What was northern Israel like at the end of the drought?
At the end of the three-year drought, northern Israel was burned up from lack of water. The land had suffered an utter drought, yet Ahab and Jezebel still would not change their ways. Elijah then gathered all the Israelites and the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel.
Les explains that Elijah had caused no rain for three years, bringing an utter drought. By the end of that drought, northern Israel was just burned up with lack of water. Even so, Ahab and Jezebel, the wicked king and queen of the northern kingdom, would not change their ways. They had been promoting the worship of Baal and idol worship, and the Israelites had been falling for it. Elijah then got all the Israelites and the prophets of Baal together on Mount Carmel. Les notes that Mount Carmel juts in from the Mediterranean Sea, just south of the present-day city of Haifa. When you drop off Mount Carmel, you go down to the valley of Jezreel, or the valley of Armageddon, where the final great battle will be fought someday.