between two opinions? If HaShem be G-d, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.' And the people answered him not a word. (1 Melakhim 18:19)

Eliyahu is most likely well known by the majority of the people. Either they would have heard about him due to their sympathies to HaShem and Torah or they would have heard about him in a negative fashion if they were of the camp that was anti-traditional Israeli. One way or another, rather than preach to them and to admonish them to be faithful to Torah, Eliyahu offers the people a choice. In ancient days, when the people's lives were full of fears and superstitions about gods, spirits and demons, the issue of choosing between gods was not at all odd as if such a thing were attempted today.

Eliyahu's proposal seemed simple and direct in the eyes of the people. Never did Eliyahu suggest that the other gods were false idols and that the worship of them was completely worthless. Rather than just talk, Eliyahu wanted to take action and to show the people for themselves what is what. He never once said the gods did not exist or that they were a myth. Not only did he not say this, he might not have believed it either. Eliyahu knew well the various spirits present in the land at that time and it is very possible that the so-called Baalim that the people would worship were either actual earth spirits, demonic entities, fallen angels or a number of other actual spiritual forces. Nonetheless, whatever the truth of their identities may be, they were still in the end created beings subservient to the Creator, and certainly none of them were to G-d of Israel. They were muzzling in on HaShem's territory trying to steal away Israelite souls. HaShem didn't like that, so it was time to act.

Now, Eliyahu could have simply called down fire from Heaven to destroy all the false prophets, but this in and of itself would not have proven anything. Many would have walked away and said that HaShem did not give the false prophets enough time for their god to come and fight. And that had the prophets called upon their god then he/she/it would have given HaShem a hard time. Now, as silly as this might sound to us, in those days this is how the people thought. Eliyahu made a challenge of G-d verses god and the people were dumbfounded. It is not like such a contest happened on any regular basis. Indeed, such a spiritual sound and light show was unique. They were all silenced into shock. Still, the offer was too good to refuse. So, the contest proceeded. Mind you, we do not have recorded how the false prophets felt about being drafted into this challenge. They too may have embraced it; then again, they might have wanted to avoid it like the plague, but once Eliyahu spoke, they had no choice but to comply. Indeed, they were set up, the question is, did they know it?

Then said Elijah to the people: 'I, even I only, am left a prophet of HaShem; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. (1 Melakhim 18:20)

Now, Eliyahu knew very well that what he was saying now to the public was not completely accurate. Did not Ovadiah tell him not too long ago that there were one hundred sons of the prophets in hiding and perhaps many more hidden in other places by other people? All this may be true, but this was a secret truth known only to Eliyahu. From the public standpoint, they knew nothing of these secrets remnants and Eliyahu for sure was not going to betray their survival by revealing publicly that there were other prophets faithful to HaShem, but they were in hiding. Such a revelation might lead to public paranoia looking for prophets under every rock. Eliyahu thus protected their identities by publicly stating that which the public believed and not what the actual state of truth was. And, I might add, here he mentions the prophets of the male god Baal and not those of the female god Ashera. Why such a glaring omission is made, the text does not say.

Let them therefore give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under; and I will dress the other bull, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under. (1 Melakhim 18:21)

Eliyahu is giving some rather specific instructions here. He invites the false prophets to choose for themselves all the accoutrements of the sacrifice and that that he, Eliyahu would also accept what they picked for him. In this way, no one could accuse Eliyahu of cheating or stacking the deck in his own favor. The act of the sacrifice and laying the pieces on the altar was common practice in those days. The only obvious missing element was the fire to ignite the altar. The request seemed common enough for all to find agreeable. Little did the other so-called prophets realize how Eliyahu was setting them up. Remember, Eliyahu made his challenge and gave these instructions before the entire gathering of thousands of people. Once he laid down his challenge and instructions the false prophets could do nothing but to follow suit. If they had objected or refused, this would have been interpreted as a sign of weakness on their parts and the public would have ripped them to shreds. Needless to say, their status as a public religion would have been severely harmed and they would have lost almost all their financial backers. No religion can tolerate that, not those of the ancient past or those today.

And you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of HaShem; and the G-d who answers with fire, let him be G-d.' And all the people answered and said: 'It is well spoken.' (1 Melakhim 18:22)