[649] הַמִּנחָה לַעֲלוֹת עַד, "till towards (Numb. xxviii. 4) the offering of the Minchah." LXX., θυσία; Vulg., _sacrificium_ and _holocaustum_. In verse 39 it is omitted in the LXX. "There is a great concurrence of evidence that the evening sacrifice of the first Temple was not a holocaust, but a cereal oblation" (Robertson Smith, p. 143, quoting 1 Kings xviii. 34; 2 Kings xvi. 15; Ezek. ix. 4, Heb). [650] Heb., וַיִתְנַבְּאוּ; LXX., διέτρεχον; Vulg., _transiliebant_. Literally, they acted like frantic prophets (1 Sam. xviii. 10; Jer. xxix. 26). [651] LXX., θαλάσσαν, or "sea"--the name given to Solomon's molten laver; but the description, "as great as would contain two _seahs_ of seed," is curious, for a seah was only the third of an ephah. [652] Blunt (_Undesigned Coincidences_, II. xxxii.) thinks that as the drought had been so intense the water must have been sea-water. But Josephus says it was drawn ἀπὸ τῆς κρήνης (_Antt._, VIII. xiii. 5); and the well still exists. [653] Priests, both pagan and mediæval, have been adepts at deception. At the Reformation the mechanism of winking Madonnas, etc., was exposed to the people. At Pompeii may still be seen the secret staircase behind the altar, and the pipes let into the head of Isis from behind, through which the priests spoke her pretended oracles. St. Chrysostom (_Orat. in. Petr. et Eliam_, which is of uncertain genuineness) tells us that he had himself seen (θεάτης αὐτὸς γενομένος) altars with concealed hollows in the middle, into which the unsuspected operator crept, and blew up a fire which the people were assured was self-kindled (see Keil, p. 282). One legend says that on this occasion a man was suffocated, who had been concealed by the Baal priests inside their altar. [654] 1 Kings xviii. 36. [655] Comp. Lev. ix. 24. Analogous stories existed among pagans (Hom., _Il._, ii. 305; _Od._, ii. 143; Verg., _Ecl._, viii. 105). Pliny says that annals recorded the eliciting of lightning by prayers and incantations (_H. N._, ii. 54; Winer, _Realwörterb._ 371). [656] It is after Elijah's time, and probably from his influence, that from this time proper names compounded with Jehovah become almost the rule--as in Ahaziah, Jehoram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, Joash, Pekahiah, etc. [657] 1 Kings xix. 1, בְּחָרֶב; LXX., ἐν ῥομφάιᾳ. [658] Renan, _Vie de Jésus_, 100. [659] Matt. xii. 19, 20; Isa. xlii. 2, 3; Ezek. xxxiv. 16. CHAPTER XXXVIII. _THE RAIN._ 1 KINGS xviii. 41-46. "Are there any of the vanities of the nations that can cause rain?"--JER. xiv. 22.