מלכים א, פרק י״ח, פסוק כ״ט

As the day wears on and the sun begins its descent toward the west, the despair of the prophets of Baal reaches its breaking point. They intensify their frantic efforts to bring down fire from the sky, yet their cries are met with a profound silence that exposes the complete emptiness of their worship.

In their desperation, they acted as if they were receiving a prophecy. This behavior took the form of the foolish and crazed speech typical of Baal rituals [רש"י, רד"ק]. Alternatively, this display may have involved speaking softly and pleading with their god [אברבנאל]. The actual messages they conveyed during this frenzy are understood in several ways. They may have confidently promised that the fire was still going to fall [מצודת דוד], or perhaps they urged the crowd to wait just a little longer until the time of the afternoon offering [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. On the other hand, as noon passed without any result, they might have started inventing false prophecies to excuse their god's failure, claiming that he was simply angry with his worshippers [מלבי"ם].

They kept up these displays until the late afternoon, specifically the time when the daily afternoon offering is brought [רד"ק, מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Eventually, they ceased their efforts, completely worn out and exhausted from their exertions [מצודת דוד].

The climax of their failure is absolute: there is no voice, no silent response, and no sign whatsoever that anyone is listening [רלב"ג]. The primary approach among commentators is that this total lack of response is simply due to the fact that there is no divine being there to hear them [מצודת דוד, רד"ק, אברבנאל]. However, another perspective suggests that the lack of attention at the end of the ordeal actually refers to the Israelites. By this late hour, the people watching had completely stopped listening and paying attention to the empty claims of the false prophets [מלבי"ם].