From Muhraka on Mt. Carmel, one can see what is meant by the reference to mountains and valleys in Deuteronomy 11: 10-12

"For the land, into which you are entering to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you used to sow your seed and water it with your foot like a vegetable garden. But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven, a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year."

The contest on Mt. Carmel relates to the following passage (Deut. 11: 13-17):

"It shall come about, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the LORD your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul, that He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil. He will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods and worship them. Or the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and He will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its fruit; and you will perish quickly from the good land which the LORD is giving you.

These words present the covenant between God and Israel -- and for the first time very much in agricultural terms. The words appear often in Jewish ritual. Pious Jews recite them twice a day. 
A scribe writes them on a small piece of parchment, which is placed in a container and nailed to the doorpost of the house. This is called a mezuzah.

The notion of divine justice first enunciated in Deuteronomy 11, that God will reward the good and punish the wicked, has been definitive for Western culture.

Next:   Elijah on Carmel: the geopolitical background

Mt Carmel and Elijah

The covenant as background

The geopolitical background

The text of 1 Kings 18

Epilogue and comment

© 2003 Near East Tourist Agency (NET)

Text © 2003 Stephen Langfur