Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Kings 18:28

"And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lances, till the blood gushed out upon them." — 1 Kings 18:28 (ASV)

Lancets —should be lances. This self-mutilation, common in Eastern frenzy, was possibly a portion, or a survival, of human sacrifice, in the notion that self-torture and shedding of human blood must win Divine favour—a delusion not confined to pagan religions, though excusable only in them.