In harmony with Elijah’s directions, Ahab sent forth a call for all Israel to gather at Carmel, together with the prophets of Baal and Astarte. The people came with strange forebodings. Mt. Carmel, once a place of great scenic beauty, with its idol temples in flourishing groves, was now a place of desolation. Trees stood gaunt and bare, springs were dry, and flowers were no more. The gods of fertility had sadly failed their worshipers, and they had failed themselves. Their own shrines were places of vexation and dishonor. Here on these grounds consecrated to pagan shrines, once so beautiful, now so barren and forlorn, Elijah proposed to demonstrate the utter folly of the worship of Baal.