The story of Elijah's showdown with the prophets of Ba'al on Mt. Carmel (1 Kings 18) is a familiar story to many Christians. In fact, it is familiar enough that author Ted Dekker uses this story as the basis for a scene in his fantasy novel "Green." In the novel, the hero, Thomas Hunter, faces off with a pagan priest (whose name happens to be Ba'al) and his horde of evil priests. They both call out to their own gods with the goal of the more powerful god making an appearance so the king of the land will know the true god. While Thomas relies on prayer, the priest Ba'al ends up sacrificing all his priests for an offering of blood. In the end, it is Thomas' god who appears in a miraculous way.
However, in the novel, the king chooses to ignore this sign and has his soldiers pursue Thomas to try to kill him. This is unlike the biblical story of Elijah and Ahab because Ahab allows Elijah to kill the priests of Ba'al and allows Elijah to live. It is interesting that Ahab only turns against Elijah after his wife Jezebel becomes furious over the Mt. Carmel incident.
Comparing these two stories allows the reader to ask why Ahab does not immediately pursue Elijah. Why does he return to chasing Elijah only after speaking with his wife Jezebel? Perhaps this has more to say about Jezebel's role in the story of 1 Kings. Throughout the entire book, the kings of Israel are led astray by their foreign wives. Thus, the story of 1 King 18-19 again highlights the problem of foreignness for Israel. Although Ahab may have turned back to the true God, because he chose to have a pagan wife, his heart was immediately turned from repentance back to sin.
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