And Elijah said unto all the people, come near unto me
And observe what I do, and what will be done at my request:
and all the people came near unto him;
left the prophets of Baal to themselves, and took no more notice of them, but attended to what the prophet should say and do:
and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down;
which had been set up when high places and altars were allowed of, while the tabernacle was unsettled, and the temple not built; this is supposed to have been erected in the times of the judges; though, according to a tradition of the Jews F4, it was built by Saul, see ( 1 Samuel 15:12 ) but had been thrown down by the idolatrous Israelites, who demolished such as were erected to the name of the Lord everywhere, and built new ones for their idols, ( 1 Kings 19:10 ) . Benjamin of Tudela F5 says, that on the top of Mount Carmel is now to be seen the place of the altar Elijah repaired, which is four cubits round.