One defeats 450: the power of proof
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” 1984 That's the antithesis of the Jewish mesorah.
One of the most dramatic stories in Tanach was related in the haftorah for this past Shabbos. In Melachim I in chapter 18, Eliyahu insists on a showdown with the prophets who serve the avoda zara known as Baal. He stands alone as the only prophet of the true G-d against 450 to see whose offering is accepted by divine fire.
Eliyahu gives Team Baal first pick for the bull and then allows them the whole morning to bring in fire. When noon arrives, and nothing happens he starts mocking them. They don't even seem to grasp that they are mocked and do proceed to call in a loud voice and to keep stabbing themselves to appeal to to their god. There is no response.
Finally, Eliyahu takes his turn. He repairs a broken alter with 12 stones to symbolize the 12 tribes of Israel. He digs a trench around it. Then he arranges the wood and the bull, but he doesn't stop there. To prove that he is not relying on any form of spontaneous combustion, he order four pitches of water to be poured over three times, which gives you another form of 12, as well as a very wet area.
Eliyahu appeals to G-d to answer him, and his prayer is answered immediately. Everything is consumed by the fire, including the stones, the earth, and the water. The people who witnessed this affirmed that "Hashem is G-d." After that Eliyahu killed the false prophets.
It's a riveting story packed with drama and spectacle, but it is also something more -- a lesson in truth and the power of proof. In insisting on clinging to the G-d of Israel, Eliyahu was outnumbered -- 450 to one (plus another 400 additional prophets of the Ashera avoda zara (18:19) who regularly dined at the table of the Queen Izevel.
Despite the odds and the opposition from every single person who counted at court, Eliyahu would not comply with the law of the land. In addition to standing his ground, though, he wanted the opportunity to prove he was right. The contest here would prove the truth, and he had no reason to back away or to pretend that it is beneath his dignity to do battle with those who upheld lies. If you know you are right and that others are misleading the masses, it doesn't matter if you're outnumbered or out of favor, you speak truth to power.
The Jewish religion is not based on faith but on historical revelation that was not reserved for the elite but all of us. That's why we constantly refer to the memory of coming out of Egypt -- rather than that of the creation of the world. The former was experienced by us and passed on from parent to child as part of our collective identity; the latter was not.
There was no demand to just take Moshe's word for it that G-d spoke to him. He offered absolute proof. Everyone got to experience the revelation of Mattan Torah. It was not reserved for just a select few who would then share what they wanted. Everything was to be given over and explained clearly to all the people. That is what Eliyahu emulated in the spectacle of the offerings to remind them of the difference between the Truth of the G-d of Israel and the falseness of idolatry.
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