Albert Barnes Commentary 1 Kings 18:27

"And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud; for he is a god: either he is musing, or he is gone aside, or he is on a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked." — 1 Kings 18:27 (ASV)

The object of Elijah’s irony was twofold:

1. To stimulate the priests to greater exertions and thus make their failure more complete.
2. To suggest to the people that such a failure would prove absolutely that Baal was no god.

The force of his expressions seems to be, “Cry on, only cry louder, and then you will make him hear, for surely he is a god; surely you are not mistaken in regarding him this way.”

Elijah taunts that Baal is “talking,” or “meditating”—the Hebrew word used has both senses, as the Hebrews regarded meditation as “talking with oneself.” Another taunt is that “he is pursuing.” A better translation, however, might be that “he has a withdrawing,” that is, “he has withdrawn himself into privacy for a while,” as a king does on occasion.

The point of the whole passage is a scornful ridicule of the anthropomorphic notions of God held by the priests of Baal and their followers . The pagan gods, as we know from the Greek and Latin classics, ate and drank, went on journeys, slept, conversed, quarreled, and fought.

The explanations for many of these absurdities were unknown to the ordinary worshipper. Even the most enlightened, unless their religion was a mere vague Pantheism, likely held notions of the gods that were largely tainted with this false anthropomorphism.