1 Kings 18:25 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Choose ye one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first I give you the precedence, because I am single, and you are many. It was wise in Elijah to put them upon sacrificing first; because, if he had offered first and God had answered by fire, Baal's priests would have desisted from making the trial on their part; and because the disappointment of the priests of Baal, of which he was well assured, would prepare the way for the people's attention to his words, and cause them to entertain his success with more affection; and this coming last would leave the greater impression upon their hearts. And this they accepted, because they might think that if Baal answered them first, which they presumed he would, the people would be so confirmed and heightened in their opinion of Baal, that they might murder Elijah before he came to his experiment.