(19) Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table. (20) So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel.
How must the mind of this wretched man Ahab have been overruled so immediately to comply with the prophet's request. It is more than probable that Ahab thought, as Elijah had declared when he predicted the famine, that there should be no dew, nor rain, but according to his word, that Elijah would give that word on mount Carmel. No doubt, the Lord's hand was in the whole, and he overruled Ahab's mind to obey the prophet implicitly.