Elijah now turns from the king to the gathered multitude. He does not launch into a long harangue. Instead, he poses a single, piercing question. Yet this brief question cuts straight to the heart of Israel’s predicament. They stand paralyzed between two incompatible religions, unwilling to commit to either.
The word that the ESV renders limping
is notoriously difficult to capture in English. It does not describe someone hobbling forward with difficulty, as a lame man might. The sense is stronger: it suggests an inability to move at all. Israel is arrested by a choice they refuse to make. They want the impossible—to honour both the Lord and Baal without offending either.
Elijah’s solution is disarmingly simple: make up your minds. If the Lord is truly God, then follow him and keep his commandments. If Baal is god, then give him your allegiance. The prophet is not suggesting that either option is equally valid. Rather, he is laying the groundwork to expose what he already knows with certainty—a truth Israel should have grasped long ago from their own history, stretching back to the exodus.
The tragedy is that the people answer him with silence. Their muteness reveals the depth of their spiritual confusion. They cannot deny the Lord, yet they will not forsake Baal. Elijah’s question exposes their divided hearts before the contest even begins.
21 Alors Elie s'approcha de tout le peuple, et dit: Jusqu'à quand boiterez-vous des deux côtés? Si l'Eternel est Dieu, allez après lui; si c'est Baal, allez après lui! Le peuple ne lui répondit rien.